Why do men and women have different heights? Why do people have different predispositions to BMI, blood pressure and lipid levels?

Chromosome X is one of the two sex-determining chromosomes and researchers from the University of Helsinki set out to analyze the commonly occurring genetic variation in chromosome X  to find genetic factors that could explain individual differences in various traits.

Hundreds of genetic variants having an effect on these traits have already been identified but the X chromosome has not been studied in most of  previous studies. 25,000 Northern European individuals later, the researchers say they have some answers. 

How are accurate are the world's most advanced weather forecasting models?

They perform okay, at least when it comes to predicting the very near future.  Two University of Iowa researchers, David Lavers and Gabriele Villarini, evaluated rainfall forecasts from eight different global numerical weather prediction (NWP) models and their ability to predict the Sept. 9th-16th, 2013 extreme rainfall that caused severe flooding in Boulder, Colorado.

During September of 2013, Boulder County and surrounding areas experienced severe flooding and heavy rain resulting in fatalities, the loss of homes and businesses, and the declaration of a major disaster.

United States dominance in science and technology declined  during the last decade as several Asian nations rapidly increased their innovation capacities.

According to a new report, The 2014 volume of Science and Engineering Indicators prepared by NSF's National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), the major Asian economies, taken together, now perform a larger share of global R&D than the U.S., and China performs nearly as much of the world's high-tech manufacturing as the U.S.

Symmetry isn't always good. When we look at human faces, the most symmetrical, where one half is mirrored to the other, are less attractive than faces that show some distinction.

And it isn't just culture. A study in brains found that too much symmetry is also bad. Fish that have symmetric brains show defects in processing information about sights and smells, according to a new paper
in Current Biology. 

It's widely believed that the left and right sides of the brain have slightly different roles in cognition and in regulating behavior, but whether or not these asymmetries actually matter for the efficient functioning of the brain is unknown

Researchers stray from the usual heteronormative parameters in a new take on determining the relationship between love and sex.  They collected data from an Internet-based survey of almost 25,000 gay and bisexual men residing in the United States who were members of online websites facilitating social or sexual interactions with men. 

The survey results determined that nearly all (92.6 percent) of the men whose most recent sexual event occurred with a relationship partner indicated being in love with the partner at the time they had sex. So experiences of love among people are far more similar than different, regardless of sexual orientation.  

Last year, a group of researchers created a correlation between the migration patterns of ocean salmon and the Earth's magnetic field, suggesting it may help explain how the fish can navigate across thousands of miles of water to find their river of origin.