The Shackled Man Theory says that holding someone back for half of a race and then setting them free later means the shackled racer can never really catch up.  If so, environmentalists have…

Selecting graduate students in the fields of science and engineering based on an assessment of "character", whatever that means, is better than relying almost entirely on their scores on a…

After analyzing core samples from the seabed off the coast of Spain and Portugal, near the Strait of Gibraltar, scientists say they have proof of shifts of climate change over the past six…

In humans, no therapy for  amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease,  has ever been discovered that could extend lifespan more than a few additional months. ALS was…

In the most comprehensive genetic study of the Mexican population to date, researchers from  Mexico's National Institute of Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN), UC San Francisco and Stanford University,…

Vani Hari, an earnest unqualified pundit who sells a lot of stuff on her website, implies you will look like her if you don't eat foods she cannot pronounce. And now she has gone after pizza. No big…

White sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are among the largest, most widespread apex predators in the ocean so there have been concerns about their vulnerability. The most comprehensive study undertaken…

MINNEAPOLIS – People with diets higher in protein, especially from fish, may be less likely to have a stroke than those with diets lower in protein, according to a meta-analysis published in the June…

Oxford University researchers funded by Parkinson's UK have developed a simple and quick MRI technique that offers promise for early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. The team demonstrated that their…

One of the hazards of summer is picking up an itchy poison ivy rash but researchers say they have found a natural and effective way to kill it - a fungus named olletotrichum fioriniae that grows on…

When proteins are produced in cells based on the "genetic code" of codons, there is a precise process under which molecules called transfer RNA (tRNA) bind to specific amino acids and then transport…

A class of drug currently being used to treat leukaemia has the unexpected side-effect of boosting immune responses against many different cancers, reports a new study led by scientists at UCL…

Which do you think gets more pageviews, sites with exaggerated titles like Upworthy or Buzzfeed, or an accurate title like this one? We know the answer. The reason is that smart sites interested…

As I write this impromptu post the 2nd day of a search technology conference in Seattle is closing with the usual after-hours partying.  People are happily writing blog posts and newsletters…

How effective has the war on science by Greenpeace, Union of Concerned Scientists and their progressive donor base been? Very effective. Effective enough that even when reading about the Irish…

During a three week field trip, ecologists studied an entire glacier and found that microbes drastically reduce surface reflectivity and have an impact on the amount of sunlight that is reflected…

Three years ago, Georgia Institute of Technology researchers took a close look at a connectivity phenomenon - how fire ants work together to build waterproof rafts to stay alive. After examining the…

The standard cosmological model is the frame of reference for generations of scientists but some question its ability to accurately reproduce what is observed in the nearby universe.  Dwarf…

Americans lead the world in adult science literacy, it has nearly tripled since 1988. What other trend occurred since 1988? A lot fewer people read newspapers. If people are smarter about…

Quebecers are particularly hostile toward the development of natural gas, but this aversion is driven less by 'not in my backyard' (NIMBY) attitudes than 'not in anyone's backyard (NIABY), according…