Republican Sadism

There can only be one explanation for why Republicans are so intent on tearing up the safety net. It can be nothing but cruelty and the desire to hurt the unfortunate. If I were a Republican, I would be so ashamed. But then, I would be a Republican and basic morality would be an alien concept to me.

Negative Power Prices

Sometimes you can get paid for using power. This has happened in Germany because high wind generation combined with low demand produces power that has no where to go. So power users are paid for the power they use rather than the other way around. Fossil and nuclear generators can not be ramped down fast enough to reduce the surplus.

Bogus Patents

Sometimes our patent system is a real mess. The three main causes have been identified, bad incentives, abusive filers, and excessive workloads.

• The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is funded by fees—and the agency gets more fees if it approves an application.

• Unlimited opportunities to refile rejected applications means sometimes granting a patent is the only way to get rid of a persistent applicant.

• Patent examiners are given less time to review patent applications as they gain seniority, leading to less thorough reviews.

It doesn't help true innovation when there's so much wrong with the system that's supposed to help it.

The Body's Own Bathroom Scales

I've always been blessed with a fairly stable body weight despite sub-optimal eating habits. It turns out the body has own a mechanism for that. This could lead to better understanding and treatments for obesity.

It Isn't Just the Heat

Human-induced global warming may have its most destructive impact by raising humidity in certain areas.

Long-theorized new form of matter, excitonium, finally discovered

Excitonium, Is that like Unobtainium from 'Avatar'?

CRISPR Breakthrough

A recent improvement in the CRISPR technique bypasses some risky problems with the earlier method. The prior method can introduce unanticipated mutations. The new method is much safer. It doesn't change the DNA itself. It changes how the genes express. This area is known as epigenetics. As such it holds much greater promise to treat diseases. It has proven itself for diabetes and muscular dystrophy in mouse models.

Gerrymandering Solution

In addition to the Efficiency Gap measuring system, this looks like it could be a equitable way to establish districts even in those states that don't have bipartisan commissions.

It's a new spin on the old candy-splitting trick we used as kids. Basically, you divide, I choose. The idea is that Party A draws up a an initial districting. Party B gets to "freeze" the boundaries of one of the districts. Then Party B redraws a plan for the remaining geography. Then Party A gets to freeze a district and redraw the remaining space, and so forth.

An End to the Baby Light Box

My own kids and many grand-kids and their parents had to endure the hassle of early baby days in a loaner baby light box. This looks to be pretty cool. But I hope they are easy to clean because...babies happen.

Illuminated pajamas could shine infant jaundice away with light therapy Though infant jaundice can be treated with light therapy, this involves the baby lying alone and naked inside an incubator. A new material could replace this uncomfortable experience, by instead wrapping them inside snug pajamas that radiate light inwards. newatlas.com

3-D Ultrasound on the cheap

Gaming technology leads to medical advances.

How a $10 microchip turns 2-D ultrasound machines into 3-D imaging devices: Low-cost upgrade could more easily image babies, trauma patients who can't be moved Technology that keeps track of how your smartphone is oriented can now give $50,000 ultrasound machines many of the 3-D imaging abilities of their $250,000 counterparts -- for the cost of a $10 microchip. www.sciencedaily.com

What Is Russia Up To?

Europe is showered in radioactive particles… and they may have come from Russia RADIATION levels across Europe have risen mysteriously – and Russia may be behind the baffling phenomenon. German scientists say there has been a slight increase in the amount of particles of… www.thesun.co.uk

Dark Side of Genetically Engineered Crops

The problem with any sort of natural engineering is that evolution will eventually find a way around it. This is an arms race that must be approached thoughtfully. How can we sufficiently control pests without applying so much pressure that it becomes advantageous to circumvent the controls?

Pest resistance to biotech crops surging: A new global assessment helps scientists explain why cases of pest resistance to genetically engineered crops increased by more than fivefold in the past decade, yet some pests remain suppressed Pest resistance to genetically engineered crops Bt crops is evolving faster now than before, researchers show in the most comprehensive study to date. But as expected from evolutionary theory, resistance can be delayed if farmers comply with recommendations to make use of abundant refuges. www.sciencedaily.com

Anti-Abortion Laws Don't Work

In policy debates, it's always useful to have actual cases to which one can refer and possibly learn. Mexico is a poster-child of what happens under strict abortion laws.
Mexico and Latin America have some of the world's strictest laws and consequently have some of the world's highest abortion rates. If one genuinely wants to limit the number of abortions, making them illegal not only fails but makes the numbers higher than they would be otherwise.

Cause for Permian Extinction Found

Another of those geologic mysteries bites the dust. During the time of the eruptions, sedimentary deposits in the area that would eventually become West Texas and New Mexico were laid down. These would eventually be transformed into one of the most productive set of oil fields in the nation.

Siberian volcanic eruptions caused extinction 250 million years ago, new evidence shows The Great Permian Extinction, which occurred approximately 250 million years ago, was caused by massive volcanic eruptions that led to significant environmental changes, new evidence shows. www.sciencedaily.com

Goldman Sachs is in the White House

The guy who created the 2008 financial crisis is now the top White House financial advisor. What does that tell you?

It's time to change the name of the White House to Camp Swampy.

Gary Cohn Is Giving Goldman Sachs Everything It Ever ... At Goldman Sachs, Gary Cohn nearly wrecked the economy. As Trump's top economic adviser, he's dismantling the rules put in place after the financial crisis. theintercept.com

Alzheimer's News

It might eventually be possible to prevent the disease altogether.

Newly ID'd role of major Alzheimer's gene suggests possible therapeutic target: Blocking ApoE4 in brain may prevent nerve cell death, inflammation A new role has been identified for the major Alzheimer's risk factor ApoE4, suggesting that targeting the protein may help treat the disease. Researchers show that ApoE4 exacerbates the brain damage caused by toxic tangles of a different Alzheimer's-associated protein: tau. In the absence of ApoE, tau tangles did very little harm to brain cells. www.sciencedaily.com

Quantum Gravity?

Could this be a start in unifying quantum mechanics with general relativity?

Gravity may be created by strange flashes in the quantum realm A model of how wave forms of quantum systems collapse reveals a way they could create gravitational fields, and perhaps even reconcile two pillars of physics www.newscientist.com

One Immigration Model

Those who are genuinely serious about effective and just immigration reform can start by looking at what other countries are doing.

Canada Should Be Trump's Model for Immigration Reform ... The U.S. immigration system needs reform, and President-elect Donald Trump might be just the man to do it. Although research shows that low-skilled ... www.bloomberg.com

Hope in Multiple Sclerosis Research

Someday we are going to be able to cure this thing.

Unique gene therapy prevents, reverses multiple sclerosis in animal model Multiple sclerosis can be inhibited or reversed using a novel gene therapy technique that stops the disease's immune response in mouse models, researchers have found. www.sciencedaily.com

SSTO is Coming

Single stage to orbit. It's going to be a new age for orbital access.

ARCA's revolutionary aerospike engine completed and ready for testing ARCA Space Corporation has announced its linear aerospike engine is ready to start ground tests. ​Designed to power the world's first operational Single-Stage-To-Orbit (SSTO) satellite launcher, the engine took only 60 days to complete from when fabrication began.​ newatlas.com