Science

Now, Where Was I?

Ellen Goodman / Truthdig Sep 24, 2009 It turns out watching TV while Twittering and surfing the Web may make one focus poorly, remember less and distract easily. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

The Electricity in Your Garbage

T.L. Caswell / Truthdig Aug 3, 2009 With biomass pioneers advancing their technology, the smelly stuff that you throw away today may be providing electricity for your home tomorrow.Almost like magic, biomass developers are tapping more and more kinds of waste to produce clean, renewable energy. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )

The Land of the Rising Smile

Staff / Truthdig Jul 27, 2009 Japanese railway employees use computerized "smile scanners" to be certain they're offering the best service to customers and greeting them with "natural smiles." Check out just how happy these people look. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

The Molecular Full Monty

Ellen Goodman / Truthdig Oct 23, 2008 A cohort of entrepreneurs and scientists is the cutting edge of the Personal Genome Project. In an act of altruism and/or exhibitionism, the PGP-10 have put their medical records, traits and genetic codes on the Web where all the scientists, paparazzo and peeping Toms can see them. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Microbiologist’s Suicide Demands a Full Probe of ’01 Anthrax Attacks

Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Aug 1, 2008 Today's shocking revelation about the apparent suicide of an Army microbiologist, a lead suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks, has intensified the need for a thorough investigation into the only significant bioterrorism attack on U.S. soil, said Alan Pearson, director of the biological and chemical weapons control program at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

50 New ‘Manhattan Projects’

Staff / Truthdig Jun 18, 2008 Despite its catastrophic outcome, the Manhattan Project can provide a useful model of how we might now mobilize science to address the major global dangers we now face -- but overcoming these threats will require innovative research and international cooperation among scientists focused on the common good. Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )

Render Unto Darwin That Which Is Darwin’s

Chris Hedges / Truthdig May 12, 2008 The New Atheist writers from Richard Dawkins to E.O. Wilson to Sam Harris have become the high priests not of science but the cult of science. Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )

Bush’s ‘Stem Cell Victory’

Ellen Goodman / Truthdig Nov 29, 2007 Scientists may have found a way to grow stem cells without using embryos. The president's people are claiming this as a White House victory, causing a flood of gall on Pennsylvania Avenue. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Taking Math to the Talking Myth

Ellen Goodman / Truthdig Jul 19, 2007 As old stereotypes about the differences between men and women continue to resurface in the form of the latest book releases (see: "Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps" or "Men Are Clams, Women are Crowbars"), scientific evidence continues to refute them. What does the evidence show? What any chatty man or any woman of few words can tell you: The sexes are not so extremely opposite as we're made to believe. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Science Progresses Despite Politics

Ellen Goodman / Truthdig Jun 14, 2007 With the stem cell debate, scientists once again have to negotiate the political gauntlet, where every breakthrough is met by an ill-informed stump speech. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Imagine a President Who Doesn’t Believe in Evolution

Staff / Truthdig May 4, 2007 It could happen The most alarming difference between the Democratic and Republican debates would have to be the response to this question: "Is there anyone on this stage that does not believe in evolution?" Three hands shot up. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

How Flying Saucers Could Save the World

Staff / Truthdig Mar 19, 2007 It may sound like science fiction, but researchers are working on a number of bizarre emergency plans to fight global warming, including a mock volcano that spews reflective dust and a solar shade made up of a trillion flying saucers. Scientists have been hesitant to discuss such "geoengineering" schemes, but they may be our only hope if humans fail to curb emissions or the crisis turns out to be worse than predicted. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )