It used to be that being buried under a pile of large, sweaty men was the worst thing that could happen to you playing Rugby - but then it turned out a herpes virus can cause a skin disease called…

In the fall of 2006, a strange design mysteriously appeared amongst the rows of crops in a farmer’s field. And this time, there was some serious product placement. The large Firefox logo appeared…

Men's World Record Times - 2007 to 2010 Sep 28, 2008 - Men's World Record Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) - 2:03:59 Berlin Marathon, Berlin, Germany Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) clocked 2:03:59 to win…

A team of scientists has identified a gene in rice that controls the size and weight of rice grains. The gene may prove to be useful for breeding high-yield rice and, thus, may benefit the vast…

Instead of using a flat microchip as the light sensor for their new camera, a team of engineers has developed a sensor that is a flexible mesh of wire-connected pixels. The mesh is made from many…

A protein required for the earliest steps in embryonic development also plays a key role in solidifying fear memories in the brains of adult animals, scientists have revealed. An apparent "hub" for…

University of Utah engineers have devised a new way to slice thin wafers of germanium for use in efficient solar power cells. They say the new method should lower the cost of such cells by reducing…

Natural grass fires are evidently more important for the ecology of savannahs than has previously been assumed, according to the findings of a study carried out in Etosha National Park in the north…

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found that individuals who carry a specific form of the gene PNPLA3 have more fat in their livers and a greater risk of developing liver…

In marking the passing of its founder, Paul Newman, the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps has issued the following statement: While greatly saddened by Paul's passing, the family of Hole in the…

Maybe its the fear of turning 40. Maybe its the feeling of unfinished business. Maybe its the fire in the belly that has not quite extinguished. For retired elite athletes, the itch is always there…

David Sloan Wilson, over at the Huffington Post, has replied to my criticism of his previous essay on why the so-called “invisible hand” guiding financial markets is, as he puts it,…

We have many great anti-tumor drugs that can do a fantastic job destroying the molecular insides of tumor cells. There is, however, a major catch: tumors have a nasty habit of become drug resistant.…

We read a lot about kids not being as good in science as we were back in the day. And we read a lot about women being missing from science too. You wouldn't know it by these outstanding young…

Nature columnist David Goldston love to bash the supposed political naivete of science community leaders, and this week is no different (subscription required): Can anyone cite any decision that has…

For decades now, cigarette makers have marketed light cigarettes, which contain less nicotine than regular smokes, with the implication that they are less harmful to smokers' health. A new UCLA study…

This kind of Mother Goose is no fairy tale. A 50 million year old skull reveals that huge birds with a 5 meter wingspan once skimmed across the waters that covered what is now London, Essex and Kent…

Wile E. Coyote has nothing on this guy. Yves Rossy, aka Jet Man, zoomed into the record books this morning, flying across the English Channel strapped to a single jet-powered wing, with only a helmet…

Scientific happenings, big and small, on this day in history But first: today’s quiz. What inventor, who died on this day in 1902, developed and patented a highly popular (and much beloved) item of…

17 years ago, September 26, 1991, 8 brave souls locked themselves inside a sealed dome to simulate what it would be like to live in an artificial closed ecological system. It was called Biosphere 2…