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The Kepler spacecraft has hit an unexpected obstacle as it patiently watches the heavens for exoplanets: too many rowdy young stars. The orbiting probe detects small dips in the brightness of a star that occur when a planet crosses its face. But an analysis of some 2,500 of the tens of thousands of Sun-like stars detected in Kepler's field of view has found that the stars themselves flicker more than predicted, with the largest number varying twice as much as the Sun

The attacks on September 11, 2001, profoundly influenced the direction of science and technology. What's been learned since those events, and how they have shaped our lives [More]

Help marine biologists track the movement and location of jellyfish and other unusual marine life [More]

Labor Day’s over, and Americans fortunate enough to have jobs are getting back to work. But all work and no play might make us, well, less productive. That’s the finding of a study that looked at the effects of an employee exercise program in which workers worked out during office hours.

From London to the Middle East riots have shaken political stability.

Confidence in ourselves and in our skills allows us to push our limits, achieve more than we otherwise would, try even in those borderline cases where a less confident person would bow out. [More]

Men may wage wars in part to spread their seed. [More]

For most Americans, as the nation's thoughts turn to the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, memories of that day readily come flooding back. People can remember with great clarity what they were doing or to whom they were speaking when they learned of the crisis--whether via a sister's phone call or a first-hand glimpse of the World Trade Center on fire. [More]

The Advances section of Scientific American 's September issue reports on a vaccine against nicotine addiction, a new x-ray technique inspired by large particle accelerators, how the brains of city folk may differ from their country cousins', and more. For those interested in learning more about the developments described in this section, a list of selected further reading follows

The U.S.

If you're ready to throw in the towel on Twitter, take a closer look at what you'll be missing out on. The other day a friend who is trying to establish herself on Twitter told me that she was giving up. She just doesn’t get it and doesn’t know what to say, she told me

I saw this paper going around the internet early last week, and I was immediately very interested. [More]

"I'm into hard sci-fi." [More]

By Gerard Wynn 500 MILES FROM THE NORTH POLE (Reuters) - The minimum summertime volume of Arctic sea ice fell to a record low last year, researchers said in a study to be published shortly, suggesting that thinning of the ice had outweighed a recovery in area. [More]

From Nature magazine. Our ancestors bred with other species in the Homo genus, according to a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences