A few years ago, Susan Greenfield said something zany, even for Susan Greenfield: that the rise in autism diagnoses were related to the Internet. As Robery Olley once noted, she is the scholar who in…

The idea of evolutionary imbalance when it comes to invasive species is not new, Charles Darwin articulated it.  The concept is that species from regions with deep and diverse evolutionary…

Researchers recently used audio and video recording tools to record larval orientation behavior in the pelagic environment.  In their field experiment, the scientists put the recording…

Fibromyalgia is a symptom-based disorder that manifests itself as chronic pain. Its underlying causes are unknown. The results of a new study compares brain activity in individuals with and without…

Going, going, gone: wildlife like the loris are disappearing. Credit: N. A. Naseer, CC BY-NC-ND By Paul Jepson, University of Oxford Full marks to colleagues at the World Wildlife Fund and the…

Some sharks are more 'gregarious' than others and have strong social connections while others are solitary and prefer to remain inconspicuous. That's not an exception, according to a new study, these…

We are stardust - scientists and citizen scientists alike Physics Today's Ashley Smart describes a huge recent win for citizen science: some 30,000 volunteers pored over millions of microscopic…

Today and tomorrow I am attending a workshop in Padova titled as per the title above (but it is in Italian). If you know the language and are interested in the topic, there is available live…

Abortion and teen pregnancy dropped among teens who received free contraception and were educated about the pros and cons of various birth control methods, according to a new study in the New England…

Polish astronomers from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) have discovered a young stellar bridge, that forms a continuous connection between the Magellanic Clouds. This…

Giving publishing power to the people. Credit: Thinglass/Shutterstock By Gillian Rudd, University of Liverpool A novel written in an invented “shadow tongue” to give the feel of Early Middle English…

The need for caution when any anomaly is revealed in new research. Credit: Flickr/Adam Gerard, CC BY-NC-SA By Michael J. I. Brown, Monash University UNDERSTANDING RESEARCH: What do we actually mean…

Ice sheets were never simple. There is no magic knob that could be turned to optimize melting rates and movement, outside environmental press releases. A new paper in Nature this week shows that not…

BEIJING; BERKELEY, CA; and UPTON, NY - The Daya Bay Collaboration, an international group of scientists studying the subtle transformations of subatomic particles called neutrinos, is publishing its…

When choosing a new leader, people base their decision on desirable characteristics such as honesty and trustworthiness. However once leaders are in power, can we trust them to exercise it in a…

If you need another good reason to hit the gym, a new study finds it can improve memory. Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have found that an intense workout of as little as 20 minutes can…

In video games, and in software downloads and processes, the status bar is often cheered or reviled. But they are here to stay. And now it may be possible to 'gamify' your medical progress. …

Mental illness has been under a lot of criticism in the last few years. The public feels like the psychology field over-medicates people based on subjective symptoms and recent high-profile violent…

Americans love their dogs, and most people clean up after their pets when they are out on a walk, but some do not: people who claim they wouldn't pour toxic chemicals or medicines onto the ground…

In 1908 the famously plump Venus of Willendorf, thought to be a symbol of fecundity, was discovered during an excavation near the Austrian town of Melk. It has been dated to 30,000 years ago and is…