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The surface waters of the Arctic Ocean may be releasing "significant" amounts of methane into the atmosphere, researchers reported yesterday in the journal Nature Geoscience . [More]

It’s tough to pick a familiar face out of a crowd--but focusing on a known voice in a noisy room is easy. And a new study scanned volunteers’ brains to look at how we solve the so-called cocktail party problem.

By Amy Maxmen of Nature magazine Researchers have identified a gene that makes some strains of an antibiotic-resistant bacterium more virulent, and have found that the gene is becoming more prevalent. Epidemics of infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) come in waves. [More]

By Declan Butler and Heidi Ledford of Nature magazine The U.S.

In a 1995 interview, the mastermind behind Dell Computer reveals how he went from dorm room to industry leader. In 1995, I spent an hour talking to Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computer, about how he built his company from a startup in his dorm room into one of the largest PC manufacturers in the world

By Helen Shen of Nature magazine The nerves in a human brain form a three-dimensional grid of criss-crossing fibers, say researchers who have mapped them. The regular pattern creates a scaffold to guide brain development and support more complex and variable brain structures, says Van Wedeen, a neuroscientist at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Researchers have discovered a new way in which computers based on quantum physics could beat the performance of classical computers. The work, by researchers based in Singapore and the UK, implies that a Matrix-like simulation of reality would require less memory on a quantum computer than on a classical computer. It also hints at a way to investigate whether a deeper theory lies beneath quantum theory.

By Ewen Callaway of Nature magazine The Vatican has abruptly cancelled a controversial stem-cell conference that was set to be attended by the Pope next month.

By Ewen Callaway of Nature magazine The Vatican has abruptly cancelled a controversial stem-cell conference that was set to be attended by the Pope next month.

Inspired from Mother Nature: The body of the brittlestar Ophiocoma wendtii is studded with tiny crystalline lenses made of calcium carbonate. Microlenses like these are of great interest technologically, yet they have always been extremely expensive to produce

Inspired from Mother Nature: The body of the brittlestar Ophiocoma wendtii is studded with tiny crystalline lenses made of calcium carbonate. Microlenses like these are of great interest technologically, yet they have always been extremely expensive to produce. However, scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces and colleagues from other institutes took their cue from biology and came up with a relatively simple and inexpensive method of producing calcium carbonate lenses packed together in a regular arrangement.

By Ron Cowen of Nature magazine A chemical analysis of lunar rocks may force scientists to revise the leading theory for the Moon's formation: that the satellite was born when a Mars-sized body smacked into the infant Earth some 4.5 billion years ago. If that were the case, the Moon ought to bear the chemical signature of both Earth and its proposed 'second' parent.

By David Zax Meet Joe Nelson, a former Goldman Sachs trader who believes custom-fitted condoms are the key to making safe sex more pleasurable.

By Helen Thompson of Nature magazine Exposure to germs in childhood is thought to help strengthen the immune system and protect children from developing allergies and asthma , but the pathways by which this occurs have been unclear. [More]

By Erik Vance of Nature magazine The earthquake that hit southern Mexico on March 20 rattled buildings and nerves in the capital, Mexico City, but thankfully caused little damage and no deaths.