Liberal Media News

BBC Science/Nature

Greatest free-kick 'was no fluke' Physicists explain one of football's most spectacular free-kicks, showing that Roberto Carlos's 1997 "impossible goal" was not a fluke.
1 Sep 2010 at 7:15pm

'Lights out' help migratory birds A growing number of New York sky-scrapers switch off their lights at night to help reduce the number of migratory birds hitting the buildings.
2 Sep 2010 at 12:52pm

Ants protect trees from elephants A species of acacia tree found in Eastern Africa seems to be protected from elephant damage - by the ants that live on it.
2 Sep 2010 at 11:34am

Weather clash caused snowy winter The collision of two major weather events can explain unusually large snowfall in the US and Northern Europe, researchers say.
1 Sep 2010 at 7:34pm

Worm brain clue to evolution Researchers map the nervous system of worms to try and understand how the human cerebral cortex evolved.
2 Sep 2010 at 11:29am

Ancient reef uncovered in Pacific An ancient reef may provide scientists with clues about what will happen to coral when sea temperatures rise.
1 Sep 2010 at 6:58am

Floods swamp south Sudan region Some 57,000 people have been forced from their homes because of dramatic floods in south-western Sudan over the past month, officials say.
1 Sep 2010 at 3:53am

Rare Roman lantern found in field A metal detecting enthusiast finds what is believed to be the only intact Roman lantern made out of bronze ever discovered in Britain.
2 Sep 2010 at 2:20am

Clue to ancient Antarctic seaway Scientists have found evidence for an ancient sea passage linking currently isolated areas of Antarctica.
31 Aug 2010 at 2:13pm

US East Coast on hurricane alert Areas along the US East Coast declare states of emergency as Hurricane Earl churns towards the region, forecast to brush land on Thursday night.
2 Sep 2010 at 10:08am

Guardian Unlimited Science

'The universe was not created by God'

? Physics, not creator, made Big Bang, new book claims
? Professor had previously referred to 'mind of God'

Poll: Is Hawking right?

God did not create the universe, the man who is arguably Britain's most famous living scientist says in a forthcoming book.

In the new work, The Grand Design, Professor Stephen Hawking argues that the Big Bang, rather than occurring following the intervention of a divine being, was inevitable due to the law of gravity.

In his 1988 book, A Brief History of Time, Hawkin...

by Adam Gabbatt
1 Sep 2010 at 7:56pm

Get ready for a world of nanotechnology

If the biggest technological leap since the Industrial Revolution is to benefit us all, governments and educators have work to do

The prefix "nano" is gaining an increasing presence in public consciousness, from invocations of the nanometre (nm) as a unit of measurement for our burgeoning silicon technology's tininess (as in Intel's latest 32nm processors), to the hubristically named iPod nano, which is a bit smaller than the others. The prominence of this word in our culture is set to rocket ...

by Thomas Barfield
2 Sep 2010 at 7:08am

The Mosasaur's kinky tail

For centuries scientists routinely straightened the tails of Mosasaur fossils in their reconstructions. But a recent re-examination changed overnight the way they see the sea-going lizards

Brian Switek blogs at brianswitek.com

On 6 April 1821 ? a little more than two decades before their countryman Richard Owen would coin the term "Dinosauria" ? the English naturalists Henry de la Beche and William Conybeare presented a report on a peculiar group of fossil animals to their fellows in the Geolog...

2 Sep 2010 at 2:00am

We aim to entertain, enrage and inform

Alok Jha introduces the new Guardian science blogs network, and our science blogging festival

It's nearly the end of summer holidays, and there are plans afoot in the blogosphere.

You would not know it from general media coverage but, on the web, science is alive with remarkable debate. According to the Pew Research Centre, science accounts for 10% of all stories on blogs but only 1% of the stories in mainstream media coverage. (The Pew Research Centre's Project for Excellence in Journalism loo...

by Alok Jha
31 Aug 2010 at 7:00am

In praise of ? God | Editorial

The universe just ramped itself up. Simple. And yet doubts remain - spontaneous creation is, for most folk, just a contradiction in terms

"Dear Sir: Your astonishment's odd; / I am always about in the quad." This was the divine response, as imagined by Ronald Knox, to the inquisitive undergraduate who, following Bishop Berkeley's line of thought, wondered whether a tree in the college quadrangle would still exist if God was not there to sustain it. Now someone rather higher in the academic hie...

