In a Forest in Poland, a Battle Over Beetles, Bark, and Bison
Like their cousins the American buffalo, wisent were almost driven to extinction due to hunting and loss of habitat; lately they’ve made a modest comeback. Now a Polish plan to save endangered trees...
View ArticleThe Coming Era of Gene Doping?
Athletes have used performance-enhancing drugs for decades, but for the first time this year, the World Anti-Doping Agency tested Olympic athletes for evidence of "gene doping." Whether athletes are —...
View ArticleWanted: Fish Food That Isn’t Fish
Although the majority of the fish we eat comes from farms, wild stocks are still declining, as small "forage" fish are caught and used to feed farmed seafood. A contest now underway hopes to steer the...
View ArticleCritics: FDA Limit on Arsenic in Rice Cereal Falls Short
In a series of newly published comments, doctors, consumer groups, public health advocates, and ordinary parents accuse the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of leaving American infants exposed to...
View ArticleAbstracts: Earthquake in Italy, EpiPen Price Hike, a Manipulative...
A devastating Earthquake hit Italy on Wednesday, killing at least 241 people. Mylan, the maker of EpiPen, has come under fire for price hikes of its life-saving auto-injector product. An Oklahoma...
View ArticleThe New York Times Reboots Its Climate Coverage
“The climate story is arguably the most important in the world today," executive editor Dean Baquet told the staff. “Lots of places write about these topics, many very well. But few are able to bring...
View ArticleStigma vs. Science: The Continued Criminalization of HIV
At least 30 states have enacted criminal laws and statutes forbidding people infected with HIV from potentially exposing others to the virus. These laws persist despite what is now decades of...
View ArticleAbstracts: Marine Monument, How Lucy Died, and More
To end the week of celebrations for the National Parks Service's 100th birthday, President Obama quadrupled the size of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The early human ancestor known as...
View ArticleFive Questions for Marcia McNutt
Marcia McNutt, a geophysicist who has held positions as director of the United States Geological Survey and editor in chief of the journal Science, answers questions on the 2016 election, science...
View ArticleMosquitoes Can Transmit Zika to Their Offspring
According to new research, female Zika-infected mosquitoes in a lab were able to pass down the virus to a small number of their offspring. If this is shown to happen in the wild as well, it could allow...
View ArticleHillary Clinton Gets Serious About Mental Health Reform
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton convened a mental health advisory committee and released a full policy agenda this week – all while still on the campaign trail. But one advisor...
View ArticleUndark Podcast #6: The Crime of HIV Laws
Join our podcast host David Corcoran as he discusses with writer Alexandra Ossola her journey into mountains of Colombia to find a rare hummingbird and the parallels she saw with the people who share...
View ArticleReviewing the Candidates’ Stances on Mental Health Care Reform
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump’s have offered up positions on mental health care and the need for reform. Undark asked John Snook, executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center, a nonprofit...
View ArticleFTC Files Charges Against OMICS Group
For the first time, the Federal Trade Commission is going after what it considers to be a predatory publisher of scientific journals. The agency is charging OMICS Group — along with its president and...
View ArticleAbstracts: GMO Mosquitoes, SpaceX, and More
The owner of British company Oxitec has formed a PAC to promote the release of controversial genetically-modified mosquitoes in Key West, Florida. A SpaceX rocket exploded at Cape Canaveral on...
View ArticleThe Bill That Took My Breath Away
In the U.S., asthma inhalers can be three times more expensive than they are in Canada — with most of the cost borne by insurers and the government. Generic versions would be a lot cheaper, but they're...
View ArticleA Clearer View of Forest Clearcutting
The issue of forest clearcutting has been controversial in the Pacific Northwest for decades, though I’d mostly remained neutral on the topic. That all changed recently when my father told me he was...
View ArticleAbstracts: Philea Found, Internet in Alaska, Climate Change Flooding, and More
The ESA has spotted its Philea Lander, which was lost while studying a comet, rural Alaskan towns are about to get high-speed Internet, parts of the U.S. coast are flooding thanks to rising sea-levels,...
View ArticleWhy Climate-Caused Extinction Is So Hard to Predict
To simulate the effects of future climate change — how glaciers may melt, how oceans may rise — researchers rely on computer models. But a new paper in Science suggests that when it comes to living...
View ArticleBreaking Down ‘Broken Windows’
More than 30 years after the introduction of the “broken windows theory,” the notion that disorder begets crime is still hotly debated. But researchers have brought some empirical rigor to...
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