James D. Watson, the brilliant but controversial American biologist whose 1953 discovery of the structure of DNA, the molecule of heredity, ushered in the age of genetics and provided the foundation for the biotechnology revolution of the late 20th century, has died at the age of 97.
His death was confirmed by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island, where he worked for many years. The New York Times reported that Watson died this week at a hospice on Long Island.
In his later years, Watson's reputation was tarnished by comments on genetics and race that led him to be ostracized by the scientific establishment.
Even as a younger man, he was known as much for his writing and for his enfant-terrible persona − including his willingness to use another scientist's data to advance his own career − as for his science.
His 1968 memoir, "The Double Helix," was a racy, take-no-prisoners account of how he and British physicist Francis Crick were first to determine the three-dimensional shape of DNA. The achievement won the duo a share of the 1962 Nobel Prize in medicine and eventually would lead to genetic engineering, gene therapy and other DNA-based medicine and technology.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has denounced a wave of Israeli air strikes on southern Lebanon as a “heinous political crime” as at least one person was killed and nine others injured in the attacks.
Hamas fighters entrenched in Rafah, the southernmost area of Gaza now under Israeli control, may soon surrender their weapons in exchange for safe passage to other parts of the enclave, according to sources close to ongoing mediation talks. The proposal, facilitated by Egyptian mediators, aims to preserve the fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire that began on October 10 and has already been tested by renewed violence.
A Ukrainian court has handed down the first jail sentence for life against a Russian soldier accused of killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war.
The death toll in the explosion that saw a UPS cargo plane lose an engine and burst into flames, has risen to 13, Craig Greenberg, the Louisville mayor, has confirmed as UPS released the names of the three victims on the plane.
Pack your bags and flee, infidels: New York City has fallen to a cabal of socialist jihadists. With Zohran Mamdani to become the city’s first Muslim mayor, many are celebrating the democratic socialist’s historic win. Billionaires, Islamophobes and Republicans, however, are in the throes of hysteria. But what’s new? The New York mayoral race has been marred by bigotry so unhinged it’s almost impossible to parody.
What future is there for Palestinians in Gaza? The announcement of the ceasefire brought profound relief, shaded by an equally deep sense of trepidation. Almost a month later, the picture looks bleaker. The Israeli offensive abated, Hamas has returned the surviving hostages and the remains of some of those who have died, and Israel has released some Palestinian detainees and the remains of others.
A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to release full funding for November food stamps by Friday.
