ScienceBlog.com

A new way of making LEDs could see household lighting bills reduced by up to 75% in five years time, thanks to research at Cambridge University.

Times are tough for wildlife living at the frontier between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Armies are reportedly encamped in a national park and wildlife preserve on the Congolese side, while displaced herders and their cattle have settled in an adjoining Ugandan park.

In the world of nanomaterials, scientists and engineers can create new structures with tiny building blocks as small as one billionth of a meter.

Nothing kills innovation like having to reinvent the wheel. Imagine how dull your diet would be if you had to build a new stove and hammer out a few cooking pots every time you wanted to test a new recipe.

A key phase in the repair process of damaged human DNA has been observed and visually recorded by a team of researchers at the University of California, Davis. The recordings provide new information about the role played by a protein known as Rad51, which is linked to breast cancer, in this complex and critical process.

A novel technology for synthesising chemicals from plant material could produce liquid fuel for just over €0.50 a litre, say German scientists. But only if the infrastructure is set up in the right way.

The team operating NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit plans diagnostic tests this week after Spirit did not report some of its weekend activities, including a request to determine its orientation after an incomplete drive.

A new study suggests that when people engage in synchronous activity together — like singing the national anthem before a ball game — they become more likely to cooperate with other group members.

A new study has found that transplantation of stem cells from the lining of the spinal cord, called ependymal stem cells, reverses paralysis associated with spinal cord injuries in laboratory tests.

The best way to survive the ill-effects of climate change and pollution may be to simply sleep through it.

Picture a tree in the forest. The tree “inhales” carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, transforming that greenhouse gas into the building materials and energy it needs to grow its branches and leaves.

A new study in the journal Social Science Quarterly examined the relationship between first name popularity in adolescents and tendency to commit crime. Results show that, regardless of race, juveniles with unpopular names are more likely to engage in criminal activity.

As technology has played a bigger role in our lives, our skills in critical thinking and analysis have declined, while our visual skills have improved, according to new research.

Taking up valuable land and growing edible crops for biofuels poses a dilemma: Is it ethical to produce inefficient renewable energies at the expense of an already malnourished population?

Mice with increased levels of a natural brain chemical don’t gain weight when fed a high-fat diet, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

Almost three percent of all Americans suffer from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). But when do you cross the line between a neurotic compulsion to check your email every five minutes and mental illness? Ask the animals.

People who buy fake internet drugs could be risking their lives and supporting terrorism, according to an editorial in the February issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice.

A new neuroimaging study on stressed-out students suggests that male humans, like male rats, don’t do their most agile thinking under stress.