The February issue of Geotimes takes a look at the complicated issues surrounding Iraq’s oil exploration and production. Though oil prices have doubled and Iraq boasts the largest untapped oil…

A report published in BMC Public Health states that socio-economics and neighborhood have a more powerful influence on sexual activity among 15- and 16-year-olds than the classroom. A team of…

National Science Foundation (NSF) Director Arden L. Bement Jr. has presented the agency's proposed $6.85 billion budget for fiscal year (FY) 2009, a 13 percent increase over its actual FY 2008 budget…

The colugo doesn't fly and is not a lemur but it's still called a "flying lemur" - and it's the champion of all gliding mammals, able to drop from the forest canopy in Malaysia, glide more than the…

Collaboration is a requirement for the advancement of modern science. Researchers cannot be expert at everything and must specialize to make a unique contribution. But if coordinating research…

Michael Barton has posted a brief essay on Open Notebook Science on his research web site: As you might expect from the name, Open Notebook Science (ONS) has similarities with Open Source Software.…

The Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) has released an upgraded version of the IMG/M metagenome data management and analysis system, providing tools for analyzing the functional capability of microbial…

Anyone who has conducted field research knows that the very process of collecting data alters the system that you are studying. As you walk across a field, forest or stream to collect data, your…

There was a time when you had to be rich to be fat. Now you have to be rich to stay thin, says a new study. Researchers led by Jennifer L. Black at New York University critically reviewed ninety…

Turning native ecosystems into “farms” for biofuel crops causes major carbon emissions that worsen the global warming that biofuels are meant to mitigate, according to a new study by the University…

A study by psychologists at Stanford, Pennsylvania State University and the University of California-Berkeley says that many Americans subconsciously associate blacks with apes. In addition, the…

Anoop Sindhu and colleagues report on a gene that may have played a key role in the evolution of grasses. The gene, Hm1, provides resistance against Cochliobolus carbonum race 1 (CCR1), a fungus that…

Those zany Canadians. If you disagree on global warming, you should be thrown in jail. Dr. David Suzuki said "What I would challenge you to do is to put a lot of effort into trying to see whether…

Although scientists have speculated over the negative effects of environmental toxins for years, new data suggest that certain environmental toxins may disrupt the normal growth and hormonal…

Using the genetic equivalent of an ancient thermometer, a team of scientists has determined that the Earth endured a massive cooling period between 500 million and 3.5 billion years ago. Reporting…

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that natural variability in the earth’s atmosphere could be masking the overall effect of global warming in the North Atlantic Ocean. Scientists…

Hybrid electric vehicles, using both conventional gasoline and stored electricity, are at best a stop-gap and, at worst, slow development of more sustainable fuel-cell powered electric vehicles, say…

A new book argues that scientists are motivated by sex and status ... and, also, scientists don't need public funding. The money quote: And they want it for the same reasons as those white-coated…

How you are feeling has an impact on your routine economic transactions, whether you’re aware of this effect or not. In a new study that links contemporary science with the classic philosophy of…

In most of western civilization, smoking rates have dropped. But in Spanish society cigarette use among women has gone up in the last 50 years. A study carried out at the Department of…