Women who become pregnant in spring are more vulnerable to preterm birth than those who conceive in other seasons, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh. Results of a large study…

Also, read Scientific Blogging columnist Seth Robert's interview with Brian Wansink here. People feeling sad tend to eat more of less-healthy comfort foods than when they feel happy, finds a new…

Researchers at Canada's National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) are learning which molecular scale factors affect the assembly and disassembly of microtubules that are part of a cell's skeleton.…

While government leaders argue about the practicality of reducing world emissions of carbon dioxide, scientists and engineers are seeking ways to make it happen. One group of engineers at MIT decided…

What are the methods of prenatal diagnosis? There are two groups: invasive and non-invasive techniques: Non-invasive methods: examination of the uterus from outside the body (see Leopold's…

Virginia Tech researchers in computer science and biology have used the university's supercomputer, System X, to create models and algorithms that make it possible to simulate the cell cycle -- the…

The first major global assessment of climate change science in six years has concluded that changes in the atmosphere, the oceans and glaciers and ice caps show unequivocally that the world is…

UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) researchers have developed a method to increase bone density in mice, a development that might have future benefit for humans in the treatment of…

In an advance that could lead to composite materials with virtually limitless performance capabilities, a University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist has dispelled a 50-year-old theoretical notion that…

For the first time, scientists have observed DNA being damaged by ultraviolet (UV) light. Ohio State University chemists and their colleagues in Germany used a special technique to watch strands of…

HopeLab is a non-profit organization that combines rigorous research with innovative solutions to improve the health and quality of life of young people with chronic illness. What does it mean? They…

Scientists have long struggled to figure out how the brain guides the complex movement of our limbs, from the graceful leaps of ballerinas to the simple, everyday act of picking up a cup of coffee.…

Malaria kills more than one million people each year, most of them young children living in Africa. Now physicists in the UK have shared their computers with biologists from countries including…

Groundhogs and other hibernators take a very sensible approach to winter: They slip into a state of suspended animation and let the worst of the cold weather pass. The cold prompts profound…

They sure did. Seven leaders who contributed mightily in 2006 are being hailed by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) as 2007 Defenders of the Planet or the Jusice League or whatever we are supposed…

Tricking a key enzyme can soothe over-excited receptors in the brain, say neuroscientists, calling this a possible strategy against stroke, Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. Lead…

British Petroleum announced today that it has selected the University of California, Berkeley, in partnership with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the University of Illinois at…

"Time" is the most popular noun in the English language, yet how would we tell time if we didn't have access to the plethora of watches, clocks and cell phones at our disposal? For decades,…

Assistant Professor John Howell and his Quantum Optics team at the University of Rochester have discovered a way to manipulate a light field while retaining all of the information it carries. A…

As humans exert ever-greater influence on the Earth, their preferences will play a substantial role in determining which other species survive. New research shows that, in some cases, those…