A new study says a portion of the groundwater in the upper Patapsco aquifer underlying Maryland is truly ancient- over a million years old. 

Last week I wrote about the anti-science campaign being waged by opponents of the use of genetically modified organisms in agriculture. In that post, I promised to address a series of questions/fears about GMOs that seem to underly peoples’ objections to the technology. I’m not going to try to make this a comprehensive reference site about GMOs and the literature on their use and safety (I’m compiling some good general resources here.)

A new edge-essay by Steven Pinker is bound to lead to vehement reactions: The False Allure of Group Selection. It is worth a read – Pinker is a clear writer and so his position is easy to locate, however, I get the feeling that his position is to smooth talk whatever a certain establishment likes to hear being defended. The last time I listened, he told modern society that it is the most peaceful ever (an amazing feat of cherry picking data and re-interpretation). Now it seems he simply roots for the more well established guys in a heated turf battle: who may talk about evolution.

Self-control is a finite commodity.  Neuroscientists recently took a look at what happens when a person runs out of patience and loses self-control.

This self-control, they say, is limited and once the supply has dwindled, we're less likely to keep our cool when a situation that requires self-control comes around. We have all seen people who lose it over 'nothing' and recognize it may be pent-up frustration.

A new study suggests that your next hotel room stay may come with a bonus - someone else's fecal matter.

Katie Kirsch, an undergraduate student at the University of Houston, presented the work at the 2012 General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.  The study was designed as the first step in applying the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system to hotel room cleanliness. Originally developed by NASA, HACCP is a systematic preventive approach that identifies potential physical, chemical and biological hazards and designs measurements to reduce these risks to safe levels.

Soitec, part of Euronext Paris, has announced that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is giving them a SUNPATH award in the amount of $25 million to support its new North American solar manufacturing facility in San Diego, California.

SUNPATH, which stands for Scaling Up Nascent PV At Home, is part of the U.S. governments controversial efforts to increase America's manufacturing competitiveness in the solar market.

I’ve seen this article several times now, and I meant to address it the first time, but then I got distracted by something shiny…er I mean work?

Society is in a tough spot. Drug companies are culturally vilified and routinely sued when things go bad - all in return for only a few years of profitability before anyone can make the new drugs they develop - the FDA is constantly under pressure to expedite new drugs to respond to patient needs and governments are increasing pressure and regulation.

 Small wonder there are fewer early stage drug companies and drug shortages.  The situation is even worse in Europe, both in their cultural resistance to modern science and anti-business climate.

Life-threatening allergic reactions in children, such as anaphylaxis, have increased 7-fold in the last decade and a third of all allergic shocks in children occur for the first time at school with teachers largely unprepared.

Two studies in Nature applied DNA blood testing using the BEAMing technology to detect drug resistance mediated by KRAS mutations in colorectal cancer patients months before treatment failure was observed. 

 The group led by Alberto Bardelli, Ph.D., of the University of Torino, Italy describes the development of secondary resistance mutations to the anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody cetuximab (Erbitux(R)) in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) [Misale S. et al., Nature Epub 13 June 2012].The second group led by Luis Diaz, MD and Bert Vogelstein, M.D. from Johns Hopkins University reached similar conclusions after studying mCRC patients treated with a monotherapy of panitumumab (Vectibix(R)) [Diaz Jr LA et al., Nature Epub 13 June 2012].