Science News Sources

Now that Expelled's producers have gained notoriety by expelling PZ Myers from a preview while failing to recognize Richard Dawkins, and reducing Jacob Bronowski's Ascent Of Man to the level of a Visine commercial, the search has begun for the missing links in the devolution of Ben Stein [...]

It’s a long-held assumption that humans harbor an innate fear of snakes and spiders as an evolutionary defense mechanism against the threats such creepy crawlies may pose. Moreover, recent studies have suggested that we possess an uncanny natural capacity to preferentially attend to—i.e. id [...]

Well, sort of. Fans of classic science fiction and/or campy Disney films will recall that squid and humans have a score to settle. But Captain Nemo will be happy to hear that our cephalopod friends may have finally repaid their debt to humankind.

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara, [...]

I've never been able to solve a Rubik's Cube. It's a personal failing I chalk up to mild ADD, horrible spatial organization skills, and the desire to not get beaten up in middle school. Somehow, none of that gets in the way of my interest in reading a 10-page paper proving that all formations of [...]

There you are again, at the 11th hour, wrapping that present.

Off comes the price tag, ‘snip’ goes the scissors, and you peel off a piece of tape. Except that the tape, sensing your hurry, tapers down to a point and leaves with a useless, triangular piece. So you try again, [...]

So I'm a technological optimist. By and large, I think that, ultimately, technology will solve all my problems. That is, of course, if it doesn't destroy the world first. Because, let's face it, science is kind of scary.

At the top of my list of things that frighten me (followed shortly [...]

Of all the hair-brained policies we’ve had to endure as a nation over the past eight years, abstinence-only sex education has to be right near the top of the list. The idea that explaining the complexities of sexual reproduction and disease prevention will prove a greater aphrodisiac than exp [...]

When Charlton Heston passed away last weekend, somehow not from an accidental gunshot wound, he had been battling Alzheimer’s for six years.

US-based biotech company Power3 Medical Products claims to have developed a test that can detect Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Lou Gehrig’s [...]

We were down for a week there, but we're back, baby!

In this episode: The cutest animal ever to be trained to use tools in a laboratory setting; rogue Olympians whose genes may let them pass doping tests; suspended animation via sewer gas; and a another reason feel superior fo [...]

Nature just revealed the results of an informal internet poll of its readers, finding that a full one-fifth have used or currently take drugs or supplements for "cognitive enhancement."

2/3 report taking Ritalin for this "non medical" purpose; 44% have taken the newer stimulant modafinil. [...]

In 1999, Hurricane Gert formed on the eastern side of the Atlantic and began the long trip to Bermuda. Along the way, it happened to pass over a hydrophone (an underwater microphone) planted half a mile deep in the mid-Atlantic.

And made a little noise.

A hurricane� [...]

From the people who brought us Kismet…

Meet Nexi, an oddly expressive robot from MIT's Media Lab.

Okay, maybe not, but Mitch Kapor, designer of Lotus 1-2-3, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and generally near-prescient entrepreneur is sending the resources of Kapor Enterprises in that direction.

Kapor currently serves as the Chairman of the Board for Linden Lab, the [...]

We hit double digits. Champagne all around!

In this episode: A timelapse video of the U.S.'s carbon footprint, a plan to turn pollution into DVDs (and fleece Al Gore?), a warning against nanotoxic socks, and a duel between two green-tech press releases.

Created, written [...]

France offers "zen-zones" on its high-speed trains, Vienna just ordered public transit users to keep the phone on silent, and more and more U.S. states are banning cell phone use while driving.

Emirates Airlines, though, is giving obsessive communicators another place to gab: coach. Beg [...]