SSS 2009-09-01

It sounds paradoxical, but in wealthy countries, there's nothing like a recession to boost the population's health. According to a report in the September 1st Canadian Medical Association Journal, when our paychecks get lighter, we do more than tight

SSS 2009-09-02

Music is known to make us happy, or calm, or sad. But do other animals respond to dulcet tones, as well? In studies, our primate cousins prefer silence to our music. But maybe we were playing the wrong tune. Psychologist Charles Snowdon and musician

SSS 2009-09-03

When crested pigeons spot a predator, they give a little whistle. But the sound doesnt come from their beaks. And according to a study published by The Royal Society, that whistle warns the rest of the flock to flee. Theres safety in numbers, and a f

SSS 2009-08-06

Orchids are botany's great mimics, all in the service of getting pollinated. Some have evolved to resemble female wasps to attract males. Others produce odors that smell like potential mates or like more attractive flowers. Now a study published in t

SSS 2009-11-05

That's the sound of clean coal. Well, cleaner coal. A relatively small unit attached to the smokestack at the Mountaineer Power Plant in West Virginia is capturing some 1.5 percent of the carbon dioxide the coal-fired plant would otherwise belch into

SSS 2009-11-06

How can you tell the difference between a French baby and a German baby? No, its not that one is wearing a saucy little beret while the other is tucked into tiny pair of lederhosen. Well, maybe thats part of it. But a new study in the journal Current

SSS 2009-11-09

Evolution continues today, and sometimes we can watch it happening. Researchers in the November 6th edition of the journal Science say that they caught in the act a population of butterflies in Ecuador potentially diverging into two distinct species.

SSS 2009-11-10

What you eat affects more than physical health. Two new studies have added to the growing evidence linking the stomach and the brain. In a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers studied how junk food can trigger ad

SSS 2009-11-11

This book stinks! is really a bad review. But even a classic work can start to smell when it gets old enough. Now chemists have developed a technique that identifies what kind of degradation process an old book or historical document is going through

SSS 2009-11-12

We all love getting something new. But then we have to move around our current clutter to find a place for it. Well, looks like things work the same way in the brain. Because according to a study published in the journal Cell, newborn neurons in the

SSS 2009-11-13

Algae seem harmless enough. These precursors to plants thrive throughout the world's waters. But these single-celled plants have global consequences. We can thank them for oxygen in the atmosphere, oil in the lithosphere as well as dead zones in the

SSS 2009-11-16

It seemed like a good ideabecause rivers and ponds in Bangladesh were contaminated with bacteria, Bangladeshis switched to wells. But soon after, in the early 80s, researchers realized those wells were harming Bangladeshis with a new poisonarsenic. T

SSS 2009-11-17

November 24th marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species. On November 19th, a guy named Ray Comfort, who does not accept evolution, will celebrate the fact that when copyrights expire and works enter the public domai

SSS 2009-11-18

You've probably heard the expression a heart attack on a plate. Maybe its fettuccini alfredo. Or maybe its a bacon cheeseburger, covered in batter and deep fried to artery-clogging perfection. Either way, it's clear that our modern diet is not always

SSS 2009-12-01

Most psychotherapists would agree that depression is anger and sadness that has been repressed. And it can lead to a state where the afflicted feel there is nothing they can do to change their own situation. A hopelessness emerges. Well, another key

SSS 2009-12-03

Which came first, black holes or galaxies? Its been a bit of a conundrum for astrophysicists. Black holes are known to devour matter, but did they arise before or after, the galaxies in which they exist? Now, scientists say it looks like the black ho

SSS 2009-12-04

We usually think of evolution as something that happens over eons, in remote places where people rarely venture. Not something that happens around the backyard birdfeeder in just a few decades. But a study in the journal Current Biology suggests that

SSS 2009-12-07

Its like the publishing version of one of those scenes from a sci-fi movie where an alien invasion impels traditional adversaries to join together to face their larger, common threat. Today 56 newspapers, in Pakistan and India, in Israel and Lebanon,

SSS 2009-12-08

Cup of coffee after a night on the town to sober up? Well, a mouse study finds that caffeine does not counter the intoxicating effects of alcohol. It merely masks the inebriation, which could lead to poor decisions. Because drinkers might think theyv

SSS 2009-12-02

Any school kid can tell you: nerds are not usually the most athletic specimens. But a new study suggests that young men who are physically fit tend to be more intelligent. The results appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Ani