There is a lot of talk about increasing longevity but 50 years of increasing frailty, doctor visits and overall decline is not really an improvement over 30 years of it.

A new study shows that by focusing on the genetics involved in increasing longevity, we won't be helping people much at all; genes that increase longevity may not significantly increase healthy lifespan.

A study of long-lived mutant C. elegans by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School shows that the genetically altered worms spend a greater portion of their life in a frail state and exhibit less activity as they age then typical nematodes. 

Some groups want to label foods that contain anything created with modern genetic modification. Yet the previous generation of genetically modified foods, using mutagenesis, can be labeled organic. And why not label all pesticides used on food, whether synthetic or organic, if awareness is important? If a Bt genetic modification is important to know about, why isn't Bt spray on organic food important to know about.

The only thing less valuable than most proposed labeling changes are the existing labels, according to a new paper - at least if the goal is improving nutrition. 

A new species of dinosaur has turned out not to be a dinosaur at all, it is instead one of the large reptiles that lived before dinosaurs took over the world. But like many dinosaurs, it looked fearsome. 

Nundasuchus songeaensis was a 9-foot-long carnivorous reptile with steak knife-like teeth, bony plates on the back, and legs that lie under the body.  The basic meaning of Nundasuchus, is "predator crocodile," "Nunda" meaning predator in Swahili, and "suchus" a reference to a crocodile in Greek.

Most dogs and most humans get along well now and anthropological explanations are that selective selection is the reason; wolves that were not a threat were not killed and over time the agreeable ones got shelter and food. That cooperation has led to thousands of years of being man's best friend.

Friederike Range and Zsófia Virányi from the Unit of Comparative Cognition at the Messerli Research Institute at University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna have an alternate idea, the "Canine Cooperation Hypothesis". They believe that since wolves already are tolerant, attentive and cooperative, the relationship of wolves to their pack mates could have provided the basis for today's human-dog relationship. 

Some cultural pundits contend that income inequality is linked to parenting inequality but new findings dispute that. 

You don't have to be wealthy to be involved in your child's life, despite modern thinking, according to a new paper which finds that poorer parents are just as involved in education, leisure and sports activities with their children as wealthier ones.

The researchers used the Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK survey, carried out between March and December 2012. Among the questions it asked were:

• How many days in the past seven days have you, or your partner read stories with your child/children or talked with them about what they are reading?

Scientists have analyzed extraterrestrial dust hat has settled on ocean floors to determine the amount of heavy elements created by the massive explosions. The dust is thought to be from supernovae, exploding stars way beyond our solar system, and their conclusions are at odds with current theories of supernovae, in which some of the materials essential for human life, such as iron, potassium and iodine are created and distributed throughout space.