Chicago Council on Science and Technology

Q: The United States appears to be committed to expanding domestic development of fossil fuels, in addition to renewables. What are your thoughts on this?
A: The fact is that no country can actually depend 100 percent on renewable energy. It would be nice, but it’s not possible.

Friends and foes have squared off over the impact it would have on nature, local traditions, property values and electricity bills; on the profits to be pocketed by a private developer; and even the urgency of easing the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels, a priority of the Obama administration.

Scientists have known for decades that a protein fragment, called amyloid-beta (AM-uh-loyd BAIT-uh), is a key to the riddle of Alzheimer’s disease. Alois Alzheimer himself first found aggregates of this “peculiar substance” in the brain of a dementia patient after her death. These bundles of protein, or plaques, are composed almost entirely of amyloid-beta, and still are used to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease after death.

Courtesy: National Academy of Sciences (NAS) PRESS RELEASE: Many U.S. farmers who grow genetically engineered (GE) crops are realizing substantial economic and environmental benefits — such as lower production costs, fewer pest problems, reduced use of pesticides, and better yields — compared with conventional crops, says a new report from the National Research Council.  However, GE crops resistant [...]

…by combining the museum’s expertise in evolutionary biology with the university’s genomics programs, which include DNA sequencing, researchers are able to complete a more thorough picture of how these diseases are being transferred to humans and what can be done to stop it.

The five are among the 229 leaders in the sciences, social sciences, the humanities, the arts, business and public affairs who have been elected to the academy this year for their pathbreaking work.

Courtesy: Purdue University News Service WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue has received $14.9 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health to expand Discovery Park’s Bindley Bioscience Center for growing its cancer and life sciences research. The NIH’s National Center for Research Resources is awarding the money through a federal stimulus measure for the [...]

Courtesy: The New York Times An attempt by the Army Corps of Engineers to correct old data on water flows in the Mississippi may have led to underestimates of the current risk of flooding along the river, scientists argue in a new study. The study argues that a change in the way water flows were measured, [...]

Courtesy: The New York Times Along one wall of Russell J. Stewart’s laboratory at the University of Utah sits a saltwater tank containing a strange object: a rock-hard lump the size of a soccer ball, riddled with hundreds of small holes. It has the look of something that fell from outer space, but its origins are [...]