Science News

People Magazine has announced that Adam Levine, front man of the band Maroon 5, is this year's sexiest man alive, and scientists agree that the musician and TV personality has many traits that are widely held to be sexy.

Using a novel realization of a "phonon laser," scientists at PML and the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) have observed and learned to control a process called mode competition. This process occurs routinely in optical lase...

Carl Friedrich Gauss, one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, died in 1855. His brain has been resting at the University of Gottingen for the last 150 years--but under the wrong label. A mix-up that appears to ha...

Several new projects aim to re-invent the condom so that it enhances, or at least perseveres, sexual pleasure.

In the 50 years since John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, conspiracy theories as to who was really behind the assassination have flourished. Here are some of the main theories.

Giant sloths were on the menu for humans that arrived in the Americas 30,000 years ago, a new study suggests.

I finished reading Chris Hadfield’s new book recently and was quite struck by one of his ideas — why it’s best to be a zero. In Hadfield’s terminology, a “zero” is a person who contributes enough to keep the ...

Turning Bitcoin's rigorous verification system into a secure ledger for trading all sorts of goods could change the face of commerce     

A crop-dusting aircraft's graceful, looping route over Russian farmland is tracked by the pilot's GPS, resulting in a beautiful map you won't see anywhere else     

Researchers at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering have developed a faster 3D printing process and are now using it to model and fabricate heterogeneous objects, which comprise multiple materials.

Lever Handle Delaney Turner In a post this morning, I wrote that Vancouver's plan to ban doorknobs from being implemented in new buildings in favor of lever-style handles was a great idea. Doorknobs are less ergonomic, a...

Mount Etna's volcanic outbursts have been a constant companion for Sicilians for more than 2,000 years, but geoscientists are still trying to solve the mystery of why Etna erupts so frequently.

The NSA's massive dragnet could be ripped apart by tools that make it impossible to know what you are doing on your computer     

A rough, gridded texture can cause water droplets to bounce off of it faster, making the material more water-repellent, new research suggests.

Ancient DNA from skeletons found in Siberia is genetically similar to that found in European hunter-gatherers and modern-day Native Americans, but not East Asians. The new findings suggest Asia was populated in multiple ...

Those who study hydrophobic materials--water-shedding surfaces such as those found in nature and created in the laboratory--are familiar with a theoretical limit on the time it takes for a water droplet to bounce away fr...

An electrode that can produce the taste of salty, sweet, bitter and sour food could make gaming tastier and help in healthcare too     

The first suppression of an extreme event called a dragon-king suggests we may one day be able to avert some financial crashes, brain seizures and storms     

A 24,000-year-old boy from Siberia is helping redraw the Native American family tree - and its roots spread further than we thought     

There are just a few days left to cast a vote to name the newest giant panda cub at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

All the latest on newscientist.com: noise - the key to quantum computing, Doctor Who anniversary, Australia the climate bad boy, tickling yourself and more     

Cranberry sauce, a perennial Thanksgiving favorite, could provide a health boost. Here's a look at how cranberries are good for your health.