The Hallmark version of Thanksgiving involves friends and family gathered around a beautifully set table for a delicious holiday meal, maybe sharing a bite of pie.

When the now-debunked paper by Andrew Wakefield linking vaccines to autism was published in 1998, American vaccine developer Peter Hotez immediately questioned its findings. “The paper never made much sense to me,” he said. “We already knew that the changes in the brains of kids with autism are pretty pervasive. And I couldn't imagine a mechanism by which a vaccine could cause autism.” Hotez had more at stake than being in the business of finding new vaccines. He had a six-year-old daughter on

You might want to consider adding a brisk walk to your Thanksgiving plans. The Department of Health and Human Services has released some guidelines for physical activity and finds that approximately 80 percent of teens and adults fail to get a healthy amount of exercise.

Mauna Kea is a dormant volcano that stands nearly 14,000 feet above sea level. The highest peak in Hawaii, it is a sacred place for native Hawaiians. It is also a sought-after location for astronomical observatories. There are currently 13 telescopes on the mountain, and there are plans for a fourteenth. The proposed telescope, called the " Thirty Meter Telescope ," would be massive and it’s the focus of intense controversy. Some native Hawaiians are strongly opposed to the project for spiritual

Science fiction is typically viewed as a genre or maybe a sub-culture, but a new book makes the case that science fiction after World War II is one of the most important and most under recognized influences on contemporary pop culture.

We’re about a week from Thanksgiving and the mid-term election is still fresh on the mind. Heck, some races are still being decided . For many, the country's political divide has become intensely personal – dividing families and even breaking up Thanksgiving traditions.

Congress will have a lot more scientists in its ranks when it reconvenes. Several candidates with science background won their races this past week. The exact number depends on just how you define a science background. But the real question is what impact these science-savvy representatives might have. In at least one case, it could be big – with a registered nurse taking over the helm of the House science committee from Lamar Smith.

The midterm elections have dominated the news for the past few months, but a string of racist, sexist, anti-semitic, and otherwise hate-motivated violence has been the other big story. With several attacks in such a short period of time, it can feel like a major uptick in hate crimes.

With mid-terms just days away, there’s been a lot of talk about the state of our political discourse: the extreme polarization and seeming inability of Democrats and Republicans to speak civilly with one another.

Each month we check in with the journal Nature for a few headlines that they're following.