We've heard a lot about the potentially negative health effects of cell phones — that using them may or may not raise the risk of brain tumors, cause head pain and increase our chances of getting run over — and now it turns out that their ubiquity is causing problems for government scientists whose mission is to track the nation's wellbeing...
Ovarian cancer, the most lethal gynecological cancer known as the "silent killer" because it usually grows undetected until it's too widespread to treat, may not be so invisible after all...
Why are all the good blue ducks gay?
That's what Cherry, the last remaining lass of her kind in England, may be asking herself after two male prospects that might have helped her perpetuate the species fell for one another instead of for her...
Three months after a massive coal ash spill at a Tennessee utility buried homes and killed scores of fish in over 300 surrounding acres, the feds say they're crafting new rules to ensure coal ash is safely stored...
Melting ice sheets could raise sea levels high enough to flood coastal areas around the globe by the end of the century, according to scientists gathering in Denmark today for a three-day climate-change conference...
Could President Obama's reported leading contenders to head the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) both end up on the job? Word is that former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg will get the top spot, with Baltimore Health Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein serving as her deputy, according to the RPM Report , a healthcare trade publication...
President Obama today lifted an eight-year-old ban on embryonic stem cell research, signing an executive order that he called "an important step in advancing the cause of science in America."
"We will vigorously support scientists who pursue this research," Obama said at a signing ceremony in the White House...
The amount of HIV infection among people over 50 is “surprisingly high,” World Health Organization (WHO) officials say, and despite much speculation about why, there’s little definitive information that might shed light on the trend...
Senate confirmation of two of President Obama's science appointees —John Holdren to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Jane Lubchenco to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — is on hold because of political maneuvering on an unrelated issue...
Actor Kiefer Sutherland is fighting imaginary terrorists the green way. Producers of 24 , the FOX drama that chronicles Sutherland's Agent Jack Bauer as he races to capture crooks over a nail-biting 24-hour period, are buying carbon offsets to compensate for the global warming emissions they're releasing with every car crash and explosion...
President Obama made it official today: Democratic Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
We've known since January that most of the flu circulating this season is resistant to Tamiflu, an antiviral drug typically used against the infection.
We wouldn’t mind swimmin' with these fishes.
Check out Histiophryne psychedelica , a new species named for its crazy tan and peach stripes, and lackadaisical style of getting around the seafloor, which resembles hopping more than swimming...
Reproductive rights groups are cheering President Obama's intention to rescind a "midnight regulation" issued in the waning days of the Bush administration that blocks federal funding of healthcare facilities that don’t allow their employees to bow out of medical procedures, such as abortion, to which they have moral objections...
We really do judge a book by its cover—and, it seems, the competence of politicians by their faces. What's more, adults and kids see the same competence—or, as the case may be, ineptitude—in a person's visage, which helps explain why children can accurately predict presidential elections, according to new research published today in Science ...
Remember when Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin dissed research on fruit flies? Well, the little buggers—a favorite of scientists who like studying their genome and the bane of kitchens everywhere—are back in the spotlight, this time with news that technology could one day spot olives spoiled by the flies...
Curing tuberculosis that's resistant to the most commonly used, first-line drugs is a growing problem, with an estimated half million people worldwide now infected with so-called MDR (multi-drug resistant) TB...
The need to reform the U.S. healthcare system was a key theme of President Obama's address to Congress last night, and there's early word that the budget proposal he's set to release tomorrow will create a 10-year, $634 billion "reserve fund" to pay for it...
Trying to get little Johnny to tear himself away from his video game console? You might scare him into gaming abstinence with a bizarre case study that has sparked headlines like "Too much PlayStation can cause painful lumps."
That eye-catching line is from a Reuters story about an unidentified 12-year-old girl in Geneva, Switzerland, who developed what her doctors dubbed "PlayStation palmar hidradentitis" after spending heaps of time attached to the game console...
