Science News

All eyes are on private rocketeers after the latest problem with Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, which is now the only means of sending crews to the International Space Station

Researchers have, for the first time, described the genetic basis of endometriosis, a condition affecting millions of women that is marked by chronic pelvic pain and infertility. The researchers' discovery of a new gene mutation provides hope for new screening methods.

In a study of the harsh but beautiful White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, researchers have uncovered a unifying mechanism to explain dune patterns. The new work represents a contribution to basic science, but the findings may also hold implications for identifying when dune landscapes like those in Nebraska's Sand Hills may reach a "tipping point" under climate change, going from valuable grazing land to barren desert.

The future of disease diagnosis may lie in a “breathalyzer”-like technology currently under development.

A new analysis has found that a state ballot initiative to increase the cigarette tax would create about 12,000 jobs and nearly $2 billion in new economic activity in California.

Treatment with three "targeted" cancer drugs has been linked to a slightly elevated chance of fatal side effects, according to a new analysis. These risks remain low, but they should be factored in when developing patients’ treatment plans.

Biologists have uncovered why the chemical defenses in birch, a common type of tree found in North America, are toxic to snowshoe hares.

Using high-quality data about the incidence of influenza infections in Alberta during the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, the researchers show that when schools closed for the summer, the transmission of infection from person to person was sharply reduced.

Scientists found evidence that domestic cats and wild cats that share the same outdoor areas in urban environments also can share diseases such as Bartonellosis and Toxoplasmosis. Both can be spread from cats to people.

Researchers have uncovered 27 new candidate genes for congenital diaphragmatic hernia, a common and often deadly birth defect. Their sophisticated data-filtering strategy offers a new, efficient and potentially game-changing approach to gene discovery.

Studies of diving beetles suggest sperm evolution may be driven by changes in female reproductive organs, challenging the paradigm of post-mating sexual selection being driven mostly by competition among sperm. In the process, the researchers discovered an unexpected and stunning variety of sperm form and behavior.

When a researcher set out to study a chemical in male mouse urine called MTMT that attracts female mice, he didn't think he would stumble into a new field of study. But the research has led scientists to the discovery that it's the copper in our bodies that makes mammals recoil from sulfur chemical smells.

The love song of an extinct cricket that lived 165 million years ago has been brought back to life by scientists. The song – possibly the most ancient known musical song documented to date – was reconstructed from microscopic wing features on a fossil discovered in North East China. It allows us to listen to one of the sounds that would have been heard by dinosaurs and other creatures roaming Jurassic forests at night.

An exceptionally preserved fossil has allowed biologists to reconstruct the sound of an extinct bush cricket. So what did it sound like?

NASA's solar-powered Juno spacecraft successfully refined its flight path Feb. 1 with the mission's first trajectory correction maneuver. The maneuver is the first of a dozen planned rocket firings that, over the next five years, will keep Juno on course for its rendezvous with Jupiter.

A comprehensive new report on health insurance shows the so-called Great Recession caused hundreds of thousands of Californians to lose coverage and acquire medical debt.

A recent discovery enables the prediction of patient sensitivity to proposed drug therapies for glioblastoma – the most common and most aggressive malignant brain tumor in humans.

In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama praised the potential of the country's tremendous supply of natural gas buried in shale. But the "Halliburton exclusion" passed by Congress says gas companies don't have to disclose the chemicals used in fracturing fluids. That was a real mistake because it makes the public needlessly paranoid, says a geophysicist.

Researchers are revealing how molecular imaging can be used to solve mysteries about difficult cases of breast cancer. One recent article focuses on an imaging agent that targets estrogen receptors in estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer patients with formerly inconclusive assessments, and the second highlights a different imaging agent's ability to help predict the prognosis for patients undergoing chemotherapy for a very aggressive type of breast cancer.

Satellite tracking of threatened loggerhead sea turtles has revealed two previously unknown feeding "hotspots" in the Gulf of Mexico that are providing important habitat for at least three separate populations of the turtles.