2 Sep 2010 at 6:05pm

Fertility study on mice eggs raise hope for older mothers

UK research identifying loss of key protein in mice eggs is seen as a breakthrough that may help prevent birth defects

Scientists have made a breakthrough in understanding why older women become less fertile, suffer a miscarriage or have a baby with Down's syndrome.

The discovery could ultimately lead to treatments that would increase the chances of a successful pregnancy for growing numbers of would-be mothers in their late 30s and early 40s.

Researchers led by Dr Mary Herbert, an expert in rep...

by Denis Campbell
2 Sep 2010 at 3:32pm

Chief rabbi challenges Stephen Hawking in row over origins of universe

Lord Sacks accuses astrophysicist of logical fallacy in book excluding possibility of supernatural creation

The chief rabbi, Lord Sacks, hit back at Stephen Hawking after the astrophysicist said God did not create the universe.

In his new book, The Grand Design, published next week, Hawking concludes that science excludes the possibility of a deity and that it is unnecessary to "invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going".

But his finding were described by Sacks as an "e...

by Riazat Butt
2 Sep 2010 at 1:48pm

Why the young get a bad press | Ally Fogg

The problem extends beyond grumpy newspaper editors ? it seems our psychology demands bad news about youth

Here's a sentence you won't read every day: "The vast majority of young people in London are a real credit to their local communities." These are the words of Richard Taylor, father of murdered 10-year-old Damilola Taylor. He was seconded by Olympic medallist Natasha Danvers, as they jointly launched the Pride of London awards in Damilola's name. "London has got a bad rap for youth crime...

by Ally Fogg
2 Sep 2010 at 11:00am

Is physicist Stephen Hawking right that physics, not God, created the univers...

In a new book, world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking argues that the universe is the work of physics, not God. Do you agree?

2 Sep 2010 at 1:21am

Satellite eye on Earth: August 2010

These stunning images from August include Moscow covered in smoke, heavy rains in Pakistan and plankton blooms changing the colour of the North Atlantic ocean

2 Sep 2010 at 1:00am

ScienceDaily

Hubble observations of supernova reveal composition of 'star guts' pouring out Observations made with NASA's newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope of a nearby supernova are allowing astronomers to measure the velocity and composition of "star guts" being ejected into space following the explosion, according to a new study.
2 Sep 2010 at 7:00pm

Protecting the lungs against 'collateral damage' from the immune system A new study shows how our bodies try to minimize potential 'collateral damage' caused by our immune system when fighting infection. The research may also provide new clues to why cigarette smoke is a significant risk factor for developing diseases of the lung such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
2 Sep 2010 at 7:00pm

Ozone depletion: Paving the way for identification of rogue CFC release A new discovery could make it possible in future to identify the source of banned CFCs that are probably still being released into the atmosphere. They have also discovered the largest chlorine isotope enrichment ever found in nature.
2 Sep 2010 at 7:00pm

Scientists unwrap DNA packaging to gain insight into cells Scientists have built a clearer picture of how lengthy strands of DNA are concertinaed when our cells grow and divide, in a discovery could help explain how cell renewal can go wrong.
2 Sep 2010 at 7:00pm

Deepwater Horizon spill: New method successfully predicted how oil would spread Prompted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a scientist has come up with a new way of predicting how contaminants like oil will spread. He was able to forecast several days in advance that oil from that spill would wash ashore in particular parts of the Gulf of Mexico.
2 Sep 2010 at 7:00pm

Insight offered into superstitious behavior People who believe that fate and chance control their lives are more likely to be superstitious -- but when faced with death they are likely to abandon superstition altogether, according to new research.
2 Sep 2010 at 7:00pm

Ancient brew masters tapped antibiotic secrets A chemical analysis of the bones of ancient Nubians shows that they were regularly consuming tetracycline, most likely in their beer. The finding is the strongest evidence yet that the art of making antibiotics, which officially dates to the discovery of penicillin in 1928, was common practice nearly 2,000 years ago. The study finds that it's likely this prehistoric population was using empirical evidence to develop therapeutic agents.
2 Sep 2010 at 4:00pm

