In a report released today, Dr. Jeffrey Miron, visiting professor of economics at Harvard University, estimates that replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation similar to that used for alcoholic beverages would produce combined savings and tax revenues of between $10 billion and $14 billion per year.

Terrestrial microbes that hitch a ride to Mars on spacecraft may be able to survive under special circumstances, according to a new laboratory study.

A team from the University of Alberta has proven for the first time that a single molecule can switch electrical currents off and on, a puzzle that scientists worldwide have been trying to crack for decades.

Federal subsidies have made growing corn for ethanol a profitable venture for Corn Belt farmers while irking free-market advocates. Now, new technology for processing biomass from widely available plant and tree residue could increase Beltway bickering over ethanol funding.

A biotech brain trust is starting a new company that hopes to make a leap for genetic engineering that is comparable to moving from an old mainframe computer to a smaller, faster PC.

Thomas Friedman:
A few years ago my youngest daughter participated in the National History Day program for eighth graders. The question that year was “turning points” in history, and schoolchildren across the land were invited to submit a research project that illuminated any turning point in history.

Picture the Earth 200 years from now. For mile after mile the fields are a vibrant green, the trees covered in spring bloom and the streams are sparkling clean. But something is wrong. Where are all the animals?

Researchers investigating the achievements of thousands of innovators have established that 29 is the age at which you are most likely to have your first big, original idea.