Science News

People who lie about their health in order to qualify for medical research studies can mess up study results, and potentially make a drug appear less safe or effective than it really is, researchers say.

Idle electronics, the energy vampires in nearly every U.S. home, aren't going away -- but you can take steps to pull the plug, and save some money.

Just as in the well-known children's story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, something good happens when things are done in moderation, rather than in extremes.

Exercise is great, until it isn't -- how much is too much?

Liquid crystals are familiar to most of us as the somewhat humdrum stuff used to make computer displays and TVs. Even for scientists, it has not been easy to find other ways of using them. Now a group of researchers is p...

Why do babies smile when they interact with their parents? Could their smiles have a purpose? A team of computer scientists, roboticists and developmental psychologists confirm what most parents already suspect: when bab...

Scientists have successfully defeated a dangerous intestinal pathogen, Clostridium difficile, with a drug targeting its toxins rather than its life. C. difficile is responsible for more than 250,000 hospitalizations and ...

Say goodbye to summer, because today is the autumnal equinox, which marks the first day of the fall season. It's also the beginning of some not-so-fun hazardous weather.

Under limestone slabs in a cave in Brazil, scientists made a ghoulish new discovery: a decapitated skull covered by amputated hands. The finding may be the oldest known case of ritual beheading in the new world.

How does religion affect people's mental health? It turns out it can be a double-edged sword.

A 9000-year-old decapitated head discovered in South America is twice as old as previous finds, and suggests veneration of the dead by early hunter-gatherers

Can women with low platelet counts safely undergo epidural/spinal anesthesia during labor? Available evidence suggests a low rate of complications related to abnormal blood clotting for this large group of patients.

Taking the first close look at a federal program designed to provide cost-savings incentives in exchange for more efficient health care, a new study has found that, while using those cost-savings as incentives for physic...

The majority of patients who undergo routine, uncomplicated operations prefer online postoperative consultations to in-person visits, according to results from a new study.

Physiologists trying to understand the genetic code have found a previously unknown code that helps explain which protein should be created to form a particular type of cell.

Cells that express neurogenin 3 may one day be harnessed to create a plentiful supply of insulin-producing beta cells for the treatment of diabetes, a study suggests.

Low-energy, ultrafast laser technology is able to make high-resolution, 3-D structures in transparent silk protein hydrogels to support cell growth and allow cells to penetrate deep within the material. The work represen...

In cancer patients nearing the end of life, certain subtypes of delirium -- specifically, hypoactive and 'mixed' delirium -- are a strong indicator that death will come soon, reports a new study.

Games used for exercising can improve physical and mental fitness in children with autism spectrum disorders, a new study concludes. As a way to combat a lack of physical activity, researchers investigated the use of the...

Biological engineers have devised a new mix-and-match system to genetically engineer viruses that target specific bacteria. The approach could generate new weapons against bacteria for which there are no effective antibi...

Tinnitus and chronic pain have more in common than their ability to afflict millions with the very real experience of 'phantom' sensations. Homing in on their structural and functional bases in the brain, researchers hav...

Adolescence, like infancy, has been said to include distinct sensitive periods during which brain plasticity is heightened; but in a review of the neuroscience literature saw little evidence for this claim. However, a sm...