Stephen M. Coan

President, Sea Research Foundation

The Titanic remains the most haunting maritime disaster in history. But its fate, and those of the 1,500 lost souls on board, should be a call to action for all of us. Maritime history should be preserved and protected, not plundered.

Mark E. Robson, M.D.

Attending Physician, Clinic Director, Clinical Genetics Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

I have been involved in research in this area for 17 years, since shortly after BRCA1 and BRCA2 were discovered, and I have no idea what I would do if I were a woman faced with this decision. The diagnosis of a mutation is just words on paper, but the risks they foreshadow are very real.

Stanton Peele

Addiction expert

The ideal image many people had of the genome as a straightforward template that stamps out human beings in a predictable way was, and is, a fantasy. And this is nowhere more evident than in the case of human personality traits and mental illness.

Vicki Chandler

Scientist, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

How could we truly distinguish great science from good science? Often, we can't. Nor should we, in many cases -- although journal "impact factors" are being used to try to do just that.

Beth Kohl

Author, 'Embryo Culture: Making Babies in the Twenty-First Century'

In the eleven years since my youngest children were born, twin daughters, thanks to IVF, who joined a similarly IVF-enabled sister, we've scarcely discussed their scientific beginnings.

Peter McGraw and Joel Warner

The Humor Code

According to the Benign Violation Theory, humor has its roots in potentially negative experiences (i.e., violations) that are made to seem okay in some way (i.e., benign). That makes joke telling risky because you can fail by being too benign or by creating too much of a violation.

Jonathan Appel

Associate Professor of Psychology and Criminal Justice, Tiffin University

There is an order or organization in destructive human behavior which can be illuminated with research and clinical observation -- and can have many implications for intervention. Neuroscience is providing a major piece of the puzzle towards this understanding -- but only a piece.

Rob Brooks

Evolutionary biologist and author

Rather than simply cheating -- trying to gain from another's cooperative behaviour without behaving cooperatively yourself -- lying adds another way of operating. By misleading the other individual, one can trick that individual into cooperating.

Michael Zakaras

Writer and strategist who specializes in social entrepreneurship and public policy

In our efforts to solve difficult social problems in particular, we rely too heavily on reason and numbers and econometrics, and not often enough on empathy. And by empathy I don't just mean our emotions, and I certainly don't mean feeling sorry -- that's sympathy.

Ronald L. Wasserstein

Executive Director, American Statistical Association

Your chance of winning the lottery on a single ticket is one in 175 million. That seems tiny, and it is. In fact, it's so small that it is difficult for us to grasp. Understanding how small this number is provides the key to understanding how likely -- or unlikely -- it is you will become the next big winner of the Powerball jackpot.

Allen Frances

Professor Emeritus, Duke University

My recommendation for clinicians is simple. Don't use DSM-5 -- there is nothing official about it, nothing especially helpful in it, and all the codes you need for reimbursement are already available for free on the Internet or in DSM-IV.

Lauren Pecorino

Principal lecturer, Univ. of Greenwich; Author, 'Why Millions Survive Cancer'

Celebrities often set trends: they show us what to wear, create hairstyles, and inspire tattoos. But when it comes to your health it is important to know the facts before joining a trend.

Lindblad Expeditions

Pioneers in expedition travel

What had I seen? Was it a species as yet undescribed by science? In places as remote as the Weddell Sea, it is quite possible to come across unknown animals, but it is also very difficult to know for sure that what you have found is really new.

Chris Mason

Assistant Professor, Weill Cornell Medical College

AMP v. Myriad Genetics is important because Myriad genetics holds patents for the breast cancer associated genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2), and only they can legally examine these fragments of DNA from your body.

Terrie M. Williams

Professor of Biology, Univ of CA, Santa Cruz; Author 'The Odyssey of KP2'

Biology has guaranteed that the energy of youth will erupt with each new generation. The question is, how should we deal with it?

Jalees Rehman, M.D.

Scientist and physician

This process of cellular alchemy is still in its infancy. It is one of the most exciting new areas in the field of regenerative medicine, because it shows how plastic cells are.

Russell Mittermeier

President, Conservation International

Compiling a detailed volume on all the primates of the world had been attempted a few times in the past, but never in a way that captured the full diversity of these creatures. I decided I would take on this task.