Girl Scouts from tiny Daisies to teen Ambassadors may earn 23 new badges focused on science, technology, engineering and math. It's the largest addition of new badges in a decade for Girl Scouts of the ...

NEW YORK (AP) — Children whose sexual characteristics don't neatly align with the norm have for decades faced surgery to rearrange their anatomy to resemble that of more typical boys and girls — long before they were old enough to have a say in the decision.

Anybody who spent time in the low-stakes-but-ego-ridden world of high school debate knows: Debate is a terrible way to address a topic with any semblance of subtlety.  That goes double for any topic related to science.  Climate change, then, would make for a particularly terrible topic for an open debate. It's no coincidence then that Scott Pruitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and an avowed climate denier, has been pushing for a "red team/blue team" debate around the science of climate change. Pruitt does a good job of making the idea sound reasonable enough. "There are lots of questions that have not been asked and answered," Pruitt said. "Who better to do that than a group of scientists ... getting together and having a robust discussion for all the world to see." SEE ALSO: The 'debate' Rick Perry wants to hold on global warming is total BS A red team/blue team is a particular style of debate in which one side (red) challenges a consensus. The other side (blue) defends it.  Groups of scientists, particularly climate scientists, do this constantly. They hash out findings by publishing studies in peer-reviewed journals and at major conferences. They just don't do it in a debate format — and for good reason. High school debaters know what debate is about, and it's not about facts or policy or rational thought. It's about people — error-prone, confirmation-seeking, causation/correlation-confusing, generally-not-that-sharp people.  It's a perfect format for climate deniers seeking to take their science-deficient case to the American public. That's why the debate has been roundly rejected by most any scientist worth their doctorate. Science and its methods exist to sift out human error. In debate, human error is just part of the fun. That's a lesson high school debaters know well. They exist in a world where people spend hours in libraries combing through source material for crucial pieces of information that can make or break entire cases.  It's high school sports for future lawyers. Also, you learn sweet pen tricks. One of the many skills high school debate taught me: how to twirl a pen. pic.twitter.com/jEjL4xlx5E — Emily Farris (@emayfarris) May 30, 2017 The problem with high school debate is the problem with debate in general — the judges. Debaters battle in front of judges that are usually just the parents of kids on that school's team—that is to say just the regular-ole public. Any decent high school debater quickly learns that to win is not to be right, it's to read the judge and figure out how to get their vote. Same will go for a "debate" about climate change. It's worth noting that this is not an indictment of high school debate itself. I still look back fondly on my time in debate, where I learned far more from my debate teacher and fellow debaters than I did in any other class. It was the first piece of education that taught me how to think critically.  It's also how I ended up wearing dress clothes on the weekends while riding in a school bus without air conditioning in Houston, Texas. We weren't sweating through our khakis to defend an ideology.  Quite the opposite. Debate tests the skills of the debaters involved, not the actual merit of whatever topic or argument is being discussed. That's why it's the perfect format for climate deniers seeking to sway the public to their side without all that pesky science getting in the way. Two suave climate deniers will wipe the floor with a couple of numbers-focused scientists — and people will feel smarter for having sided with the deniers. The public's overestimation of its own intelligence when it comes to complex topics speaks to the evil genius of a climate debate. A debate just seems like a good structure. It satisfies some notion that we are great judges that can understand complex topics and decide for ourselves. This is, of course, not the case. Humans tend to be easily swayed by any variety of elements that have nothing to do with the issues at hand when making judgements.  Yet a debate just seems so entirely reasonable. Debates are part of American history. If they were good enough for Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, they're good enough for some weather nerds ... right? Climate scientists now face a no-win scenario. Doing the debate makes climate deniers appear on equal footing with climate scientists, elevating them far beyond where they should be. Such is the search for "balance" in the Trump era, where all viewpoints are worth of hearing. By that logic, it's worth having a debate between flat earthers and round earthers. In a world where all sides are worth hearing, experts and consensus are drowned out.  The alternative isn't much better. Rejecting the debate comes off as having something to hide. If scientists refuse to participate, climate deniers get to claim victory by forfeit. And then Pruitt and the EPA might hold the debate anyway. If the debate does end up happening, just remember this one thing: Debate is about the people involved, not the topic at hand. Debate is not about finding facts, let alone making scientific discoveries. Debate is about selling—yourself, primarily.  WATCH: The best way to release stress? Break your computer.

