The largest study of its kind to evaluate the effect of red versus white wine on breast-cancer risk concludes that both are equal offenders when it comes to increasing breast-cancer risk. The results…

A team of researchers has reported the ongoing emergence of a new species of fruit fly and the sequential development of a new species of wasp.  Jeff Feder, a University of Notre Dame biologist,…

Neuroscientists at New York University and Harvard University say they have identified the neural systems involved in forming first impressions of others. The findings may show how we encode social…

Researchers say they have discovered eight similar genes that, when mutated, appear to be responsible for medulloblastoma – the most common of childhood brain cancers. About 250 Canadian children are…

I have been downloading a cartload of books on my new Kindle lately, since I really enjoy the idea of walking into the subway carrying a rather inconspicuous, very light, yet incredibly large library…

 Cells keep up with the Joneses.  The peer pressure of signals from complementary cells tells a stem cell how and when to differentiate and grow.  Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi and her team at…

No, that isn't a New York Times headline(1), Swedish researchers really do say their studies of twins have showed significant genetic differences between men and women who smoke and develop lung…

Pleasure and desire are essential to all human behavior, says Oxford University neuroscientist Morten Kringelbach , and he challenges us to trust our animal instincts in pursuit of those. Pleasure…

A new species of Antarctic fish, Gosztonyia antarctica, has been discovered at a depth of 650 meters in the Bellingshausen Sea in the Antarctic Ocean, an area which had not been studied since 1904…

Gamers caught an early glimpse of the future of serious games aimed at the health sector during the PlayMancer project’s demos at the latest Vienna Science Fair.   The European PlayMancer…

Revered in India as "holy powder", the marigold-colored spice known as turmeric has been used for centuries to treat wounds, infections and other health problems. In recent years, research into the…

I am continually amazed and amused by the wonderful metaphors and similes generated by users of the English language. The phrase "Are you talking to me or chewing a brick?" is a 'hard-man' phrase,…

Is Pluto a planet? On Tuesday I talked about how 'Algol' isn't technically an Algol-type star system. This raised the interesting case of "is Pluto a planet". To a large degree, that's a non…

During the television program Ulysses which aired in Italy on Saturday the 28th of February, the well-known scientific divulgator Piero Angela stated that a secret drawing, a youthful self-portrait…

The Wallace Line is called such because when Alfred Russel Wallace made his way to the East Indies to tackle the secrets of biology, he found there was a 'line' in the Malay Archipelago that divides…

Artemisinin is the most powerful anti-malaria drug in use today and it commonly obtained by extracting the drug from Artemsisia annua, the sweet wormwood tree.     Synthetic biology can…

When threatened, many animals release chemicals as a warning signal to members of their own species, who in turn react to the signals and take action. Research by Rice University psychologist Denise…

The snow-laden region of Rupes Tenuis on the martian north pole got some images courtesy of ESA’s Mars Express orbiter. The images are centred around 81° north and 297° east and have a ground…

The Kepler spacecraft and its Delta II rocket have been cleared to launch into space at 10:49 p.m. EST Friday night.   Its mission;  watch a patch of space (see image below) for the next 3…

I am disarmed every day by the amount of info my students do not know at this stage of their life cycle.................I am teaching the life cycle of stars for the 4th year (this is my second…