Water behaves in mysterious ways, especially below zero before it turns into ice. Physicists have recently observed the spontaneous first steps of the ice formation process, as tiny crystal clusters as small as 15 molecules start to exhibit the recognizable structural pattern of crystalline ice.

A new study finds that liquid water does not become completely unstable as it becomes supercooled, prior to turning into ice crystals, because of an energy barrier for crystal formation in which supercooled water's compressibility continues to rise. Interestingly, liquid water becomes easier to compress, the colder it gets - unlike other substances, which become harder to compress as temperature drops.

Malaria is a disabling disease that targets victims of all ages, it kills one child every minute. DDT is quite effective, and insecticide-treated bed nets also, but the African malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae is developing resistance to insecticides such as pyrethroid.

Genetic modification is the solution of the future, though there are clearly obstacles to that, in the form of developed world activists who scare those in developing nations about science.

Brian Foy and Jacob Meyers from Colorado State University decided to test whether antibodies targeted at a key component of the malaria mosquito's nervous system could be fed to the insects in a blood meal to kill them.

Many illegal aliens from Latin America risk migrating to the United States because they are fleeing from desperate situations and see opportunities to help their families, even though they will be stuck low-paying, labor-intensive jobs.

Researchers have unraveled one of the mysteries of how a small group of immune cells work: That some inflammation-fighting immune cells may actually convert into cells that trigger disease. 

White blood cells, called T-cells, iare one of the body's critical disease fighters. Regulatory immune cells, called "Tregs," direct T-cells and control unwanted immune reactions that cause inflammation. They are known to produce only anti-inflammatory proteins to keep inflammation caused by disease in check.

A recent World Health Organization report points to depression as the leading cause of illness and disability worldwide in 10- to 19-year-olds. Suicide by teens is ranked as the third leading cause of death in this age group.

A question that comes up time and again is whether schools should be involved in screening adolescents. But many parents and students find schools' involvement in mental health to be a violation of their privacy.

The birth of a volcanic island is a potent and beautiful reminder of our dynamic planet’s ability to make new land. Given the destruction we’ve seen following natural events like earthquakes and tsunamis in the past few years, stunning images of two islands forming in the southern Red Sea are most welcome.

A new analysis of the stability of the Antarctic ice sheet shows that ice rises (pinning points that keep the floating parts of ice sheets in place) are formed during the transition between glacial and interglacial periods, which significantly slows down the response of the ice sheet to climate change.

Have you been avoiding Taco Bell because of the Yellow No. 6 dye in its nacho cheese? 

Of course not. And if removing that or carmine from its red tortilla chips means you will suddenly think their food is healthy, you are being educated by advertising.

Which is just what they are hoping.

There is nothing healthy about Taco Bell or Pizza Hut or Chipotle yet they have all delivered similar intellectual placebos to the public in order to boost sales. And it's working, or at least they think it is working, since more and more junk food chains attach this health halo to their products because supposedly consumers are demanding it. Whether that turns out to be virtual money or real money is the question.

The supplements industry has embraced claims suggesting a link between soy intake and decreased asthma severity,  but a randomized, double-blind study, where half of the participants took a soy isoflavone supplement twice daily for six months, and the other half took a placebo,  found that soy supplements do not improve lung function for patients with asthma. 

The Augmented BNCI Communication projects has developed a new brain-computer interface system to enhance communication skills of people with cerebral palsys.

Cerebral palsy is a chronic movement disability affects between 2 and 3 per 1,000 people. People with Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy (DCP), 15% of the cases, have normal intelligence ability but cannot speak or express themselves due to lack of motor control. "Since they cannot express themselves, these children do not connect with other people and end up not developing their intelligence," says Biomechanics Institute of Valencia (IBV) researcher Juanma Belda.