An analysis of the skeletal remains found in Carthaginian burial urns could finally lay to rest the millennia-old conjecture that the ancient empire of Carthage regularly sacrificed its youngest citizens. An examination of the remains of Carthaginian children revealed that most infants perished prenatally or very shortly after birth and were unlikely to have lived long enough to be sacrificed.

The findings, published this week in PLoS ONE, refute claims from as early as the 3rd century BCE of systematic infant sacrifice at Carthage that remain a subject of debate among biblical scholars and archaeologists. Authors of the new study say it's more likely that very young Punic children were cremated and interred in burial urns regardless of how they died.

Natural selection – the force that drives evolution – acts not only on whole organisms and individual genes, but also on gene networks, according to a new study appearing in Nature this week.The finding suggests that natural selection is both more powerful and more complex than scientists recognized.

Biologists have struggled for many years to explain how it is possible that some people who carry a mutated gene don't express the trait or condition associated with the mutation. This common but poorly understood phenomenon, known as incomplete penetrance,  may be partially due to environmental factors and the influence of other genes, but scientists say other forces are likely at work here as well.

The authors of a new study in Nature say that some cases of incomplete penetrance may be controlled by random fluctuations in gene expression.

In a study of intestinal development of C. elegans, a small worm, the team was able to pinpoint specific fluctuations that appear to determine whether the mutant trait is expressed or not.

Marc Morano - Global Superhero

In one of the most philanthropic gestures ever from a mere political journo-lobbyist, Marc Morano has taken upon his own shoulders the entire burden of global climate change.

Marc_Morano does not think global warming is anything to worry about.  He is utterly convinced that it is the greatest scam in history, a fraud, a pack of lies, etc. etc.

Markets work well when there’s a chain from wholesaler to retailer to customer…and back. If none of the customer payments makes it back to the wholesaler, soon there may be few to no wholesalers producing anything worth buying. That’s bad for wholesalers, bad for retailers, and bad for customers. That’s why, for example, Napster, Youtube and torrents upset the system. 

Now let’s consider the analog for science journalism, which aims to bring science to the public.

As sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and unwanted pregnancy rates continue to rise, the need for education about the use of condoms remains clear. Research has shown that consistent and correct use of male latex condoms can reduce the risk of STD transmission by 98 percent and is equally useful in the prevention of pregnancy when used in conjunction with a spermicide.

the Earth's natural biogeochemical cycles must be better understood before Geoengineering efforts are undertaken as a means to help mitigate climate change, according to two studies in Nature Geoscience which discuss what drove large-scale changes to the carbon cycle nearly 100 million years ago.

Both research teams conclude that a massive amount of volcanic activity introduced carbon dioxide and sulfur into the atmosphere, which in turn had a significant impact on the carbon cycle, oxygen levels in the oceans and marine plants and animals.

 A high-fat, low-carb diet used to control multiple, daily and severe seizures in current and former patients is not only effective, but  also appears to have no long-lasting side effects, say scientists at Johns Hopkins Children's Center. The findings are detailed online in Epilepsia.

There's a reason attractive human faces are used to market just about everything consumers purchase today – when people see pretty faces, their brains begin computing how much the experience is worth. New brain-imaging research shows it's even possible to predict how much people might be willing to pay to see a particular face. Scientists say the findings may allow them to predict future purchases of different market segments.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center found that as participants were watching a sequence of faces, their brains were simultaneously evaluating those faces in two distinct ways: for the quality of the viewing experience and for what they would trade to see the face again.

New images from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope showing where supernova remnants emit radiation a billion times more energetic than visible light have brought astronomers a step closer to understanding the source of cosmic rays.

Cosmic rays consist mainly of protons that move through space at nearly the speed of light. In their journey across the galaxy, the particles are deflected by magnetic fields, which scrambles their paths and masks their origins.