Science

Experiments in the weightless environment of space have led to "crazy progress" in the fight against cancer, NASA officials said at a recent event highlighting an important and personal initiative of US President Joe Biden.

Space is "a unique place for research," astronaut Frank Rubio said at the event in Washington.

Many people in the U.S. will have an opportunity to witness nearly four minutes of a total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, 2024, as it moves from southern Texas to Maine. But in the U.S., over 7 million people are blind or visually impaired and may not be able to experience an eclipse the traditional way.

Of course they, like those with sight, will feel colder as the Sun’s light is shaded, and will hear the songs and sounds of birds and insects change as the light dims and brightens. But much of an eclipse is visual.

Whether dogs truly understand the words we say -- as opposed to things like tone and context clues -- is a question that has long perplexed owners, and so far science hasn't been able to deliver clear answers.

But a new brain wave study published Friday in Current Biology suggests that hearing the names of their favorite toys actually activates dogs' memories of the objects they are associated with.

U.S. surgeons have successfully transplanted a genetically modified pig kidney into a living patient for the first time, the hospital said Thursday, a procedure that could help address the chronic shortage of donor organs.

The four-hour operation was carried out on Saturday on a 62-year-old man suffering from end-stage kidney disease, Massachusetts General Hospital said.

It is one of the prettier fixtures of spring in Washington: thousands of cherry trees bloom amid the city's stately monuments in a spectacle that draws more than a million visitors every year.

But because of climate change, those eager to enjoy the clouds of pale pink petals and their almond-like scent have to get here earlier than they used to.

The population of almost every country will be shrinking by the end of the century, a major study said Wednesday, warning that baby booms in developing nations and busts in rich ones will drive massive social change.

The fertility rate in half of all nations is already too low to maintain their population size, an international team of hundreds of researchers reported in The Lancet.

Outside the warehouse in northwestern Spain, it's a freezing, foggy morning but inside it's balmy, the warmth and LED lights fooling 360 hop plants to flower as if it were late August.

Mounted on a soaring grid system of cables and wire, these vigorous climbing plants are in full flower, covered in delicate papery-green hops which are prized for giving beer its unique aroma and crisp, refreshing bitterness.

Neuralink on Wednesday streamed a video of its first human patient playing computer chess with his mind and talking about the brain implant making that possible.

Noland Arbaugh, 29, who was left paralyzed from the shoulders down by a diving accident eight years ago, told of playing chess and the videogame "Civilization" as well as taking Japanese and French lessons by controlling a computer screen cursor with his brain.

Dusty barns, gleaming stables and damp basements. These are all places where you might find a house mouse – or a member of my research team.

I’m an evolutionary biologist, and my lab at Drexel University studies wild house mice. With help from Philly residents, we are collecting mice from high-rises and row homes to learn more about the impacts of city living on house mice. In short, we want to know whether there is any scientific basis to “The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse” fable in which the cousins eat differently based on where they live.