Some of the greatest discoveries in science have been total accidents - Alexander Fleming's use of penicillin, Wilson and Penzias' discovery of the cosmic microwave background, etc. Today, scientists announced they've once again unintentionally made a monumental discovery:
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A microscopic, see-through water flea is the most complex creature ever studied, genomically speaking. Daphnia pulex is the first crustacean to ever have its genome
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Engineers are always looking for ways to pare down the size of technologies, and apparently that penchant for miniaturization extends to bomb-sniffing canines as well. Israeli researchers are trading in their dogs for mice trained in explosive detection, using teams
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Genetically engineered mosquitoes could even spread genes to other insects
As carriers for diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever, mosquitoes are the deadliest creatures on the planet, responsible for millions of human deaths every year. And as the planet
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Over the protests of environmental groups and NGOs, Malaysia has released 6,000 genetically modified mosquitoes into the wild,
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Bats - you know we love ‘em - have a remarkable ability to turn, swirl and dive on a dime while in mid-flight, dodging obstacles and grabbing food from the air. Engineers would like to give robots and autonomous
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Researchers at Harvard have figured out how to manipulate the actions of nematode worms sans wires or electrodes, opening the door to a better understanding of how just a few neurons can influence behavior in animals. Scientists at the university's Center for Brain Science
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The burgeoning neural networks of fruit fly pupae solve a distributed computing problem, arranging sensory bristles in a very efficient, effective manner. Scientists who monitored the bristles‘ growth say they can mimic the flies' method to build
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They still get sick and die; they just can't spread the disease
Future chicken cutlets may come from birds that have been genetically modified to resist bird flu, after a breakthrough in Britain announced this week. Researchers have produced chickens that cannot
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Scientists douse frogs with experimental bacteria to halt mass amphibian death
For years, every time Vance Vredenburg visited his study area in Kings Canyon National Park in California, he tallied about 100 Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs. But in 2005, all the San
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The Pentagon's best (and best-funded) engineers have toiled for years, only to realize the supremacy of the canine schnoz
After six years and nearly $19 billion in spending, the Pentagon task force assigned to create better ways to detect bombs has revealed
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Ambitious researchers think they might be able to map the human brain in just five years, navigating the complex networks between neurons
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The "life is persistent" argument is often used to bolster the idea that life exists elsewhere in the universe. While that remains to be seen, the notion certainly keeps proving true here on the home planet. Scientists have found life thriving in near superheated ocean
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Capture a terrorist, eat a fish: it's all in a day's work for the US navy's latest terror-fighting weapon.
Specially trained marine mammals were the star attraction in a Governor Schwarzenegger-initiated anti-terrorist training session held at ports throughout California this week. One
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Diagnosing racing thoroughbreds can be like diagnosing an engine problem in a car; it starts with a vibration that might be imperceptible, but unchecked it can become a serious mechanical problem. It's very hard to tell if a horse has a slight hitch in its gait, but Danish
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Cocaine is a hell of a drug, but getting shocked with a Taser while riding high on methamphetamines probably beats any white-knuckled cocaine experience hands down. And that's exactly what happened to some lucky sheep in a new study that tested the effects of Tasers on meth-addled targets,
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Meet the Durrell's vontsira (Salanoia durrelli). It ain't pretty, but this small, mongoose-like critter-pronounced "voontseera"-has the distinction of being the first carnivorous mammal discovered in 24 years. The last was the related Grandidier's vontsira, which,
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Five South African rhinos have been outfitted with an extra layer of defense against poachers, thanks to a GPS chip implanted in their horns. The chips are inserted into a small hole drilled
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Remember earlier this month when the government said it thought only a quarter of the oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster was still in the water? Think again. Two new studies conclude things are still quite dire in the Gulf, estimating not only that 79 percent of
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Steve Jobs promised us the iPad would change our lives, and while it hasn't been all things to all people - what about that front-facing camera, Steve? - the beauty of such a device is that developers (to the extent that Apple will allow them, anyhow) are free to get as creative as they want
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Steve Jobs promised us the iPad would change our lives, and while it hasn't been all things to all people - what about that front-facing camera, Steve? - the beauty of such a device is that developers (to the extent that Apple will allow them, anyhow) are free to get as creative as they want
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There's been a lot of rather vague back and forth regarding the magnitude of the Gulf oil leak -- it's worse than the Exxon Valdez, but not as bad as 1979's Ixtoc I leak, but worse than the Pittsburgh Pirates, etc. etc. Now researchers have qualified
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A group of Swedish researchers are looking beyond plants for living models upon which to base their solar harvesting tech, turning instead to the photovoltaic prowess of the jellyfish. Tapping a protein in the jellyfish Aequorea victoria known as green fluorescent
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The Pentagon's best (and best-funded) engineers have toiled for years, only to realize the supremacy of the canine schnoz
After six years and nearly $19 billion in spending, the Pentagon task force assigned to create better ways to detect bombs has revealed
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The transgenic animals are designed to help stamp out dengue fever in the Cayman Islands
An Oxford-based research firm has announced the results of a release of genetically modified male mosquitoes in the Cayman Islands, the first experiment with GM mosquitoes to take
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Top threats include toxic contamination, loss of wildlife habitat and invasive species
Pollution
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Dengue fever, a painful and potentially deadly virus that causes joint pain extreme
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There?s not a whole lot to we can say to preface this photo except yes, it is
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Earth lacks a living neural network that connects all living things, as seen in Avatar's Pandora.
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Bark beetles plague the forests of Canada so furiously you'd think rivers of blood and the
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