The fossil of a lizard-like New Zealand reptile has been identified by a team of scientists from University College London, University of Adelaide, and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.…

Cosmic-rays detected half a mile underground in a disused U.S. iron-mine can be used to detect major weather events occurring 20 miles up in the Earth’s upper atmosphere, according to a new study…

The consensus among scientists has been that while much of the globe has been getting warmer, a large part of Antarctica – the East Antarctic Ice Sheet – has actually been getting colder.   Not…

I just randomly came across this Yahoo! Answers page with more "Election" questions at the bottom: Well Yahoo!, I'm glad we have that resolved. And why is "Aliens" capitalized? Is Sigourney Weaver…

Scientists have finally solved one of the major mysteries of star formation - how very massive stars form without blowing themselves apart in the process. According to star formation theory and…

Knew Today was comingClimate change, yes commaClimate change is changingWords to rhyme Alabama Have a new ticketTrain to love brothersHear the weak, meekRespect sisters and others Dare our science…

A research team in Portugal and the US has found for the first time nicotine receptors in the taste buds. In fact, although most of the toxicity of smoking is linked to other components, it is…

People on low-carbohydrate diets are more dependent on the oxidation of fat in the liver for energy than those on a low-calorie diet, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in a…

A new report, co-authored by a University of Hertfordshire academic, which will be launched this Thursday (22 January), has revealed that girls are more likely to have new technologies at home than…

It has been difficult to prove that fast-swimming sperms have an advantage when it comes to fertilizing an egg but a research team at Uppsala University say that unfaithful females of the cichlid…

In terms of diversity and sheer numbers, the microbes occupying the human gut easily dwarf the billions of people inhabiting the Earth. Numbering in the tens of trillions and representing many…

The cast of "House" won't need to find new jobs any time soon but using a robotic assistant to remove a patient's gallbladder by key-hole surgery (laparoscopic cholecystectomy) was as safe as working…

It's not quite a "Book of the Dead" but a 14th century brick oven uncovered by archaeologists in Spain found a unique  use for animal bones just the same - strengthening city fortifications.…

It is Back to the Future week at Overthinkingit.com, a fellow awesome science geeks blog. Over the past week, the Overthinking It team has subjected the Back to the Future trilogy to a level of…

Edward Larson, author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the Scopes trial (which I highly recommend), writes in Bookforum about the influence of racism on Darwin's thinking. Creationists argue…

As explained in the previous post, Aβ catabolic pathway may offer an effective way to prevent as well as treat Alzheimer's disease (AD). The enzymes involved in Aβ degradation and clearance are-…

In 1960, Dr. Frank Drake developed an equation that predicts the number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy. It's a simple equation -- the number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy is…

My elementary school art teacher used to discourage the use of rulers, claiming that “there are no straight lines in nature”.  Mr. Dugan, your own cells are here to tell you it’s not true. …

Daniel at Genetic Future has posted the latest edition of Gene Genie. Go read about blog reactions to Steven Pinker's genome, a DNA database for Portuguese criminals, predictions on what super-power…

Solar Astrophysics afficionados may be familiar with videos  showing  moving images of highly active Coronal displays  featuring  jetting sunspots.  This type of Sunspot is…