Oil palm surging source of greenhouse gas emissions

Continued expansion of industrial-scale oil palm plantations on the island of Borneo will become a leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 unless strong forest and peatland protections are enacted and enforced, ...

Science lacking on whether death penalty deters murder

Scientific research to date provides no useful conclusion on whether the death penalty reduces or boosts the murder rate, said a report by the US National Academy of Sciences on Wednesday.

Has modern science become dysfunctional?

The recent explosion in the number of retractions in scientific journals is just the tip of the iceberg and a symptom of a greater dysfunction that has been evolving the world of biomedical research say the editors-in-chief ...

'Frustration' in Europe over joint Mars probe: NASA

The United States has failed to commit to plans for an unmanned joint Mars mission with the European space agency, causing frustration abroad, top NASA officials told lawmakers on Tuesday.

It's not who you are, but what you do

(PhysOrg.com) -- When you're a tiny creature in a vast ocean it pays to hang out with the right crowd, regardless of whether they are related to you or not, a new study into the amazingly diverse world of marine microbes ...

Biology, materials science get a boost from robust imaging tool

Shape and alignment are everything. How nanometer-sized pieces fit together into a whole structure determines how well a living cell or an artificially fabricated device performs. A new method to help understand and predict ...

Fixing the economy the scientific way

Here are two facts that might seem unrelated: (1) Most Americans cannot name a living scientist. (2) Over the last two years, by far the most pressing problems in the country have been the economy and the cost of health ...

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