We've seen increasingly bizarre claims from social psychologists and advocates with confirmation bias: American liberals are evolving into a different species, they have prettier children, conservatives are motivated by fear, and more. 

One thing is truth, people are more likely to mate by education level now, there are very few scenarios where smart people simply don't go to college in a culture where government spends money convincing young people they need a college degree.  That would have to change the genetic makeup of subsequent generations, right?

A new study published in Diabetologia finds that children with a strong family history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and/or type 2 diabetes were found to have cholesterol levels significantly higher than children with no family history of those conditions.

The research found that one third of the 12-year-olds studied had a strong family history of one or both diseases. This group also had unfavourable levels of cardiometabolic markers in the form of higher total cholesterol, and a higher ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol than the groups with moderate or no family history of disease.

Children with elevated levels of these markers may also have a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes in adulthood.

Though wind energy is not viable everywhere, there are places it can work. The Galapagos Islands, a fragile ecosystem, is touted as one example, because it otherwise has to import diesel fuel. 

A performance summary and recommendations for the expansion are contained in a new report by the Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership (GSEP), which led and financed the $10 million project. The project's three 51-meter-tall wind turbines and two sets of solar panels have supplied, on average, 30% of the electricity consumed on San Cristóbal, the archipelago's second-largest island in size and population, since it went into operation in October 2007.

Consumers are aware of genetically modified crops but their knowledge level is limited and often at odds with the facts, according to a new paper in the FASEB journal.

Last year, Brandon McFadden, an assistant professor of food and resource economics at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural ‌Sciences, published a study that showed scientific facts scarcely change consumers’ impressions of genetically modified food and other organisms.

Washington, DC -- Obese teenagers already show signs of hormonal differences from normal-weight peers that may make them prone to weight gain, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

The study found obese teenagers have lower levels of a hormone potentially tied to weight management than normal-weight teens. Studies of adults have found that the hormone, called spexin, is likely involved in regulating the body's fat mass and energy balance.

Bacteria use a form of "social media" communication called quorum sensing to monitor how many of their fellow species are in the neighborhood, allowing them to detect changes in density and respond with changes in collective behavior. Because of the importance of quorum sensing to the behavior of disease-causing bacteria like Vibrio cholerae, the cause of the deadly disease cholera, understanding how it works has the potential to allow us to disrupt it for therapeutic purposes.