The engineering mindset often dismisses philosophy as useless for science. However, those who understand science or philosophy deeply also know that philosophy drives the cutting edge of science as much as scientific thinking is at the cutting edge of philosophy. This did not stop with Einstein and Feynman or Wittgenstein on the philosophical side. It is proven true once again by recent progress in nanotechnology and catalysis published in the Nature group of journals in November 2016. [1] www.nature.com/articles/srep37092

I am told that when a patient is diagnosed with a terminal illness, he or she will likely go through a well-defined sequence of stages. 
The first stage is Denial: the patient will convince him- or herself that there is a mistake in the diagnosis, that somehow the doctors are wrong, or something alike. It is a protective, visceral reaction, one preventing the shock of reckoning with a completely altered landscape. There follows a state of Anger: the "why me" sentiment is the cause of this state of mind. Then there is Fear, brought about by the lack of knowledge of what is coming. Then comes Grief - for oneself as well as for the loved ones. And finally, Acceptance, which brings peace to the soul.

In America we have the right to protest, so when Kaepernick started his protest by refusing to honor the flag and the national anthem during NFL pre-game ceremonies a lot of people thought it was wrong, and a lot of people thought it was right. That’s America for you. And no matter what anybody thought, nobody disagreed about the fact that it was his right to protest like that – it is part of what it means to be American. It’s about free speech and our inalienable rights as American citizens.

A recent study from French government researchers reported new results on the exposure of pregnant women to more than 100 substances that might be a concern for the health of a developing fetus.  The study examined exposure to various metals (e.g., lead, mercury, arsenic) and many common organic compounds that we might encounter in our daily lives.

There is no clear cut-off age to stop breast cancer screening, according to a new analysis which adds support for guidelines that encourage screening decisions based on individual patients and their health status. But which puts doctors, hospitals and insurance companies at risk in a defensive medicine environment where there are unlimited potential damages if an attorney gets a cancer patient in front of a jury.

Neanderthals modified their survival strategies even without external influences like environmental or climate changes, according to an analysis using carbonate isotopy in fossilized teeth that 250,000 years ago, the ancestors of modern man were more advanced in their development than previously thought.

The fossils were from the excavation site at Payre in southeastern France. Carbonate is an essential mineral component of the hard tissue in bones and teeth. Among other things, the isotope composition in the carbonate reflects an organism’s drinking and feeding habits.

If the climate becomes cooler or warmer, species are forced to adapt their survival strategies – this also holds true for our ancestors, the extinct Neanderthals. 

Across Europe, town and city councils are becoming increasingly interested in energy decentralization, i.e. in producing power closer to where it is consumed, which could reduce energy costs for citizens who already feel their economic backs being broken by political beliefs about alternative energy that doesn't involve nuclear.

Heidelberg is a city in Germany with a long-running energy company that has managed to keep costs lower than centralized schemes. The city-owned company is responsible for managing gas, heating, and the water and sewage systems. They even have a plan to migrate more to renewables in the future.

The war on fat is back, thanks to an aggressive campaign by food pundits related to sugar, GMOs and corporations.

For a while, it looked like all thin people were going to be placed into mandatory body image counseling, the Kardashians had made plump the new natural, but doctors have overruled activists like Michael Pollan and Marion Nestle and their beliefs about nutrition and affirmed that it's calories that matter, not the scary story of the week.

If there was one theme that qualified the new politically correct definition of morality in higher education it was the idea that the new Affirmative Action professoriate wanted to do away with everything about civilization that white men had created. If a white man had made it or done it, then they wanted to get rid of it. They actually became extremely vocal about the premise of doing away with the white man’s civilization and replacing it.

We know that there is sound on planets and moons in the solar system – places where there’s a medium through which sound waves can be transmitted, such as an atmosphere or an ocean. But what about empty space? You may have been told definitively that space is silent, maybe by your teacher or through the marketing of the movie Alien – “In space no one can hear you scream”. The common explanation for this is that space is a vacuum and so there’s no medium for sound to travel through.

But that isn’t exactly right. Space is never completely empty – there are a few particles and sound waves floating around. In fact, sound waves in the space around the Earth are very important to our continued technological existence. They also they sound pretty weird!