For hundreds of millions of people around the world, chewing betel nut produces a cheap, quick high but also raises the risk of addiction and oral cancer. The betel nut, a seed of the areca palm, is…

A storm has been brewing, over why in Britain women are more opposed to fracking than men.  Whether it is simply a storm in a teacup, or a mighty tornado, time will tell.  Here are three…

In a new thesis, 60 garments from Swedish and international clothing chains have been tested and though around a hundred chemicals were preliminary identified, several of the substances were not on…

  Nonlocality is an inherent natural feature of quantum reality described by its wave function (WF). It shows itself up not only in the widely discussed cases with two or more particles,…

Understanding of methane-metabolizing organisms might have to be rethought after researchers announced discovery of two new ones.  The discovery of the novel methane-metabolizing microorganisms…

The identification of a protein that selectively clears damaged chloroplasts from plant cells reveals how plants maintain a "clean workshop" during the process of photosynthesis. Chloroplasts play an…

At 8 a.m. EDT on October 23, 2015, the National Hurricane Center said that Hurricane Patricia had grown into a monster hurricane. In fact, it is the strongest eastern north pacific hurricane on…

A year of treatment with nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3, significantly lowered the risk of common, non-melanoma skin cancer in high-risk patients, according to a paper in the New England Journal…

Researchers don’t always get it right. Scientists used to toiling in obscurity on arcane subjects can be lured into presenting hyperbolic conclusions from a media that demands sensational headlines,…

A longtime follower of this blog, Tony Smith, pointed out to me today this arxiv paper published three days ago. In it, CMS data from Run 1 of the LHC are used to speculate that there might be a…

Scientists from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry in Prague, Czech Republic, and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, studied the pheromone chemistry of…

Regulation of a family of brain proteins known as bromodomain and extra-terminal domain containing transcription regulators (BETs) plays a key role in normal cognition and behavior, according to a…

Yesterday my 16 year old son surprised me by explaining that he had been taught at school what alpha, beta, and gamma decays are. He had learned a lot, but I was able to add a little more background…

Alva-Amco Pharmacal Companies, Inc. is recommending that parents give their children a placebo - something real doctors would never do. The product they are selling is called Nauzene and they are…

A single blood test could reveal whether an otherwise healthy person is unusually likely to die of pneumonia or sepsis within the next 14 years. Based on an analysis of 10,000 individuals,…

Like seeds, pollen loses most of its water during maturation, entering a state of suspended animation. This allows it to survive its journey from male to female organs of a flower, where it is…

Delivering the hormone leptin directly to the brain through gene therapy can aid weight loss without the significant side effect of bone loss, according to new research. Rapid or significant weight…

A representative survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults finds that 30 percent of Americans say their personal religious beliefs conflict with science, while 68 percent say there is no conflict. A…

If you are in Manhattan or one of the five boroughs or New Jersey or Long Island and want a free beer and to talk about science communication, you are invited to join me as guest of honor at the…

A study published today shows that a newly studied class of water contaminants that is known to be toxic and hormone disrupting to marine animals is present likely due in part to indirect effects of…