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…

Cancer is a family affair. Protection against this disease is also a family affair. A new idea for protection is not equal in impact as any other. What do you do when there is conflict within…

To reach the west side of the Bowron Lake paddling route, we must first face several kilometres portaging muddy trails to meet up with the Isaac River and then paddle rapids to grade two. At the…

I am traveling back from Brown University (on Amtrak's Acela Express train, ah, the civilization of the Northeast!), where I participated in a panel discussion on evolution and religion together with…

Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California have identified a common Achilles' heel in a wide range of seasonal and pandemic influenza A viruses. The study found an…

What had once been impossible has now been shown to be possible – an alloy between two incompatible elements. A research team led by Professor H.K. Mao from Carnegie Institution of Washington and…

You may know of people who ridicule lottery players because the odds are so great and, it would seem, they can't do simple math.    But most people don't ridicule stock market investors…

A system of opposing genetic forces determines why mammals develop a single row of teeth, while sharks sport several, according to a study published today in the journal Science. When completely…

Ancient footprints show that some of the earliest humans walked like us and did so on anatomically modern feet 1.5 million years ago.  This anatomical interpretation is the conclusion of Rutgers…

Ice in Antarctica suddenly appeared — suddenly in geologic terms being a little different than how we think of it — about 35 million years ago. For the previous 100 million years the continent had…

Like it or not, your mouth is home to a thriving community of microbial life. More than 600 different species of bacteria reside in this "microbiome," yet everyone hosts a unique set of bugs, and…

The trigger was a gene. In service to humanity was a tiny fly, Drosophila spp aka fruit fly. This space pioneer that was flown to space first for radiation studies has been a…

In Los Angeles people are attributed to living 4 months longer now that particulate in the air has been reduced. The real present and future hazard to humanity is particulate in the atmosphere. The…

This is big! Scientist have been puzzled about the fertile land of the Amazon that has been producing for after 500 years since the original natives were decimated by the Spaniards. After analyzing…