Biological systems have caught the attention of computer scientists, who have been turning everything from RNA molecules to entire bacterial colonies into logic gates. ...

Why is it against the law to sell chewing gum or to not flush a toilet in Singapore, but completely legal to smoke pot ...

Way back in... 2007, I co-authored

Hugh Pickens writes "Eryn Brown writes in the LA Times that accounts of 'duh' research abound as studies show that driving ability worsens in people with early Alzheimer's disease, that women who get epidurals experience less pain during childbirth than ...

Velcroman1 writes "For the next five days, New Yorkers will be learning about science not from a PowerPoint presentation but by watching it firsthand. The World Science Festival is taking over New York City from June 1 to 5, bringing ...

Mantle hotspots are believed to explain unique geological phenomena—like the formation of the Hawaiian island chain, and the history of volcanism that has culminated ...

As we enjoy the outdoors through various summer activities, we also have to deal with pests like mosquitoes, which are potential disease carriers, on ...

RogerRoast writes "Vanderbilt University scientists report that they have developed a simple technique for stamping patterns invisible to the human eye onto a special class of nanomaterials. According to the article, the method works with materials that are riddled with ...

Those who are worried about the possible health risks of cellphones just received some backing from a significant source: the World Health Organization. ...

umarkalim writes "Staff Scientist Apurva Mehta says, 'For 40 years at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, we have been taking very high-resolution photographs-photographs of atoms in molecules and crystals and of electronic structures. But now we want to make movies.' He ...

On Monday, the International Energy Agency released an evaluation of humanity's carbon budget for 2010, and the news was not good. The poor ...

It may have been a holiday weekend in the US and UK, but physics never takes the day off. ...

We spend so much time discussing manufactured controversies about science that it's a bit refreshing to be able to report on a real one. ...

In a recent issue of Science, Cary Moskovitz and David Kellogg consider the way students are taught science and science writing in laboratory courses, ...

Those pretentious beer snobs may be right: Ever get told that, to really appreciate a Guinness, you have to travel to Ireland? ...

astroengine writes "Quantum theory is often seen as the root cause of unrelated, mysterious phenomena. Take consciousness for example. British physicist Roger Penrose recently argued 'that we will need to invoke 'new physics and exotic biological structures': rewriting quantum theory ...

The journal Science is produced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an organization that takes its role in promoting science education ...

In computer science and mathematics, problems can be broadly categorized as hard or easy. This doesn't refer to the complexity of programming an algorithm ...

Some research articles are a confusing compendium of calculations, a deluge of obscurely labelled diagrams, and conclusions that are carefully hidden. Yes, the journal ...

lee1 writes "In a 10 year long experiment, scientists at Imperial College have made the most precise measurement so far of the shape of the electron. It's round. So round, in fact, that if the electron were enlarged to the ...

Opioids like morphine, codeine, and opium are effective painkillers, but they also have adverse effects, including addiction, nausea, and constipation. Thus, scientists are actively ...

The animal kingdom has evolved a remarkable number of ways to have sex. Males and females, hermaphrodites, and parthenogenic females that get by ...

The modern world revolves around fast, voluminous, and reliable communications. To accommodate the brave but not-so-new world of the interconnected, engineers have been working ...

Kozar_The_Malignant writes "A newly-described species of bacterium, Pseudomonas putida has been found to live on pure caffeine. The little jaspers metabolize caffeine into carbon dioxide and ammonia. They were found living in a flower bed on the University of Iowa ...

Geothermal power has long been touted as a valuable piece of a renewable energy portfolio, but, like other energy technologies, it has its limitations. ...

Although I was lucky enough to tour Brookhaven's RHIC accelerator during a period of scheduled downtime, my trips to the LHC and Fermilab both ...

Although turtles have a limited control over their internal body temperature, they do respond to temperature differences in complex ways. These include things like ...

Phoghat writes "An Australian team of researchers scanned the sky using WiggleZ Dark Energy survey and found confirming evidence of Dark Energy. Einstein is correct, as so far, usual." Meanwhile, the International Space Station is looking for dark *matter* . ...

Last week, Science released three papers and a perspective, all focused on understanding what happened during the March earthquake that struck Japan. Now ...

It's not the alcohol, it's the testosterone: Weird Science has come across several indications that the drinking that goes on at sporting events ...

An anonymous reader writes "Much has been made of graphene's potential. It can be used for anything from composite materials - like how carbon-fiber is used currently - to electronics. 'Our research establishes Graphene as the strongest material ever measured, ...

Fukushima Reactor 1 melted down, 2 and 3 may have too: Access to the control room of Fukushima's Reactor 1 has allowed TEPCO to ...

Everyone loves a bit of juicy gossip, but have you ever stopped to think about how hearing who is having an affair or who ...

Mammals have the largest brains relative to body size out of all the organisms on Earth. In addition, only mammals have a neocortex, the ...

Last week, I flew out a day ahead of our staff meeting in Chicago. Instead of enjoying the Windy City, however, I headed west, ...