A tiny chip implant is enabling paralyzed and injured people to move objects by the power of their thoughts—the implications of brain-computer interface reach into the science fiction realm.

We are working longer hours and retiring later so why shouldn't we compensate by taking a pill to stimulate our brain—what's the objection to staying awake and concentrating better?

This semester, 22 undergraduate and graduate students from a diversity of majors at American University have participated in a new course that I created titled “Science, Environment and the Media.”  […]

Technology has changed the way that men buy sex making it possible for a greater share of sex workers to work indoors. This may sound like workers are moving off […]

Contrary to expectations, asthma rates have skyrocketed in urban areas in the U.S. that are not particularly clean; respiratory infections in early childhood may actually be a risk factor for it.

Female athletes may not be eligible to compete as women if they have natural testosterone levels in the male range, say new guidelines recommended by the International Olympic Commission.

Babies conceived through in vitro fertilization are significantly more likely to suffer complications because the procedure frequently produces twins or triplets, which are often born early.

For most of us, eight hours of sleep is excellent and six hours is no good, but what about if we split the difference? What is the threshold below which cognitive function begins to flag?

By manipulating eight strands of D.N.A. that control the production of a crucial hormone linked to old age, scientists believe they could slow down the ageing process and ward off age related conditions.

In a guest post today, Samantha Miller probes the relation between perceptions and reality in the organic food marketplace.  Miller is a graduate student in Journalism at American University.  She […]

It is a rare day when the US budget, or US domestic politics at all for that matter, is featured on Waq al-waq.  But today is that day.  Over at […]

“The budget is a profoundly moral document,”  former Clinton advisor Paul Begala told Greg Sargent. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be.” Budgets, after all, reflect our priorities. […]

With the recent publication of Joshua Foer's Moonwalking with Einstein, it’s hard to avoid someone, somewhere (the New York Times is a safe bet) writing on the ins and outs […]

His agnosticism would make him a completely untenable candidate in modern times, especially within the Republican party.

Some scholars say that Shakespeare's notorious tragicomedy is too politically incorrect to stage in modern times. Is there really no room for such "polluted" texts?

20 million people live within a 50 mile radius of New York's Indian Point nuclear power plant, whose 35 year old reactors were built to withstand a 6.1 earthquake—far less […]

Four different types of radiation tend to accompany a nuclear accident like the Fukushima meltdown. Here, Dr. Kaku discusses the effects of each on the human body. 

Last week, Simone Lewis-Koskinen contributed a valuable guest post on the communication challenges facing scientists and leaders hoping to elevate public concern over ocean acidification.  In a follow-up post today, she […]

Tiny Fey's new memoir, Bossypants, sets out some smart principles of management and leadership among amusing and insightful anecdotes.

Twitter may be fending off multi-billion dollar acquisition offers but it seems to be in turmoil and lacks vision. Mathew Ingram suggests it take a leaf out of Apple's book.