Smartphones are revolutionizing diagnostics and disease management
By Teresa Manring The cell phone in your pocket may soon help you diagnose and monitor diseases. As mobile phones become more advanced and ubiquitous, researchers are exploring technologies embedded within them to screen for, diagnose and manage health issues between office visits, said researchers at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in […]
Bio machines hold promise for efficient organs and implants
By Mariah Quintanilla Exceptionally talented athletes and hard working people are often described as “machines” because of their seemingly super-human abilities. To many scientists who study biological processes, however, the “human machine” metaphor is not a metaphor at all, but a scientific truth. The emerging field of biological engineering research utilizes our own cells as […]
Naomi Oreskes urges scientists to take a stand against attempts to ‘silence facts’
By Janice Cantieri Harvard historian Naomi Oreskes urged hundreds of scientists to step beyond the objectivity of their data and embrace the riskier role as “sentinels” for scientific facts. “We do need to speak for the facts because the facts don’t speak for themselves,” Oreskes said to an overflowing auditorium at the Boston conference of […]
Solving world hunger for 830 million via satellite data
By Mariah Quintanilla What do data and satellite imaging have to do with solving world hunger? Everything, it seems. New surveying techniques and open source imaging of diminishing, available and potential cropland are the first steps in assessing problems and solutions for global food security. To prevent further hunger, researchers must identify factors that may […]
Climate extremes can ignite violence and more intolerant societies
By Janice Cantieri Rising extremes of droughts, floods or food shortages can reduce a country’s political stability and cultural tolerance, warned scientists at the American Association for the Advancements of Science conference in Boston this weekend. As global temperatures continue to rise, these and other environmental threats are expected to increase. “What you have here […]
‘More rigs, less regs:’ AAAS experts predict Trump policies
By Teresa Manring The Trump administration’s stance on reversing environmental regulations, key climate policies such as the Paris Accord and the Affordable Care Act is alarming many scientists and policymakers gathered in Boston for an international science conference. A panel of analysts predicted “Science Policy in Transition: What to Expect in 2017 and Beyond” at […]
Listening to the universe – black holes give us ears to gravitational waves
By Danielle Prieur Scientists detected the gravitational light waves from two colliding black holes more than a billion light-years away. That means it took more than a billion years for that light to reach detectors on Earth. Yet the timing was perfect for physicist Gabriela Gonzalez, a professor at the Louisiana State University’s Department of Physics and […]
