Science News

By Brendan Borrell

In her 25 years of research, Gail Prins, a reproductive physiologist at the University of Illinois in Chicago, had got used to doing science her way. [More]

John Nagy, author of Invisible Ink: Spycraft of the American Revolution , discusses the codes, ciphers, chemistry and psychology of spying in the American Revolution, in a talk recorded by podcast host Steve Mirsky [ left ] at the historic Fraunces Tavern in New York City. [More]

SAN JOSE, California--Michael Bledsoe's story begins like that of many other Iraqi war veterans. In 2007, he was chasing insurgents through Anbar province when a roadside bomb exploded, breaking Bledsoe's back and both his feet. A former Army Ranger working as a security contractor, Bledsoe soon knew his high-paying military career was over. [More]

The tree species known only as Pennantia baylisiana could be the rarest plant on Earth. In fact, the Guinness Book of World Records once called it that. Just a single tree exists in the wild, on one of the Three Kings Islands off the coast of New Zealand, where it has sat, alone, since 1945. It didn't used to be so solitary, but humans introduced goats to the island, which ate every other member of its species.

Over the last few decades, scientists have tried to create more P. baylisiana trees, but aside from getting cuttings to grow, simple biology got in the way: The tree was thought to be female, and it appeared to need a male to properly generate fruit and seeds.

By Nicola Jones

Results are pouring in from an ambitious project that has wired the floor of the northeast Pacific Ocean with an array of cameras, seismometers, chemical sensors and more. [More]

The largest trial to date of "brain-training" computer games suggests that people who use the software to boost their mental skills are likely to be disappointed.

The study, a collaboration between British researchers and the BBC Lab UK web site, recruited viewers of the BBC science program "Bang Goes the Theory" to practice a series of online tasks for a minimum of ten minutes a day, three times a week, for six weeks. [More]