What use is half a wing? When Charles Darwin unleashed his revolutionary theory of evolution in the mid-1800s, one of the first questions doubters nailed him with went something like ; you have the…

An immune system response that is critical to the first stages of fighting off viruses and harmful bacteria comes from an entirely different direction than most scientists had thought, according to a…

Tomorrow is Sunday, and as I prepare to mount my plastic pulpit I will take as my text the introduction to Chapter 5 (Complex Numbers) of A Survey of Modern Algebra by Birkhoff&Mac Lane. …

The Solar core is truly dynamic.  It has been jetting twin jets, which are possitioned diametrically opposite each other,  since it formed  some billions of years ago.  These jets…

You are probably addicted right know, it's O.K. everyone else is also. This experiment has been on the American food consumers without prejudice to religion, status, or race. It is a complete success…

Unique fractures in lavas on ancient Mars suggest water occasionally flooded portions of the planet's surface.   The fractures, known as "columnar joints," are the first that have been observed…

The agglutination and accumulation of proteins in nerve cells are major hallmarks of age-related neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease. Cellular survival thus depends on a…

Geothermal energy is increasingly contributing to the power supply where it is affordable and efficient. Iceland is world-leader in expanding development of geothermal utilization: in recent years…

We hear a lot from various advocacy groups that modern lifestyle is the worst thing that can happen to us.    Indeed, some won't be happy until we get back to the sustainable, renewable…

The American Institute of Physics (AIP) announced the winners of its 2008 Science Writing Awards today. The winners -- two scientists, a journalist, a children's book author, and a public television…

Internet phenomena has long been used by advertisers to gather data, form hypotheses, and test them in the form of ad serving—science is starting to get smart to the data-gathering possibilities…

To the historian, English is a fascinating language.  Unlike most of the languages of Europe, it underwent an almost complete makeover following the Norman invasion (1066 and All That).  As…

My grandfather had a special room in his cellar for the various presses and casks he used to make his notoriously mouth-wrenching red wine.  I have friends whose microbrew apparatus takes up the…

Astronomy as a profession is hyper-specialized.  What do you study-- planets, stars, galaxies, clusters, cosmology? Oh, if only it were that simple.  Say you study stars.  It doesn't…

Teams of scientists from Australia and the United States have used yeast and mammalian cells to discover a connection between genetic and environmental causes of Parkinson's disease.  Yeasts are…

The detailed structure of a protective 'jacket' that surrounds cells of the Clostridium difficile superbug, and which helps the dangerous pathogen stick to human host cells and tissues, is revealed…

When Evo Morales, Bolivia's first president of Indian origin, was appointed in 2006 he initiated a "decolonising revolution."   Now, in a new thesis in social anthropology at the University of…

Mendel solved the logic of inheritance in his monastery garden with no more technology than Darwin had in his garden at Down House, so why couldn't Darwin have done it too? A Journal of Biology…

In times of starvation, cells tighten their belts: they start to digest their own proteins and cellular organs. The process - known as autophagy - takes place in special organelles called…

I have read many works about black holes and one thing is possible to say for sure: nobody knows what really happens inside a black hole. There is a lot of theories about that. But they don’t have…