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Once adult lab mice learn to associate a particular stimulus--a sound, a flash of light--with the pain of an electric shock, they don't easily forget it, even when researchers stop the shocks. But a new study in the December 23 issue of Science shows that the antidepressant Prozac (fluoxetine) gives mice the youthful brain plasticity they need to learn that a once-threatening stimulus is now benign.

Most Americans flush the toilet without thinking twice about where the contents end up, but a handful of companies are paying close attention to what goes down the drain. They argue it should be seen as a resource rather than waste

By Scott DiSavino (Reuters) - U.S. regulators moved a step closer on Thursday toward clearing the country's first nuclear reactors since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, even as the industry struggles against plunging natural gas prices and safety fears after Japan's Fukushima disaster.

In a 2008, for a few moments, Republicans and Democrats came together in support of action to mitigate the impacts of climate change. In an ad sponsored by former Vice President Al Gore’s group, Alliance for Climate Protection , Former Speakers of the House Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich sat down together and voiced their agreement that the “country must take action to address climate change.” Pelosi went further, saying that the country needs “cleaner forms of energy.. fast.” [More]

This year was quite an eventful one in spaceflight, with many vessels launching toward the heavens -- and a few crashing back to Earth . [More]

It’s better than an ant farm. It’s more exciting than a flea circus

Key concepts [More]

In South Africa they have a problem, a big one: too many elephants. [More]

By Zoe Corbyn A common assumption is that rising global temperatures will increase the spread of malaria -- the deadly mosquito-borne disease that affects millions of people worldwide. [More]

Holiday travel is a recipe for infection. And recent studies have shown how easily the infamous cruise ship bug, norovirus, can be transmitted on planes

Readers are bombarded with many "best-of" lists this time of year touting the latest and greatest in technology. Scientific American decided to broaden this idea a bit further, in search of a sampling of technologies that members of our advisory board--a group of highly accomplished scientists, engineers, educators and entrepreneurs--could not possibly live without.

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Beyond the Light Switch , a Detroit Public Television two-part documentary hosted by Scientific American Associate Editor David Biello, has been awarded a Silver Baton 2012 Alfred I.

DURBAN, South Africa--Former entomologist Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum of the World Health Organization worries about nosebleeds more than the average person. That's because he's one of the estimated 12 million people worldwide afflicted with leishmaniasis --a potentially fatal parasitic disease characterized most often by lesions on the skin and/or mucus membranes--caused by the bite of a sandfly. [More]

The peaks of Peru's Cordillera Blanca are home to the densest array of tropical glaciers in the world. [More]