NASW news

Current precautions to safeguard scientists and consumers from dangerous pathogens used in bioweapons research may be too restrictive, discouraging some researchers from staying in the field, federal officials said on Feb. 20 at the 2011 AAAS meeting in Washington, D.C.

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If ancient hominids existed today, they might have a bone to pick with their vegetarian descendants. Meat gave our distant ancestors the brain power that makes higher-level decision-making—like, becoming a vegetarian—possible, according to researchers speaking on Feb. 20 at the 2011 AAAS meeting in Washington, D.C.

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Speaking with a mouthful of pebbles didn’t cure the stutter of King George VI in real life or in the recent historical drama “The King’s Speech.” And today, scientists are still trying to develop effective therapies for stuttering, the focus of a session on Feb. 20 at the 2011 AAAS meeting in Washington, D.C.

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As analytical techniques become increasingly sensitive, scientists understand more about environmental chemicals than ever before. And as researchers peer more closely at the effects of pollutants on the lives of their subjects, ethical concerns have arisen, speakers observed on Feb. 20 at the 2011 AAAS meeting in Washington, D.C.

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In modern hospitals, doctors rely on ever more sophisticated technologies to perform quick and accurate diagnostics. But chemist George M. Whitesides thinks we're headed the wrong way with high-tech medical devices. For global medicine, cheaper is better, Whitesides claimed on Feb. 20 at the 2011 AAAS meeting in Washington D.C.

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An advanced computer technique called Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) is helping researchers study how the intricate dynamics between people and the places they inhabit explain changes in both over time, according to researchers speaking Feb. 18 at the 2011 AAAS meeting in Washington, D.C.

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Research is shedding light on why people choose to coexist peacefully in societies, even when it means taking a low rung in the social hierarchy, according to a panel of anthropologists and archaeologists who spoke on Feb. 20 at the 2011 AAAS meeting in Washington, D.C.

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Learning that we're not alone in the universe could spark street riots, global economic shutdown, or grave announcements of apocalypse from religious leaders. But it's much more likely that none of those things will happen, according to one astronomer.

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“Flavor is a concept created in the brain,” said White House pastry chef Bill Yosses. His audience was not at the executive mansion, but about one mile away in a flavorful session on 19 February at the 2011 AAAS meeting in Washington, D.C.

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