Cancer survivor Ric Grenell helped create a health app after chemo treatments

In the superhero world, Matt Murdock, who was blinded by radioactive waste as a child, developed a superhuman ability to sense using sound waves and became the superhero Daredevil. This gives Daredevil a 360-degree field of “vision”, allowing him to precisely locate objects or people in all directions, an obvious advantage over normal vision. Bats, despite being nocturnal animals, cannot see in the dark.

People don't speak one universal language, or even a handful. Instead, today our species collectively speaks over 7,000 distinct languages.

The collection bag was used by astronaut Neil Armstrong during the first manned mission to the moon in 1969.

In case your neighborhood has priced you out ...

Scientists have discovered evidence that suggests a significant amount of water is trapped beneath the surface of the moon, raising questions about its origins and potentially bolstering future attempts to explore the Earth’s satellite. A study of data from satellites has found that deposits of volcanic material distributed across the moon’s surface contain very high levels of water, compared with surrounding areas, according to new research published in Nature Geoscience.

Archaeologists are back at the legendary birthplace of King Arthur. Last summer, researchers discovered traces of early medieval life at Tintagel in Cornwall, on England's southwest coast, where the legendary British monarch was said to have been born. It was during this time that King Arthur is said to have fought the invading Saxons.

With the world facing increased warming, melting ice caps, rising sea levels, intense weather events and other global disasters, scientists are exploring ways to re-engineer the planet to counter the effects of global warming. Earth's surface has warmed, on average over land and sea, 1.53 degreesFahrenheit (0.85 degrees Celsius) since 1880, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an international organization created by the United Nations to evaluate the state of climate change science. In the most recent issue of the journal Science, published online Thursday (July 20), two researchers provided perspective on two geoengineering methods that could reduce the so-called greenhouse effect, under which gases and clouds in Earth's atmosphere trap the sun's heat.

Analyzing genetics could have clues to how your body processes food and reacts to exercise.

Two doctors claim to have used controversial oxygen treatments to reverse brain damage in a 2-year-old from Arkansas who nearly died by drowning in a cold swimming pool, but other experts are very skeptical of the claims the doctors made in their report of the case. "I found the publication to be sufficiently suspect," said Dr. Ian Miller, a pediatric neurologist and medical director of the comprehensive epilepsy program at Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami, who was not involved in the report. "I really worry that other people who read about this on the internet will think that this is a legitimate type of therapy" for people with brain damage, when there is no proof of this, Miller told Live Science.

All Four gold targets prioritized for drilling VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 24, 2017 / Endurance Gold Corporation (TSX.V: EDG) ("Endurance") is pleased to report the results of the induced ...

A house that forms a vital piece of scientific history is on the market. It is the former home of Joseph Priestley, the scientist and radical thinker who discovered oxygen while working as a librarian for the Earl of Shelburne. Priestley lived at the property in the 1770s, after writing treatises on Unitarianism and a book about electricity – and inventing soda water. Priestley discovered oxygen in 1774 He made the discovery in 1774 in a lab built specially for him by the Earl on his country pile Bowood House, in Calne, Wiltshire. The famous experiment created oxygen by heating up mercuric oxide, before testing it on a mouse and then himself. He described the then unknown substance as being “five or six times better than common air for the purpose of respiration”. Priestley House was on the Earl’s land, but now sits in the charming village near some of the best schools in the area. The family home, named after the polymath, is arranged over four floors and has been carefully renovated, keeping period features such as exposed beams and sash windows. The property has a large walled garden, a sun terrace and a lawned area with a hot tub It has seven bedrooms and four reception rooms, each with big proportions and homely details such as an Aga and a totally handmade kitchen. The basement has rooms that offer opportunities for a studio or a snug. Outside, there is a large walled garden, a sun terrace, a lawned area complete with hot tub, and beyond there are many mature specimen trees, all overlooked by a conservatory. The house comes with seven bedrooms and four reception rooms The property is on the market for £1.25 million with Carter Jonas (01672 484107; carterjonas.co.uk).

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa said Monday it is moving ahead with draft regulations for a domestic trade in rhino horn, despite critics' concerns that a legal market will spur rhino poaching.

The space agency’s supersonic plane design could be quiet enough to lift the long-standing ban on overland travel, if it makes it to production.

It's like one great big distillery up there.

‘Space Odyssey’ allows users to explore space and colonize planets. The astrophysicist discusses the new game, the controversial Space Corps, and why he’s ‘fearless’ of A.I.

Britain Is Launching a Major Initiative to Boost Battery Technology