In works on evolution written by a certain class of biologist we can often see “for the good of the species” references derided in no uncertain terms. Comments such as “fuzzy thinking”, “they got it…

If I were a sneaky disease, working my pathological magic through mimicry, I think I'd be vocal cord dysfunction. What's VCD? I didn't even know it existed until last week, so don't feel embarrassed.…

All African Pygmies, inhabiting a large territory extending west-to-east along Central Africa, descend from a unique population who lived around 20,000 years ago, according to an international study…

A new statistical method that can estimate the origin and time of an aerosolized release of the pathogen causing anthrax, following detection of the first few cases has been developed by researchers…

Researchers from Peninsula Dental School and the UCL Eastman Dental Institute have used data from the Hospital Episodes Statistics resource to identify a marked increase in the number of hospital…

A recently released British film The Age of Stupid, uses good science to good effect in a projection of a possible future.  The theme is that if we do nothing about global climate change, then…

Scorpions possess resistance to high temperatures and the ability to conserve water for long periods of time, and as a result thrive in hot and arid parts of the world. But is this global…

Today I was forwarded by several people a really bad and confused op-ed piece by New York Times columnist David Brooks. It is entitled “The End of Philosophy,” which naturally raised my…

PHILADELPHIA –- After two years spent analyzing data from BLAST, the Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Sub-millimeter Telescope, physicists are releasing the first results. The study, published in the…

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State University researchers have developed a new strategy to overcome one of the major obstacles to a grand challenge in physics. What they've discovered could eventually aid…

PITTSBURGH—The enchantingly colored seashells that lend beaches their charm could also provide information about how the brain converts memories and sensory information into action, according to…

NEW YORK (April 9, 2009) -- A newly discovered gene fusion is highly expressed in a subset of prostate cancers, according to a study by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College. The findings,…

The DNA in the 23 pairs of chromosomes in each of the billions of cells of the human body is so tightly packed that it would measure six feet in length if stretched end to end. A genome of this size…

I'm not usually much for video - text allows me to do three other things at the same time whereas video occupies two of my senses and annoys me when I am playing guitar.    And I would like…

A study published tomorrow (10 April) in Science examines a key player in conditions such as cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis and asthma and has shown that cells use a…

WALNUT CREEK, Calif.— Scientists from two-dozen research organizations led by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)…

The 2007 Solomon Island earthquake may point to previously unknown increased earthquake and tsunami risks because of the unusual tectonic plate geography and the sudden change in direction of the…

Sticky is good. A University of California, San Diego bioengineer is the first author on an article in the journal Science that provides insights on the "stickiness of life." The big idea is that…

St. Louis, April 6, 2009 — For years, microbiologist Stephen Beverley, Ph.D., has tried to get the disease-causing parasite Leishmania in the mood for love. In this week's Science, he and colleagues…

DURHAM, N.C. -- Since Congress lifted a moratorium on offshore drilling last year, federal lawmakers have grappled with the issue of how best to regulate U.S. ocean waters to allow oil, wave and wind…