Science News

Access to required anesthetic agents for a lethal injection is quickly disappearing, leaving the future of the death penalty in the United States in question. "Because the European Union opposes the death penalty, it pro...

Stem cell scientists have a new theory for how stem cells decide whether to become liver or pancreatic cells during development. A cell's fate, the researchers found, is determined by the nearby presence of prostaglandin...

Scientists have found for the first time an infectious form of the cat parasite Toxoplasma gondii in western Arctic Beluga, prompting a health advisory to the Inuit people who eat whale meat.

We know much about how embryos develop, but one key stage -- implantation -- has remained a mystery. Now, scientists have discovered a way to study and film this 'black box' of development. This new method revealed that ...

When individuals from different groups interbreed, their offspring's DNA becomes a mixture of the DNA from each admixing group. Pieces of this DNA are then passed along through subsequent generations, carrying on all the...

Epidemiological data integrated with climate data estimated from tree-ring measurements indicate that drought contributed to the spread of epidemic typhus in Mexico during the pre-modern era (1655 to 1918).

Breathing the air outside their homes may be just as toxic to pregnant women -- if not more so -- as breathing in cigarette smoke, increasing a mom-to-be's risk of developing deadly complications such as preeclampsia, ac...

Proteases are vital proteins that serve for order within cells. They break apart other proteins, ensuring that these are properly synthesized and decomposed. Proteases are also responsible for the pathogenic effects of m...

Many psychiatric disorders are accompanied by memory deficits. Scientists have now identified a network of genes that controls fundamental properties of neurons and is important for human brain activity, memory and the d...

Communication is vital to any successful relationship. Researchers have discovered how the beneficial bacteria in our guts communicate with our own cells. This is a key step in understanding how our bodies maintain a clo...

A study reveals that osteoarthritis-related tissue damage is caused by a molecular pathway that is involved in regulating and responding to zinc levels inside of cartilage cells. A protein called ZIP8 transports zinc ins...

Platelets, whose primary function is to prevent bleeding, are vital for treating various forms of trauma and blood diseases. However, they can only be obtained through blood donations at present. Researchers recently fou...

Researchers have discovered that a well-known protein has a new function: It acts in a biological circuit to determine whether an immature neural cell remains in a stem-like state or proceeds to become a functional neuro...

A woman can beat middle-aged spread, her disease risks, and her hot flashes with the help of her healthcare provider. And even a short term program can spell success for women and fit into a busy provider's practice, sho...

Moderate exercise like brisk walking may cut women's stroke risk 20 percent. Moderate exercise also helps offset some of the increased stroke risk in women taking postmenopausal hormone therapy.

Researchers have determined that sarcopenia -- a loss of skeletal muscle mass--increases risk of sepsis and mortality risk in patients undergoing live donor liver transplantation. Findings suggest that post-transplant se...

Researchers are working with breast cancer survivors to help them regain muscle mass and bone density lost through both chemotherapy and the aging process.

In the first study of its kind, a consortium of physicians found that giving stroke patients intravenous magnesium within an hour of symptom onset does not improve stroke outcomes, according to research.

Could a nuclear accident like the 2011 meltdown that crippled the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan happen here? David Lochbaum, a former nuclear engineer, director of the Nuclear Safety Program for the Union of Concerned...

Corals rely on the photosynthesis of algae for oxygen. To make sure algae get the light they need, coral tissue traps and redistributes sunlight.

Despite initial reports that the rover had been declared dead, Chinese state media are now reporting that it is waking up after the long lunar night     

Shoot a beam of light or particles at certain special materials and you will liberate electrons -- pairs of them -- a phenomenon known as "electron pair emission, " which can reveal fundamental properties of the solid an...