Geoscientists have long presumed that the tropics remained warm throughout Earth's last major glaciation 300 million years ago but new evidence indicates that cold temperatures episodically gripped…

We have long been fascinated by the concept of absolute zero, the temperature at which everything comes to a complete stop, but physics tells us absolute zero cannot be reached but only approached -…

A new study published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B investigates the genetic and geographical relationships between different forms of crimson rosellas and the possible ways that these…

I spent last week at the 2008 Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology meeting at the University of Toronto. Don't be fooled by the name: this conference isn't about yeast in and of itself; it's about…

Part 1 on The Plausibility of Life Darwin is famous for convincingly arguing that natural selection can explain why living things have features that are well-matched to the environment they live in.…

Sometimes, during my daily browsing of the Web for news and interesting angles on the sport science world, I get lucky and hit a home run.  I stumbled on this great May 2007 Wired article by…

With respect to binge-drinking, “shot-gunning” a beer involves inserting a hole in the beer can and drinking it FAST. The game is so popular that a shotgun beer opener is even available to interested…

David Chalmers is a famous philosopher of mind. His fame rests in great part on his 1996 book, The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory. It’s too bad that the crucial idea behind…

I'm taking a moment away from crafting "Journey To The Center Of The Uterus", my opus on reproduction and culture, to discuss something of equal import - namely, orgasms. It will shock you to know…

Titan, which is one-and-a-half times the size of Earth's moon and bigger than either Mercury or Pluto, is one of the most fascinating bodies in the solar system when it comes to exploring…

An insect that can dive as deep as 30 meters? Or Neoplea striola, a New England insect that can hibernate underwater all winter long? Indeed, hundreds of insect species spend much of their time…

Lovastatin, a drug used to lower cholesterol and help prevent cardiovascular disease, has been shown to improve bone healing in an animal model of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). The research,…

Researchers have discovered new genes linked to schizophrenia, it has been revealed. In two papers published in Nature today (July 30), scientists identify four mutated gene regions that may hold the…

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found the brain's appetite center uses fat for fuel by involving oxygen free radicals—molecules associated with aging and neurodegeneration. The findings…

It is well-known that Vincent van Gogh often painted over his older works. Experts estimate that about one third of his early paintings conceal other compositions under them. Using a new technique…

A strain of mice with the natural ability to repair damaged cartilage may one day lead to significant improvements in treatment of human knee, shoulder and hip injuries. Researchers at Oregon Health…

From nursery rhymes to Shakespearian sonnets, alliteration has always been an important aspect of poetry whether as an interesting aesthetic touch or just as something fun to read. But a recent study…

Paleontologists in 2005 hailed research that apparently showed that soft, pliable tissues had been recovered from dissolved dinosaur bones, a major finding that would substantially widen the known…

In a new study published in the online-open access journal PLoS ONE, Per Christiansen at the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark, reports the finding that the evolution of skull and mandible…

The field of robotics makes consistent progress but the great success of so far has been in automating repetitive tasks in process control and assembly, yielding dramatic cuts in production. The next…