Gold has reached an all-time high and researchers have discovered a bacterium's ability to withstand incredible amounts of toxicity is key to creating 24-karat gold.  

Alchemy was once a pipe dream of ancient chemistry but now it is entirely possible, if you have enough energy.  In the metal-tolerant bacteria Cupriavidus metallidurans it instead takes massive amounts of toxicity; the bacterium can grow on gold chloride, liquid gold, a toxic chemical compound found in nature.

A new study says that the use of herbicides in the production of three genetically modified herbicide-tolerant crops, cotton, soybeans and corn, has gone up rather than down. The counterintuitive estimate is based on an analysis of publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agriculture Statistics Service. 

Here is a missing link story that won't make evolutionary biologists crazy. Epigenetics is the most recent craze in science media discussions of biology, it analyzes specific patterns of chemical tags that overlay the DNA structure, determining how tightly the DNA is packaged and how accessible certain genes are to be switched on or off. Epigenetics shows us that the genetic code held within DNA represents only part of the blueprint of life. Because it is not understood, we even get speculation that voting preferences can be framed in termed of epigenetics, like in the brain.

It seems that as this discussion continues, more and more concepts become conflated producing all manner of irrelevant comparisons that create more and more confusion.

In the first place, we have the problem of defining what we even mean by food safety.  Truth be told, we don't have any idea what constitutes "safe" food beyond the fact that we may have a history of consuming it without obvious incidence.  Even here, we have a basic problem because many people may have allergies or sensitivites that have always existed, or are now being recognized.

If you watched "Wall-E" you likely laughed at the depiction of hugely obese people riding around in hover cars drinking Big Gulps - surely a science that could create the technology to generate an entire artificial world could solve how to drink Big Gulps without turning ban happy like California or New York.

Now that we had a hot summer, local weather effects are once again proof of global warming. The American mid-west had resisted BBC articles and journal press releases about how global global warming was and stayed about the same before finally doing its part and having a heat wave.

That anomalous summer has put climate change back at the top of the political agenda but despite that, no one is comfortable doing actual weather and climate forecasting.

It's very likely that whichever prostate cancer treatment you choose - prostatectomy surgery, hormone therapy, brachytherapy, external beam radiation, or HIFU (high intensity focused ultrasound) - you will see an impact on your sex life. Exactly how depends on which method you choose and your dedication to getting back in bed.

"Once patients are assured that they will have sex after prostate removal surgery, they can shift their focus to enjoying sex as soon as possible," encourages Dr. David Samadi, creator of the SMART (Samadi Modified Advanced Robotic Technique) robotic prostate removal surgery.

Scientists have tracked bumblebees to see how they select the optimal route to collect nectar from multiple flowers and return to their nest. They were able to use radar tracking to show how bumblebees discover flowers, learn their location and use trial and error to find the most efficient route between flowers over large distances. It's the classic traveling salesman problem but not theoretical. They're more efficient than UPS trucks, even without all those left-hand turns.

For the 5 people on the planet who are not 'aware' of breast cancer, Burj Al Arab, which bills itself as the world's most luxurious hotel, is launching the Pinking Burj Al Arab campaign to raise money and reach them. 

 The gem of the Pinking Burj Al Arab campaign is a exclusive one-of-a-kind 24-carat rose gold iPad created especially for the cause, with an engraved pink ribbon and the hotel's logo. Could that money have been better spent on research?  Hey, do you hate women with breast cancer or something?

The "pink" iPad will be waiting in Burj Al Arab's boutique for the person who will nominate the best price for the item on the hotel's Facebook page. The proceeds will go towards their Breast Cancer awareness initiatives.  

Thanks to science journalism that primarily exists to be cheerleaders and rehash IPCC press releases, the public thinks if we just banned carbon dioxide our climate issues would go away.