At the Biotech Literacy Project Boot Camp, held a week ago at the U.C. Davis World Food Center, I was on a journalism roundtable with Brooke Borel, Keith Kloor and Razib Khan, moderated by Professor…

What if your doctor told you that your weight is somewhere between 100 and 400 lbs.? With any ordinary scale every patient can do better at home. Yet, one patient can't: the Milky Way. Even though…

A close-up of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by NASA's ultraviolet instrument surprised scientists by revealing that electrons close to the comet's surface -- not photons from the Sun as had been…

A new global study finds that, despite lower yields, a target market for whom cost is not really an object makes organic agriculture more profitable for farmers than conventional agriculture. Though…

In the fickle, unpredictable system that is our climate, it looks like El Niño, which was already said to have came and gone with a whimper months ago by climate scientists, may finally be…

A new study gives insight into the behavioral medications that medical caregivers sometimes prescribe for kids with Down syndrome.  The study included data on 832 children taken between 2010 and…

The impact of scary TV on children's wellbeing has been overstated, according to a new paper. While research has shown that a small minority of children can have extreme reactions to a scary program,…

An artificial intelligence system has for the first time reverse-engineered the regeneration mechanism of planaria, small worms that can regrow body parts. This is the first model of regeneration…

Mindfulness as a psychological aid is very much in fashion. Recent reports on the latest finding suggested that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is as effective as anti-depressants in preventing…

By Peter Gwynne, Inside Science – "Drive for show and putt for dough." In the world of professional golf, this catchphrase means that a perfect drive down the middle of the fairway has little value…

Life isn’t always fair. Some individuals are simply born more attractive than others. In most cases the females are the choosy ones, whereas males will try to mate as much as possible. So being…

The capacity to recall specific facts deteriorates with age, but other types of memory do not, according to research conducted by Wilma Koutstaal (University of Minnesota) and Alaitz Aizpurua…

 I finally took apart a broken computer projector. Some of the optics were burned or broken but I managed to salvage several lenses, mirrors, filters, and a curious little glass cube.  …

Scientists synthesizing nanoscale materials using simple and highly efficient flame technology have been able to “bake” nanostructures using tin oxide, which opens up a wide field of possible new…

New research has shown that pH lowering of municipal water supplies, a common strategy used to control the release of soluble lead from plumbing materials, can affect corrosion of cast iron water…

A growing number of colleges and universities are emerging as multinational organizations – creating start-up versions of themselves in foreign countries. Those vacationing in western France may…

Most people don't realize it, but "GMO" is essentially a legal definition and only a vague scientific one. After all, what food has not been 'genetically modified' by now? When is the cut-off date…

Most people don't realize it, but "GMO" is essentially a legal definition and only a vague scientific one. After all, what food has not been 'genetically modified' by now? When is the cut-off date…

There was something unusual about our recent research collaboration on the science of light, colors and the perception of rainbows: one member of the team wrote his best science in the 1220s. The…

Humans can discriminate tens of thousands of odors. While we may take our sense of smell for granted, it adds immeasurably to our quality of life: the aroma of freshly brewed coffee; the invigorating…