Chemists at the University of California, San Diego have discovered that a chemical reaction in the atmosphere above major cities long assumed to be unimportant in urban air pollution is in fact a…

This piece is slightly old, but it's amusing: over at Inkling Magazine, they're examining why beards may not be the best thing for a job that requires sterile conditions. Among the findings they…

This was my first post. A total of three people read it, it didn’t take long to be relegated to the garbage pile of scientific dribble. I am not going to give up on this post, if it can’t make it…

Graphene, a single-atom-thick sheet of graphite, is a new material which combines aspects of semiconductors and metals. University of Maryland physicists have shown that in graphene the intrinsic…

In baseball's golden age, pitchers had a higher mound and threw more complete games but careers were shorter. As salaries continue to rise there is greater concern about protecting the investments. A…

Since robots live in a binary world, it is difficult to program them in a way where they can understand the nuances and inflections of human speech among many different people. A team of…

In research that could lead to the prevention of up to one-fifth of birth defects in humans caused by genetic mutations, early stage fish embryos injected with a 'genetic patch' were able to develop…

There are around 23,000 genes found in human DNA but perhaps 50 to 100 that have no counterparts in other species. Including the primate family known as hominoids increases that to several hundred…

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Gemini Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton Observatory have made the best determination of the power of a supernova explosion long after…

The F-35 is a supersonic, multi-role, 5th generation stealth fighter. Three F-35 variants derived from a common design, developed together and using the same sustainment infrastructure worldwide,…

You thought psychological counselling for pets was the last word in over-indulgent animal concern? Not so. Thanks to Dr. Susan Nelson, a veterinarian at Kansas State University, you can get a blood…

A few days ago the internet was abuzz with shocking headlines because the gentleman behind 'virtual water', professor John Anthony Allan of King’s College London, got an award from a water…

The promoters of Ben Stein's anti-evolutionist movie Expelled have been holding screenings around the country to drum up enthusiasm for the movie. But to keep that enthusiasm from being dampened by…

The tests for testosterone doping used in professional and amateur sports may routinely be confounded by a common genetic variation, according to a new study. Unless this variation is accounted for,…

As Georg von Hippel wrote about here, a powerful stellar explosion detected March 19 by NASA's Swift satellite has shattered the record for the most distant object that could be seen with the naked…

Located at the University of Utah, the High Resolution Fly's Eye (HiRes) is an experiment to study the highest energy cosmic rays to determine the energy, direction, and chemical composition of the…

A shape comparison of the most complete fossil femur (thigh bone) of one of the earliest known pre-humans, or hominins, with the femora of living apes, modern humans and other fossils, indicates the…

A cheap alternative to silicon solar cells can be found in dye-sensitized solar cells. This type of cell imitates the natural conversion of sunlight into energy by plants and light-sensitive bacteria…

Euan Adie, who works for Nature and runs their Postgenomic tool, ran an analysis of Scienceblogs.com common terms in response to the big blow-up a few weeks ago at Bayblab called the state of science…

A newly described plesiosaur, Nichollsia borealis, has been named for the late Elizabeth (Betsy) Nicholls, a renowned paleontologist from the University of Calgary. Betsy holds a special place in…