3xwy Blog

The prestigious British medical journal Lancet took a rare step this week: It retracted a 1998 paper that sparked a firestorm about potential links between vaccines and autism. That paper has been a bane to Dr. Paul Offit, co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine and chief of infectious diseases at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. Offit tells host Guy Raz why he thinks the paper was a disaster for parents seeking answers about autism.

Paul Pillar, professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Peace and Security Studies, talks with Renee Montagne about U.S. efforts to target and kill high-value Taliban targets in Pakistan. Is it working? And what does it accomplish?

The Hayden Planetarium in New York takes opera to the moon with a new production of Il Mondo Della Luna. Diane Paulus and Philip Bussmann talk about merging cosmos footage with music, how science can enhance the arts and the future of technology and theater.

Bdelloid rotifers haven’t had sex for 30 million years and that’s puzzling. Most asexual animals are doomed to extinction. Reporting in the journal Science , Paul Sherman and Chris Wilson explain the extraordinary adaptations that allow these rotifers to persist in celibacy.

Reuters – Paul Volcker, a member of the Obama administration’s economic team and a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, will testify on February 2 to a U.S. Senate committee on the latest White House bank regulation proposals.

Reuters – When U.S. President Barack Obama launched a fight with Wall Street by announcing a new plan to limit banks’ size, the man standing at his side was former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

Reuters – When U.S. President Barack Obama launched a fight with Wall Street by announcing a new plan to limit banks’ size, the man standing at his side was former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

Brazil emerged early Wednesday from a widespread power outage that plunged its major cities into darkness for hours, prompting concern from residents about another black eye for a country hosting the 2016 Olympic Games. Power went out for more than two hours late Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and several other major cities.

Reporting in Nature , researchers write that a rare type of neuron in the inner ear may process painfully loud sounds, such as the blast of a jackhammer. Study author Paul Fuchs discusses how his team solved a mystery that had stumped auditory scientists for nearly 50 years.

Reuters – Bumper payouts to bankers should be seen as part of a longer term investment in London’s economy, the vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International told a debate on ethics at St Paul’s Cathedral on Tuesday.