Wray Herbert, 06/28/12

Author, 'On Second Thought: Outsmarting Your Mind's Hard-Wired Habits'

Those of us who live in modern, industrialized nations may indeed be sickened by negative emotions, but surely this phenomenon is eclipsed by more pressing and serious health risks in the developing world, by "real" problems like famine, poverty, and war. Or is it?

Laura DiMugno, 06/28/12

Writer and editor

It may be hard to imagine, but the outer edges of Antarctica were once green, luscious and teeming with vegetation, a new study has uncovered.

Debra Umberson, 06/26/12

Sociology professor, University of Texas at Austin; Editor, Journal of Health and Social Behavior

Had Regnerus walked down the hall and knocked on my door, I would have been happy to explain that stress and instability harm children in any family context. Love and support help children to thrive and succeed.

Arthur I. Miller, 06/27/12

Author, 'Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time, and the Beauty That Causes Havoc'

It is too often the case that conversations on creativity plummet to new lows. Conversely, the one at Tällberg was a grown-up discussion which ranged far, wide and deep, over a spectrum that included art, science, technology and business.

Rebecca Lucore, 06/27/12

Executive Director, Bayer USA Foundation

These universities serve as hallmarks for what is possible in STEM education. Others that are willing to take a risk and follow suit, especially when coupled with the backing of science companies and organizations, will help further break the mold of traditional teaching methods.

Roxane Assaf, 06/27/12

Journalist and Adjunct, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Imagine being part of the discovery of something that potentially cracks the code to the origins of the universe by understanding the structure of matter.

Francesco Fiondella, 06/27/12

Communications officer, International Research Institute for Climate and Society

The ability to predict seasonal changes in rainfall and temperatures, if effectively applied, could be one of the best adaptation strategies to climate variability and climate change in the Sahel and across sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Jim Taylor, 06/26/12

Adjunct professor, University of San Francisco

If the fight-or-flight survival instinct, which is so deeply woven into our DNA, no longer fulfills our most basic needs to survive, what new form of survival instinct do we need to evolve to help us to survive in the concrete, metal, and hard-wired world in which we now live?

Daniel T. Blumstein, 06/26/12

Professor and Chair, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UCLA

Our ongoing work explores how and why music brings out the animal in us. Successful musicians like Jimi Hendrix and film score composers may not have known this explicitly, but they certainly tapped into our inner animal when they created emotionally evocative sounds.

Meera Bhanu, 06/26/12

Graduate student, University of Connecticut

Life as a researcher is no walk in the park, but a passion for science (along with ample amounts of perseverance) can go a long way. We might look like geeks, but it's good to know that the producers of The Big Bang Theory have got our backs!

Zoe P. Strassfield, 06/26/12

BU Class of 2015, Aspiring Archaeologist and Science Journalist

This week's been a bit hectic for me, but that made having today off for museum-going all the sweeter. I came up with the idea of making a list of 10 things at the Smithsonian Institution's various museums and other facilities that make me smile.

Nigel Barber, 06/26/12

Biopsychologist; Blogger, Psychology Today's 'The Human Beast'

Religion remains stronger here than in Europe whether one looks at objective evidence or self reports. But that is not saying much.

Lewis Lapham, 06/25/12

Editor of Lapham's Quarterly

New philosophies call all in doubt, the more so as the accelerating rates of technological advance -- celestial, terrestrial, and subliminal -- overrun the frontiers between science, magic, and religion.

James A. Shapiro, 06/25/12

Author, 'Evolution: A View from the 21st Century'; Professor of Microbiology, University of Chicago

I have argued that natural genetic engineering is the real creative process in evolutionary innovation. A central but undocumented feature of my argument is that cells can coordinate separate DNA-change events to produce functional new genome structures.

Maria Strømme, 06/25/12

Professor of nanotechnology, Uppsala University, Sweden

Life has managed to find a way since the first living cells started to appear on Earth nearly 4 billion years ago. Let me provide some examples of how natural, bottom-up (or self-assembly) processes are now being mimicked to provide technological breakthroughs.

Christopher de la Torre, 06/23/12

The Turing tragedy is worth considering, if only to remind us that despite a sustained shift away from sexual discrimination, science still hasn't fully come to terms with the fact that one of its most influential icons was gay.

Jason Silverstein, 06/22/12

PhD student, Department of Anthropology at Harvard

Taking DNA samples from people arrested, but not convicted of a crime, has the potential to make our already unfair justice system even less fair. Before we expand the preconviction DNA dragnet, we should think hard about what that means in a racially biased system.