Science News

In the wake of recent off-shore oil spills, and with the growing popularity of "fracking" -- in which water is used to release oil and gas from shale -- there's a need for easy, quick ways to separate oil and water. Now,...

"Killer robots" have left Hollywood and entered international politics. For the first time, world leaders who are increasingly concerned with a real-life "rise of the machines" are meeting this week to consider banning t...

A new study finds in an increase in lightning strikes after large solar winds. The findings suggest that particles from the sun may interact with the atmosphere to make lightning more likely.

Temporary tattoo decals, henna and other dyes can cause allergic reactions, and the FDA wants to know if you experience one.

Many fitness trackers keep on tracking even after you've hit the sack. Here's how to track your sleep with some of the most popular fitness trackers.

The proportion of marijuana-positive drivers involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes in Colorado has increased dramatically since the commercialization of medical marijuana in the middle of 2009, according to a study. Th...

Trypanosome parasites transmitted by tsetse flies cause devastating diseases in humans and livestock. Different subspecies infect different hosts: Trypanosoma brucei brucei infects cattle but is non-infectious to humans,...

Complex interactions among diet, mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA appear to influence lifespan at least as much as single factors alone, a new study of the biology of aging shows. The findings may help scientists better...

Primary care doctors spend so much time on clerical duties that their time with patients is limited. A new study suggests that "physician partners" who would work on those time consuming administrative tasks can free up ...

World War I is frequently referred to as "the first modern war." Nowhere was this more true than in the realm of communications -- the recent introduction of electric- and radio-based communications revolutionized the ar...

When women in developing countries own land, they gain power within their relationships and are less likely to experience violence, research demonstrates. Violence against women is not a matter of isolated cases but rath...

A study reveals how some Salmonella bacteria hide from the immune system, allowing them to persist and cause systemic infection. The study addresses both questions, focusing on a component of the innate immune response c...

Electronic monitoring to measure medication adherence by patients with glaucoma documented that a sizable number of patients did not regularly use the eye drops prescribed to them. This was the conclusion of a new study....

Tumor cells in bone marrow of early breast cancer patients predict a higher risk of relapse as well as poorer survival, but bone marrow biopsy is an invasive and painful procedure. Now, it may be possible to identify tum...

Smoke from wildfires raging in Southern California can be seen from space. NASA's Earth-watching Aqua satellite captured this image Wednesday (May 14) showing sandy-colored plumes stretching out over the Pacific Ocean fr...

A slew of sci-fi celebs and all-star scientists will descend on Washington, D.C., this weekend (May 16 to 18) for The Future Is Here, a festival celebrating the technology of tomorrow, science fiction and outer space.

Children of fathers who are in technical occupations are more likely to have an autism spectrum disorder, according to researchers. Fathers who worked in engineering were two times as likely to have a child with an autis...

A vaccine or other therapy directed at a single site on a surface protein of HIV could in principle neutralize nearly all strains of the virus--thanks to the diversity of targets the site presents to the human immune sys...

Between half and one-third of smokers presented with corrective statements about the dangers of smoking indicated that some of the information was new to them and motivated them to quit, finds a new study. "The tobacco i...

You can buy a drone in a toy store and they're all over YouTube - but US law still doesn't know what to do with them

"The story in the Southwest is the story of water." says National Climate Assessment Southwest chapter's Gregg Garfin. Reduced agricultural yields, health impacts in cities due to heat, and flooding in coastal areas are ...

Fifty years ago, the universe's genesis story was confirmed - by accident. Cosmologist Jim Peebles recalls the struggle to convince doubters (full text available to subscribers)