The CRISPR Revolution (3/28/2016)
I’ve now mentioned CRISPR (pronounced “crisper”) gene-editing technology on several different occasions (examples here and here), but I’ve never done a very good job explaining what it is or why it matters. Since …
Top Science Stories of 2017 (12/22/2017)
Since I apparently get antsy when I’m between semesters and don’t have hundreds of papers to grade, I’ve decided to once again rank the ten biggest science stories of the …
Top Science Stories of 2016 (11/30/2016)
Every year around this time, I rank the biggest science stories of the year (previous lists here, here, and here), and every year, I offer the exact same disclaimer: I am not a scientist. …
Time 100 Animals (5/28/2016)
In case you missed it, Time magazine recently published its first-ever list of the year’s 100 most influential animals. Absurd? Maybe. Probably. But that doesn’t mean it’s not awesome. As one who studies the …
Top Science Stories of 2015 (12/28/2015)
This is always a great time of year for list junkies like me. After consulting similar lists over at Science, Scientific American, Discover Magazine, and Science News, among others, I’ve once again decided to rank the …
Designers Humans? (4/24/2015)
Humans have breached yet another taboo, and this time it’s a biggie. Reports are now surfacing that a group of Chinese scientists recently “edited” DNA in human embryos for the …