Credit: AP

After allowing the Paycheck Fairness Act to move forward last week, Senate Republicans turned around on Monday evening and unanimously voted to block the bill, which would ban salary secrecy and tighten rules to try to narrow the gender wage gap.

The vote came weeks after the Republican National Committee claimed that ‘All Republicans support equal pay.” Senate Republicans have unanimously shot the bill down multiple times over the past four years.

The bill includes a number of provisions aimed at preventing the gender wage gap in the first place, which currently means a woman who works full time, year round makes 77 percent of what a similar man makes and hasn’t budged in a decade.

It would ban salary secrecy, in which employers prohibit or strongly discourage employees from discussing pay with each other, thus making it difficult for women to discover unequal practices. While it’s illegal to tell workers they can’t talk about wages with each other without a business justification, since it infringes on the right to engage in concerted activities for mutual […]

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By the end of this century, as sea levels rise, as much as $7 billion worth of property in the District will routinely be threatened by storm-driven floodwaters, according to a new analysis, including 1,000 homes, three military bases and a broad swath of the Mall.

With tides on the Atlantic Coast generally forecast to rise two to four feet by 2100, the nation’s capital faces increasing odds that a big storm will blow up the Potomac River and raise local waters by at least eight feet, the analysis says – roughly a foot higher than the damaging floods that accompanied Hurricane Isabel in 2003.

The report, set for release Tuesday by the nonprofit Climate Central, maps the areas at risk in unprecedented detail, cataloguing vulnerable government facilities, roadways, cultural sites and private houses. At eight feet, for example, the Washington Navy Yard, Fort McNair and much of Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling would be inundated, the report says. So would the Maine Avenue waterfront, subsidized apartments along the Anacostia River and national memorials honoring Jefferson, […]

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Although it’s far from the sort of brain transplant beloved by science fiction enthusiasts, scientists have taken one step in that direction: they have spliced a key human brain gene into mice.

In the first study designed to assess how partially ‘humanizing’ brains of a different species affects key cognitive functions, scientists reported on Monday that mice carrying a human gene associated with language learned new ways to find food in mazes faster than normal mice.

By isolating the effects of one gene, the work sheds light on its function and hints at the evolutionary changes that led to the unique capabilities of the human brain.

For the study, scientists used hundreds of mice genetically engineered to carry the human version of Foxp2, a gene linked to speech and language. In a 2009 study, mice carrying human Foxp2 developed more-complex neurons and more-efficient brain circuits.

Building on that, neuroscientists led by Christiane Schreiweis and Ann Graybiel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained mice to find chocolate in a maze. The animals had two options: use landmarks like lab equipment and furniture visible from the maze (“at the T-intersection, turn toward the chair”) or by the feel of the floor (“smooth, turn right;” “nubby, […]

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Thomas from London, UK

The NFL estimates that nearly three in 10 former players will develop debilitating brain conditions, and that they will be stricken earlier and at least twice as often as the general population.

The disclosure on Friday came in separate actuarial data the league and players’ lawyers released as part of their proposed $765 million settlement of thousands of concussion lawsuits. Actuarial data is based on statistical models and used to make informed predictions about future events.

The NFL report said that former-players’ diagnosis rates would be “materially higher than those expected in the general population” and would come at “notably younger ages.”

Both the NFL and lawyers for former-players expect about 6,000 of the 19,400 retired players, or 28 percent, to develop Alzheimer’s disease or at least moderate dementia. Dozens more will be diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s or Parkinson’s disease during their lives, according to the data.

“This report paints a startling picture of how prevalent neurocognitive diseases are among retired NFL players,” lead player lawyers […]

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In a fight that highlights global sensitivity over genetically modified crops, Cargill Inc. sued Syngenta AG SYNN.VX -0.56% , claiming that the Swiss seed maker’s push to sell bioengineered corn seeds that weren’t approved in China cost the U.S. grain company $90 million when Beijing rejected corn shipments.

The suit, filed on Friday in Louisiana state court, escalates tensions that have shaken U.S. agribusiness since China last year sharply curtailed imports of U.S. corn. Beijing’s move all but closed off a major market for the grain, contributing to a sharp decline this year in prices for the U.S.’s biggest crop by value and costing shippers hundreds of millions of dollars, according to U.S. grain groups.

China’s government began rejecting U.S. corn shipments in November after its tests found that some shipments of U.S. corn contained Agrisure Viptera, a genetic modification developed by Syngenta that enables the plants to produce proteins that ward off pests. China hasn’t approved the product, although Syngenta says it applied for approval in 2010.

Cargill’s suit accuses Syngenta of acting irresponsibly by selling the seeds to U.S. farmers before Syngenta secured Chinese approval for imports of corn grown from those seeds. It says Syngenta’s action led to significant damages […]

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