Mimetic races of Heliconius erato (left) and Heliconius melpomene (right) from the Tarapoto area of Peru.
How two butterfly species have evolved exactly the same striking wing colour and pattern has intrigued biologists since Darwin’s day. Now, scientists at Cambridge have found “hotspots” in the butterflies’ genes that they believe will explain one of the most [...]

NIST postdoctoral researcher James Chin-wen Chou with the world’s most precise clock, based on the vibrations of a single aluminum ion (electrically charged atom).
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have built an enhanced version of an experimental atomic clock based on a single aluminum atom that is now the world’s most [...]

A new study sheds light on the flight behaviours that enable insects to undertake long-distance migrations, and highlights the remarkable abilities of these insect migrants.
A study published in Science, by researchers at Rothamsted Research (an institute of the BBSRC), the Met Office, the Natural Resources Institute, and the Universities of Exeter, Greenwich and York, sheds [...]

Artist’s rendering of cell structure.
Monash University biochemists have found a critical piece in the evolutionary puzzle that explains how life on Earth evolved millions of centuries ago.

3D illustration of the knee. Damaged cartilage can lead to joint pain and loss of physical function and eventually to osteoarthritis.
Northwestern University researchers are the first to design a bioactive nanomaterial that promotes the growth of new cartilage in vivo and without the use of expensive growth factors. Minimally invasive, the therapy activates the bone [...]

Teenagers and young adults spent less time blogging during the past three years as social networks like Facebook became more popular, according to a Pew Research Center study released Wednesday.
Still, one social network, Twitter, has failed to catch on with the vast majority of younger teenagers, according to the Pew study of social media and [...]

Towns move back to the concept of a walkable multiuse town center.
Demographic shifts and changing values will increase demand for pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use communities in both urban and suburban settings, according to John McIlwain of the Urban Land Institute. “The age of suburbanization and growing homeownership is over,” McIlwain said in a recent report, “Housing in America: The [...]

a new study shows that many people, when faced with a financial crisis, are not putting their mortgages first.
TransUnion, one of the big credit bureaus, recently released a report showing that an increasing number of consumers are choosing to pay their credit card bills before their monthly mortgages.
My grandmother Big Mama had a key financial [...]

Bestselling authors John and Doris Naisbitt
 John Naisbitt found success with his bestseller “Megatrends.” Now, he and his wife Doris have published a new book about China. They argue that the country has developed a new political and social system — and may be more democratic than the West.
 

Migrant workers wait for a bus to return them to the labor camps outside Dubai, but many of the jobs have dried up.
When his overnight flight landed, Abdul Wahib walked out of Kochi’s palm-fringed airport and hugged his family. After 24 years of working in the United Arab Emirates, he was home. He carried a [...]

California’s global warming law calls for utilities to increase their use of renewable energy to at least 30 percent by 2020
Conservatives propose an initiative that would delay curbs on greenhouse gas emissions until the state’s unemployment rate drops to 5.5%, a level not seen since 2007.
 

A couple looking at a shop in Greece as the economy has suffered a major deficit crisis.
Governments in Athens, Madrid and Lisbon struggled on Friday to quell fears of a looming debt crisis in Europe that is pummeling the euro and rippling across global markets, as authorities vowed to impose fiscal austerity and plug their [...]

According to a new mathematical analysis, the mysterious “3/4 law of metabolism” — proposed by Max Kleiber in 1932 and later described as “extended to all life forms” from bacteria to whales — is wrong.
Apparently, the mysterious “3/4 law of metabolism” — proposed by Max Kleiber in 1932, printed in biology textbooks for decades, explained [...]

India: fast food nation
Live and let live, right? We’ve all heard the phrase a million times, and it connotes that true-blue American sentiment of accomodation and freedom of choice. But what about when our choices are trashing the earth? Then it seems the only remedy is pointing out our own foibles again and again until [...]

Bacteria (Streptococcus pneumoniae, red) under attack by a neutrophil (blue).
Scientists have long pondered the seeming contradiction that taking broad-spectrum antibiotics over a long period of time can lead to severe secondary bacterial infections. Now researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine may have figured out why.

A small but significant proportion of morbidly obese people are missing a section of their DNA, according to new research.
A small but significant proportion of morbidly obese people are missing a section of their DNA, according to research published February 3 in Nature. The authors of the study, from Imperial College London and ten other [...]

Forest in Maryland.
Speed is not a word typically associated with trees; they can take centuries to grow. However, a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found evidence that forests in the Eastern United States are growing faster than they have in the past 225 years. The study offers a [...]

Model of a human brain, with the cerebellum, medulla and brain stem visible at lower left.
The brains of infants who die of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) produce low levels of serotonin, a brain chemical that conveys messages between cells and plays a vital role in regulating breathing, heart rate, and sleep, reported researchers funded [...]

New research identifies the ’speed gene’ contributing to a specific athletic trait in thoroughbred horses.
Groundbreaking research led by Dr Emmeline Hill, a leading horse genomics researcher at University College Dublin’s (UCD) School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine has resulted in the identification of the ’speed gene’ in thoroughbred horses.

Fossil showing 565 million-year-old animal trail.
Trails found in rocks dating back 565 million years are thought to be the earliest evidence of animal locomotion ever found.

1 in 8 American’s use food banks
One in eight Americans — 37 million — received emergency food help last year, up 46% from 2005, the nation’s largest hunger-relief group reports today.
 

Americans’ love affair with top-shelf booze cooled last year as the recession took a toll on high-priced drinks..  A report by an industry group shows people drank more but turned to cheaper brands. They also drank more at home and less in pricier bars and restaurants.
 

“Running barefoot or in minimal shoes is fun but uses different muscles,” said Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman. “If you’ve been a heel-striker all your life, you have to transition slowly to build strength in your calf and foot muscles.”
New research is casting doubt on the old adage, “All you need to run is a [...]

These are three rotting fish heads.
Decaying corpses are usually the domain of forensic scientists, but palaeontologists have discovered that studying rotting fish sheds new light on our earliest ancestry.

Increasing magnesium intake may be a valid strategy to enhance cognitive abilities.
New research finds that an increase in brain magnesium improves learning and memory in young and old rats. The study, published in the January 28th issue of the journal Neuron, suggests that increasing magnesium intake may be a valid strategy to enhance cognitive abilities [...]