Science News

A study based on a small sample seems to indicate that child abuse can change the DNA of the victims—and that those changes might be passed on to the victims’ offspring. The result of this study, combined with other research, seems to indicate that childhood trauma such as child abuse, not only harms the victim, […]

STOCKHOLM—Three scientists from the United States, Canada, and France won the Nobel Prize in physics on Oct. 2, for work with lasers described as revolutionary and bringing science fiction into reality. The American, Arthur Ashkin of Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, entered the record books of the Nobel Prizes by becoming the oldest laureate at age […]

STOCKHOLM/LONDON—American James Allison and Japanese Tasuku Honjo won the 2018 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine on Oct. 1, for game-changing discoveries about how to harness and manipulate the immune system to fight cancer. The scientists’ work in the 1990s has since swiftly led to new and dramatically improved therapies for cancers such as melanoma […]

Scientists in Canada exploring the “hangry” phenomenon have found a link between hunger and mood swings. “Hangry” refers to the expression that people started using to refer to their irritable mood that would arise with the feeling of hunger. Researchers at the University of Guelph in Canada went ahead to observe the moods of hungry […]

CHICAGO—Uber has agreed to pay $148 million and take steps to tighten data security, after the ride-hailing company failed for a year to notify drivers that hackers had stolen their personal information. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced the settlement on Sept. 26, between Uber Technologies Inc. and all 50 states and the District of […]

New research has suggested there is an unusual reason behind small earthquakes around San Bernardino’s basin in California. The study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, examined the deformation patterns of thousands of quakes below the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults, primarily centered in San Bernardino. The quakes, according to the survey, have vertical movement, […]

SAN FRANCISCO—Facebook Inc said on Sept. 20, that it would no longer dispatch employees to the offices of political campaigns to offer support ahead of elections, as it did with U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2016 race. The company and other major online ad sellers including Alphabet Inc’s Google and Twitter Inc have long […]

A town in Greece was captured covered in thousands of spiderwebs, according to footage published this week. Giannis Giannakopoulos saw the “veil of webs” this week in Aitoliko, CNN reported. The BBC reported that the spiderwebs are about 1,000 feet in length. “It’s natural for this area to have insects, no one is especially worried,” […]

The National Hurricane Center said on Sept. 12 that Hurricane Florence is generating giant waves as the storm continues to churn its way to the U.S. East Coast. The NHC observed wave heights of 83 feet under the northeastern quadrant of Florence. “These enormous waves are produced by being trapped along with very strong winds […]

Scientists have discovered what seems to be three entirely new species of snailfish at some of the most extreme depths of the Pacific Ocean. According to an article published by Newcastle University, a team of 40 scientists from 17 nations cooperated on an expedition to the Atacama Trench, about 100 miles off the coasts of […]

Not all sharks feed only on meat—at least one shark species also feeds on seagrass. Scientists have confirmed that one of the most common sharks in the world is an omnivore. The bonnethead shark, a relative of the much larger hammerhead shark, munches on seagrass for about 60 percent of its diet and has a […]

Teenagers who were conceived through assisted reproductive technologies, including in vitro fertilization (IVF), may be six times more likely to have hypertension compared to those who were conceived naturally, according to new research. Researchers from the University Hospital in Bern, Switzerland, said this is the first evidence of its kind. “There is growing evidence that […]

Waking from a weightless sleep to the words “help find the air leak” might sound like an astronaut’s worst nightmare. But according to NASA, the air leak, discovered as the astronauts slept on the International Space Station, is nothing to worry about. At about 7 p.m. on Aug. 29, flight controllers on the ground in Houston […]

Neuroscientists have discovered a new type of brain cell in a region of the human brain thought to be responsible for human consciousness. The researchers are speculating that the brain cell may be unique to humans as it has never been seen in lab rodents. Researchers think that the intriguing cells may comprise one of […]

A huge 14-foot-long squid washed ashore in Wellington, New Zealand, according to media reports. The Ocean Hunter Spearfishing & Freediving Specialists said on Aug. 25 that three brothers Dan, Jack, and Matthew Aplin found the giant squid. “Wellington team member Dan had an interesting find in Wellington this morning!” said the group in a Facebook […]

A group of researchers have announced they have discovered a new drug combination that can overcome cancer drug resistance, as well as reduce the size of cancerous tumors to a far greater degree than current treatments. The new approach can also be applied to any type of cancer, researchers from The University of Texas at […]

SEATTLE—The space company of billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen on Aug. 20 unveiled details of medium-lift rockets and a reusable space cargo plane it is developing, injecting more competition into the lucrative launch services market. With its rockets, Allen’s Stratolaunch Systems Corp is trying to cash in on higher demand in the coming years for […]

In 2002, renowned scientist Phillip Sharp co-founded Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. after learning about an intriguing discovery: Researchers had figured out how to “silence” biological messages sent by the genetic code in worms. Sixteen years and about $2 billion in research spending later, Alnylam has turned the concept, called RNA interference, or RNAi, into a treatment […]

In a suburban Minneapolis laboratory, a tiny company that has never turned a profit is poised to beat the world’s biggest agriculture firms to market with the next potential breakthrough in genetic engineering – a crop with “edited” DNA. Calyxt Inc, an eight-year-old firm co-founded by a genetics professor, altered the genes of a soybean […]

A landmark experiment in north Queensland could hold the key to combating the spread of mosquito-borne diseases including dengue and Zika. Australian scientists managed to wipe out more than 80 per cent of the Aedes aegypti (yellow fever mosquito) population near Innisfail, a sugar town in tropical far north Queensland, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research […]