New evidence that fat cells are not just dormant storage depots for calories Scientists are reporting new evidence that the fat tissue in those lower belly pooches -- far from being a dormant storage depot for surplus calories -- is an active organ that sends chemical signals to other parts of the body, perhaps increasing the risk of heart attacks, cancer, and other diseases. They are reporting discovery of 20 new hormones and other substances not previously known to be secreted into the blood by human fat cells and verification that fat secretes dozens of hormones an...
2 Sep 2010 at 4:00pm

Computer scientists leverage dark silicon to improve smartphone battery life A new smartphone chip prototype under development will improve smartphone efficiency by making use of "dark silicon" -- the underused transistors in modern microprocessors.
2 Sep 2010 at 4:00pm

Success stops drug trial: Apixaban prevents stroke in patients with atrial fi... The data monitoring committee of the AVERROES study, seeing overwhelming evidence of the success of apixaban in the prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation who are unsuitable for the conventional treatment of warfarin, has recommended early termination of this study. The decision came after repeated review and careful consideration of all efficacy and safety data.
2 Sep 2010 at 4:00pm

New Scientist

Real invisibility threads would be fit for an emperor Combining techniques used to produce light-bending metamaterials with those used to make optical fibres might just make see-through threads a reality


28 Aug 2010 at 4:00am

LHC lawsuit dismissed a second time The latest case against the particle collider's funding agencies for their potentially Earth-destroying activities has been dismissed, reports Kate McAlpine


27 Aug 2010 at 12:59pm

New Orleans: Are the new defences tough enough? A $14.5 billion revamp of New Orleans's flood defences is almost finished, but some say the measures aren't tough and comprehensive enough


27 Aug 2010 at 12:35pm

Today on New Scientist: 27 August 2010 All today's stories on NewScientist.com including: caterpillars that call their nemesis, Stonehenge's secret sounds, day-squeezing sunspots and more


27 Aug 2010 at 12:00pm

Black holes + dark matter = light Two of the darkest things in the universe may together be making light – or at least, gamma rays – detectable from Earth


27 Aug 2010 at 10:48am

Renewable power on a grand scale An exhibition of photographs of the sustainable energy industry includes this shot of a huge hydroelectric turbine shaft


27 Aug 2010 at 10:13am

How astronauts' experience could help trapped miners Experience from space missions shows the trapped miners in Chile may face their most severe psychological challenges in a couple of months' time


27 Aug 2010 at 9:55am

Sunspots squeeze and stretch the day These dark regions may somehow alter the rate of Earth's spin – an insight that could help steer spacecraft more accurately


27 Aug 2010 at 8:46am

Innovation: Sunrise boulevards could bring clean power Could roads surfaced with solar panels bring renewable energy to our doors?


27 Aug 2010 at 8:34am

This week's top stories [27 August 2010]

Our top articles ranked by reader popularity.

Harvard confirms misconduct by morality researcherFlawed proof ushers in era of wikimathHow collapsing bubbles could shoot cancer cells deadYou don't need brothers or sisters to be sociableHydrogen bonds are caught on cameraMaking light work of LED droopGulf spill: Is the oil lurking underwater?This week's top stories [20 August 2010]Ancient Chinese medicine could boost cancer therapyKiller T-cells, the fix for organ rejection?


27 Aug 2010 at 8:00am

Scientific American

'Lost years' end for backyard supernova

By Rhiannon Smith

As the first findings start to arrive from the Hubble Space Telescope since its repair last year, researchers are shedding new light on one of our nearest and most exciting supernova neighbours as they resume tracking its explosive history.

Supernovae form when a massive star explodes at the end of its life. [More]

2 Sep 2010 at 6:55pm

Supersolidity flows back

By Eugenie Samuel Reich

Supersolids--bizarre quantum solids that flow effortlessly, as they have no friction--have come back into the limelight. [More]

2 Sep 2010 at 6:02pm

Worms for brains: Can genes point the way to the cerebral cortex's common anc...

