The Agricultural Research Service and the Apiary Inspectors of America have conducted a combined survey of beekeepers to get a snapshot of how well managed colonies made it through the winter of 2007-08. Surveyed beekeepers reported a total loss of about 36.1 percent of their honey bee colonies, up about 13.5 percent from the previous winter. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 May 2008 | 6:00 pm
Women and men tend to have different types of stress-related psychological disorders. Women have greater rates of depression and some types of anxiety disorders than men, while men have greater rates of alcohol-use disorders than women. A new study of emotional and alcohol-craving responses to stress has found that when men become upset, they are more likely than women to want alcohol. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 May 2008 | 6:00 pm
Scientists in Louisiana are reporting development and successful testing of a new cost-effective system to kill unwanted plants and animals that hitch a ride to the United States in the ballast water of merchant ships. These so-called "invasive species," such as the notorious zebra mussel, devastate native organisms and infrastructure and cost taxpayers billions of dollars annually. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 May 2008 | 6:00 pm
Medical researchers have discovered a key step in the mechanism by which cells destroy themselves. In this process, called "apoptosis," certain proteins cause the cell to self-destruct by puncturing its "power plant." How the proteins do this has now been clarified. The discovery is an important step towards the identification of targets for drugs designed to regulate cell death. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 May 2008 | 6:00 pm
A mutated gene has been discovered as the key behind epilepsy and mental retardation specific to women. The new discovery, published in Nature Genetics, shows that although men carry the 'bad' gene, only women are affected. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 May 2008 | 6:00 pm
A free, e-mail-based service that translates text into Braille and audio recordings is helping to bridge the information gap for blind and visually impaired people, giving them quick and easy access to books, news articles and web pages. Developed by European researchers, the RoboBraille service offers a unique solution to the problem of converting text into Braille and audio without the need for users to operate complicated software. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 May 2008 | 6:00 pm
MPs have begun debating controversial proposals to change the law on the use of human embryos. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 12 May 2008 | 3:16 pm
We take a tour through the human head, run through the latest twists in the debate over abortion time limits and consider the genetics of the strangest mammal on Earth Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 12 May 2008 | 3:13 pm
Alok Jha and James Randerson discuss the human head with scientist, philosopher and poet, Raymond Tallis Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 12 May 2008 | 3:06 pm
Hospital cleaners should watch out because the toilet police are patrolling with their new secret weapon: invisible markers. A team of Canadian scientists using a lotion which glows under ultraviolet light have shown that up to a third of patient toilets are not properly cleaned. Their findings, also show that spores from the nasty bacteria Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) linger in the loo even when it has been thoroughly wiped down. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 May 2008 | 3:00 pm
Most female frogs don't call; most lack or have only rudimentary vocal cords. A typical female selects a mate from a chorus of males and then -- silently -- signals her beau. But the female concave-eared torrent frog, Odorrana tormota, has a more direct method of declaring her interest: She emits a high-pitched chirp that to the human ear sounds like that of a bird. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 May 2008 | 3:00 pm
At first, fruit flies eat like horses. Hatching inside over-ripe fruit where they were laid, they feed wildly in the sugar-rich environment until nature sends them an offer they can't refuse. To survive, they must leave the fruit, wander off and burrow into the earth where they avoid food as if it were poison. Only then can the larvae grow and hatch into flies that will take wing to lay their own eggs. Researchers have now discovered that the important developmental switch from food attraction to aversion in the fruit fly larva is controlled by a timing mechanism in the brain and its sensory system. The study shows how this important avoidance mechanism has been recruited into evolutionary processes to promote development and could lead to new methods of controlling pain in humans and other animals. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 May 2008 | 3:00 pm
Scientists used to think that hermaphrodites, due to their low position in the evolutionary scale, did not have sufficiently developed sensory systems to assess the "quality" of their mates. A new work has shown, however, that earthworms are able to detect the competition by fertilizing the eggs that is going to find its sperm, tripling its volume when there is rivalry. This ability is even more refined as they are able to transfer more sperm to more fertile partners. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 May 2008 | 3:00 pm
Developing nations will pay a disproportionately high share of the cost for damage to Earth's environment. Source: LiveScience.com | 12 May 2008 | 2:12 pm
LOS ANGELES (Reuters Life!) - Iconic singer and songwriter Neil Young has had an honor bestowed upon him that is not received by many musicians -- his own spider.
Edinburgh Zoo enters into negotiations to bring a pair of giant pandas from China to Scotland. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 12 May 2008 | 11:26 am
Scientists work on an antidote for botulinum toxin - one of the world's most feared biological weapons. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 12 May 2008 | 10:40 am
A microwave system that kills "invasive species" lurking in ships' ballast water is developed by a team of US researchers. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 12 May 2008 | 9:17 am
James Randerson reports on a survey of 100 MPs that shows a majority favour more embryo research and are against further curbs on access to abortion Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 12 May 2008 | 9:05 am
SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian swimmer survived a great white shark attack by poking the creature in the eyes as it dragged him through the water after badly savaging his left leg.
Geraldine Peacock: Sensationalist objections to using hybrid embryos ignore the huge benefits such research can bring Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 11 May 2008 | 11:05 pm
Letters: Polly Toynbee is completely right when she urges MPs to resist attempt to cut rights to abortion Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 11 May 2008 | 11:04 pm
Ministers debate fundamental questions about the sanctity of life and human embryo experimentation Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 11 May 2008 | 11:04 pm
Mercury is putting on its best evening show of the year as it moves to stand furthest to the E of the Sun on Wednesday Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 11 May 2008 | 11:04 pm
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The secret behind growing large tomatoes lies not in the fertilizer or the perfect soil conditions, but in just a few genetic changes that over time have resulted in tomatoes 1,000 times bigger than their wild ancestors, U.S. researchers said on Sunday.
