Raw milk advocates claim that unpasteurized milk cures or prevents disease, but no scientific evidence supports this notion. Testing raw milk, which has been suggested as an alternative to…

Rocky Mountain ski areas face dramatic changes this century as the climate warms, says a new Colorado study. The study indicates snowlines -- elevations below which seasonal snowpack will not develop…

Schizophrenia and autism probably share a common origin, according to Dutch researcher Annemie Ploeger following an extensive literature study. The developmental psychologist says that both mental…

Since the early 1960s, it's become fashionable to use scare tactics about food and food groups to generate publicity and generate fundraising dollars.   The DDT mistake is forgivable but Alar?…

Neuroscientists from Duke University Medical Center have discovered that older people use their brains differently than younger people when it comes to storing memories, particularly those associated…

Parents of children with intellectual disabilities have long been frustrated by intelligence quotient (IQ) testing that tells them little to nothing about the long-term learning potential of their…

I just saw on Discover.com a blog post that almost made me wish I was teaching Chemistry again.....almost.  It's about some scientists who have been making a Periodic Table of Videos- a very…

An editor at Nature discusses the internet and the ethics of science communication (PDF). The paper doesn't turn out to be much of a discussion of science communication on the web - the piece ends up…

Millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs exploding at once should be enough to tear anything apart, including atomic nuclei. But ever since observations of a solar flare from NASA's STEREO spacecraft…

A little of this and a little of that today... I had just clicked "save" to publish my blog and the internet closed without warning, so this is an abbreviated version of my abbreviated blog. Two…

As a former dog owner and dog lover, I was not really surprised by last week's report that dogs have been found to "sense inequity", a.k.a. be jealous of the dog that's being treated better than they…

Chemistry is wonderful. Chemistry now has to play more than ever an interdisciplinary role for new visions. Here are two wonderful studies that I caught singing to me in 2008. Both contain elegant…

Dinosound revival is no kidding to me. I was at the foothills of tall snow-capped mountains by the sea when this happened. A very loud sound filled the meadows and startled my senses like a…

Vitamin C has been hailed as a magical vitamin for decades. Feeling sick, sleepy, or a little under the weather? Quick! Jam your mouth full of vitamin C, drink some orange juice and eat some…

"Ted" calls his nameService is his fameTurner turned World NewsInto a 24-7 game! As the world turnsSo Ted's passion burnsHumanity loves him suchHis charity widely churns. Ted must love hilarityColor…

The closer scientists look at Saturn's small moon Enceladus, the more they find evidence of an active world. The most recent flybys of Enceladus made by NASA's Cassini spacecraft have provided new…

CLS, a subsidiary of the French Space Agency (CNES), acting through its new radar applications division (formerly the BOOST Technologies Company), wants you to know they can use Envisat radar imagery…

Researchers have figured out why a respiratory syncytial virus vaccine used in 1966 to inoculate children against the infection instead caused severe respiratory disease and effectively stopped…

A dose of the hormone Oxytocin reduces the stress hormone Cortisol in arguing couples. In addition, Oxytocin strengthens positive behaviour, as researchers at the University of Zurich have discovered…

Learning a feeling of safety activates cellular and molecular processes that act against depression. This has been analysed using a new animal model that helps examine and explain the relevant cell…