science news pages

Street lighting is changing bug communities and that means trouble for humans.

What happens if we kill the world's oceans? Nothing good.

After a heroic pit bull named Lily saves her owner's life, Ohio reverses its position on the breed.

A kit containing 600 to 700 parts, including Kinect hardware and software, was used to build basketball-shooting robots.

Will traffic be safer and smoother if vehicles can “talk” to each other? That’s the question the Department of Transportation hopes to answer, starting this summer, with an ambitious year-long experiment in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In August the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to...




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If you were a little less productive at work the day Google had that cool Les Paul Doodle on its homepage — you know, the one that let you record your own guitar riffs — be prepared to lose even more time today. In celebration...




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Can you read your spouse's mind? During an argument? A Baylor University study showed people could easily tell when a spouse was angry, but other important emotions, such as sadness, were hard to detect.




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The FBI is investigating the founder of a "revenge porn" website, where scorned lovers were posting nude photos and videos of their ex-partners anonymously.




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DUST TO DUST: Astronomers have for the first time, found a rocky planet that's slowly being vapourised by the blistering heat of the star it's orbiting.

BUG'S LIFE: Street lights have an unexpectedly strong effect on insect populations, according to a UK study.

STARSTUFF PODCAST: A new era in space travel begins as a private spacecraft heads to the International Space Station. Also; new evidence black holes stop new stars being born, and a spectacular annular eclipse thrills skywatchers.

VIEWING TIPS: Don't miss the very last transit of Venus in our lifetime. Before you rush outside, brush up on when to see it, what to see, and how to see it safely.

Less fabled than Atlantis, but every bit as fascinating, Pavlopetri was once a thriving port that dominated the Mediterranean. But when it vanished into the sea more than 2,000 years ago, the city's secrets were lost - until now.

Charlie Martel is attempting to conquer the North Pacific Ocean, by rowing solo approximately 10,000 kilometers from Japan to the U.S.

Animal Planet's Emmy®-nominated WHALE WARS returns for an all-new, fifth season with eight engaging new episodes and a one-hour recap special documenting the Sea Shepherd's annual whale defence campaign in the Southern Ocean.

As you may already be aware from my previous posts, The Guardian U.S. and NYU s Studio 20 journalism lab have teamed up to push a project called The Citizens’ Agenda into the media discourse surrounding the U.S. presidential 2012 election. The idea: find out what you–the citizens–want the candidates to be discussing over the next four months usually meaning questions of substance about policy rather than horserace and gotcha questions so pervasive in mainstream media.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a call for the Scientific American community to provide us with the three most important science-related questions that they would like to see the candidates asked by the media or during presidential debates in the fall. The Scientific American community is one (actually the first to have this finished) of a number of topical communities providing questions. Naturally, our readers are interested in science, so we are focused on the science topics here.
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Science in crisis

Scientists – and science generally – are in a moment of crisis on multiple fronts. The gap between science and society has grown to a chasm, with disastrous consequences for issue after issue. For example, just last month, Tennessee passed legislation permitting creation “science” into classrooms. On another front, the concern of Americans about global warming has dramatically declined over the past decade, despite the scientific consensus on the clear and present danger caused by climate change.
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We knew she was dangerous.

People remarked on her beauty: “ Surprisingly symmetrical (pdf) ,” “ Fuji-san of America .” She was perfect, a flawless volcanic cone cloaked in deep green forests and mantled in brilliant white snow.
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By Nick Leonard

In December 2002, the US Japan Security Consultative Committee began a series of conversations about strategic military alignment in the Pacific and how to protect their associated countries in today s rapidly changing global security environment. [Guam Buildup EIS, 2010] This three-and-a-half-year conversation evolved into what has been know as the Defense Policy and Review Initiative, part of which planned for the relocation of over 8,600 United States troops from Okinawa, Japan to Guam and other parts of the Pacific.
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Manmade luminescence attracts rich communities of creepy crawlies

Obama’s science adviser says ignoring nuances gives critics the edge

Mysterious disappearances may be due to competition with fishery

EFSA sees no evidence that GM maize harms the environment or human health

Rapid DNA sequencing may soon become a routine part of each individual's medical record, providing enormous information previously sequestered in the human genome's 3 billion nucleotide bases. Recent advances in sequencing technology using a tiny orifice known as a nanopore are covered in a new a article.

A new study shows that the availability of hydrogen plays a significant role in determining the chemical and structural makeup of graphene oxide, a material that has potential uses in nano-electronics, nano-electromechanical systems, sensing, composites, optics, catalysis and energy storage.

Scientists have created a condensate of the exotic element erbium. Ultracold quantum gases have exceptional properties and offer an ideal system to study basic physical phenomena. Erbuim is a very exotic element, which due to its particular properties, offers new and fascinating possibilities to investigate fundamental questions in quantum physics.

Engineers have for the first time used "plasmonic cloaking" to create a device that can see without being seen -- an invisible machine that detects light. It is the first example of what the researchers describe as a new class of devices that controls the flow of light at the nanoscale to produce both optical and electronic functions.

Weight-loss surgery helps people to think thin, which could open the door to new and gentler drug treatments for obesity[/url]

As science funding becomes a higher priority in Russia, there may be more room for artists in the lab too[/url]

Gliding is a skill many animals have mastered – even some that don't have wings. Meet six of the strangest[/url]

Weight-loss surgery cures food cravings. But it also makes some minds sharper, others duller. Find out why – from someone who's been through it (full text available to subscribers)[/url]

(Bend Research Inc.) Bend Research Inc., a leading independent drug-formulation development and manufacturing company, announced the expansion of its existing hot-melt extrusion capacity with the addition of an 18mm Leistritz twin-screw mixer/extruder.

(University of Montreal) Fat Bastard's revelation "I eat because I'm depressed and I'm depressed because I eat" in the Austin Powers film series may be explained by sophisticated neuroscience.

(Arizona State University) A special feature in this week's issue of the journal Science highlights protein array technology, touching on research conducted by Joshua LaBaer, director of the Biodesign Institute's Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics.

(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) The universe is a marvelously complex place, filled with galaxies and larger-scale structures that have evolved over its 13.7-billion-year history. Those began as small perturbations of matter that grew over time, like ripples in a pond, as the universe expanded. By observing the large-scale cosmic wrinkles now, we can learn about the initial conditions of the universe. But is now really the best time to look?