top story in By The Way …
A Possible Solution for Space Junk
Swiss scientists plan to send a “janitor satellite” into orbit to attempt to clean up space debris.
‘Orcas as Slaves’ Argument Sinks
An effort to identify five performing orcas as slaves failed in part, argues one scholar, because there’s no legal precedent establishing them as persons.
Neglected Tropical Diseases Neglected No More?
World health leaders announce coordinated push to eradicate or control neglected tropical diseases.
Supreme Court Calls For New Try on Texas Districts
Texas Republicans won Friday as the Supreme Court rejected a judicially drawn redistricting map, but not for the reasons you might think.
Obama’s Military Strategy Follows Our Predictions
The complete makeover of the U.S. military debuted by President Obama and the Pentagon on Thursday looks a lot like the beast our Jeff Shear has been describing in 2011.
San Francisco Bay Model Is Flush With Life
After being retired in 2009, the scientific San Francisco Bay Model that replicates the nearby estuary has water flowing through it once again.
Nonprofit Helps Duggars Memorialize Lost Daughter
Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep serves the Duggars of the TLC reality show “19 Kids and Counting,” turning a private grieving process into a very public display.
FDA Cracks Whip on Lap-Band Marketing
An industry that’s grown up around a promising way to help people caught in a web of obesity needs to make a few less promises, the FDA declares.
Feds Seek Ban on Cellphone Use for Drivers
As past Miller-McCune articles have shown, driving while using your cellphone is a bad idea, and the U.S. government is doing its best to make sure you can hear that message now.
archive
LEED Program Reaches a Green Milestone
In a sign of acceptance of green building practices, the existing commercial space being retrofitted to LEED standards now exceeds that of new construction.
Cigarettes Do Have Free Speech Rights
A federal judge says tobacco companies’ complaints about the heavy hand of government forcing them to gainsay their own products have merit.
The iPod Touch as a Crop Saver
New Gene-Z device identifies diseases in plants, water, and food within 30 minutes, researchers say.
Wildlife CSI Positively Identified Bat Killer
A fungus long suspected as the cause of the white-nose syndrome killing American bats has been positively ID’d as the culprit.
Malaria Vaccine Gives Debate Shot in the Arm
Once derided as the wrong path forward in fighting this mosquito-borne killer, a new malaria vaccine offers decent results and renewed hope.
Trash Free Seas Alliance Takes Aim at Plastic
Recognizing the problems of a plastic-choked ocean, the Trash Free Seas Alliance aims to rid the seas of its islands of flip-flops, soda bottles, and plastic bags.
Consistency Key to Renewable Energy Policy
A new report on funding renewable energy projects offers a primer on how policy decisions are best engineered to boost the industry.
Solyndra’s Problems Were More Politics Than Power
Analysis: Solar energy writer John Perlin argues that Solyndra’s fall from grace reflects a bad choice in technique, and not a fundamental problem with solar energy.
Jimmy Carter Wants to Finish Off Guinea Worm
The former U.S. president asks for $93 million to eradicate a neglected disease that lingers in the new Republic of South Sudan.
Climate Optimist Revisits Failures of His ‘Wedges’ Paper
Robert Socolow, the co-author of an influential plan to reduce carbon emissions, revisits his work seven years later to understand why it failed.
related to By The Way …
politics
- Think Tanks Are Nonpartisan? Think Again
- Overseas Troops Finally Get Fair Shot at Voting
- Pirate Party Docks at Berlin’s Parliament
- Conservatives’ Politics of Fear a Biological Response
- Supreme Court Calls For New Try on Texas Districts
business
- Overcrowded Prisons Giving Old Inmates New Life
- Help Black Children? Sure! Teens? Not So Much.
- Announcing Our New Name
- Airport to Nowhere: Spain’s Costly No-Fly Zone
- Think Tanks Are Nonpartisan? Think Again
science
- Is Radiation Actually Good For Some of Us?
