Science News

Working night shifts has little or no effect on a woman's breast cancer risk despite a review in 2007 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifying shift work disrupting the 'body clock' as a prob...

Recent disappointments have physicists looking beyond WIMPs for dark matter particles --

Get outside and explore some of the Bay Area's geologic treasures during Earth Science Week.

People who carry variants in a particular gene have an increased preference for high fat food, but a decreased preference for sugary foods, according to a new study. The research has provided insights into why we make pa...

A new report suggests hospital rankings may not be as reliable as thought. Researchers found that false-positive event rates were common among high-transfer and high-volume hospitals.

Bionic enzymes got a needed boost in speed thanks to new research. By pairing a noble metal with a natural enzyme, scientists created a hybrid capable of churning out molecules at a rate comparable to biological counterp...

Despite their different triggers, the same molecular chain of events appears to be responsible for brain cell death from strokes, injuries and even such neurodegenerative diseases as Alzheimer's. Now, researchers say the...

Researchers have demonstrated how Rad4, a protein involved in DNA repair, scans the DNA in a unique pattern of movement called 'constrained motion' to efficiently find structural faults in DNA. The findings could lead to...

Controversy over prostate cancer screening guidelines that discourage use of PSA tests did not significantly reduce use of the test, a five-year review of more than 275,000 visits showed.

For months after birth, new neurons make their way through a baby's brain. Now researchers have had the best look yet at this process in action

The formation of quasiparticles, such as polarons, in a condensed-matter system usually proceeds in an extremely fast way and is very difficult to observe. In Innsbruck, Rudolf Grimm's physics research group, in collabor...

A strict genetic timetable for resuscitation of dormant cells has been uncovered by scientists. The findings provide insight into a previously unknown survival strategy of bacteria and enable the researchers to draw key ...

The assembly of proteins to form larger macromolecular structures within cells is linked to ribosomes and thus to their synthesis through the process of translation. Ribosomes adopt the role of a quality "checkpoint" in ...

Nine in 10 dairy farmers participating in a new British survey say that the farming industry must take a proactive lead in the battle against antibiotic resistance. Those questioned also think that over the next five yea...

A new therapeutic target for the treatment of compulsive binge eating has been identified by researchers. They report the beneficial effects of the activation of a class of receptors, Trace Amine-Associated Receptor 1 (T...

Ultraviolet C light disinfection to clean unoccupied patient rooms significantly reduced C. difficile infections (CDI) in high-risk patients who later occupied those rooms, according to a new study. The no-touch device, ...

Researchers have created a new way to design and fabricate microfibers that support cell growth and could be useful tools for reconnecting nerves and regenerating other damaged tissues.

A new study on the growing epidemic of hookah use among America's youth and young adults finds that current waterpipe use has doubled among US adults in a very short time span.

The plant attracts pollinating flies to a temporary prison by mimicking the odour of their favourite food: bits of dead honeybees killed by spiders

Some people wear their hearts on their sleeves. Others, meanwhile, measure their heartrate on their wrists. The latter group is growing exponentially, ushering in a multi-billion-dollar wearables market, from watches tha...

Humans need eight essential trace elements for good health, and one of them is selenium -- a powerful antioxidant that is important for thyroid and brain function as well as metabolism. Researchers have now discovered ex...

The human genome is far more complex than thought, with genes functioning in an unexpected fashion that scientists have wrongly assumed must indicate cancer, research indicates.