Portside

Author and curator Nick Pyenson describes the similarities and differences between humans and our distant mammalian relatives.

The physicist Lisa Manning studies the dynamics of glassy materials to understand embryonic development and disease.

Can we clone dinosaurs? Would ankylosaurus smack down an Indominus Rex? Were pteranodons always scarier than Hitchcock’s birds? What the heck was a Mosasaur, and can I have one?

Crispr has stirred strong feelings ever since it came to light as a gene-editing technology five years ago. Already, it’s a mainstay in the scientific tool kit. But recent studies remind everyone that genome editing isn’t magic.

Jeff Sessions Cites the Bible in Separating Children From Parents. Mississippi John Hurt | You Got to Walk That Lonesome Valley. The Courage to Change | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Stupid Watergate II. Where Did Viruses Come From?

By paying more attention to behaviors, and not just to the activity of neurons, two researchers critical of most neuroscience learned how brains make sense of spoken language.

An increase in overall neighborhood socioeconomic status should result in better health for residents, not worse health. But because these neighborhoods were still low-income, they didn’t have as many resources such as health care facilities and access to mammography and follow-up care.

Greatest Scam Ever: Televangelist Begs for a Private Jet. Dave Van Ronk | He Was a Friend of Mine. Why Did Two Sexes Evolve? Conservatives Narrow Down the Real Cause of Gun Violence. Supreme Court Ordered Desegregation, Conservatives Demolish Public Education.