If you've been to a hospital to see a newborn you've likely been assaulted by a number of sprays and soaps before even getting near the little critter.   You'd have to wonder how you ever survived as a child without antibacterial soaps, wipes and special clothing.
Gradual evolution is not supported by geological history, writes New York University geologist Michael Rampino, who prefers the hypothesis that long periods of evolutionary stability were disrupted by catastrophic mass extinctions of life.  Not surprisingly, he studies volcano eruptions and asteroid impacts.
When we discuss Foucault on a science site, we mean French physicist Léon Foucault and not that annoying prat of a post-modernist, Michel Foucault.   

You know who Léon Foucault  is if you have been to a science museum in the last 150 years because you saw a Foucault pendulum - a simple way of observing the Earth's rotation. 
I like Nicholas Wade, and think that his latest NY Times piece on basic research is worth reading. However, I take issue with his overly simplistic characterization of how research works:

Basic research, the attempt to understand the fundamental principles of science, is so risky, in fact, that only the federal government is willing to keep pouring money into it. It is a venture that produces far fewer hits than misses....
The most recent issue of symmetry magazine has a feature titled, "When Muons Collide," by Leah Hesla. [Full disclosure: I have also written for symmetry.] The article lays out the need for a muon collider as well as theoretical plans for building one.