Survival rates in heart failure patients with reduced levels of vitamin D are lower than in patients with normal levels. This is the finding of a major study carried out in the Netherlands.

Researchers have developed a new type of pump for drug-delivery patches that might use arrays of "microneedles" to deliver a wider range of medications than now possible with conventional patches.

The higher up a male bonobo is placed in the social hierarchy, the greater his mating success is with female bonobos, researchers have found. But even males who are not so highly placed still have a chance of impressing females. A new study finds evi...

Experiments prompted by a 2008 surprise from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander suggest that soil examined by NASA's Viking Mars landers in 1976 may have contained carbon-based chemical building blocks of life.

A doctoral student who discovered a new species of bee in Toronto has completed a study of 84 species of sweat bees in Canada. Nineteen of these species are new to science -- never before identified -- including the new Toronto bee, which is actually...

Uninsured minority pedestrians hit by cars are at a significantly higher risk of death than their insured white counterparts, even if the injuries sustained are similar, new research suggests.

Iron deficiency is a relatively common nutritional disorder that affects more than one third of the general population, and is often associated with chronic diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, Parkinson's disease, rheumatoid diseases and ren...

As anyone who has ever struggled to keep his or her eyes open after a big meal knows, eating can induce sleepiness. New research in fruit flies suggests that, conversely, being hungry may provide a way to stay awake without feeling groggy or mentally...

Scientists have determined the fine-scale genetic structure of the first animal to show an evolutionary response to rapid climate change.

Move over, Sunbelt. The New North is coming through, a geographer predicts in a new book. As worldwide population increases by 40 percent over the next 40 years, sparsely populated Canada, Scandinavia, Russia and the northern United States will becom...

With a loud roar and mighty column of flame, NASA and ATK Aerospace Systems successfully completed a two-minute, full-scale test of the largest and most powerful solid rocket motor designed for flight. The motor is potentially transferable to future...

Only about one in every six Americans who have ever been overweight or obese loses weight and maintains that loss, according to researchers.

Scientists have devised a method for coaxing mouse embryonic stem cells into forming a highly specific motor neuron subtype. The research provides new insight into motor neuron differentiation and may prove useful for devising and testing future ther...

Researchers have provided the first direct evidence using a biological marker, to show chronic stress plays an important role in heart attacks. The scientists developed a method to measure cortisol levels in hair providing an accurate assessment of s...

Theoretical physicists have created a new model that helps define the subatomic origins of ferromagnetism -- the everyday "magnetism" of compass needles and refrigerator magnets. The model was created to explore the inner workings of ferromagnetic co...

A multidisciplinary group of researchers has produced a 3.6-angstrom resolution structure of the human adenovirus. Scientists are working with adenovirus as a vector for gene therapy, but have needed better structural information.

A team of agricultural scientists are working to make corn-derived plastics more heat tolerant -- research that may broaden the range of applications for which these plastics could be used as an alternative to petroleum-based plastics.

Dutch biologist Gerard Jagers op Akkerhuis has developed the ‘operator hierarchy’ -- a system based on the complexity of particles and of organisms, which can predict the next step in evolution: a technical life form, that can pass on its knowled...

Researchers have developed a new animal model for studying hemophilia A, with the goal of eventually treating people with the disorder. Hemophilia A, a hereditary defect that prevents blood from clotting normally, is caused by a variety of mutations...

When it comes to the mechanics of the human immune system, we are all more alike than previously thought, according to a new study.

A new study shows that more than 80 percent of the new farmland created in the tropics between 1980 and 2000 came from felling forests, which sends carbon into the atmosphere and drives global warming. But the research team also noted that big agribu...

Researchers have identified the molecular mechanism that makes omega-3 fatty acids so effective in reducing chronic inflammation and insulin resistance.

The use of salt to deice pavement can leave urban streams toxic to aquatic life, according to a new study on the influence of winter runoff in northern US cities, with a special focus on eastern Wisconsin and Milwaukee.

A new study of romantically separated people shows they offer clues to their emotional status in just a few seconds of conversation.

