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Several vertebrate species can distinguish between, say, two and five bananas--but with the exception of primates, they can’t grasp the numerical rules that would let them arrange their piles of fruit from least to most. Now, new research suggests that pigeons, like primates, can follow these abstract numerical rules

Spiciness is a chili pepper's best defense against seed-attacking microbes. But not all chilies are hot. Because producing that heat comes at a price

Researchers at Kyoto University have announced a breakthrough with broad implications for semiconductor-based devices. The findings, announced in the December 20 issue of the journal Nature Communications, may lead to the development of ultra-high-speed transistors and high-efficiency photovoltaic cells.

Researchers at Kyoto University have announced a breakthrough with broad implications for semiconductor-based devices. The findings, announced in the December 20 issue of the journal Nature Communications, may lead to the development of ultra-high-speed transistors and high-efficiency photovoltaic cells.

To monitor the biodiversity of a freshwater habitat, you could camp out by the water and count the rare wildlife.

To monitor the biodiversity of a freshwater habitat, you could camp out by the water and count the rare wildlife. Or you could just scoop up a cup of water. A new Dutch study has found that the DNA traces in a small sample of a body of water can reveal the species that live in it.

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new chemical technique for depositing a non-crystalline form of silicon into the long, ultra-thin pores of optical fibers has been developed by an international team of scientists in the United States and the United Kingdom. The technique, which is the first of its kind to use high-pressure chemistry for making well-developed films and wires of this particular kind of silicon semiconductor, will help scientists to make more-efficient and more-flexible optical fibers. The findings, by an international team led by John Badding, a professor of chemistry at Penn State University, will be published in a future print edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

A team of scientists have made it easier to study atomic or subatomic-scale properties of the building blocks of matter (which also include protons, neutrons and electrons) known as fermions by slowing down the movement of a large quantity of gaseous atoms at ultra-low temperature.

The lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case against Obama's health care act filed for bankruptcy. That raises some thorny legal questions about the future of the case. Mary Brown became the face of the anti-Obamacare movement last year, as she and Kaj Ahlburg became the lead plaintiffs in a lawsuit to stop the administration's healthcare overhaul.

The Chasmagnathus granulatus crab leads a simple life. It spends its days burrowing for food and trying to avoid its nemesis, the seagull. But recent research has shown that despite its rudimentary brain, this crab has a highly sophisticated memory

Decades after polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) once commonly used in pesticides, electrical transformers and coolants were banned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the toxic chemicals continue to linger in our country’s soil and water

It’s hard to feel a sense of urgency about climate change--it feels so slow. Well, try telling that to the critters dealing with it. Because new data suggest that the climate will change more than 100 times faster than the rate at which species can adapt

Scientists have shown the energy conditions, under which a weak signal supplied to a physical system emerges as a stronger signal at the output thanks to the presence of random noise (a process known as stochastic resonance), in a paper that has just been published in European Physical Journal B.

Why do cheaters cheat?

Writing things down, with your actual hands, is just plain better at getting you to remember and execute good ideas. Here's why. There’s all kinds of advice across the web about when to use which app for each small thing that needs doing.