I read two interesting commentaries on evolutionary theory recently. One was by philosopher John Dupré, the other by evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne. Actually, the latter was a commentary on the former, and it had a typical Coyne-style title (“Another philosopher proclaims a nonexistent ‘crisis’ in evolutionary biology”). I know both Jerry and John, and I respect them as scholars in their respective fields.

Sub-Saharan Africa has problems.  A cow in France makes twice as much money as the average human in Sub-Saharan Africa and the region is beset by problems that stem from post-colonial corruption and inclement conditions.

Researchers have found a new genetic mutation responsible for deafness and hearing loss associated with Usher syndrome type 1. Usher syndrome is a genetic defect that causes deafness, night-blindness and a loss of peripheral vision through the progressive degeneration of the retina. 

A global projection of the potential reduction in the maximum size of fish in a warmer and less-oxygenated ocean says that changes in ocean and climate systems could lead to smaller fish, according to fisheries experts at the University of British Columbia.

The researchers created a  computer model to analyze more than 600 species of fish from oceans around the world and found that the maximum body weight they can reach could decline by 14-20 per cent between years 2000 and 2050, with the tropics being one of the most impacted regions, if warming and oxygen reduction models are accurate.

The classic chicken and egg puzzle asks what came first, the chicken or the egg? We can also ask that about diets.  A so-called Western diet, though it now seems to be worldwide, has high-calorie, high-sugar and high-sodium content and has been nicknamed the 'cafeteria diet' after buffet-style restaurants, has been linked to a lifetime of health problems, dramatically increasing the risk of stroke or death at a younger age.

Researchers have determined that summers on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard are now warmer than at any other time in the last 1,800 years, including during medieval times when parts of the northern hemisphere were as hot as, or hotter, than today.  

They also discovered that Svalbard was not particularly cold during the recent "Little Ice Age" of the 18th and 19th centuries, when glaciers on Svalbard surged to their greatest extent in the last 10,000 years and glaciers in many parts of Western Europe also grew. They suggest that snow, rather than colder temperatures, may have fed the growth of Svalbard glaciers.

The human brain is made up of billions of neurons, specialized cells which form vast, intricate networks among themselves to process and sort through the barrage of sensory and internal stimuli we are constantly bombarded with and mediate the appropriate response.

Neurons are long thread-like cells with numerous branches projecting from each end to allow communication with other neurons. When excited, an electrical impulse travels through the neuron and, when it reaches the far end, chemical messengers are released into the synapse, a narrow (microscopic) space between the sending and receiving neurons. These messengers then act on the receiving end of the neighboring neuron to either excite or inhibit it.

Science writers eagerly disseminate falsehoods about the peer-review system, for example that critiques are published in the same journal as the criticized article. In truth, critical papers are rejected, whistleblowers blacklisted. “Criticism” in academia is a show-dance that increases the citation count of established players. True criticism is silenced; it may land in some very low impact factor journal, like for example with the takedown of the fake 2008 memristor discovery, because insiders know that nobody reads such journals; they are excess dumps stabilizing the publish-or-perish system.

CSL Limited has developed a new drug candidate that is able to prevent the development of type 2 diabetes and reverse its progression in animal models of the disease. The drug candidate blocks signaling by protein Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor B (VEGF-B) and this prevents fat from accumulating in the "wrong" places, such as in muscles and in the heart. As a result, cells within these tissues are once again able to respond to insulin and blood glucose is restored to normal levels. 

The elusive 113th atomic element has been confirmed by researchers at the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-based Science (RNC). A chain of six consecutive alpha decays, produced in experiments at the RIKEN Radioisotope Beam Factory (RIBF), conclusively identifies the element through connections to well-known daughter nuclides.

That sets the stage for Japan to claim naming rights for the element, the first Asian country to name an atomic element.