Astronomers can look back in time by gathering light from distant stars that was sent billions of years ago. Another way to learn about the past is to study similar stars to our own, but at a much…

In one sense, I am happy that there is enough interest in the concept of “junk DNA” (and by extension, my area of research in genome size evolution) that the subject gets regular media attention. A…

John Edward Mack, Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer and Harvard Medical School psychiatrist, believed lots of people had been abducted by aliens. Never heard of him? Most people haven't. His fame as…

Studies have shown that religious people are actually helped by faith in stressful situations. Oxford University psychologists suggest atheists are also helped by belief during times of crisis; the…

Karlsruhe's Institute of Technology, Freie Universität Berlin and the University of Geneva set out to determine whether and how far laser light and plasma can influence cloud formation. For their…

The world’s oldest known fossil primate skeleton, unearthed from an ancient lake bed in central China’s Hubei Province, near the course of the modern Yangtze River, represents a previously unknown…

You're an animal, says Dominique Lestel, a French philosopher who opposes the separation of human and animal life.   In a new paper, Lestel reminds sociology readers that we…

A Georgia State University researcher says the Clean Air Act signed by President Richard Nixon in 1970 led to climate change - in a good way.  Jeremy Diem, an associate professor in the…

Fuel cells can be as efficient (or more) than internal combustion engines, silent, and at least one type produces zero greenhouse emissions at the tail pipe. Car and bus manufacturers as well as…

While the Orion Nebula is one of the closest stellar nurseries to Earth and that makes for great viewing in backyard telescopes, it is not the most prolific star-forming region in our galaxy. That…