Even in stringent times, it seems like a good idea to do some science to find out what the world is made of and how it works.
A national organization best known for its defense of teaching evolution has added climate change to its agenda in a move that highlights a brewing controversy inside the classroom. Across the country, teachers and schools boards are being pressured to teach that the science of climate change is controversial when, in fact, it is not,…
For fifteen years, science writer Margaret Wertheim has been collecting alternative theories of the universe. Some are poems, others include hand-drawn diagrams, and a few, at first glance, look like academic papers written by professional physicists. They have been sent to her from all over the world by people desperate to share insights about our…
The UN has urged countries to seek a “peaceful resolution” in cyberspace to avoid the threat of global cyberwar. The comments by the head of the UN’s telecommunications agency came a week after Flame, one of the most complex cyber-attacks to date, was uncovered. Dr Hamadoun Toure told the BBC that he did not suspect…
By studying how birds master songs used in courtship, scientists have found that regions of the brain involved in planning and controlling complex vocal sequences may also be necessary for memorizing sounds that serve as models for vocal imitation. In a paper appearing in the journal Nature Neuroscience, researchers at Duke and Harvard universities observed…
DNA holds the genetic code for all sorts of biological molecules and traits. But University of Illinois researchers have found that DNA’s code can similarly shape metallic structures. The team found that DNA segments can direct the shape of gold nanoparticles — tiny gold crystals that have many applications in medicine, electronics and catalysis. Led…
Some scientists are searching not just for any life out there in the universe, but for our distant relatives. Earth may have seeded life on other planets if an asteroid smacking into Earth sprayed DNA into space, researchers suggest. Now a team of researchers is searching for siblings of the sun — stars born from…