Brewing a primordial broth on Titan
Replicating the atmosphere of Titan and blasting it with UV light has allowed University of Arizona researchers to create organic…
Transform! Origami robots self-fold
Researchers at Harvard and MIT have demonstrated what they call “programmable matter by folding” using a single thin sheet composed…
Fundamental misunderstanding of cell signaling revealed
In new research that will profoundly impact our understanding of biological processes, Stanford University scientists have discovered that the way…
Tactile sensations have profound effect on decision making
A fascinating study in this week’s Science shows that interpersonal interactions can be shaped, profoundly yet unconsciously, by the physical…
Expolanet storm winds blow at 10,000 kmh
Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) have measured a superstorm for the first time in the atmosphere of the…
Synthetic antibodies successfully tested in mammals
Researchers from the University of California – Irvine (UCI) have created the first “plastic antibodies” to be successfully employed in…
Male menopause mostly mythical
Although there has been a 400 percent surge in testosterone therapy prescriptions, European researchers say that the so-called male menopause…
Sense of direction hard-wired into brain
First suggested by 18th century philosopher Immanuel Kant, University College scientists now have empirical evidence for the theory that a…
Pollutants make free-range eggs less healthy
Free-range eggs may not be as healthy as consumers think, with new research showing alarmingly high levels of dioxins in…
Study suggests the war on drugs might really be a war on sex
Why is there so much heated argument about whether the use of recreational drugs is morally wrong? A new University…
Autism risk tripled with IVF
IVF and other assisted fertility treatments may be solving one problem by creating another, suggests a researcher from Tel Aviv…
Mars’ missing water
University of Colorado at Boulder scientists have uncovered new evidence for a massive ocean that covered a third of Mars’…
Exoplanet orbit tracked
For the first time, astronomers have been able to directly follow the motion of an exoplanet as it moves to…
Personality traits predict fertility
The reproductive success of both men and women is influenced by our personality traits, say University of Sheffield scientists who…
New evidence for hot climate forcing early humans to walk upright
The Turkana Basin in Kenya, where the average daily temperature has been around 100 degrees for the past 4 million…
Sexsomnia linked to illicit drug use
Nearly 1-in-10 sleep center patients report sexsomnia incidents and researchers say there is an association between sexsomnia and recreational drug…
Markedly higher risk of suicide in men with low IQ scores
In the largest study of its kind ever undertaken, a team of researchers analyzed the medical records of more than…
Scientists’ frustration with frustration at an end
Frustration is usually something best avoided. But for scientists, understanding how “frustrated” systems behave is the key to understanding a…
New target for antidepressants
The slow-working, broad-brush action of current antidepressants may become a thing of the past thanks to new research that has…
Breakthrough in Ebola treatment
Using genetic particles known as small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), scientists have halted the replication process of the deadly Ebola virus…
Bone marrow transplant cures mental illness
For the first time, a team of geneticists has shown that there is a direct cause-and-effect link between a psychiatric…
Shark attack stats highlight risk of monochromatic Speedos
An analysis of shark attacks by researchers from the University of Florida (UF) has found that attacks are most likely…
Virus-fungus combo behind honeybee collapse?
A group of pathogens including a fungus and family of viruses may be working together to cause the decline in…
Soil bacterium enhances brain’s ability to learn
Researchers from The Sage Colleges in New York say that the bacterium Mycobacterium vaccae, already believed to have antidepressant qualities,…
First observation of Brownian instantaneous velocity
A hundred years after Albert Einstein said we would never be able to observe the instantaneous velocity of tiny particles…
Synthetic genome successfully transplanted into cell
Scientists have created the first cell controlled by a synthetic genome, a feat that will allow researchers to probe the…
Anomalous supernova puzzles astronomers
Supernova 2005E, discovered five years ago by the University of California, Berkeley’s Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT), is a calcium-rich…
Ball lightning all in the mind, say physicists
Physicists at the University of Innsbruck have shown that the magnetic fields produced by certain types of lightning have the…
New hypothesis links smallpox vaccination and HIV
Smallpox immunization may confer protection against HIV, say researchers who suggest that the end of smallpox vaccination in the mid-20th…
Risky business and a woman’s touch
A woman’s touch is all it takes for people to throw caution to the wind. At least that’s according to…