Science News

Deforestation, the permanent destruction of forests in order to make the land available for other uses, is considered to be a contributing factor to global climate change.

Parallels with pygmy marmosets suggest that Homo floresiensis could be a distinct dwarf species rather than an unusual form of our species

Mustangs were first brought over to the Americas by Spanish explorers.

A company in Spain has developed a fabric that hardens like plastic when applied to a vacuum. Paramedics may soon have a new instrument for their emergency first aid kits--a smart fabric that, when exposed to a vacuum, s...

Eclipsing stars have yielded the best measurement yet of the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud, the first rung on the cosmic distance ladder

Government red tape threatens to deprive the fledgling space-flight community of important technical insights

If a high-salt diet also aggravates autoimmune diseases in humans, the discovery may lead to new ways to control conditions such as psoriasis

All the latest stories on newscientist.com, including: survival of the friendliest, four hurdles to Mars, cosmology's dark heart, the father of all men, and more

How did these insane slogans actually get on the internet? And who's buying them? Click here for some other examples of algorithms getting offensive. Just because you can use an algorithm to make slogans doesn't mean the...

The undead could soon be helping the living for the British National Health Service if an app in development for doctors takes off

The wolves bold enough to approach humans and eat our scraps evolved into dogs – did we too "self-domesticate", asks evolutionary anthropologist Brian Hare (full text available to subscribers)

Six years after the EPA's new arsenic rule for drinking water went into effect, poor communities in the San Joaquin Valley—who can’t afford the costs of complying with the stricter standard—face the ...

An airline pilot spotted an unmanned flying object dangerously close to his plane in Brooklyn yesterday. What can we learn from this? Yesterday morning, an Alitalia pilot reported seeing a remote-controlled aircraft near...

A year after its 2012 launch, online education platform Coursera is booming. The startup recently added 29 partner universities, expanding their catalogue to 313 courses from 62 universities in 17 countries. To say the w...

The late Hollywood actress Audrey Hepburn personified grace and elegance, and today, her iconic status still carries on strong. With her panache and discerning tastes, she serves almost as an archetype of quirky style in...

The latest results from CERN still don't say whether the boson discovered there is the Higgs predicted by theory, or something more surprising

We had thought that all men share a common male ancestor who lived within the last 140,000 years – but one African American man has broken the mould

Tourist entertainment and private collectors are now a greater threat to wild apes than deforestation and bushmeat poachers

Watch a giant salamander engulf a roach, showing how amphibian jaws evolved the ability to suck

Inspiration Mars has identified four challenges standing between them and the Red Planet – whatever happens, the effort will aid future deep space missions (full text available to subscribers)

It's all in the wrist. Though smartphone technology has evolved to be able to treat your depression and drive your robot, one basic function -- typing -- can still be a total pain. Stabbing at your tiny touchscreen keybo...