'Designer baby debate should start'
Rapid progress in genetics is making "designer babies" more likely and society needs to be prepared
Researchers open 'Pandora's box' of potential cancer biomarkers
Analysis describes global landscape of relatively unexplored part of human genome
Scientists find major limitations with carbon nanotubes in blood facing medical devices
The research from Trinity College Dublin demonstrates the opportunities and risks involved in using these innovative technologies in clinical practice.
Fossil ankles indicate Earth's earliest primates lived in trees
Earth's earliest primates have taken a step up in the world, now that researchers have gotten a good look at their ankles.
A voyage from the Earth's crust to its mantle and back again: Uranium isotope cycle
From the beginning of time, uranium has been part of the Earth and, thanks to its long-lived radioactivity, it has proven ideal to date geological processes and deduce Earth's evolution.
This 3,500-Year-Old Dagger Made a Really Great Doorstop
One man’s doorstop is another man’s rare, ancient artifact
The New Old Age: Complexities of Choosing an End Game for Dementia
Jerome Medalie keeps his advance directive hanging in a plastic sleeve in his front hall closet, as his retirement community recommends.
Is there a biological basis for the seven-year itch?
Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist at Rutgers University and author of Anatomy of Love: The Natural History of Monogamy, Adultery and Divorce, responds:
Scientists Test Out Tiny Robots Meant to Travel Inside a Human Body
The first test of micro-machines on a living mouse marks a breakthrough in the field of nano-robotics
Hospitalized for pneumonia? Your risk of cardiovascular disease is higher
New 'microcapsules' have potential to repair damage caused by osteoarthritis
New 'microcapsule' treatment delivery method develcould reduce inflammation in cartilage
Harnessing data from Nature's great evolutionary experiment
Scientists develop a computational method to estimate the importance of each letter in the human genome
Ocean floor dust gives new insight into supernovae
Extraterrestrial dust from the depths of the ocean could change the way we understand supernovae.
Ancient Scrolls Blackened by Vesuvius Are Readable at Last
X-ray scans can just tease out letters on the warped documents from a library at Herculaneum
The Wine of the Future Could Be Aged Underwater
A historic shipwreck inspired a new way to age wine
High-Speed Video Shows When The Smell of Rain Begins
Now we can see exactly how raindrops create petrichor, the name given to smells kicked up by light rain
Millions of Dollars Worth of Gold And Silver Lurk in Sewage
A city with one million people could have $13 million worth of metals in sewage sludge
Life Extension May Add Just Bad Time
Strains of the lab workhorse roundworm C. elegans that lived longer added more time being frail and had the same portion of their lives being healthy as normal worms.
The work has implications for life-extension ideas such as caloric restriction. Dina Fine Maron reports
New type of antibiotic resistance living in hiding
Aggressive infections constitute an increasing health problem all over the world.
Inside the big wormhole
In theory, the Milky Way could be a 'galactic transport system'
Biological safety lock for genetically modified organisms
The creation of genetically modified and entirely synthetic organisms continues to generate excitement as well as worry.
Death of a dynamo -- A hard drive from space
The dying moments of an asteroid's magnetic field have been successfully captured by researchers, in a study that offers a tantalising glimpse of what may happen
to the Earth's magnetic core billions of years from now.
Classic psychedelic use protective with regard to psychological distress and suicidality
Classic psychedelics, such as LSD, psilocybin mushrooms and mescaline, previously have been shown to occasion lasting improvements in mental health.
USC study finds blood vessels in older brains break down, possibly leading to Alzheimer's
Advanced image analysis suggests breakdown in brain's memory and learning center can be detected before cognitive loss begins, suggesting important implications
for Alzheimer's and dementia patients
New bacterial language discovered
Communication by bacteria as a therapeutic target for medicines
Depression Tweaks the Brain's Disappointment Circuit
An unusual chemical balancing act helps explain why people with depression attend more closely to negative information
Japan might get to name the most alien worlds
Who gets to name exoplanets? As efforts to officially christen alien worlds gets under way, it looks like Japanese astronomy fans will get the deciding vote.
How the Brain Stores Trivial Memories, Just in Case
New Study finds emotion that makes memories so vivid can also reach back in time to strengthen recall of mundane things happening just earlier and are relevant
This Woman Can’t Feel Fear
Damage from a rare genetic condition appears to have knocked out the "fear center" in her brain
Measles Cases Linked to Disneyland Rise, and Debate Over Vaccinations Intensifies
Measles outbreak that began at Disneyland is spreading across California and beyond, prompting health officials to move aggressively to contain it
Early human ancestors used their hands like modern humans
New research suggests pre-Homo human ancestral species, such as Australopithecus africanus, used human-like hand postures much earlier than was previously thought.
Research suggests anti-inflammatory protein may trigger plaque in Alzheimer's disease
researchers have uncovered the mechanism by which anti-inflammatory processes may trigger Alzheimer's
Blame it on your brain: Salt and hypertension
Study sheds new light on link between salt intake and blood pressure
Trust your gut: E. coli may hold one of the keys to treating Parkinson's
Protein in E. coli that inhibits the accumulation of potentially toxic amyloids
Doubt cast on global firestorm generated by dino-killing asteroid
Pioneering new research has debunked the theory that the asteroid that is thought to have led to the extinction of dinosaurs also caused vast global firestorms
that ravaged planet Earth.
Is glass a true solid?
Does glass ever stop flowing?
Anti-radiation drug could work days after exposure
After a nuclear meltdown, exposure to DNA-damaging radiation levels can happen in minutes – but accessing therapies that might combat the effects can take days.
Arctic ice cap slides into the ocean
Satellite images have revealed that a remote Arctic ice cap has thinned by more than 50 metres since 2012 - about one sixth of its original thickness - and that it is now flowing 25 times faster.
The brain's electrical alphabet
Timing and rate underlie neural information
Researchers discover genetic links to size of brain structures
Five genetic variants that influence the size of structures within the human brain have been discovered
It Isn’t Only Dogs; Cats May Pick Up on Emotional Cues, Too
New research shows that, like babies and dogs, our feline friends look to us for clues on how to react to new situations
Is Orange Juice More Nutritious?
New research challenges the assumption that fruit trumps juice
UK Ebola nurse 'happy to be alive'
Nurse Pauline Cafferkey: "I pretty much lost a week of my life that I just can't remember"
Obama to Request Research Funding for Treatments Tailored to Patients’ DNA
President Obama will seek hundreds of millions of dollars for a new initiative to develop medical treatments tailored to genetic and other characteristics of individual patients,
administration officials say.
WHO vows reform after Ebola 'shocks'
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set out plans for reform, admitting that it was too slow to respond to the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
The 'fifth taste,' umami, could be beneficial for health
The special series in open-access journal Flavour also finds that 'kokumi' substances, which modify flavor, could improve the taste of low-fat foods
Is MSG a silent killer or useful flavour booster?
Given all the scare stories about MSG, should we really be recommending it? We look at the evidence
Were Cellular Powerhouses Once Parasites?
Mitochondria may have started out stealing energy rather than producing it
Heartburn 'could be sign of cancer'
A health campaign is urging people not to ignore heartburn, because it could be a sign of stomach or oesophageal cancer.
Balloon Pilots in Quest of World Records Take Off from Japan
Two balloonists took flight from Japan on Saturday in a bid to break world records for distance and duration for gas balloon travel,
in what they hope will be at least a six-day trans-Pacific flight
Daily drinking increases risk of alcoholic cirrhosis
Results also suggest that recent alcohol consumption, and not lifetime alcohol consumption, is the strongest predictor, according to report in the Journal of Hepatology