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We take it for granted that our hair dryers won't send us to the emergency room and our toothbrushes won't make us go numb. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about sex toys.

Automakers are looking to integrate wireless medical monitoring technologies into their in-car networks so drivers can keep tabs on their health while on the go. Katherine Harmon reports. Getting stuck in traffic might be enough to raise anyone's blood pressure

Fantastically detailed, visually arresting photographs of Andromeda, a spiral galaxy that lies 2.5 million light-years from Earth, have been available for years.

Giant swirling masses of seawater known as mesoscale eddies roam the world's oceans. Whipped up by surface winds and girded by the Coriolis effect (produced by Earth's rotation), eddies may grow to several hundred kilometers in diameter and are known to transport heat, chemicals and biology throughout the oceans' shallower depths. A new study published April 29 in Science suggests that eddies may have a deeper reach than previously thought, helping to shape some of the most remote ecosystems on Earth--deep-sea hydrothermal vents.

The tornado that leveled much of Joplin, Mo., Sunday evening gave little warning. Although a watch had been in effect for a broader region for much of the day, some locals had as few as 20 minutes' notice that a tornado that would ultimately span as much as three-quarters of a mile was about to touch down on top of them

Spam comprises upwards of 80 percent of incoming e-mail , despite monumental efforts by help desks and security software companies to defeat it. The reason spam volumes continue to grow is that such efforts are often misplaced and fail to hit spammers where it hurts. Instead of trying to shut down the hydra-like tangle of Web servers that route spam to our inboxes, a much more focused attack should be made to disable payment for the goods (Viagra pills, Bosley hair loss treatment, Space Bag storage, etc.) that spam is used to advertise, according to a team of researchers presenting their findings Tuesday at IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy in Oakland, Calif.

By Philip Ball of Nature magazine Chemists have succeeded in synthesizing a natural compound that shows promise as a painkiller--and might not cause the side effects that bedevil analgesics currently used to treat acute and chronic conditions. Conolidine is found in the bark of the tropical flowering shrub Tabernaemontana divaricata , commonly called the pinwheel flower. [More]

The topic of "life after death" raises disreputable connotations of past-life regression and haunted houses, but there are a large number of people in the world who believe in some form of persistence of the individual soul after life ends. Clearly this is an important question, one of the most important ones we can possibly think of in terms of relevance to human life. If science has something to say about, we should all be interested in hearing

Whether it's for streaming Netflix or sharing files, we're gobbling up more and more data--and we want it faster. But even shooting data with lasers over fiber-optic cables has its limits.

A Hard Look at Last Week's "Objective Attractiveness" Analysis in Psychology Today If what I say is wrong (because it is illogical or lacks credible scientific evidence), then it is my problem.

A grapefruit-sized probe could help solve mysteries right beneath our feet

Key concepts Magnetism [More]

Long a staple of science fiction, self-driving vehicles that act as robot chauffeurs have been a cultural dream for decades.

Which way is north? Scientific American editor George Musser and his daughter Eliana help you find your way with a homemade water compass. For more fun activities to do with your kids visit scientificamerican.com/BringScienceHome

By Omar Valdimarsson REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - An eruption by Iceland's most active volcano was set to keep the island's main airport shut on Monday, while other European nations watched for any impact on their air routes from a towering plume of smoke and ash. [More]