Science News

Giant vines are beginning to strangle Earth's tropical forests, warns biologist William Laurance, and it's not just down to climate change (full text available to subscribers)     

Glove Brian Klutch Anyone who's worn waterproof boots knows that although they shed moisture, they're magnets for grime. Most water-repelling treatments still allow for surface friction, so particles of mud, soot, oil, o...

The Voice Loves Twitter A Nielsen rating, the monopolistic measure of how many people watch a show and its ads, is probably the single most important number in deciding whether a show is successful (and, in turn, whether...

A tale of an Indonesian volcano, a monk, and the mass graves of London. Originally published: Oct 1 2013 - 3:30pm, Inside Science News Service By: Joel N. Shurkin, ISNS Contributor (ISNS) -- The Benedictine monk Matthew ...

The Silicon Valley personal genetics company 23andMe has created a wave of controversy about "designer babies," following its recent receipt of a patent for a system through which prospective parents could select sperm o...

Three Confederate Prisoners Three captured Confederates, Gettysburg 1863 Mathew Brady original, Jordan J. Lloyd Colorized Photographs from the American Civil War have a funereal air to them. Add color to these historical...

Fossils found in China suggest an early bird had a tail of two parts – one primitive, one modern     

The moon jellyfish may move slowly, but it does so more efficiently than almost any other animal, helping explain why jellyfish can overwhelm ecosystems     

Some small marsupial males drop dead from stress after their first breeding season, perhaps because of the females' sexual behaviour     

A UN decision means that international airlines will have to curb their greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 – but it's not clear by how much     

Beams of ultrasonic sound waves project a force field in front of screens, making it feel as though a user is touching an invisible 3D surface     

All the latest on newscientist.com: planet of the vines, FBI shows its online reach, how to get happy, smoking and child depression, and more     

Understanding the lives of literary characters can help readers better understand the thoughts and feelings of people in the real world     

The Scale: Power This article originally appeared in the October 2013 issue of Popular Science.     

In movies, robots look like us and can do everything we can--only they're smarter, stronger, faster, and have questionable motives. Robotics firm, Boston Dynamics, may have a lot to do with whether or not such a future c...

This review is as spoiler-free as possible with regard to Gravity, although older space movies included as comparisons have slight spoilers. So there’s this space movie that opened in theatres in weekend. I really hope...

Research on how cells transport vital hormones, signalling molecules and enzymes has won the Nobel prize for medicine     

Three new books explore the origins of inequality, what scarcity does to our minds and how to teach your brain to be happy     

Overzealous suppression of disease research because of a fear of bioweapons makes the world less safe, not more, says Debora MacKenzie     

(Stanford University) Stanford scientists recreated the intense pressures and temperatures found deep within the Earth, resulting in a discovery that complicates theories of how the planet and its core were formed.

(European College of Neuropsychopharmacology) Contrary to expectation, women with PMDD show increased amygdala activity early in their cycles when progesterone is low suggesting that heightened emotional responses may be...

(Burness Communications) Results from a large-scale Phase 3 trial, presented today in Durban, show that the most clinically advanced malaria vaccine candidate, RTS,S, continued to protect young children and infants from ...