How all-female species avoid the shrinkage of their gene pool is among the animal kingdom’s great mysteries. Now biologists think they’ve discovered the trick.
According to a study published Sunday in Nature, egg-producing cells in a …
The American exit strategy from Afghanistan not only hinges on beefing up the local army and police. It also requires persuading “small t” Taliban to leave the insurgency and reconcile with the government. A leading …
A team of mechanical engineering students at California Polytechnic State University is prepping an ultra high-mileage, three-wheeled car for the upcoming Shell Eco-Marathon student competition. If all goes well, they’ll take first place with fuel …
The amount of wind power that theoretically could be generated in the United States tripled in the newest assessment of the nation’s wind resources.
Current wind technology deployed in nonenvironmentally protected areas could generate 37,000,000 gigawatt-hours …
Cellphone conversations don’t just interfere with driving. Driving dents the capacity to describe and remember cellphone messages, at least for some of the youngest and oldest drivers, a new study finds.
sciencenewsRoutine driving impedes a person’s …
Longevity is one of the hottest areas of science, but there’s a curious hole in the research: Scientifically speaking, nobody knows how to measure aging, much less predict reliably how people will respond to time’s …
NASA’s new infrared telescope has released its first images.
The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer has returned more than 250,000 raw images. To celebrate its performance thus far, NASA selected four of them for processing and publication.
Above, …
A fresh look at forgotten fossils has revealed two new species of giant, filter-feeding fish that swam Earth’s oceans for 100 million years, occupying the ecological niche now filled by whales and whale sharks.
Until now, …
Nearly every person who has had their entire genome sequenced will gather in a single room near Boston on April 27. It’s the last time this will ever happen.
Within a year, the dozens of people …
A short period of fasting prior to chemotherapy may protect healthy cells but leave cancer cells vulnerable to drugs, according to a new study.
The results are very preliminary, based on animal research and a case …
As the sun reawakens from an anomalously quiet period, keep track of solar flares, sunspots and coronal mass ejections with a new iPhone app that puts the real-time status of the sun in your hand.
“This …
Call it a 10:1 scale model. After a childhood and adulthood spent lusting for a Tamiya Sand Scorcher R/C car kit, we’ve finally found something to top our wish lists: the real thing.
The folks at …
A new technique that uses a laser to vaporize materials like rocks and steel to analyze their chemical composition is finding new applications from Mars to forensics.
Thanks to its relatively small size and low cost, …
With just $100 worth of plywood and screws, almost anyone can build a shelter known as a Hexayurt that can last three years and possibly even withstand a hurricane. The simple DIY structure could be …
The California coast has seen fewer foggy days in the last century, threatening the health of the region’s majestic redwood trees.
Over the last century, new research suggests the average daily fog has decreased more than …
Of all science’s model organisms, none is as weird as Dictyostelium discoideum, a single-celled amoeba better known as slime mold. When they run out of food, millions coalesce into a single, slug-like creature that wanders …
Once Martian sand grains hop, they don’t stop.
That’s the conclusion of a new study that finds sand can move on Mars without much windy encouragement.
Mars’ sandy surface has clearly been shaped by wind. Its characteristic …
The Pentagon’s scientific fringe want to fast-track the quick and easy repair of wartime wounds, by eliminating one of the most important elements of tissue engineering - and replacing it with magnetic fields.
Last year, Darpa-funded …
A new analysis shows that a deadly mud volcano in Indonesia may not have been a natural disaster after all. The research lends weight to the controversial theory that the volcano was caused by humans.
Villagers …
The beautiful hourglass-shaped nebula Sharpless 2-106 shines with brilliant colors in this new image from the Gemini North telescope.
Giant star S106IR lies near the waist of the hourglass. Astronomers estimate the star could be up …
