The Sciences
Salmonella alert: Don't eat pistachios
Oh nuts! Just when you thought it was safe to eat peanut butter again (the stuff in jars is fine but be wary of baked goods that contain it), the feds are warning consumers to avoid pistachios...
Stories by Lisa Stein
Environment
Three Mile Island three decades later
It will be exactly 30 years tomorrow since the nation's worst commercial nuclear accident occurred on a three-mile (five kilometer) slip of land in the Susquehanna River in the shadow of Harrisburg, Pa...
The Sciences
Senate confirms top Obama science advisers Holdren, Lubchenco
The Senate yesterday gave its nod to President Obama's picks for key science slots in his administration. Both appointees are leading advocates of aggressive government action to stem and reverse climate change...
Health
Actress Natasha Richardson dies after ski accident
Tony Award-winning actress Natasha Richardson died today after a fall yesterday at a Quebec ski resort, according to a family statement. No cause of death was given, but it has been widely reported that the seemingly minor tumble led to bleeding in the brain...
The Sciences
Obama names FDA chief, announces new food safety panel
President Barack Obama today tapped former New York City Public Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, 54, to head the embattled U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and announced creation of a new panel to examine and update food safety laws in the wake of an outbreak of salmonella that sickened hundreds. Obama announced the moves during his weekly radio address in which he blamed a lack of food inspections and antiquated laws and regs for creating a "demoralized" FDA as well as conditions ripe for a string of food-borne infections over the past few years, including the recent salmonella outbreak linked to peanut butter and paste churned out at a contaminated Georgia plant...
The Sciences
Obama to lift restrictions on embryonic stem cell research
President Obama is reportedly set to sign an executive order Monday lifting the Bush administration ban on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.
Health
Gupta sticks to TV, bags shot at becoming surgeon general
CNN is reporting that its chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta today withdrew from consideration as the nation's surgeon general. The network said that its go-to health guy declined to comment...
The Sciences
Senate bill designed to beef up FDA oversight, enhance food safety
Coming on the heels of a sweeping salmonella scare, a bipartisan group of senators yesterday introduced legislation designed to give the feds the financial and regulatory muscle they need to protect the nation's food supply...
The Sciences
Tainted peanut butter co. declares bankruptcy
The company responsible for the nation's salmonella outbreak that has sickened some 600 people and may have led to the deaths of eight others today declared bankruptcy.
The Sciences
Court nixes link between vaccines and autism
In a major legal setback for parents of children with autism, a special court today ruled that vaccines do not cause the disorder.
The U.S.
The Sciences
Obama scuttles Bush offshore drilling plan
The Obama administration today shelved a Bush administration plan to allow drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, delaying a final decision on the controversial policy for at least six months to give states, enviros and others time to weigh in on it...
The Sciences
Senate legislation would hike NIH funding by $6.5 billion
The Senate this week okayed an amendment to the massive stimulus package to fork over an extra $6.5 billion to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), bringing funding for the fed's biomedical research arm to $10 billion over two years...
The Sciences
Will the Senate nix National Science Foundation funds in wake of porn scandal?
A bipartisan group of senators Thursday introduced a measure that would put a hold on $3 million in operating funds for the National Science Foundation (NSF) after an internal probe revealed that employees there accessed smut on government computers...
Health
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg has pancreatic cancer surgery
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had surgery today after she was diagnosed with early-stage pancreatic cancer, according to a court news release.
Health
FDA warning: Do not eat peanut butter products
Health officials yesterday advised consumers not to eat cookies, crackers, cereal, ice cream, candy or other products containing peanut butter that may have been contaminated with salmonella, which has sickened more than 470 people in 43 states and has been linked to six deaths...
Health
Kellogg to stores: Stop selling peanut butter snacks
In the wake of a nationwide salmonella outbreak, cereal maker Kellogg has halted sales of its popular Keebler and Austin brand peanut butter crackers as a "precautionary measure" and is urging consumers not to eat the popular snacks...
The Sciences
"Beetle" juice: Is your food bugged?
Warning: if you have a delicate stomach—stop reading this now. Ditto if you're eating.
For you heartier souls out there… A show of hands, please: How many of you know that many common foods and beverages with a blush—think yogurt, ice cream, candies, fruit drinks—get their reddish (pinkish, purplish or orange) glow from carmine and cochineal, colorings extracted from the dried bodies of teensy female cochineal insects, sometimes referred to as cochineal beetles?...
Health
Are fat bums a sign of good health?
Hey, ladies, been spending hours fretting over your beefy bottoms? Perturbed about your pear-shaped bodes no matter how many lunges you do daily? Don't be.
Technology
The cat that came back after 13 years dies
It was just a month ago that ScientificAmerican.com reported the happy tale of a lost cat named George that came home 13 years after rescuers traced his owners through information on a microchip in the scruff of his neck...
Biology
Dogs' Bark: Not fair! Study shows pups get jealous
Scientists have confirmed what pet owners have always suspected: our pooches may pout when they sense another pup is getting favorable treatment.
Researchers at the University of Vienna in Austria report today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA that dogs may be like our human best buds: they get jealous if they feel we're treating another dog better...
