Selecting graduate students in the fields of science and engineering based on an assessment of "character", whatever that means, is better than relying almost entirely on their scores on a standardized test like the GRE.

The goal in that would be to boost participation by women. Underrepresented even more in academia are Republicans and handicapped people, but the authors aren't worried about all minorities, just the correct ones. 

After analyzing core samples from the seabed off the coast of Spain and Portugal, near the Strait of Gibraltar, scientists say they have proof of shifts of climate change over the past six million years.  

The team also discovered new evidence of a deep-earth tectonic pulse in the region, as well as thick layers of sand within mountains of mud in a vast sheet, spreading out nearly 100km into the Atlantic from the Gibraltar gateway.

The quantity of sand is far more than was expected and has been caused by the strength, speed and long duration of bottom currents flowing through the Strait of Gibraltar from the Mediterranean.

In humans, no therapy for  amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease,  has ever been discovered that could extend lifespan more than a few additional months.

ALS was first identified as a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease in the late 1800s but only gained international recognition in 1939 when it was diagnosed in American baseball legend Lou Gehrig. It's known to be caused by motor neurons in the spinal cord deteriorating and dying, and has been traced to mutations in copper, zinc superoxide dismutase, or SOD1. Ordinarily, superoxide dismutase is an antioxidant whose proper function is essential to life.

In the most comprehensive genetic study of the Mexican population to date, researchers from  Mexico's National Institute of Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN), UC San Francisco and Stanford University, have identified tremendous genetic diversity.

So much diversity there basically are no Mexicans.  But it explains some confounding aspects of Latino health, like why there is such a variety of health factors among Latinos of Mexican descent, including differing rates of breast cancer and asthma, as well as therapeutic response.  

White sharks
(Carcharodon carcharias)
are among the largest, most widespread apex predators in the ocean so there have been concerns about their vulnerability. The most comprehensive study undertaken on seasonal distribution patterns and historic trends in abundance of white sharks in the western North Atlantic Ocean used records compiled over more than 200 years finds that white sharks are a conservation win.

Scientists from NOAA Fisheries and colleagues added recent grey literature - unpublished, non-peer reviewed data - to previously published data to create a broader picture of 649 confirmed white shark records obtained between 1800 and 2010, the largest white shark dataset ever compiled for the region.  

MINNEAPOLIS – People with diets higher in protein, especially from fish, may be less likely to have a stroke than those with diets lower in protein, according to a meta-analysis published in the June 11, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

"The amount of protein that led to the reduced risk was moderate—equal to 20 grams per day," said study author Xinfeng Liu, MD, PhD, of Nanjing University School of Medicine in Nanjing, China. "Additional, larger studies are needed before definitive recommendations can be made, but the evidence is compelling."