No shortage of neo-Earths
One of astronomy’s current goals is to determine the number of sun-like stars that have an earth-like planet. Now, a…
Noise doubles heart disease risk
A persistently noisy workplace more than doubles an employee’s risk of serious heart disease, suggest new findings in the journalOccupational…
Gender-bending pollutants’ impact quantified
A four year study from the UK has shown that the effects of hormone-like pollutants are very damaging to fish…
New Arctic shipping routes will accelerate warming
As the Arctic Ocean warms and ice-packs retreat, new routes will open up which will likely prove irresistible to shipping…
Love the pain away
Passionate, intense feelings of love can provide amazingly effective pain relief, claims a new Stanford University School of Medicine study…
Depression caused by brain inflammation?
Chronic depression is an adaptive, reparative neurobiological process gone wrong, say two University of California, San Diego, researchers. They suggest…
One-way Mars missions mooted
Fancy watching the sun rise over Olympus Mons? Or perhaps taking a stroll across the vast plains of the Vastitas…
Uh-oh, placebo
Modern medicine is based on what is considered the strongest possible evidence: the placebo-controlled trial. But placebos vary widely in…
New optics capture exoplanet 63 million light years distant
New optical technology has allowed an international team of astronomers to obtain images of the exoplanet known as Beta Pictoris…
Lighten up to get heavy
Exposure to light at night may lead to weight gain, even without changes in food intake and physical activity levels,…
Deaf cats reveal secrets of super vision
Deaf people often report enhanced abilities in their remaining senses, but up until now no one has explained how this…
Cheap-and-cheerful spectrometer for cell phones
University of Illinois chemistry professor Alexander Scheeline has written software that turns a cell phone with a camera into a…
Americans’ lagging life expectancy blamed on healthcare system
Obesity, smoking and homicides aren’t to blame, claims a new report “What Changes in Survival Rates Tell Us About U.S.…
Top reasons for Facebook unfriending revealed
Researchers spend a lot of time examining how people form friendships online, but little has been known about how those…
Study finds alarming changes in rainfall patterns
A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes alarming changes in rainfall patterns which the…
New evidence that ADHD is genetic
The results of genetic analysis of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) published in The Lancet reveal they were more likely…
Sex, Lies and Pharmaceuticals
Female sexual dysfunction is a construct of the pharmaceutical industry, asserts a new book that claims “drug marketing is merging…