- A Possible Solution for Space Junk
- Why Robot Maids Won’t Do the Dishes
- 20,000 Robots Under the Sea
- Teens Weigh Ethical Animal Research Dilemmas
culture
media
- Announcing Our New Name
- Bitter About Your Life? Blame Facebook
- Miller-McCune’s Top Stories of 2011
- Pop Charts Still Dominated by Men
- Searing Look at Rio’s Homicidal Police
legal affairs
- ‘Orcas as Slaves’ Argument Sinks
- Five Orcas, Five Slaves or Five Persons?
- Supreme Court Messes With Texas, Voting Rights
- California’s Medical Marijuana Morass
- The FCC and Indecency: Here We Go Again
environment
- Quake Rescues Reserve, Shakes Baja Fishing Town
- Children’s Books Increasingly Ignore Natural World
- Conservation’s Earnest Message Could Use Levity
- Traffic Solution: Make Drivers Less Lonely
- Street Makeovers Put New Spin on the Block
health
follow us on:
join our newsletter:
most viewed
-
Was Lou Gehrig's ALS Caused by Tap Water?
-
Fear Heightens Appreciation of Abstract Art
-
Is Radiation Actually Good For Some of Us?
-
The Perceived Delicacy of the Female Conductor
-
Announcing Our New Name
-
Are Some Airlines Just Too Dangerous to Fly?
-
Bitter About Your Life? Blame Facebook
-
Japan's Earthquake: Deciphering the Fury
-
A Possible Solution for Space Junk
-
Oxytocin Levels Predict Longevity of Love Affairs
from the source
Public Schools Good for People Without Kids, Too
What makes communities strong and vibrant? Researchers say local schools bring a raft of positives to town — even for the childless — beyond creating an educated populace.
Help Black Children? Sure! Teens? Not So Much.
New research finds support for school projects differs according to the race and age of the recipients.
Think Tanks Are Nonpartisan? Think Again
Once seen as non-ideological “universities without students,” the American think tank has, in many cases, become a partisan stalking horse that devalues the sector’s scholarship.
A Possible Solution for Space Junk
Swiss scientists plan to send a “janitor satellite” into orbit to attempt to clean up space debris.
Surplus Government Property: Homeless Help vs. Revenue
Turning unloved federal property into homeless services centers has been federal law for a quarter century, but tough times have bureaucrats hoping to shove that tradition into the cold.
Fear Heightens Appreciation of Abstract Art
Does abstract art fail to evoke a profound emotional response? Try viewing it while you’re terrified.
Presidents’ Day: Just Another Presidential Fable
A number of folk stories and a few divisive rumors have surrounded the office of the U.S. presidency, and skeptical folks like us check a few of them out.
Oxytocin Levels Predict Longevity of Love Affairs
New research links levels of the “cuddle hormone” with falling, and staying, in love.
Gender Wage Gap Skewed By Survey Flaws
The wage gap between the sexes in America has been closing much faster than anyone realized, but that’s tempered by learning it’s been much wider than measurements had shown.
‘Orcas as Slaves’ Argument Sinks
An effort to identify five performing orcas as slaves failed in part, argues one scholar, because there’s no legal precedent establishing them as persons.
Hall of fame
Slugging — The People’s Transit
In Washington, D.C., commuters have taken thousands of cars off highways via a homegrown rideshare system known as “slugging.” Can the government create more slugs — without stepping on any?
Bacteria ‘R’ Us
Emerging research shows that bacteria have powers to engineer the environment, to communicate and to affect human well-being. They may even think.
A New Take on Political Ideology
An evolutionary psychologist proposes a new framework for understanding the root causes of our political beliefs.
The Real Science Gap
It’s not insufficient schooling or a shortage of scientists. It’s a lack of job opportunities. Americans need the reasonable hope that spending their youth preparing to do science will provide a satisfactory career.
Triumph of the Cyborg Composer
David Cope’s software creates beautiful, original music. Why are people so angry about that?
