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By Alla Katsnelson of Nature magazine DNA origami, a technique for making structures from DNA, may be more than just a cool design concept. [More]

By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Dutch scientists have found a way of turning plant matter into the building blocks of common plastics using a nanotechnology process that offers an alternative to oil-based production. The team from Utrecht University and Dow Chemical Co produced ethylene and propylene - precursors of materials found in everything from CDs to carrier bags and carpets - after developing a new kind of iron catalyst made of nanoparticles. Existing bioplastics, which are made from crops such as corn and sugar, have only limited use as they are not exact substitutes for oil-based products

For people who face frequent needle jabs to treat chronic conditions, a new technology is on the horizon that might make treatment a lot less painful. [More]

Earth is the planet of the plants--and it all can be traced back to one green cell. The world's lush profusion of photosynthesizers--from towering redwoods to ubiquitous diatoms--owe their existence to a tiny alga eons ago that swallowed a cyanobacteria and turned it into an internal solar power plant. [More]

Scientists have recently found humanity's nitrogen footprint on watersheds once thought to be isolated and pristine, indicating our impact on the world is more widespread than previously imagined. [More]

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today will announce a $15 million, six-country coalition dedicated to curbing non-carbon dioxide pollutants that cause global warming. [More]

Following up on my post yesterday about my own journey with science, I wanted to offer some words of encouragement to those who are still in the early stages of their own journey.

This article is the second ( see the first here ) in a miniseries of five articles that will be posted over five days about civilization, fungus, and alcohol. The first four articles are already determined, but just how this series finishes up will be determined by the comments and ideas of readers. Sometimes scientists are asked if they have hobbies.

“Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves,” Albert Einstein is purported to have said. The quote acknowledges a fundamental characteristic of human attention

Not long ago I signed up for an improvisational theater class. I thought I might gain stage presence and confidence; little did I know I would encounter a genuine cognitive challenge

Key concepts [More]

How to Explain Climate Change to a Skeptic Rick Santorum has recently described climate change as a hoax a bunch of bogus science that tries to make nature s normal boom and bust cycle into something man-made. His comments illustrate how, despite the fact that the scientific community accepts climate change as truth, and despite the fact that the science is gaining greater acceptance among the general public, you may still run into people that just don t believe the theory of climate change. In my experience working for oil companies and environmental organizations alike, I have heard pretty much every argument for and against climate change

I am very happy to introduce the newest addition to the Scientific American blog network Unofficial Prognosis , written by Ilana Yurkiewicz ( Twitter ). Ilana is a first-year student at Harvard Medical School who created Unofficial Prognosis to capture her reflections through her medical training. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.S

Just after midnight on January 28, 2011, the government of Egypt, rocked by three straight days of massive antiregime protests organized in part through Facebook and other online social networks, did something unprecedented in the history of 21st-century telecommunications: it turned off the Internet.

Valentine's Day can lead to plenty of broken hearts. But for cardiac wounds that time alone won't heal, science has made some major advances. When it comes to heart attack, for example, a big development is emerging from a tiny source.