Women who become pregnant in spring are more vulnerable to preterm birth than those who conceive in other seasons, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh.

Also, read Scientific Blogging columnist Seth Robert's interview with Brian Wansink here.

Researchers at Canada's National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) are learning which molecular scale factors affect the assembly and disassembly of microtubules that are part of a cell's skeleton. Microtubules control the division of all cells with a nucleus by constantly assembling at one end while they disassemble at the other.

While government leaders argue about the practicality of reducing world emissions of carbon dioxide, scientists and engineers are seeking ways to make it happen.

One group of engineers at MIT decided to focus its work on the nanostructure of concrete, the world's most widely used material.

Virginia Tech researchers in computer science and biology have used the university's supercomputer, System X, to create models and algorithms that make it possible to simulate the cell cycle -- the processes leading to cell division. They have demonstrated that the new mathematical models and numerical algorithms provide powerful tools for studying the complex processes going on inside living cells.

The first major global assessment of climate change science in six years has concluded that changes in the atmosphere, the oceans and glaciers and ice caps show unequivocally that the world is warming.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that major advances in climate modelling and the collection and analysis of data now give scientists “very high confidence” (at least a 9 out of 10 chance of being correct) in their understanding of how human activities are causing the world to warm.