A few years ago there was concern that poor people did not have access to the best health care because of high cost, but two new papers find that spending is actually too high. The first study…

California Governor Jerry Brown has sided with the usually-anti-science National Resources Defense Council and vetoed a bill that would have forced factory farms to adhere to US Food and Drug…

The meteorite that hit the Russian city of Chelyabinsk on Feb. 15, 2013, was the cause of a large number of dynamic ionospheric, atmospheric and seismic phenomena. Oleg Berngardt of the Institute…

You're not getting any pudding. Credit: Steve Parsons/PA By Robert Young, University of Salford I run 50 kilometers per week on my treadmill and eat a calorie-restricted diet; this is something our…

Our fat contains a variety of cells with the potential to become bone, cartilage, or more fat if properly prompted. This makes adipose tissue a key potential resource for regenerative therapies such…

By studying identical twins, researchers from Lund University in Sweden have identified mechanisms that could be behind the development of type 2 diabetes. This may explain cases where one identical…

The way neurons are interconnected in the brain is very complicated. This holds especially true for the cells of the hippocampus. It is one of the oldest brain regions and its form resembles a see…

The director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, is worried about the lack of reproducibility and 'secret sauce' in a large number of studies funded by their $30 billion…

Sexting may be a new "normal" part of adolescent sexual development and not strictly limited to at-risk teens, according to a paper in Pediatrics, which the authors say is the first survey to address…

A snaking, extended filament of solar material currently lies on the front of the sun-- some 1 million miles across from end to end. Filaments are clouds of solar material suspended above the sun by…

A team of engineers have built a new system that protects Internet users' privacy while increasing the flexibility for web developers to build web applications that combine data from different web…

A tool for editing the DNA instructions in a genome can now also be applied to RNA, the molecule that translates DNA's genetic instructions into the production of proteins, according to a team of…

Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory have created a new simulator to more accurately estimate the greenhouse gases likely to be released from Arctic peatlands if they warm. Their model is based…

At the workshop I attended last week ("Publish, blog, tweet - furthering one's career in science") I discussed blogging for a researcher. One of the points I made was that through a blog a researcher…

Worth it for cheap cotton? Credit:so11e/flckr, CC BY-NC-ND By Anson Mackay, University College London The Aral Sea has reached a new low, literally and figuratively; new satellite images from NASA…

A research group has discovered that AIM - Apoptosis Inhibitor of Macrophage - a protein that plays a preventive role in obesity progression, can also prevent tumor development in mice liver cells.…

In modern times, doctors in medical school and residency are steeped in a 'teach to the protocol' environment, mandated by the government and the threat of lawsuits if bold efforts don't work. With…

A 52-million-year old beetle was able to live alongside ants—preying on their eggs and usurping resources—within the comfort of their nest. Somehow. The fossil, encased in a piece of amber from…

Our immune system must distinguish between self and foreign and in order to fight infections without damaging the body's own cells at the same time. The immune system is loyal to cells in the body,…

It's an early lesson in genetics: we get half our DNA from Mom, half from Dad. But that straightforward explanation does not account for a process that sometimes occurs when cells divide. Called…