NASA has begun development of a mission to visit and study the sun closer than ever before. The unprecedented project, named Solar Probe Plus, is slated to launch no later than 2018. The small car-sized spacecraft will plunge directly into the sun's...

The European Space Agency's Envisat satellite has been tracking the progression of the giant iceberg that calved from Greenland's Petermann glacier on 4 August 2010. A new animation shows that the iceberg, the largest in the northern hemisphere, is n...

Ants are not out of their weight class when defending trees from the appetite of nature's heavyweight, the African elephant, a new study finds. Columns of angered ants will crawl up into elephant trunks to repel the ravenous beasts from devouring tre...

The academic performance of adolescents will suffer in at least one of four key subjects -- English, math, science, history -- if their DNA contains one or more of three specific dopamine gene variations, according to a biosocial criminologist.

Researchers have identified unique metabolic properties that allow a specific type of stem cell in the body to survive and replicate in low-oxygen environments.

In two closely related studies, two teams of scientists have discovered the underlying mechanisms that activate a type of immune cell in the skin and other organs. The findings may lead to the development of new therapies to treat inflammation, wound...

Researchers have developed a new fabrication process for high-speed graphene transistors using a nanowire as the self-aligned gate. This new technique does not produce any appreciable defects in the graphene during fabrication, so the carrier mobilit...

A research team has shown for the first time that a gene called Myc, which is traditionally thought of as a cancer-causing gene, may be far more important in the development and persistence of stem cells than was known before.

New research links capsaicin, a component of chili peppers, to skin cancer. While the molecular mechanisms of the cancer-promoting effects of capsaicin are not clear and remain controversial, the new research has shown a definite connection to format...

Unexpectedly, scientists have now discovered a true counterpart of the cerebral cortex in an invertebrate, a marine worm. Their findings give an idea of what the most ancient higher brain centers looked like, and what our distant ancestors used them...

Expanding their scope of study on the mechanisms of bacterial infection, researchers have reported the surprise finding from a small clinical study that cranberry juice cocktail blocked a strain of Staphylococcus aureus from beginning the process of...

More people are likely to believe scientific studies claiming that oil drilling is riskier, not safer, than was previously thought, according to a new study of attitudes in California. What's more the findings show that scientists' efforts to influen...

Thousands of people who are partially sighted following stroke or brain injury could gain greater independence from a simple, cheap and accessible training course which could eventually be delivered from their mobile phones or hand-held games console...

Humans -- males in particular -- with a variant form of the immune receptor gene "Toll Like Receptor 7" are at increased risk of developing the autoimmune disease lupus. This finding offers renewed hope for developing more targeted treatments.

School children who consume foods purchased in vending machines are more likely to develop poor diet quality -- and that may be associated with being overweight, obese or at risk for chronic health problems such as diabetes and coronary artery diseas...

Engineers have created a millionth-scale automobile differential to govern the flight of minuscule aerial robots that could someday be used to probe environmental hazards, forest fires, and other places too perilous for people. Their new approach is...

To watch a magician transform a vase of flowers into a rabbit, it's best to have a front-row seat. Likewise, for chemical transformations in solution, the best view belongs to the molecular spectators closest to the action. Those special molecules co...

Protecting helicopters in combat from heat-seeking missiles is the goal of new laser technology.

Individuals are more likely to acquire new health practices while living in networks with dense clusters of connections -- that is, when in close contact with people they already know well.

Researchers have found two genes in mice which might help identify why some people are more susceptible than others to potentially deadly staph infections.

Cigarette smoke shuts off a key enzyme in airways that regulates the body's response to inflammation, according to new findings. Researchers say smoke inhibits the enzyme, called Leukotriene A4 Hydrolase (LTA4H), causing it to fail in its job of shut...

Researchers have devised a new technique -- using a sheet of carbon just one atom thick -- to visualize the structure of molecules. The technique, which was used to obtain the first direct images of how water coats surfaces at room temperature, can a...

Scientists are using atomic force microscopy to record sounds emanating from inside living insects like flies, mosquitoes and ladybugs.

Biophysicists in Germany have discovered a diode for protons: just like the electronic component determines the direction of flow of electric current, the “proton diode” ensures that protons can only pass through a cell membrane in one direction....