Surprising Science

Members of an Italian commission that assesses major risks like earthquakes have been accused of manslaughter for allegedly not adequately informing residents of risk in 2009.

What is the significance of the hacking of the U.S. Senate’s website? Should we be concerned about the small, “just-for-kicks” release of some internal Senate data?

Looking to live healthier? You can’t fool your stomach into feeling full. However, you can fool your brain into enjoying healthy fruits and vegetables as much as high-fat indulgences.

After admitting to having sent explicit photos to several women and then lying about it, Congressman Anthony Weiner teared up, but here is why it won’t win him any sympathy. 

While intelligence is largely an inherited trait, researchers have found that it’s possible to boost a core feature of human intelligence through a simple mental training exercise.

The E. Coli found in German bean sprouts is the most recent bug to evade normal treatment methods and it won’t be the last, so perhaps the time has come to look past antibiotics.

Scientists have found nicotine receptors in the brain of mice that appear to influence appetite. Might researchers one day engineer a weight-loss drug that mimics nicotine? 

At an international vaccine summit on Monday, world leaders should fill the immunization funding-gap. The moment is an opportunity to save a quarter of the global child death toll.

Obese people may one day be able to get a vaccine to help them lose weight, a new study of mice suggests. The vaccine is designed to block the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin.  

A ‘forever young’ drug that allows people to grow old gracefully could be available in just ten years, said professor Linda Partridge, an expert in the genetics of ageing. 

How did we evolve the most loving brain on the planet? Dr. Rick Hanson identifies the key reasons: biological evolution, culture, economics, and personal history.

Chef Wylie Dufresne believes in playing with his food—but not in the usual sense of the phrase. In his popular New York restaurant, wd-50, Dufresne applies molecular gastronomy, a field […]

A kind of religion has developed around so-called “natural” foods. Hold on, says modernist chef and inventer Nathan Myhrvold. Do you like muffins? Do you like wine and cheese? If so, read on.

Post 9/11 airport security has caused comic levels of hassle for almost a decade, but the ‘Checkpoint of the Future’ will make flying the tolerable, dignified activity we all remember.

Hoping to exploit public skepticism over the banking system, a bunch of libertarians and internet geeks are hoping to disrupt our cash system with an online currency called Bitcoin.

Nanotechnology is set to drive a revolution in ‘intelligent avionics’ by using ‘smart dust’ that will help cut aircraft fuel burn and improve safety and communication, says Dan Thisdell. 

M.I.T. researchers have created a new battery prototype that promises to be more efficient than existing car batteries by using electro-chemical fuel that, once spent, can be recharged.

Last weekend, at a physics conference in France, physicist Giovanni Punzi showed that the signs of a new particle discovered at Fermilab had strengthened rather than disappeared. 

Scientists at C.E.R.N., the European lab for particle physics, have announced that they trapped antimatter with very strong magnets for 1,000 seconds, smashing the old record.

Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa plans to plant and grow cucumbers aboard the International Space Station to study how future space travelers can harvest their own food.

NASA has released images of an enormous solar storm that extended over a three hour period on June 7. The series of pictures capture “a huge coronal mass ejection erupting […]

James Berkland has made a name for himself predicting earthquakes. And yet his claim that the moon triggers earthquakes has been discredited by the scientific community.

At the frontiers of geology, scientists are developing new, physics-based models that will help us forecast and prepare for devastating earthquakes.

Studies show that exposure to lead decreases one’s ability to control impulsive behavior; some think the removal of lead from the American lifestyle has contributed to a falling crime rate. 

Computer scientists at Brown University have created software to examine neural circuitry in the human brain with the hopes of better understanding pathologies such as autism.

The process of embedding ideas within ideas, which humans seem to do so effortlessly, may be the one true dividing line between animals and humans that may hold up to close scrutiny.

When we are in a state of unforgiveness, we hold on to negative emotions that adversely affect the healing process, says professor of philosophy and stress management Rita Schiano.

George Church, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School argues that the age-old divide between science and religion is solvable, but would benefit from less polarizing views.

British public health officials are drawing up plans to vaccinate all babies against tuberculosis amid concern over soaring rates of infection, particularly in London.

A new study comparing yoga practitioners and habitual exercisers found that the former had a lower prevalence of joint pain and headaches, better coping skills, and more…