Science and Society

The Latest Developments in Science and Technology

Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.

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Death and Your Digital Trail


Someone has posed a heartbreaking question on Slashdot this morning: "A good friend of mine had her younger brother apparently commit suicide last week. He was a young, promising CS major who was close to being accepted into a very...

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April 30, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (15)

Hit 'em Where it Hurts


The Kaiser Family Foundation is out with a survey on the rising cost of health care, and it's enough to give you a stomach ache. In tough times there are other things on people's minds -- 44 percent of those...

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April 29, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (17)

Is God 'Obsolete'?


Often the best part, for me, of writing this page is reading your comments. After thirteen hundred on natural selection and intelligent design (after the release of Ben Stein's "Expelled"), we're actually crashing that page on some computers. So let's...

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April 28, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (400)

So You Want to Be an NBA Star: Do You Have the Genes?


ABC News' Mike Lee reports from London: Something new is going on with the use of DNA that could make a very few lucky people rich, and devastate the hopes and dreams of many others. And it raises huge ethical...

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April 26, 2008 in Science, Sports | Permalink | User Comments (9)

Rough Landing


Peggy A Whitson is now the single most experienced astronaut in American history. When she landed Saturday with two crew mates, she had spent 377 days of her life in space. But re-entry, in Russia's Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft, was not...

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April 22, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (10)

Evolution: Now Showing at a Theater Near You


The Ben Stein anti-Darwinist film, "Expelled," opens today in 1,100 Theaters. We've posted before on it (look back HERE and HERE), so we thought we'd give you a sampling of what others have to say so far: Ronald Bailey at...

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April 18, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (1343)

Anyone Out There? Maybe Not


In 1961 a young radio astronomer named Frank Drake came up with a formula to estimate how many planets in our galaxy may be home to intelligent life. It became known as the Drake Equation, and when its inventor factored...

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April 18, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (74)

Duck!! Not.


There is an asteroid, known to astronomers as 99942 Apophis, that caused a bit of a stir when it was first spotted in 2004. An early calculation showed it had a 2.7 percent chance of hitting the Earth on April...

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April 16, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (43)

Carbon Tax: 'Off the Table'


Rep. John Dingell, the veteran Michigan Democrat who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has put out a statement: Dingell Takes Carbon & Gas Tax Proposals Off the Table Congressman Declares Policies Too Burdensome on Working Families During Economic...

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April 16, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (3)

The 'Green Nobel Prize'


Rosa Hilda Ramos, say her admirers, took on the polluters and won. She's a local activist in Puerto Rico, in Cataño, a low-income section of San Juan. Today she will be cited as one of the six winners of this...

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April 14, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (6)

 

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