At what point have problems been researched enough?

by Kevin Boehnke

We are in a golden age of scientific technology. More so than ever before, scientists have the tools to decipher how the body works and how exposure to toxins affects our health. For instance, scientists can now understand why smoking tobacco can be so detrimental: They’ve examined the mechanisms of how smoking affects birthweight, changes the bacterial communities in the …

What’s the Problem, Science?

by Colin Roberts

In my post last week about Strelitzia reginae (the Bird of Paradise plant), I wrote about how it had been initially mistaken as another plant, then later reclassified as a new species. One of the documents I found that supported this fact (and several others) was a collection of Dutch history with an extraordinary long title (the relevant part of …

A little perspective…

by Wells

While often we are quick to bemoan the molasses-like pace of medical discovery – perhaps especially those of us who work in the biomedical sciences – sometimes a little perspective is healthy. The Guardian recently re-printed an article originally written in 1846 on the “most perfect success” of the use of ether as an anesthetic, the very concept of which …