Tea might pose fluoride risk

Sun, 7 Oct 2007 11:01:00 +0100
Tea can boost fluoride intake - it could pose a danger in areas with high levels of the substance

Smart composite detects and repairs airplane cracks

Sun, 7 Oct 2007 10:12:00 +0100
The material could make the next generation of aeroplanes safer by sensing and "healing" its own cracks before they become critical

World faces polio dilemma

Sun, 7 Oct 2007 08:30:00 +0100
Virus from live polio vaccine used in developing countries could lead to outbreaks of the disease as vaccination is phased out - but there is a solution

Smart sheets let gadgets talk through their feet

Sat, 6 Oct 2007 10:50:00 +0100
Flexible, electronic sheets could be embedded in tables, walls and floors, allowing devices anywhere in the home to communicate

Alien birds save Hawaiian natives

Sat, 6 Oct 2007 10:21:00 +0100
Introduced bird species are helping to rescue Hawaii's threatened native forests, a new study reveals

'Black-hole universe' might explain dark energy

Sat, 6 Oct 2007 09:30:00 +0100
Treating the observable universe as an expanding black hole could be the key to understanding the origin of the mysterious force

Did an ancient impact bowl Pluto over?

Fri, 5 Oct 2007 16:02:00 +0100
A wayward space rock may have caused the distant world to roll over and crack, leaving telltale scars for NASA's New Horizons spacecraft to find

New search tool gets the picture

Fri, 5 Oct 2007 12:13:00 +0100
Analytical software can learn how to "see" the content of images from sets tagged by humans – it could make searches more discriminating

Baby's errors are crucial first step for a smarter robot

Fri, 5 Oct 2007 12:09:00 +0100
Recreating cognitive, human flaws in software - and one day robots - might prove to be a critical step towards building a true artificial intelligence

Extent of Windscale contamination was covered up

Fri, 5 Oct 2007 10:42:00 +0100
The fire 50 years ago, then the world's worst nuclear accident, spread a radioactive cloud over more of Europe than previously admitted

Military wins Ig Nobel peace prize for 'gay bomb'

Fri, 5 Oct 2007 00:30:00 +0100
Jet-lagged hamsters, "bottomless" soup bowls, and a study of sword-swallowing are also honoured at the tongue-in-cheek awards

Chimps don't mind being chumps in raisin game

Thu, 4 Oct 2007 19:53:00 +0100
Chimpanzees will gladly accept a raw deal from one another, suggesting their sense of fairness is different from humans

Ancient plant has hot, stinky sex

Thu, 4 Oct 2007 19:00:00 +0100
A primitive cycad uses different intensities of a foul odour to control the movements of pollinating insects

Giant telescope in race to become world's largest

Thu, 4 Oct 2007 19:15:00 +0100
Officials decide the 24.5-m Giant Magellan Telescope will be built in central Chile - it will be the world's largest if it beats other projects to completion

Tool use by shy crows caught on camera

Thu, 4 Oct 2007 19:00:00 +0100
Tiny cameras attached to New Caledonian crows' tail feathers are offering new insights into the birds' behaviour in the wild

Mother-of-pearl inspires super-strong plastic

Thu, 4 Oct 2007 19:00:00 +0100
The clay-based substance is as strong as steel and is the first material to successfully scale up the strength of nano-sized ingredients

Eavesdropping iguanas heed hawk alarms

Thu, 4 Oct 2007 14:43:00 +0100
Despite being unable to communicate between themselves, Galápagos iguanas act on mockingbird alarm calls indicating a nearby predator

A third of US kids pop dietary pills

Thu, 4 Oct 2007 15:00:00 +0100
Despite high supplement intake, it remains unclear whether children are getting the recommended levels of vitamins and minerals

Chilli-based anaesthetic won't leave you drooling

Thu, 4 Oct 2007 10:30:00 +0100
A local anaesthetic based on a chilli-pepper extract only targets pain neurons, leaving motor function unaffected – it could make a trip to the dentist less unpleasant

Grass-munching bugs could charge rural phones

Wed, 3 Oct 2007 17:56:00 +0100
The bacteria-powered cellphone charger is aimed at poor countries where plant waste is more accessible than electricity

Stem cells recruited to help cancers grow

Wed, 3 Oct 2007 18:00:00 +0100
The restorative properties that could make adult stem cells so useful in tissue repair may also help cancers to spread and grow

Regional nuclear war could trigger mass starvation

Wed, 3 Oct 2007 13:17:00 +0100
Even a limited nuclear war could cause over a billion people to die from famine, disease and conflicts over food, says a US expert

Chemical 'sponge' could filter CO from the air

Wed, 3 Oct 2007 12:37:00 +0100
Sucking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it underground could provide a last-ditch solution to climate change, says a US scientist

New duck-billed dinosaur was a 'chewing machine'

Wed, 3 Oct 2007 10:40:00 +0100
With hundreds of teeth inside short, powerful jaws, the gryposaur could have snacked on tree branches as well as tough foliage

Sun's 'twin' an ideal hunting ground for alien life

Wed, 3 Oct 2007 05:07:00 +0100
Astronomers have found the most Sun-like star yet - they plan to scan it for alien transmissions with the new Allen Telescope Array

Quantum transport poses a dilemma for philosophers

Tue, 2 Oct 2007 18:00:00 +0100
Physicists find a way to get quantum particles to jump from A to C without passing through B in the middle

Gold rings create first true invisibility cloak

Tue, 2 Oct 2007 16:56:00 +0100
The device hides tiny objects from visible light, but only in two dimensions – it might one day help produce faster computer chips

Arctic ice shrinks to record low

Tue, 2 Oct 2007 14:21:00 +0100
The warm summer produced the lowest ice coverage since satellite measurements began – global warming is thought largely responsible

Glittering star cluster is galactic heavyweight

Tue, 2 Oct 2007 14:00:00 +0100
One of the Milky Way's most massive young star clusters is nestled in a nebula with enough gas and dust to form 400,000 Suns

Being left-handed isn't the kiss of death

Tue, 2 Oct 2007 10:22:00 +0100
Victorian-era films reveal that left-handedness simply went out of fashion, rather than left-handed people being destined for an early grave

Starving is like ecstasy use for anorexia sufferers

Tue, 2 Oct 2007 09:00:00 +0100
The eating condition affects the brain in a similar way to psychostimulant drugs, say researchers, possibly indicating targets for new treatments

Caribbean forests thrived in 'Little Ice Age'

Mon, 1 Oct 2007 22:00:00 +0100
The counterintuitive finding shows that the effects of climate change can vary from place to place, say researchers

Sabre-tooth cat had a surprisingly delicate bite

Mon, 1 Oct 2007 22:00:00 +0100
The extinct beast had a much less powerful bite than a lion, suggests a skull analysis, narrowing down theories about how it killed its prey

Powerful solar outburst rips off comet's tail

Mon, 1 Oct 2007 20:13:00 +0100
A wave of charged particles from the Sun rips off a comet's tail in a dramatic new video from NASA's STEREO spacecraft