The identities of some volunteers who donate personal genome sequence data for research can be revealed using only publicly available information, researchers report in the 18 January issue of Science.

Although two out of three Americans reportedly use social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube, researchers say that few users appreciate the ways that social media are manipulated to influence voters and affect the outcome of elections.

Governments must continue robust funding for basic research if they are to reap the economic benefits of science and technology innovation, AAAS CEO Alan I. Leshner writes in a 27 September op-ed in the German newspaper Die Zeit.

In recognition of this reality, European Union nations from Germany to Denmark are “increasing their science investments even as they control their budgets,” said Leshner, who is also the executive publisher of the journal Science.

The computer algorithm that led to the Google search engine and a multi-billion-dollar business was developed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were working as graduate students under part of a $4.5 million National Science Foundation grant for a digital library project at Stanford University.

When Ken Hess was in ninth grade, he was lucky. His teacher wanted him to do a science project, and he knew exactly what it would be. He talked his dentist into letting him come to the dental office on Saturdays, when it was closed, so Hess could use the X-ray machine to bombard various objects with radiation, observing the results with a “cloud chamber” he had built. The young Hess’s research involved observing the trails made by radioactive particles traveling through the chamber.

When students using the Ask a Biologist Web site ask questions of a fictional character named Dr. Biology, they are actually accessing the combined knowledge of more than 150 volunteer experts in the field of biology and related areas.

“That’s why Dr. Biology is so amazing,” says Charles Kazilek, who created the Web site. “He’s the most brilliant biologist on the planet.”