Levitating Fruit Flies To Learn About Space Travel

Physicist Richard Hill and colleagues at the University of Nottingham have a powerful magnet that they have used to levitate fruits, beer and most recently, fruit flies. It's a low-cost way to study the effects of zero gravity on biological systems, Hill says.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/01/06/144794039/levitating-fruit-flies-to-learn-about-space-travel?ft=1&f=1007

hillary clinton

Will GOP Cooperate With Obama Like It's 1996?

Ron Klain, Bloomberg
Newt Gingrich’s return to prominence may not last, but it should stir memories of the last time he was a major figure on the national scene. Indeed, revisiting the events of 1996 allows us to imagine a different scenario for this election year than most observers expect.Back in 1995, as in 2011, powerful Republican leaders (including Gingrich, then speaker of the House) faced a Democratic president who had been weakened by a stinging midterm defeat. They blocked the president’s initiatives, and tried to use their power in Congress to bring him down. 

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/01/11/will_gop_cooperate_with_obama_like_it039s_1996_271070.html

newt gingrich

Debate Persists Over Publishing Bird Flu Studies

A federal advisory board has urged scientific journals not to publish the research from two labs that have developed an airborne flu virus. Microbiologist Vincent Racaniello discusses why the move sets a bad precedent. Biosecurity expert D.A. Henderson talks about the risks of publishing the research.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/01/06/144794037/debate-persists-over-publishing-bird-flu-studies?ft=1&f=1007

nancy pelosi

TV News Shows Saw Romney Victory Coming, But Couldn't Quite Say It

The political press felt confident — dead certain, actually — that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney would win the New Hampshire primary by a comfortable margin. Most polls closed state-wide by 7 p.m. — but as a smattering would not close until 8 p.m., no one reported the final verdicts.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/01/10/145002908/tv-news-shows-saw-romney-victory-coming-but-couldnt-quite-say-it?ft=1&f=1003

hillary clinton

California on the Wrong Track

Charles Lane, Washington Post
In announcing the appointment of a new economic adviser last summer, President Obama emphasized his commitment to fact-based policymaking. It’s “more important than ever,” he said, to get “recommendations not based on politics, not based on narrow interests, but based on the best evidence, based on what’s going to do the most good for the most people in this country.”

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/01/10/california_on_the_wrong_track_270968.html

harry reid

Obama's Executive Overreach Is a Mistake

Michael McConnell, WSJ
One reason so many Americans entrusted Barack Obama with the presidency was his pledge to correct the prior administration's tendency to push unilateral executive power beyond constitutional and customary limits.Yet last week's recess appointments of Richard Cordray as the first chief of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and three new members to the President's National Labor Relations Board—taken together with other aggressive and probably unconstitutional executive actions—suggest that this president lacks a proper respect for constitutional checks...

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/01/10/obama039s_executive_overreach_is_a_mistake_270952.html

fox news