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Gallery: Nanobristles that twist and grip

19:00 08 January 2009

The same process that makes wet hair tangle as it dries can be harnessed to make biological-looking spirals of tiny bristles

Artificial molecule evolves in the lab

19:00 08 January 2009

A new molecule that performs the essential function of life – self-replication – could shed light on the origin of all living things

Billions could go hungry from global warming by 2100

19:00 08 January 2009  | 9 comments

Temperatures at the close of this century could be above those that crippled food supplies on at least three occasions since 1900

Drugs unlock the body's own stem cell cabinet

15:56 08 January 2009  | 4 comments

The discovery of drug regimes that liberate specific types of stem cells from the bone marrow could allow patients to produce their own healing stem cells

Climbers show record low blood oxygen levels

UPFRONT:  13:00 08 January 2009  | 4 comments

The finding in medics who climbed Mount Everest might mean that some people in intensive care can tolerate lower oxygen levels than previously thought

Wildlife confused by polarised light pollution

12:40 08 January 2009  | 2 comments

The way dark, reflective industrial materials polarise light is setting "ecological traps" for animals that have evolved to lay eggs in water

Obama team to raise questions over Ares rocket

UPFRONT:  12:20 08 January 2009  | 3 comments

Why is NASA developing a new generation of space rockets when the US already has two that could do the same job?

Invention: Recycled trash construction materials

11:25 08 January 2009

Plant and plastic waste destined for landfill can be recycled into heat or noise insulation, and could even be used for construction, says a patent application

Gallery: Paintings of the disappearing rainforests

Click the link, left, to enter the gallery (Image: Harry Holcroft)

10:30 08 January 2009

Artist Harry Holcroft spent four years travelling the world's rainforests, and created a collection of paintings depicting the scenes he discovered

Insulin grown in plants gets human tests

UPFRONT:  10:00 08 January 2009  | 6 comments

Safflower plants have been engineered to produce insulin – it is hoped they will provide a cheaper source of the hormone for people with diabetes

FROM THE BLOG

How Tetris could treat trauma

Psychologists hopes to use the game as a treatment for post-traumatic stress syndrome

GALLERY

Paintings of the disappearing rainforests

Artist Harry Holcroft spent four years travelling the world's rainforests, and created a collection of paintings depicting the scenes he discovered

LIFE

Deep-sea fish uses mirror magic to reflect light

Incoming light from a distant light source, such as a bioluminescent flash, is imaged efficiently by the mirror on the right onto a point on the retina, left (Image: Julian Partridge, University of Bristol)

The bizarre-looking spookfish has eyes that use mirrors to pick up on the ocean's bioluminescence

LAST WORD

The mystery of the suicidal flies

Why would flies get stuck on this window and die, each surrounded by a small patch of hazy mist?

SHORT SHARP SCIENCE BLOG

Should a TV news doctor be US surgeon general?

18:22 08 January 2009 - updated 18:30 08 January 2009

Should a TV news doctor be US surgeon general? That's the question buzzing on the blogs and in the mass media, following the revelation that president-elect Barack Obama has approached CNN's Sanjay Gupta to fill the post known as "America's...

Solar power for cheap cold food and pure water

16:42 08 January 2009 - updated 16:48 08 January 2009

Solar power in the developed world is becoming ever more high-tech, and big business. Witness the attempts to steer president-elect Obama towards space-based solar power.But low-tech ways to harness the Sun's energy can have big impacts too, as these two...

Who will be NASA's next chief?

02:12 08 January 2009 - updated 04:43 08 January 2009

A former astronaut is reportedly the strongest contender for the agency's top post

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VIDEO

Supernova's ghost caught expanding in new video Movie Camera

A time-lapse movie suggests the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A may be channelling its energy into creating high-speed cosmic rays

COMMENT

Why kids are natural-born scientists

TV presenter Richard Hammond asks why so many children get turned off science at school – and what we can do to rekindle their excitement

GALLERY
Chick embryo taken by Tomas Pais de Azevedo, Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, Portugal, using stereomicroscopy.

Most stunning images of 2008

12:08 31 December 2008

A selection of the most stunning science images from our Galleries this year including the propagation and reflection of a blast wave, a planetary nebula and a baby kangaroo suckling in a pouch...

DRUGS

Radical alternatives proposed for cannabis controls

Cannabis is the world's most widely used illegal drug – now a team of experts says governments should rethink how they control it

This week's issue

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10 January 2009

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