Marine worms might seem like lowly, slow-witted creatures, but new gene mapping shows that we might share an ancient brainy ancestor with them. [More]

2 Sep 2010 at 4:10pm

Physics of free kicks: The hidden advantage of long-distance soccer shots

When Brazilian defender Roberto Carlos struck a powerful free-kick from about 30 meters out in a 1997 international match against France, he could not have known that scientists would still be discussing his feat more than a dozen years later. Indeed, he could not even have known that the ball would improbably find the back of the net . But find the net it did, swinging well wide of a wall of French defenders, hooking viciously to the left, and glancing off the inside of the goalpost. The F...

2 Sep 2010 at 1:10pm

Rabbit Rest: Can Lab-grown Human Skin Replace Animals in Toxicity Testing?

It likely comes as no surprise that many common household chemicals and medical products as well as industrial and agricultural chemicals, may irritate human skin temporarily or, worse, cause permanent, corrosive burns. In order to prevent undue harm regulators in the U.S. and beyond require safety testing of many substances to identify their potential hazards and to ensure that the appropriate warning label appears on a product. Traditionally, such skin tests have been done on live animals...

2 Sep 2010 at 12:10pm

Ants Protect Acacia Trees from Elephants

We all know that elephants aren’t really scared of mice. But a new study shows that they’re really not crazy about something even smaller: ants. In fact, elephants dislike ants so much that they avoid acacia trees that harbor the tiny, six-legged nectar-suckers. [More]

2 Sep 2010 at 12:08pm

Robot meet and greet: ASIMO works on its social skills this week [More]
2 Sep 2010 at 9:57am

Mapping the Mind: Online Interactive Atlas Shows Activity of 20,000 Brain-Rel...

Scientists have long sought to understand the biological basis of thought. In the second century A.D., physician and philosopher Claudius Galen held that the brain was a gland that secreted fluids to the body via the nerves--a view that went unchallenged for centuries. In the late 1800s clinical researchers tied specific brain areas to dedicated functions by correlating anatomical abnormalities in the brain after death with behavioral or cognitive impairments. French surgeon Pierre Pau...

2 Sep 2010 at 9:00am

Shaky Ground: Can Seismologists Be Charged with a Crime for Not Predicting De...

The adage “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” does not quite capture the following pair of situations. It’s more like “damned if you could (but you can’t), damned if you couldn’t (but you kind of did).”

First, the “damned if you could (but you can’t)”. On April 4 at 3:40 p.m.,  a magnitude 7.2 earthquake rocked Baja, Mexico, and was felt well north. The event elicited the following post on Twitter 16 minutes later from New Age lifemeister Dee­pak Chopra: “Had a powerful meditation just now...

2 Sep 2010 at 8:00am

New Microscope Enables Real-Time 3-D Movies of Developing Embryos [Slide Show]

Using a revolutionary new microscope, scientists can now peer into embryos and watch, in one of the world's smallest 3-D movies, as brains, eyes and other organs form. A team at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, watched zebra fish and fruit fly embryos develop under the scope for as long as 58 hours, charting the location of every cell as it danced around the embryo. This experiment would have been impossible a mere two years ago before a recent spate of...

1 Sep 2010 at 4:50pm

ScienCentral News

Hawaiian Heat With climate change forecasts calling for tough times in tropical climates, scientists in America?s tropical paradise of Hawaii are carefully monitoring nature for signs of change, and citizen scientists are helping them find those signs in the ocean?s coral reefs.

by ScienCentral
12 Oct 2009 at 7:00pm

2009 Benjamin Franklin Medal Winner: Lotfi A. Zadeh The 2009 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering is presented to Lotfi Zadeh for his invention and development of the field of fuzzy logic, a mathematical system that captures aspects of the ambiguity of human language and thought, which has solved problems in areas such as artificial intelligence and the automated control of machines.

by ScienCentral
6 Oct 2009 at 7:00pm

Naps and Creativity Telling your boss you need a nap might not be the smartest thing to do at work, but scientific evidence is now on your side. As this ScienCentral News video explains, sleep researchers just released a new study that says naps over an hour long may boost creative problem solving.

by ScienCentral
29 Sep 2009 at 7:00pm

Street Corner Science with Stephen Benkovic ScienCentral is taking science back to the people with our second installment of "Street Corner Science," the radical yet-simple concept in which a film crew and a renowned scientist are plunked down amidst a busy city center, and an impromptu Q&A session with the public ensues.

