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In 1915, it was imperative for France to keep its soldiers in good physical condition. The French War Ministry’s physical education school in Joinville looked for ways to improve soldiers’ performances and spot any problems with their health before they were sent to the Front

The stock of drug-maker Abbott Laboratories tanked May 26 after results were published on a trial of whether the B vitamin niacin can help prevent heart disease and strokes. The immediate follow-on question is whether the premise on which that trial was based, the so-called HDL Hypothesis, has just received another coffin nail

Earlier this week, the Guardian newspaper based in London told the story of a former prisoner at northeast China's Jixi labor camp who spent his days breaking rocks and digging trenches in the open cast coalmines and his weary nights forcibly playing World of Warcraft (WoW) for hours on end to build up virtual currency that his jailers could sell for actual money. [More]

Once a pest of the past, bedbugs now infest every state in the U.S.. Cimex lectularius --small, flattened insects that feed solely on mammalian and avian blood--have been living with humans since ancient times

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced plans yesterday to pull the Garden State out of the nation's only operating cap-and-trade system, spurring environmental anger, conservative cheers and speculation about his national ambitions

We've all been fascinated by balloons. As children we used to get a balloon at the circus, and then suddenly, we're magically mystified by the ability of a toy to do the non-obvious and seemingly impossible: Float in something that we ignore and pay no attention to until something floats "in" it. [More]

Dear EarthTalk : How are wild dolphins faring on the high seas? Recent reports of dolphin deaths in the Gulf of Mexico may well be due to last year’s BP oil spill, but I imagine there are many threats to dolphins from pollution, human overfishing and other causes.

A 1 degree Celsius rise in average global temperature could cause the number of acres burned annually in the U.S. West to rise by as much as 400, 500 or even 600 percent in certain regions, according to calculations made by the University of Washington and the U.S. Forest Service.

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For a limited time, the full text of this article is being made available for fans of Scientific American's page on Facebook. Read it now or become a fan . One hundred years ago, in June 1911, Robert Falcon Scott and 32 explorers--most of them British scientists, naval officers or seafarers--were huddled in the darkness of the Antarctic winter, when the sun never rises above the horizon and up to eight feet of ice seals the surrounding sea

For a limited time, "Greater Glory: Why Scott Let Amundsen Win the Race to the Pole" , a feature from the June issue of Scientific American is being made available for fans of Scientific American's page on Facebook. Read it now or become a fan

By Sharon Weinberger of Nature magazine Planning a sojourn in the northeastern United States? You could soon be taking part in a novel security program that can supposedly 'sense' whether you are planning to commit a crime. Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST), a US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program designed to spot people who are intending to commit a terrorist act, has in the past few months completed its first round of field tests at an undisclosed location in the northeast, Nature has learned

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Lions roaming the savannah are a staple of nature documentaries. But the millions of little lions that live in our homes and neighborhoods also lead fascinating lives. We know more about those lives now, because a two-year-long study used radio-transmitters to track cats at the southern edge of the cities of Champaign and Urbana in Illinois.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa.--AccuWeather.com reports nearly 1,200 tornadoes have been reported in the United States so far this year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 2011 is a year destined for the tornado record book