The ultimate cause of human behavior is the mind. The mind, an emergent property from the workings of collections of neurons, hormones, proteins, and other biochemical agents, controls everything…

2009 is the international year of astronomy, celebrating the 400th anniversary of Galileo's observations of Venus, Saturn and Jupiter published in Sidereus Nuncius (Starry Messenger). Unlike numerous…

Galaxy M87 is unique for three reasons.  First, it   is easily observable,    It has twin jets, each some 5,000 light years long, and most importantly  its core has little or…

The eyes of deep-ocean dwelling creatures are always fascinating - in the near darkness of thousands of feet underwater, a very dim flash of light can mean an organism has found its meal for the…

New research into the effects of antipsychotic drugs commonly prescribed to Alzheimer's patients concludes that the medication nearly doubles risk of death over three years. The study, funded by the…

Southerners die from stroke more than in any other U.S. region, but exactly why that happens is unknown. A new report by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the…

New cells are born every day in the brain's hippocampus, but what controls this birth has remained a mystery. Reporting in Science, neuroscientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine…

If global warming projections turn out to be accurate, a rapidly warming climate would seriously alter crop yields in the tropics and subtropics by the end of this century and could leave half the…

The first people to arrive in America traveled as at least two separate groups to arrive in their new home at about the same time, according to new genetic evidence published Current Biology. After…

In popular legend, Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara (1480- 1519), stands falsely accused of poisoning her second husband. Victor Hugo portrayed her in thinly veiled fiction as a tragic femme…

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a complex condition considered by some to have both environmental and genetic causes. It is characterized by developmentally inappropriate levels of…

Asteroids are hunks of rock that orbit in the outer reaches of space.  Scientists have generally assumed that their small size limited the types of rock that could form in their crusts but two…

Everyday, all over the world, people assemble peacefully into crowds at places such as shopping malls, sporting events, concerts and tourist sites--but crowds can shift from peaceful to unruly, even…

On Monday, Jan. 5, NASA issued a request for proposal for the Ares V rocket that will perform heavy lift and cargo functions as part of the next generation of spacecraft that will return humans to…

The lowest ever levels of oxygen in humans have been reported in climbers on an expedition led by UCL (University College London) doctors. The world-first measurements of blood oxygen levels in…

Many objects in the universe emit radio waves. In 1931, American physicist Karl Jansky first detected radio static from our own Milky Way galaxy. Similar emission from other galaxies creates a…

Meet the smallest fully integrated fuel cell in the world: only 9 mm3 in volume but 254 W per Liter in energy density. This millitechnology power source is the…

What is a bubble? As is often the case with language, one word can embody multiple meanings.  I am referring to the type of bubble emergent from large-scale social phenomena. It is generally a…

I just ran across a great population genetics blog, Selective Sweep, written by derele, a PhD student in Edinburgh. He writes in both German and English about genomics, population genetics, and…

It seems obvious, right?   If you are around people who don't think much of you, over time you are more inclined to think less of yourself.  That's self esteem. Looking at yourself in the…