All the cells in our body have the same set of genes.  The reason that we have arms, legs, heads, etc. is because transcription factors turn genes on and off in the right places at the right…

Effects of climate change and global warming, although currently shrouded in mystery may soon be more clearly explained thanks to a new microbial ecosystem model built by researchers at MIT. The…

Two articles addressing blogging and science have appeared recently in Trends in Ecology and Evolution and in PLoS Biology. Bloggers John Wilkins, Shelly Batts, Nick Anthis and Tara Smith write…

Asymmetry is crucial for the heart proper functioning, and now, scientists from the Institute Gulbenkian of Science in Portugal and Harvard University, have discovered that a family of genes, called…

For the first time, researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have successfully pushed nature beyond its limits by genetically modifying Escherichia coli, a…

New research in Science suggests that some meat-eating dinosaurs were super dads - three types of dinosaurs were sole care givers for their mate's eggs.   They also may have had multiple mates…

If you're man, and you give to charity at all, it is more likely to go to a needy person in your neighborhood but if you're a woman you are more likely to be charitable and you will also give to…

65 million years of evolution divergence and being rodents is too much difference, says  Stanford immunologist Mark Davis, PhD , so we need to do more research on humans and less on mice.  …

The festive season has arrived for astronomers at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in the form of this dramatic new image. It shows the swirling gas around the region known as NGC 2264 — an…

Venus Express has made the first detection of an atmospheric loss process on Venus's day-side. Last year, the spacecraft revealed that most of the lost atmosphere escapes from the night-side.…

It must be December.  Those cheeky pranksters at BMJ are at it again, this time releasing an authentic-looking study that says head banging is bad for your head.   Let's see how many media…

In a study published in the Christmas 2008 issue of the British Medical Journal (and not one of their prank articles), Aaron Carroll, M.D., M.S., and Rachel Vreeman, M.D., M.S., of the Indiana…

Good quality extra-virgin olive oil contains health-relevant chemicals, 'phytochemicals', that can trigger cancer cell death. New research published in the open access journal BMC Cancer sheds more…

A greater commitment by science faculty to focus on science education could drive education reform at universities and K-12 schools, according to a new report by a team of five researchers from the…

As you can imagine, running a swanky science publication ends up getting me a lot of press releases.   People want to get the word out about what they are doing and I make no secret of the fact…

The astronomy/physics sector of the internets is all abuzz about Dark Energy. It was originally thought that gravity would slow the expansion of the universe as huge astronomical bodies become…

Can science journalism get any more embarrassingly bad? "Real-time gene monitoring developed" says a headline over at physorg.com. The piece starts off with an insane hook that makes no sense…

Whoever said that the pen is mightier than the sword definitely knew what they were talking about. To humans, words are more than a means of communication, they can shape our beliefs, behaviors,…

As a result of Sir Tom Jones citing his use of Vocalzone on Top Gear (14/12/2008) Kestrel, the (Poole based) makers of the Throat Pastille which is also known to be used Snoop Dogg, Madonna, Joss…

I can relate to Olivia Judson's experience with the digitization of science journals: On the good side, instead of hauling dusty volumes off shelves and standing over the photocopier, I sit…