TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — For years, pinning down the source of a bill in the Kansas Legislature could be a chore for lawmakers’ constituents. Committees sponsor almost 85% of the proposals, so finding the group or lobbyist responsible could require questioning multiple lawmakers or, in recent years, reviewing YouTube videos of meetings. But this year,…
NEW YORK (AP) — Doctors in Boston have transplanted a pig kidney into a 62-year-old patient, the latest experiment in the quest to use animal organs in humans. Massachusetts General Hospital said Thursday that it’s the first time a genetically modified pig kidney has been transplanted into a living person. Previously, pig kidneys have been…
The bill would update state laws to ensure accountability for owners of “ghost guns,” toughen the state’s existing prohibition on assault weapons and make it illegal to possess devices that convert semiautomatic firearms into fully automatic machine guns. On ghost guns, the bill seeks to ensure oversight for those who own the privately made, unserialized…
Allegations of research fakery at a leading cancer center have turned a spotlight on scientific integrity and the amateur sleuths uncovering image manipulation in published research. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a Harvard Medical School affiliate, announced Jan. 22 it’s requesting retractions and corrections of scientific papers after a British blogger flagged problems in early January. The…
Gene therapy has allowed several children born with inherited deafness to hear. A small study published Wednesday documents significantly restored hearing in five of six kids treated in China. On Tuesday, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia announced similar improvements in an 11-year-old boy treated there. And earlier this month, Chinese researchers published a study showing…
DENVER (AP) — River basins around the world that were once regularly snowbound are increasingly seeing their snowpack shrink and climate change is to blame, a new study found. “Many of the world’s most populous basins are hovering on the precipice of rapid snow declines,” concluded the study of snow amounts since 1981 in Wednesday’s…
The average liter of bottled water has nearly a quarter million invisible pieces of ever so tiny nanoplastics, detected and categorized for the first time by a microscope using dual lasers. Scientists long figured there were lots of these microscopic plastic pieces, but until researchers at Columbia and Rutgers universities did their calculations they never…
An Indian-origin couple and their teenage daughter were found dead in their mansion in the US’s Massachusetts in what authorities described as a “domestic violence situation”. Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said the bodies of Rakesh Kamal, 57, his wife, Teena, 54, and their 18-year-old daughter Ariana were found in their Dover mansion, near Boston,…
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Since passage of the Endangered Species Act 50 years ago, more than 1,700 plants, mammals, fish, insects and other species in the U.S. have been listed as threatened or endangered with extinction. Yet federal government data reveals striking disparities in how much money is allocated to save various biological kingdoms. Of…
ATLANTA (AP) — A spate of false reports of shootings at the homes of public officials in recent days could be setting the stage for stricter penalties against so-called swatting in more states. U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost…
