Sewage analysis reveals European party hotspots
For the first time, scientists have made direct comparisons of illicit drug use in 19 European cities by a cooperative…
Brain hardwired for objectification of women
A new series of experiments have shown that when presented with images of men, both male and female subjects perceive…
Hunter-gatherer study contradicts obesity theory
New findings published in the journal PLoS ONEsuggest that diet – rather than lack of exercise – may be the…
Cell phone scanner diagnoses anemia
Designed for use in the developing world, a low-cost screening device connected to a cell phone could prevent the anemia-related…
Inflatable heat shield survives re-entry test
Developed by NASA, a large heat shield inflated with nitrogen has successfully completed a re-entry trip through Earth’s atmosphere while…
Artificial jellyfish shows new route to synthetic organisms
Using only silicon and cultured rat heart muscle tissue, bioengineers from Caltech and Harvard University have created a jellyfish-like creature…
Titan’s rivers create a puzzle for geologists
Titan’s thick, methane- and nitrogen-rich atmosphere has for many years kept astronomers from seeing what lies beneath. Saturn’s largest moon…
Diesel fumes causing waistlines to bulge?
Pregnant mice exposed to diesel exhaust pollution gave birth to offspring with a significantly higher rate of obesity and insulin…
Earliest spiral galaxy “astounding”
Looking back 11 billion years, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have observed for the first time a spiral galaxy…
OCD rodents keeping forests alive
The obsessive thieving and stashing of seeds by rodents provides a vital seed-dispersal service in tropical forests, say scientists whose…
Inaccuracy of brain’s language processing revealed
After a plane crash, where should the survivors be buried? A new study using electroencephalography to explore what is happening…
Marijuana farms impacting fragile ecosystems
Poisons used on illegal marijuana farms appear to be sickening and killing the fisher (pictured), a rare forest carnivore that…
Iris recognition shows its age
It was generally assumed that the iris was a “stable” biometric over a person’s lifetime but new research from the…
New moon discovery adds to Pluto’s mystery
The Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a fifth moon – dubbed P5 – orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto. The…
Breakthrough in stabilizing vaccines and antibiotics without refrigeration
A new chemical stabilizer – based on silk – keeps the bioactive molecules in vaccines and antibiotics stable for long…
E-waste should be managed as a resource, say sustainability experts
A staggering 320 tons of gold and more than 7,500 tons of silver are used to make computers, cell phones,…
Astronomers ponder proto solar system vanishing act
Displaying all of the characteristics of a solar system in the making, a massive cloud of dust and rocky debris…
New boson could be Higgs particle, say CERN boffins
CERN physicists say they have enough statistical evidence to claim discovery of a new fundamental particle – a boson that…
Atom shadow photographed using traditional microscopy
For the first time, Griffith University (Australia) scientists have managed to photograph the shadow of an atom using only visible…
Toxoplasmosis linked to suicide attempts
Spread through contact with cat feces or eating undercooked meat, the parasite Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) has been linked to…
Vacuum tube tech could save Moore’s Law
To run integrated circuits at faster and faster speeds, University of Pittsburgh scientists are proposing a new spin on an…