by ScienCentral
22 Sep 2009 at 7:00pm

Girls Vs. Boys at Math Are men naturally better at math than women or is that just an out-dated stereotype? When former Harvard president Larry Summers said publicly in 2005 that men are innately better at math, many women were outraged. So a couple of women scientists decided to research it. This ScienCentral News video explains their report published this week.

by ScienCentral
10 Sep 2009 at 7:00pm

Unfiltered: Girls Vs. Boys At Math "Unfiltered" is a recurring series where ScienCentral reporters give their personal thoughts on the stories they produce. This installment is based on the news story "Girls Vs. Boys At Math."

by ScienCentral
9 Sep 2009 at 7:00pm

2009 Benjamin Franklin Medal Winner: Stephen Benkovic The 2009 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science is presented to Stephen Benkovic for his groundbreaking contributions to our mechanistic understanding of enzymes, and for helping to unravel the complexities of the enzymes involved in DNA replication. This ScienCentral Video Profile explains.

by ScienCentral
30 Aug 2009 at 7:00pm

As Goes GM I know a woman who is relentlessly, ridiculously optimistic. Everything is always for the best.

by ScienCentral
1 Jun 2009 at 2:23pm

Reports From the River A new blog just debuted that we thought was worth sharing.

by ScienCentral
29 May 2009 at 12:55pm

Thin Brains and Depression It's well known that depression in your family puts you at high risk of depression. Now researchers have found a structural difference in the brain that could explain why. Animation: 3-D brain scan, the cortex layer peels away, courtesy Bradley Peterson

by ScienCentral
28 May 2009 at 12:26pm

PhysOrg

Dell's enterprise challenge remains after 3Par (AP) -- Dell Inc. doesn't have to start over in its quest to become a significant purveyor of technology for businesses after losing a multibillion dollar bidding contest for an obscure data-storage maker.
2 Sep 2010 at 7:40pm

Study challenges value of oxygen therapy in end-of-life care Millions of patients with advanced disease in palliative care settings receive oxygen therapy to help them breathe more easily. But a new study from Duke University Medical Center says roughly half of them don't benefit from the intervention, and among those who do benefit, it doesn't make a bit of difference whether they get pure oxygen or just plain old room air - both offer equal benefit.
2 Sep 2010 at 7:40pm

Science's policy clout diminished, but oil risk looms large 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, which appear in the journal Public Understanding of Science (PUS), published by SAGE, show that scientists' efforts to influence public opinion have a limited effect.
2 Sep 2010 at 7:30pm

Long term use of oral bisphosphonates may double risk of esophageal cancer People who take oral bisphosphonates for bone disease over five years may be doubling their risk of developing oesophageal cancer (cancer of the gullet), according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal today.
2 Sep 2010 at 7:22pm

Roll-out of electronic patient records likely to be a long and complex process Interim results from the first comprehensive evaluation of the implementation of electronic health records in secondary care in England have found delays and frustration with the system, according to research published in the British Medical Journal today.
2 Sep 2010 at 7:21pm

BP removes cap from plugged well in Gulf of Mexico BP on Thursday removed a massive cap which had stemmed the flow of oil from its ruptured well deep in the Gulf of Mexico in a key step toward killing the well once and for all, officials said.
2 Sep 2010 at 7:18pm

Occurrence of increased kidney transplant listings in patients with prior non... Individuals who received a non-kidney organ transplant in the past may be more likely to be listed for a kidney transplant prior to initiation of dialysis (pre-emptive listing) than other candidates, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The results indicate that the growth in the numbers of this group of kidney transplant candidates adds to the list of organ allocation challenges.
2 Sep 2010 at 6:30pm

NASA sees Depression Nine become Gaston then back to a depression Tropical Depression Nine strengthened yesterday into Tropical Storm Gaston, but today it ran into dry and stable air and weakened back into a depression again.
2 Sep 2010 at 6:20pm

Double hand transplant patient shows new hands (AP) -- The recipient of a rare double hand transplant says he feels "fantastic" and can wiggle fingers on both his new hands.
2 Sep 2010 at 6:07pm

Earl's path along northeast is not well-worn Pushed by an ill-timed trough of low pressure, Hurricane Earl is heading uncomfortably close to an area relatively few hurricanes tend to go: the Northeast coastline.
2 Sep 2010 at 6:06pm

Science Books at Amazon