One of the most fascinating nearby planetary systems, 55 Cancri, is now less mysterious. Hopefully. The authors say theirs is the first viable model for  the planetary system of 55…

A spider in the Moroccan Sahara rolls like a tumbleweed and can do powerful, acrobatic flips through the air. Cebrennus rechenbergi runs for a short time, then stretches out its front legs, spinning…

Vermont is still milking the slavery thing. Yes, yes, you were first to ban it. It's easy to ban something you never had in the first place. That does not mean you are right in everything you ban and…

Everyone has heard of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a stand-off over missiles off the shores of America. It's considered a highwater mark during a Cold War culture that was concerned about mutual assured…

Teaching is somewhat of a thankless job. One group tells you not to 'teach to the test' while another blames you when international test scores show American kids are in the middle of the pack. Well,…

Teaching is somewhat of a thankless job. One group tells you not to 'teach to the test' while another blames you when international test scores show American kids are in the middle of the pack. Well,…

A team of scientists has found that the woody growth of forests in north Borneo is half as great again as in the most productive forests of north-west Amazonia, an average difference of 3.2 tons of…

A genomic investigation by University of British Columbia researchers has revealed that a lethal parasite infecting a wide range of insects actually originated from pond scum, but has completely shed…

American Council on Science and Health is an advocacy group consisting of hundreds of scientists, doctors and policy experts devoted to science outreach. They've been around since the 1970s, when the…

Academics share one thing with the corporate world - most people want to climb the socio-economic ladder. A post at an elite university like Oxford or Caltech is the crowning achievement of a career…

Academics share one thing with the corporate world - most people want to climb the socio-economic ladder. A post at an elite university like Oxford or Caltech is the crowning achievement of a career…

A comparison of the genomes of polar bears and brown bears reveals that the polar bear is a much younger species than previously believed, having diverged from brown bears less than 500,000 years ago…

Patients whose lost red blood cells are recycled and given back to them during heart surgery have healthier blood cells compared to those who get transfusions of blood stored in a blood bank,…

If someone fails to meet an obligation, you probably feel a little betrayed, but do you not appreciate it if they exceed expectations? Humanities scholars think that is the case and they use the…

After 20 years of grueling research, unimaginably effective drugs to treat hepatitis C are hitting the market. They are so good that cure rates (aka sustained virological response, or SVR)…

Some Ecuadorian tribes were famous for making mummified shrunken heads (click for the recipe) from the remains of their conquered foes.  Perhaps they got the idea from nature. Field work in the…

Richard Somerville and Susan Hassol have some recommendations for how to improve science communication. I've written about this before. In the Communicating Astronomy With The Public magazine I…

There are about 9,700 known species of grasshoppers in the world. Now there is one more, and it has beeen named  Grammy-award winning singer and Mexican activist Ana Lila Downs Sanchez. Locals…

Pollution is bad, right? To some animals, it's home. Thousands of shipping containers are lost from cargo vessels each year and many of them sink, never to be found again.  In February 2004, the…

Would reducing smog lead to higher earnings? Yes, say Columbia University professor of Environmental Health Science Frederica Perera  and colleagues. They correlate reduced air pollution to…