Even graphene has weak spots

by Mike Williams, Tsinghua University and Rice University April 8, 2013 (TSR) - Even the Superman of materials has its kryptonite—defects in polycrystalline graphene will sap its strength. The unexpected...

Rare Y Chromosome traced back 338,000 years older than modern human fossils

by TSR Staff Reporter March 16, 2013 (TSR) - Geneticists have discovered an extremely rare African American Y chromosome pushes back the time of the most recent common ancestor for the...

New Insights Into How Plants Grow in Response to Light, Water and Gravity

January 3, 2013 (TSR) - Elementary school students often learn that plants grow toward the light. This seems straightforward, but in reality, the genes and pathways that allow plants...

Why is the north magnetic pole racing toward Siberia?

Finding Santa Claus's home at the North Pole is easy on a globe—just look for the point on top where all the lines of longitude meet. But that is just...

The War for Supercomputer Supremacy

China has gone from a computing afterthought to a world technology superpower and bumps United States down.

Scientists suggest that cancer is purely man-made

Cancer is a modern, man-made disease caused by environmental factors such as pollution and diet, a study by University of Manchester scientists has strongly suggested. Evidence of cancer in animal fossils, non-human primates and early humans is scarce — a few dozen, mostly disputed, examples in animal fossils, although a metastatic cancer of unknown primary origin has been reported in an Edmontosaurus fossil while another study lists a number of possible neoplasms in fossil remains. Various malignancies have been reported in non-human primates, but do not include many of the cancers most commonly identified in modern adult humans.

Oct. 2010 – Aug. 2012: Year of the Solar System

To mark an unprecedented flurry of exploration which is about to begin, NASA announced today that the coming year will be "The Year of the Solar System"

Panama Canal fossils reveal ancient collision of worlds

The creation of the Panama Isthmus - the narrow land bridge that joins the two continents - wreaked havoc on land, sea and air. It triggered extinctions, diverted ocean currents and transformed climate.

Collective intelligence in small teams

A new study co-authored by MIT researchers documents the existence of collective intelligence among groups of people who cooperate well, showing that such intelligence extends beyond the cognitive abilities of the groups’ individual members, and that the tendency to cooperate effectively is linked to the number of women in a group.