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Key to the astronomical modeling process by which scientists attempt to understand our universe, is a comprehensive knowledge of the values making up these models. These are generally measured to exceptionally high confidence levels in laboratories. Astronomers then assume these constants are just that – constant

Expanding highways and roads increases congestion by creating more demand--and building more public transportation doesn't help the problem. A quick drive on one of Los Angeles's many freeways illustrates the fact that having more roads doesn't necessarily prevent traffic. Now a study from the University of Toronto confirms it: Expanding highways and roads increases congestion by creating more demand.

By Edwin Cartlidge of Nature magazine Now that's precision measurement: the electron is a perfect sphere, give or take barely one part in a million billion. The result comes from the latest in a long line of experiments to probe the shape of the fundamental particle that carries electrical charge. [More]

Starting a small business takes a lot of hard work and talent. Keeping a small business going takes even more of the same. According to labor statistics, more than 80 percent of businesses fail within the first year—but very few reports explain why.

Quantum mechanical methods can now be used to study gravity: At the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna), a measurement method was developed, which allows to test the fundamental theories of physics.

Paul Baran didn't exactly invent the Internet. He would have been the first person to tell you that. I'm sad to report that Mr.

A Syracuse University chemist has developed a way to use very low frequency light waves to study the weak forces (London dispersion forces) that hold molecules together in a crystal. This fundamental research could be applied to solve critical problems in drug research, manufacturing and quality control.

Editor's note: The following is an edited excerpt from a chapter in Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking (The Cooking Lab, 2011), a six-volume set consisting of 2,348 pages of text and photography. Scientific research on foodborne pathogens provides the foundation for all food safety rules.