Science News

Wind farms and intensive mining: Michael Slezak sees contrasts in Mongolia that reveal the obstacles in a green path to rapid economic growth

Forget PRISM, this is real super-villain stuff. Buggy software isn't just annoying--the right compromised code can leave private information vulnerable to clever hackers for as long as the problem is unnoticed. The only ...

Just having an iPad for every kid isn't enough. U.S. schools are spending money on laptops and tablets for their students, but they aren't checking what kinds of returns on investment they're getting, according to a new ...

Mary-Claire King, who discovered the BRCA1 and BRCA2 cancer-related genes, says she is delighted by the US Supreme Court ruling that makes it illegal to patent them

Tech types are outraged by the media's misinterpretation of some of the aspects of the (very technical) PRISM story--but the mistakes, if they are even mistakes, don't detract from the seriousness of the scandal. There a...

All the latest on newscientist.com: the biology of free will, world's first abs, patenting breast cancer genes, green economy pangs in Mongolia, and more

A drop in oyster harvests may be down to the difficulty oyster larvae have in making shells when seawater acidifies

The White House has "high confidence" that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons, after a breakdown product of sarin was found in urine samples

Plus a theater for pirated movies, a teardown of Google Glass, and more

Burned-out vehicles in the aftermath of the Black Forest fire in Colorado show the destructive power of the worst wildfire in the state's history

Faced with a dangerous predator, Asian giant honeybees perform a Mexican wave - and their entire nest shakes as a result

In an attempt to not only expand the menu for Earth orbiters, but to also bring us one step closer to every Trekkie's dream of a food replicator, NASA is funding a project that is aimed at creating a 3D printer to serve ...

The tough thing about having your office at home is you’re tempted to work all the time. It’s so easy to walk to the desk, turn on the computer and lose yourself in one of your projects, especially if you enjoy your ...

Our path through life isn't predetermined. Neuroscientist Peter Ulric Tse says he has identified the brain mechanism that lets us choose our fate (full text available to subscribers)

Under proposed legislation, suppliers can sell new recreational drugs in New Zealand if they can show that they carry a "low risk of harm"

Barack Obama has declared that it is time to get tough on "patent trolling", but how do we decide who counts as one?

Variety is the spice of life at a summer festival of edible plants at Kew Gardens, London: it combines interactive art with the serious matter of food security

A pound of dollars, rooftop swimming pool, mathematical T-shirts, and more (full text available to subscribers)

Lead poisoning is a major obstacle to recovery for the endangered California condor, but a bill to address the problem has gun owners up in arms.

Pterodaustro guinazui was the flamingo of the dinosaur era, and like those birds, it kept bits of grit in its stomach to help grind up its food

Using magnets, scientists re-create a space environment