Former astronaut Janice Voss, one of only six women to make five forays into space, died Monday in Scottsdale, Ariz.

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The study found that arrests of Muslim Americans in plots or violent attacks have dropped sharply since 2009.

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But the campaign goes on in his centenary year, with support from all over the world. Leading US mathematician calls for 'hullabaloo in the UK' over the decision

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NGOs accuse industry body of inflating claims that the acreage of biotech crops grew by 8% in 2011 Pro- and anti-GM organisations clashed on Tuesday over the accuracy of industry figures which suggested a rise internationally of 8% in the acreage of GM crops in 2011, a 16th straight rise since they were first sold in 1996. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotic Applications (ISAAA), an industry body funded by GM companies including Monsanto, Bayer CropScience and CropLife I...  show all text

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What impact is climate change having on our weather? To help answer, a group of researchers has just released a new online guide for understanding the links between more extreme weather and a warming planet. They call the effect 'weather on steroids.'

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Tensions between religion and science will persist unless believers recognise that skepticism is a hallmark of science Issues of personal faith can be a source of respectful debate and discussion. Since faith is often not based on evidence, however, it is hard to imagine how various deep philosophical or religious disagreements can be objectively laid to rest. As a result, skeptics like myself struggle to understand or anticipate the vehement anger that can be generated by the mere suggestion t...  show all text

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Watch a spherical flame burn during a fire-fighting experiment aboard the International Space Station

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Campaigners warn against mining interests buying up media after Lord Monckton calls for UK and Australia to have a 'Fox News' Readers of the Melbourne Age and Sydney Morning Herald might be forgiven today for wondering if the standard of their newspapers has slipped somewhat. Both titles feature a whole page covered in scribbled editing marks. But the pages are not the result of a production error. They are actually ads paid for by the Australian grassroots campaign group Get Up!. (You can see ...  show all text

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Your brief guide to the High Court case. The appeal of Paul Chambers at the High Court against his conviction under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 takes place on 8 February 2012. As I am acting as Paul's solicitor (I happen to be a qualified lawyer as well as a journalist), I cannot really write too much about the case at the moment. However, the summary and links below should provide all the information and commentary one could want on the case. In brief: the appeal is entirely on ...  show all text

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Lawmakers in South Korea voted to impose greenhouse-gas limits on its largest companies, making it the third Asia-Pacific nation to set targets opposed by industry.

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Time-lapse footage reveals how mushroom corals inflate and deflate to free themselves from smothering sand.

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In the world of numbers, 220 and 284 are special because they come as a pair. They are a pair because, if you take all the numbers that divide 220 (1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 11, 20, 22, 44, 55, 110 – but not 220 itself) and add them together you get 284. However, if you [...]

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The Royal Society is inviting youth groups to help select the winner of the 2012 Royal Society Young People's Book Prize You may recall the video I recently shared with you about the Royal Society's 2011 Young People's Book Award. But maybe you are wondering how your child can help the Royal Aociety choose the 2012 winners of their award. Well, wonder no more because the Royal Society is asking for your help! The Royal Society, the UK's national academy of science, is inviting after-school re...  show all text

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On your way to ScienceOnline2012, your plane finally lands at Raleigh-Durham International airport. While you slowly taxi to the gate, what do you do? Naturally, you ...

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A small satellite that will measure whether Earth drags space-time as it spins will soon launch from Kourou, French Guiana, on a new European Space Agency

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The European Southern Observatory has released the most detailed infrared image of the Carina Nebula ever created Lying 7,500 light years from Earth, the Carina Nebula buzzes with activity. Countless stars are being born among the glowing clouds of dust and gas and, over several million years, this nebula – which was named after the keel of the mythical ship Argo – has created some of the most massive stars known to astronomers. Click on the image to enlarge it. At the lower left of the image is  show all text

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A Martian meteorite, an incredibly rare object, is given to the Natural History Museum, London, to help unravel the secrets of the Red Planet.

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Energy minister Greg Barker says decision to cut feed-in tariffs was justified by fall in cost of solar panels Ministers have argued that they had to act quickly to slash subsidies to small-scale solar power because the cost of panels has dropped by nearly half in the past year – much faster than the previous government envisaged when it set up the scheme. The government received fierce criticism from the solar industry and environmentalists after the cut and the decision was ruled unlawful in ...  show all text

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Whatever your perspective on how likely Mitt Romney was to lose the Republican nomination race prior to Tuesday evening, it should be acknowledged that he had about the worst results conceivable.

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So it seems as though the "connectome" is the latest big thing in neuroscience. This is the brain's wiring diagram, in terms of the connections between neurons and on a larger scale, between brain regions. We certainly won't understand the brain without getting to grips with the connections but equally, it's not the whole story. I previously emphasised that the brain is not made of soup; it's not made of spaghetti, either. Connectomics does however unquestionably provide some of the prettiest...  show all text

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There are around 100 billion neurons in a human brain, forming up to 100 trillion synaptic interconnections -- and MIT

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...and this is a paper which is not quite what it's cracked up to be. Because while it does, indeed, have great pictures of your ...

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Russia’s Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute has confirmed that its drilling team has indeed penetrated to the sub-glacial Lake Vostok. Researchers have spent two decades drilling through over 3,700 metres of Antartic ice to reach the lake, which is believed to have been sealed off from the world for 15 million years. Although the drillers were expected to reach the lake this year, the team’s leader was still unable to confirm the success as recently as yesterday (‘‘Too soon’ to confirm suc...  show all text

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