Surprising Science
All Stories
Neurons grown in petri dishes from stem cells have successfully been transplanted into animals’ brains and could one day benefit sufferers of spinal cord injuries.
School authorities face a dilemma now that marijuana is being prescribed to treat ADHD, legitimating its presence in lockers and classrooms across 14 states.
A new study shows that sharing a bed with your partner at night makes you sleep worse and diminishes your mental acuity the next day.
Proposals to speed up adoption procedures for orphans of the Haitian earthquake are raising ethical dilemmas about the value of psychological safety versus the reality of food and water shortages.
A wireless internet connection to the International Space Station meant to soothe the isolation associated with space travel has produced the first tweet from outer space.
Researchers have determined that biological limitations on human running speed may be much lower than previously thought, allowing humans to achieve speeds of 35-40 miles per hour.
Parasites in the brain. Flu viruses in the human genome. Manmade species of e coli. Carl Zimmer, a science writer and lecturer who has lent his name to a species of tapeworm, isn’t […]
Protestors who are skeptical about the efficacy of homeopathic medicines are staging a “mass overdose” in a bid to prove that such treatments are bogus.
A slimy fungus-like mold has revealed to scientists a means of designing superior computer and telecommunication networks, according to astonished scientists.
Scientists have worked out that about 1.2 million years ago the human race was an endangered species with only around 18,500 individuals capable of breeding.
When the New York Times published its list of most-viewed stories of 2009, a post from the Well Blog, “The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating,” ranked near the top […]
Apple’s much awaited tablet device aims to reshape businesses like textbooks, newspapers and television in the same way that the iPod revolutionised the music industry.
Scientists have located a cell of origin for a common type of breast cancer marking a breakthrough which could greatly improve current understanding of the killer ailment.
If you’re worried about Google tracking everything you do with its services, then you should know about Moxie Marlinspike‘s new Firefox add-on, Googlesharing. And if you aren’t worried, maybe you […]
A new report going back 10,000 years found most of today’s European men are genetically linked to farmers which suggests farmers were more attractive than hunter gatherers.
There’s no proof that electronic cigarettes are safer than their paper and tobacco counterparts according to Greek scientists worried by their growing popularity.
Republican Scott Brown won the last night’s Senate race in Massachusetts and has vowed to use his deciding vote to move against healthcare reforms in a bitter blow for Obama.
While there have long been global qualms about China’s record on human rights, very little of that outcry has come from the world’s richest and most powerful. Especially as China […]
Embryonic stem cells can transform themselves into any kind of cell, including neurons. But neurons made out of stem cells won’t be much use if, after implantation, they don’t connect […]
I have nothing against the development of sex robots. They’re a logical next step in the history of technology’s application to sexual desire. No doubt they will be a great […]
Withholding HIV treatments led to the death of 330,000 people in South Africa as the result of AIDs denialist policies according to a new report which proves the benefits of treatment.
It may not be brain surgery to follow every step on a checklist but, as today’s guest, Atul Gawande explains, enforcing something so simple as a mandatory protocol for every […]
About 50,000 years ago, on the Mediterranean coast of what is now Spain, somebody (or bodies) was keeping carefully ground-up pigments–red, yellow, orange and shiny black–in neatly pierced seashells. That’s […]
Democrats and Republicans have ramped up their efforts to secure votes for a seat in the Senate which will be critical to passing, or not passing, Obama’s health care reform bill.
Having a derriere and thighs which are disproportionately large compared with your upper torso, otherwise known as being “pear shaped”, could have serious health benefits.
After a car crash that crushed her windpipe a Belgian woman kept a donor’s windpipe in her forearm before the transplant occurred.
By now, most of us have come to terms with the fact that exercise, even in small amounts, is good for you. It’s part of the reason that the exercise […]
Senator Ben Nelson has removed the deal he cut from the Senate healthcare bill which exempted Nebraska from future Medicaid payments.
13 billion years later, experimenters at UC Berkeley have recreated conditions one millionth of a second after the Big Bang when bizarre plasma filled the universe.
String theory has been one of the most famous ideas to emerge from physics in the past 50 years, yet a vocal minority of physicists have criticized its failure to […]