Brain activity predicts which mice will become compulsive drinkers

Nov 24, 2019 14:09 pm UTC| Insights & Views Science

Some individuals consume alcohol their entire adult life without developing an alcohol use disorder. Others, however, quickly transition to compulsive and problematic drinking. Can we determine what makes some people...

361-Foot asteroid '2019 UK6' to pass by Earth, NASA says

Nov 21, 2019 05:45 am UTC| Science

This year, our planet has had a number of close encounters with asteroids. Now, a 361-foot asteroid is said to pass by Earth on Wednesday, according to NASA. NASAs Center for Near-Earth Object Studies has identified the...

How gene edited white blood cells are helping fight cancer

Nov 19, 2019 02:37 am UTC| Insights & Views Science Health

For the first time in the United States, a gene editing tool has been used to treat advanced cancer in three patients and showed promising early results in a pilot phase 1 clinical trial. So far the treatment appears safe,...

Please, no more projections. What we need are predictions, and they're harder

Nov 19, 2019 02:32 am UTC| Insights & Views Science

It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future. (attributed to Danish physicist Niels Bohr) The difficulty of making predictions has long been known, but the rise of the internet means that it is...

Nitrogen fertilisers are incredibly efficient, but they make climate change a lot worse

Nov 19, 2019 02:29 am UTC| Insights & Views Science

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) (more commonly known as laughing gas) is a powerful contributor to global warming. It is 265 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide and depletes our ozone...

Our land is burning, and western science does not have all the answers

Nov 19, 2019 02:16 am UTC| Insights & Views Science

Last weeks catastrophic fires on Australias east coast and warnings of more soon to come will become all too common as climate change gathers pace. And as the challenges of modern hazard reduction become clear, there is...

Nearly all your devices run on lithium batteries. Here's a Nobel Prizewinner on his part in their invention – and their future

Nov 04, 2019 11:45 am UTC| Insights & Views Science

British-born scientist M. Stanley Whittingham, of Binghamton University, was one of three scientists who won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work developing lithium-ion batteries. L-R: John Goodenough;...