Dogs, But Not Wolves, Use Humans As Tools
Between fifteen and thirty thousand years ago, the protracted process of domestication began to alter the genetic code of the wolf, eventually leaving us with the animals we know as domestic dogs.
The medical prescience of Edgar Allan Poe
How Poe was able to describe so precisely the symptoms of what is now known as frontal lobe syndrome is doomed to remain a mystery.
Saturn may have snagged Pluto's cousin, turned it into a moon
Saturn's moon Phoebe might be a planetesimal - a remnant of the rocky building blocks of the planets in our Solar System.
Darwinian selection continues to influence human evolution
New evidence proves humans are continuing to evolve and that significant natural and sexual selection is still taking place in our species in the modern world.
Bilingualism fine-tunes hearing, enhances attention
A new Northwestern University study provides the first biological evidence that bilinguals' rich experience with language "fine-tunes" their auditory nervous system and helps them juggle linguistic input in ways that enhance attention and working memory.
California mad cow case no reason for panic
Animal did not have foodborne form of disease
Large-scale analysis finds majority of clinical trials don't provide meaningful evidence
The largest comprehensive analysis of ClinicalTrials.gov finds that clinical trials are falling short of producing high-quality evidence needed to guide medical decision-making.
Way to spot breast cancer years in advance
A genetic test could help predict breast cancer many years before the disease is diagnosed, experts hope.
This Is Your Brain on Drugs
To the great surprise of many, psilocybin, a potent psychedelic, reduces brain activity
Synthetic Genetic Evolution
Scientists show that manmade nucleic acids can replicate and evolve, ushering in a new era in synthetic biology.
Risks of mixing drugs and herbal supplements: What doctors and patients need to know
Herbal, dietary, and energy or nutritional supplements may offer specific health benefits, but they can also have harmful and even life-threatening effects when combined with commonly used medications.
Simple Device Helps Delay Birth to Lift Babies' Chances of Survival
In wealthy countries, some very premature babies are saved in intensive care units. In poor countries, they often die or develop blindness, retardation, lung problems or cerebral palsy.
New Studies of Permian Extinction Shed Light on the ‘Great Dying’
It may never be as well known as the Cretaceous extinction, the one that killed off the dinosaurs. Yet the much earlier Permian extinction - 252 million years ago - was by far the most catastrophic of the planet's five known paroxysms of species loss.
Dopamine impacts your willingness to work
Slacker or go-getter? Everyone knows that people vary substantially in how hard they are willing to work, but the origin of these individual differences in the brain remained a mystery. Until now.
Garlic Compound Fights Food-Borne Bacteria
Diallyl sulfide, a compound found in garlic, was much more effective than two standard antibiotics at wiping out bacteria responsible for digestive system infections. Sophie Bushwick reports
Sloppy shipping of human retina leads IU researchers to discover new treatment path for eye disease
After 9,000 research papers on disease in 10 years, new underlying mechanism uncovered
Presence of fetal cells in women lowers risk of breast cancer but raises risk of colon cancer
Study is first to find possible causative link but biological reasons are unknown
Jealousy and envy at work are different in men and women
A study carried out by researchers from Spain, the Netherlands and Argentina suggests that in a work environment, sexual competition affects women more than men.
Why Jupiter's moon Ganymede is an exciting destination
Ganymede, here we come. A €1 billion mission to place spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter's largest moon - also the largest in the solar system - has received the green light from the European Space Agency.
One gene helped human brains become complex
A single ancestral human gene that made two copies of itself may have helped the evolution of our large brains 2.5 million years ago
Blonde hair evolved independently in Pacific islands
Science can't yet tell us whether they have more fun - but it has uncovered a new genetic change that makes people blonde.
Mars Opportunity rover reaches Endeavour crater, finds signs of ancient Martian water
Over seven years into its (originally) 90-day mission, the Mars rover Opportunity arrived at the rim of Endeavour Crater
Massive rise in Asian eye damage
Up to 90% of school leavers in major Asian cities are suffering from myopia - short-sightedness - a study suggests.
Hubble to use moon as mirror to see Venus transit
Hubble cannot look at the sun directly, so astronomers are planning to point the telescope at the Earth's moon, using it as a mirror to capture reflected sunlight
New electrode material could lead to powerful rechargeable sodium batteries
A new electrode material could help make lightweight, powerful rechargeable sodium batteries to replace lithium-ion batteries used in electronics and some electric vehicles.
What is your dog thinking? Brain scans unleash canine secrets
Many dog lovers make all kinds of inferences about how their pets feel about them, but no one has captured images of actual canine thought processes -- until now
Pathogens that feed off human blood
For bacteria that live within the human body, there is one incredibly iron-rich molecule that circulates throughout the human body and can be found permeating the tissues.