Micro air vehicles (MAVs) under development by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research are  on track to evolve into robotic, insect-scale devices for monitoring and exploration of hazardous environments, like collapsed structures, caves and chemical spills.

Researchers say they have found 13 genes linked to human body mass.

Starting with DNA samples extracted from Icelanders' white blood cells banked in 1991 and 2002 by scientists there as part of the AGES–Reykjavik study of individuals in the general population, scientists used a customized, genome-wide profiling method dubbed CHARM (comprehensive high-throughput arrays for relative methylation) to look for regions that were the most variable, all chemically marked by DNA methylation. 

The DNA methylation analyses revealed epigenetic fingerprints which are unique to each individual and remain stable over time and may also be associated with various common traits including risks for common, complex diseases such as cancer and other conditions. 

We've all enjoyed the spectacular results when glaciers carved their way through the landscape and it seems intuitive that glaciers inhibit mountain growth due to erosion.

Not necessarily, say geologists, they can actually encourage mountain growth.

To cure global warming we have to trade some acid rain - at least given current battery technology, which uses toxic heavy metals.

Obviously, plants have a much better solution and we have written about it often - artificial photosynthesis - but despite nature being our best example of efficiency, she isn't easy to duplicate.    But a group of chemists say they have made a step towards that, by discovering a new way to pass electrons back and forth between two molecules.  Understanding the electron transfer processes in these molecules provides a way to design organic materials for storing electrical energy that could then be retrieved for later use - an organic battery.

Does my space-plunger sound profound?  It isn’t.  That space absorbs energy is confusing talk.  You could desperately try to make it work:  Firstly, the “space-plunger” is not moving slowly and the energy lost is partially recovered in the kinetic energy of the expanding space.  There is also energy in the gravitational potential, but it is negative, so it cancels the energy being created when a universe comes into existence.  Adding all up, the total energy of the universe may be zero, if you fudge it until you get zero.  Sounds profound?  It isn't.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is quite common these days, with over 4 million children born following IVF treatments worldwide and it is generally regarded as a safe technique, but some scientific reports have noted an increased rate of problems following IVF in comparison to ‘natural’ conception and birth.

A review by the Chair of the international body which collects data on IVF concludes that IVF is generally safe, although he stresses that patients need to be made aware of the slight risks, and that we need to continue to monitor the results of the technique.