Science News

Scientists used high-power laser beams at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to simulate the shock effects of a meteorite impact in silica, one of the most abundant materials in the Earth's c...

Caterpillars that munch on corn leaves have developed a clever way to get the most nutrients from their meals: They use their poop to trick the plants into lowering their defenses.

An unmanned aerial vehicle operated by Safety Security Rescue Research Center (SSRRC) team members captured this image of devastation in Pearlington, Miss., during a search for survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

People with a genetic predisposition for age-related macular degeneration significantly increased their odds of developing the blinding eye disorder if they had a history of heavy smoking and consistently did not exercis...

Giving electronic reminders to tuberculosis patients in China can reduce the amount of medication doses they miss by half, according to new research.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) use is modestly associated with violent crime, according to a new study. The study showed in subgroup analysis that this association was evident in participants aged 15-24, b...

A dramatic photograph of a starving polar bear went viral online, but scientists say it's a stretch to definitively link polar-bear starvation to climate change.

A team of physicists from Cornell has shown that rapid, repeated measurements can freeze matter in place, in a paper recently accepted for publication by Physical Review Letters. The phenomenon, called the quantum Zeno e...

A novel approach that should "significantly accelerate materials discovery" is the subject of a new article in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters .

Like its modern-day descendants, an ancient big fish known as a coelacanth had gills, but it also sported a well-developed lung, a new study finds.

Reports of a super strain of head lice have many parents concerned as kids head back to the classrooms for the new school year. The dreaded "lice letter" that comes home in backpacks when lice is found in a classroom is ...

People with dementia exhibit many far-reaching changes of conduct. Embarrassment, fear, and reduced orientation ability decrease their degree of independence and social inclusion. The QuartrBack project combines voluntee...

Yoga can be safe and effective for people with arthritis, a randomized trial of people with two common forms of arthritis has found. The researchers report that eight weeks of yoga classes improved the physical and menta...

Stroke injures the brain, but a new study indicates an abdominal organ that plays a vital role in immune function, the spleen, may be a target for treating stroke-induced chronic inflammation leading to further brain cel...

Marijuana use among American high school students is significantly lower today than it was 15 years ago, despite the legalization in many states of marijuana for medical purposes, a move toward decriminalization of the d...

A study describes a forgotten technique used in the fly Drosophila melanogaster dating back 80 years. This method allows the transplantation of tissue from larvae to adult flies, thus allowing research into tumor growth ...

A new study projects a dramatic increase in the burden of fragility fractures within the next three decades. By 2040, approximately 319 million people will be at high risk of fracture -- double the numbers considered at ...

Drugs commonly used to treat high blood pressure, and prevent heart attacks and strokes, are associated with significantly worse cardiovascular outcomes in hypertensive African Americans compared to whites, according to ...

Nearly one in five recently surveyed high school seniors report having smoked tobacco from a hookah in the past year, and more than a third of them reported smoking hookahs often enough to be considered regular users, an...

A novel radiopharmaceutical probe has the potential of providing physicians with information that could save the lives of patients with ischemic stroke or pulmonary embolism -- conditions caused when important blood vess...

Some research has suggested that omega-3 fatty acids, abundant in fish oils, can relieve inflammation in the digestive tracts of people with Crohn's disease. But a new study hints that we should be paying closer attentio...

For years, researchers have known that the human skin is home to a diverse community of microorganisms, collectively known as the skin microbiome. Now a new study has shown that individuals with a particular skin microbi...