Science News

Women who eat more potatoes before pregnancy may have higher rates of gestational diabetes -- the form that occurs during pregnancy -- compared to women who consume fewer potatoes, suggests a new study. The researchers p...

Expectant mothers who sustain a traumatic injury and receive care at a hospital with a designated trauma center experience better outcomes than those treated at a non-trauma hospital, say researchers.

A Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) has been issued on the diagnosis and treatment of primary adrenal insufficiency, a condition commonly known as Addison's disease that occurs when the body produces too little of the ho...

A lipid (fat molecule) in brain cells may act as a "switch" to increase or decrease the motivation to consume nicotine, new research demonstrates.

For the first time, researchers have been able to take a series of 3D images of a large section from a medicine-synthesizing enzymes in action. The researchers believe that the images they have generated will not only br...

Those with hyperactive immune cells at birth, detected in their cord blood, were more likely to develop food allergies in their first year of life, a study of more than 1,000 Victorian babies has shown.

A study raises concerns that the lower-fiber diets typical in industrialized societies may produce internal deficiencies that get passed along to future generations.

Flavonoid-rich foods are associated with a reduced risk of erectile dysfunction, according to a new study. Of all the different flavonoids, Anthocyanins (found in blueberries, cherries, blackberries, radishes and blackcu...

Researchers are using a technology likened to "mini force fields" to independently control individual microrobots operating within groups, an advance aimed at using the tiny machines in areas including manufacturing and ...

The plague was brought to Europe by rats on ships. Or was it?

A nature-inspired method to model the reflection of light from the skin of silvery fish and other organisms may be possible, according to Penn State researchers.

While lithium-ion batteries have transformed our everyday lives, researchers are currently trying to find new chemistries that could offer even better energy possibilities. One of these chemistries, lithium-air, could pr...

Stone tools discovered on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi dating back at least 118,000 years suggest that an unknown lineage of toolmakers, relatives of the diminutive "hobbit" once lived there.

Sepsis is a very complicated and precarious condition. Research groups have now developed a way to use mass spectrometry to measure hundreds of proteins in a single blood sample. With the help of protein patterns it is t...

The view of the role of motor neurons could be changing, thanks to new research. Motor neurons, which extend from the spinal cord to muscles and other organs, have always been considered passive recipients of signals fro...

We get all sorts of questions in our "Ask a Physicist" inbox, (including a positively disheartening number from people who seem to think it's "Ask a Psychic") but one topic that consistently seems to spark people's imagi...

An outbreak of whooping cough in Florida was surprising to health authorities there -- most of the people who got sick had been fully vaccinated.

A recent study of the Brazilian torrent frog, Hylodes japi, shows that the species employs a more nuanced communication system than any other known frog species.

Frogs of the genus Hylodes squeal, inflate vocal sacs, wave their arms and wiggle their feet and toes while courting their mates or warning their rivals.

When one spouse passes away, his or her characteristics continue to be linked with the surviving spouse's well-being, according to new research. The findings also indicate that this link between the deceased spouse and s...

New microscopic technology promises to be a game-changer in the field of reproductive assistance. A team of scientists has devised a new method of microscopy allowing scientists to perform clinical sperm analysis for in ...

Gut microbes are well known to contribute to health and disease, but what has been less clear is how the host controls gut microbes. A study now reveals that mice and humans produce small molecules (microRNAs) from their...