Nature -- presumably through the mechanism of Darwinian selection -- has endowed us with a balanced system of pains and pleasures that correspond respectively to the sort of things we should avoid or…

The latest news on napping would have you believe that it’s a harbinger of doom.  The Research Institute at the California Pacific Medical center studied communities of elderly women and linked…

As researchers continue to examine the role of sweeteners in the diet, it's important that people understand the differences among various ingredients used in scientific studies, according to the…

Carl Zimmer discusses his piece in Science. It’s about the 2005 discovery of potential blood vessels from none other than T-Rex.  The trouble is that now there are a few scientists who aren’t…

Economics is always called the dismal science, because it has science pretensions yet never makes accurate predictions.   The outlook, according to economists, is always rather bleak. But given…

Despite the increased popularity of geek culture – movies based on comic books, videogames, virtual worlds – and the ubiquity of computers, the geek's close cousin, the nerd, still suffers from a…

Three Representatives and one Senator are calling for additional FDA regulatory authority to ensure better oversight of dietary supplements, after a GAO report released today detailed FDA's lack of…

If you are a side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana), then you have an orange, a yellow or a blue throat (easily determined by looking in mirror). If your throat is orange, then you are a big, bad…

As a journalist I have seen many misunderstandings not only in the field of science. The relationship between journalists and other kind of professionals, for example medics professionals, is…

The American Institute of Physics (AIP) announced the winners of its 2008 Science Writing Awards today. The winners -- two scientists, a journalist, a children's book author, and a public television…