The coronavirus pandemic has made the importance of sustained, world-class medical research more obvious than ever. The current pandemic is a powerful wake-up call, harkening back to Mary Lasker’s warning: “If you think research is expensive, try disease.” Her words resonate powerfully as we observe the tragic loss of life and devastation of the global […]
Domestic cats that live or go outside kill lots of wild animals. Recent studies find that outdoor cats in North America take out between ten and thirty billion birds and mammals each year. Still, it hasn’t been clear what kind of an impact the world’s 600 million pet cats have on wildlife populations—and whether that […]
On January 10, when Chinese researchers published the genome of a mysterious, fast-spreading, virus, it confirmed Dan Barouch’s greatest worry. The genome was similar to that of the coronavirus that caused the 2003 SARS outbreak, yet it also had striking differences. “I realized immediately that no one would be immune to it,” says Barouch, director of […]
A recent study published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism has some very exciting findings in the fight against memory loss and dementia. I probably don’t need to tell you how debilitating dementia can be if you’ve experienced it with someone you care about. If you haven’t, count yourself lucky. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that […]
Climate change is straining the social fabric that holds communities together. But—if not done correctly—positive efforts meant to respond to global change can have a negative impact, too, according to new findings. In a nearly 50-page report released last week, the nonprofit EcoAdapt and the University of California, Berkeley’s Urban Displacement Project found that “climate change stressors […]
In trying to make sense of this rapidly changing COVID-19 world, I reflected on the recent passing of one of the great physicists of our time, my former Princeton colleague and Nobel laureate, the late Phil Anderson. Anderson made seminal contributions to our understanding of fundamental interactions that make up matter, but to many scientists […]
Now is the time for hygiene of hand and mind. “You don’t need to add much to the CDC’s handwashing guidelines to make it a meditation practice,” observes author Taylor Plimpton. “Just carefully following the steps requires focus, presence and a complete immersion in what you are doing.” Meditation can help us reach a deep […]
Originally published in January 1909 Credit: Scientific American Advertisement “So serious is becoming the question of supplying ties for our railroads, that the Santa Fe system recently sent its manager of the timber and tie department on a tour to the Orient and Europe. It was learned that three hundred years ago the Japanese government […]
Scientists have long known that the rise in average global temperatures is expanding the geographical presence of vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, because the animals that transmit them are adapting to more widespread areas. The link between respiratory illnesses, including influenza and COVID-19, and a warming planet is less clear. But some […]
In March 2019 biotechnology giant Biogen stopped two big trials of its experimental Alzheimer’s disease drug aducanumab because it did not appear to improve memory in declining patients. Then, in a surprise reversal several months later, the company and its partner, Japanese drugmaker Eisai, said they would ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to […]