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Programmable thermostats, which now make up about half the U.S. sales of all thermostats, could be more trouble for some than they're worth

A recent University of Massachusetts Amherst study found having academic contact with female professionals in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) can have positive influences on students--female students in particular. For girls and young women studying these subjects in school, being able to identify female role models helps them imagine themselves as STEM professionals. The role models enhance their perceptions of such careers and boost their confidence in studying such subjects.

Incapacitating light beam: The suspect is going for his gun, and the police officer doesn’t want to shoot. The founders of a company called Genesis Illumination hope police officers will soon be reaching for a StunRay instead of a gun or Taser.

The Belief Instinct by Jesse Bering.

They say you should take the bitter with the sweet. But if you’re not a big fan of bitter, chemists have just the loophole for you

Back in 1995, a few of the editors at Scientific American decided to resurrect a tradition of a previous generation of editors, who saw fit to publish a joke column in each April issue. This particular April Fools piece came to be with a little luck: back then. as the editor of the Amateur Scientist column, I use to look for projects that gave some hands-on insight to one of the feature articles in the same issue

There are so many news stories about antibiotic resistance these days that you may be tempted to ignore them all just to preserve your sanity. But there is a kind of hierarchy of danger when it comes to figuring out which stories are most deserving of your attention

World without Fish by Mark Kurlansky. Illustrated by Frank Stockton.

For a complete list of our coverage, see our In-Depth Report " The Japan Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Crisis "

SACRAMENTO--Who owns the dead? In the U.S.

Cellophane over the toilet bowl. Decaf coffee in the "regular" carafe.

Something is disturbing the famed, majestic rings of Saturn as well as the lesser-known rings around Jupiter. The ring systems, which appear at first glance to be planar, wafer-thin bands of ice and dust, have on closer examination been found to be rippled, like a corrugated tin roof.

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - America's bats are dying in their hundreds of thousands due to a mysterious illness called white-nose syndrome, and efforts to save them could prevent billions of dollars in agricultural losses, scientists say. [More]

The nuclear crisis in Japan provides an impetus for Congress to confront a failed national policy on dealing with spent fuel from U.S. reactors, witnesses told a Senate subcommittee yesterday.

Mythology, science fiction, and comic books are chock full of stories of heroes and their battles against the ills of society, the eternal struggle between good and evil.