Evidence that probiotics alter brain function
In a discovery that carries significant implications for changing brain function through dietary interventions, UCLA researchers say they now have…
Honey, I baked the kids
The relaxation of marijuana laws in Colorado has caused a surge in the number of young children treated for accidentally…
Torturous terrain behind human bipedal evolution?
Archaeologists at the University of York say challenging terrain could have been the driving force behind our earliest ancestors leaving…
Baits failing as cockroaches adapt to dislike sugar
Sugar is losing its attraction for roaches and making baits less effective, say scientists who have been investigating the genetic…
Physics-defying magnetic field behavior in solar flares explained
When a solar flare filled with charged particles erupts from the Sun, the flux-freezing theorem dictates that the magnetic lines…
The pirate ant: scientists mull bizarre pigmentation of new species
Scientists working in the Philippines have discovered a new enigmatic species of ant with a bizarre pigmentation pattern that has…
Humans, as well as bats, have echolocation skills
Researchers from the University of Southampton (UK) have been investigating how blind and visually impaired people can use echolocation, the…
Medicinal clays may be new weapon against antibiotic-resistant infections
Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute is trying a new approach to developing effective, topical antibacterial agents – one that draws…
Marijuana users have smaller waists, better blood sugar control
A new study in The American Journal of Medicine has found that regular marijuana use is associated with beneficial effects…
“Flowers” self-assemble from basic chemistry
By simply manipulating chemical gradients in a beaker of fluid, researchers at Harvard have found they can control the growth…
Stunning new species of palm-pitviper discovered
Herpetologists have identified a striking new species (Bothriechis guifarroi) of highly dangerous green palm-pitviper that lives within a cloud forest…
New technique for finding distant planets makes its first discovery
For the first time, astrophysicists from Tel Aviv University and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have discovered an exoplanet using…
Liquid hydrogen fueled drone shatters endurance record
Researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have set a new continuous flight record with an electric drone powered…
Pear-shaped atoms may hold clues to unsolved physics
Physicists have found the first direct evidence of exotic pear shaped nuclei in atoms, a discovery that could advance the…
Hubble identifies Earth-like debris in white dwarfs’ atmospheres
The Hubble Space Telescope has found the building blocks of Earth-like planets in an unlikely place: the atmospheres of a…
Climate change, not humans, wiped out megafauna, say Aussie scientists
Most species of gigantic animals that once roamed Australia had disappeared by the time people arrived, a major review of…
Nocebo effect behind electrosmog illnesses, say European researchers
An investigation into the purported health risks associated with electromagnetic fields has shown that media reports alone may cause suggestible…
Madagascar’s dwarf lemurs shed light on tropical hibernation
Until recently, the only primate understood to hibernate as a survival strategy was a creature called the western fat-tailed dwarf…
Tiny robotic insect makes first controlled flight
Inspired by the biology of a fly, with submillimeter-scale anatomy and two wafer-thin wings that flap 120 times per second,…
Scientists merge electronics with bio-printed ear
Using off-the-shelf 3D printing tools, Princeton scientists have built a functional cell-cultured ear that can “hear” radio frequencies. The bionic…
Study reveals “staggering” over-diagnosis and over-treatment of depression
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health say that the number of Americans over-diagnosed and over-treated for…
Giant vortex at Saturn’s north pole finally revealed
The Cassini spacecraft has provided scientists with the first close-up views of a massive hurricane-like vortex swirling around Saturn’s north…
Computer scientists mull origins of evolvability
Over time, organisms appear to become increasingly capable of evolving in response to changes in the environment, but computer boffins…
Evolution making women taller, thinner
In many places around the world, people are living longer and are having fewer children. But a new study in…
Ecotourism wildcard in African disease cocktail
Somewhat counter-intuitively, protected areas of Africa where numbers of humans are limited appear to also be hotspots for the exchange…
Hubble snaps pic of faraway comet ISON
Hubble has given astronomers their clearest view yet of ISON, a newly-discovered sun-grazer comet that could light up the sky…
Genetic circuit balances individual freedom and collective good
An intriguing investigation of bacterial genetic circuitry suggests that even the simplest creatures can make difficult choices that strike a…
Rising CO2 giving fish super-hearing
Ocean acidification is known to negatively impacta wide variety of marine animals, but new research indicates that a huge increase…
Ultracheap tactile sensor for robots unveiled
Giving robots a sense of touch has traditionally been an expensive and complex exercise with results that were often less…
“Nanosponge” removes toxins from bloodstream
Nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego say they have created a “nanosponge” that is capable of safely removing…