In The News

Thank You for Not Smoking

Heather Wipfli October 7, 2015
The passage of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, or FCTC, offers a critical case study of how international law can be harnessed to address public health issues. Heather Wipfli is author of “Global War on Tobacco: Mapping the World's First Public Health Treaty,” and an excerpt of her book was published in Foreign Affairs. With nearly 6 million tobacco-...

NASA’s Discovery: Why Finding Water on Mars Matters

Prakash Chandra September 30, 2015
Science, literature and art stir the imagination and, in turn, innovation. Water still flows on Mars with seasonal patterns, reports the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration: “Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter identified waterlogged salt molecules in the long ‘streaks’ seen flowing downhill on Mars,” reports Prakash Chandra for the Hindustan Times. “The presence of so much water (...

The Age of Disruption

Nayan Chanda May 13, 2015
Awareness of new patterns, discoveries and inventions can revolutionize entire industries or economies. Others quickly adapt or struggle. Richard Dobbs, James Manyika and Jonathan Woetzel are authors of “No Ordinary Disruption: The Four Global Forces Breaking All the Trends,” and “By combining data from disparate fields, they make a compelling argument about the disruptive forces that are re-...

Now We Can Edit the Human Genome, The Question Is: Should We?

Michael Brooks May 12, 2015
Researchers in Guangzhou wrote a scientific paper about editing the DNA of a non-viable human embryo for the journal Protein and Cell. The news was met with trepidation. Researchers are eager for tools to cure genetic diseases, but others label the methods as unethical. The researchers, examining embryos with a gene that causes a hereditary blood disorder, applied a “gene editor, a co-operative...

China, Pursuing Strategic Interests, Builds Presence in Antarctica

Jane Perlez May 7, 2015
China is extending its global reach under President Xi Jinping, and that includes Antarctica. “He signed a five-year accord with the Australian government that allows Chinese vessels and, in the future, aircraft to resupply for fuel and food before heading south,” reports Jane Perlez for the New York Times. “That will help secure easier access to a region that is believed to have vast oil and...

Can Cities Change Earth's Evolution?

Adam Frank March 9, 2015
Organisms adapt slowly to changes in their environment, with new traits developing over the course of many years. Now researchers hope to speed the process, at least with urbanization, described as among the most extreme forms of an environment altered by its inhabitants. “Eco-evolutionary dynamics in a rapidly urbanizing world is the subject of a new paper by Marina Alberti, a professor at the...

Earth's Dashboard Is Flashing Red – Are Enough People Listening?

Dennis Dimick February 4, 2015
The year 2014 was the warmest on record, and evidence that human activity contributes to climate change is overwhelming. A Pew Research Center survey suggests only half of Americans accept evidence that carbon trapped in the atmosphere is putting the planet under stress, writes Dennis Dimick for National Geographic: “We are burning record levels of coal, oil, and natural gas to fuel modern...