Our early ancestors developed a taste for spicy food at the time they were beginning to transition to agriculture.

The researchers discovered traces of garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), along with animal and fish residues, on the charred remains of pottery dating back nearly 7,000 years. The silicate remains were discovered through microfossil analysis of carboniszed food deposits from pots found at sites in Denmark and Germany. The pottery dated from the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition from hunter-gathering to agriculture.

Later this week, the Bureau of Land Management will be closing the opportunity for public comment on its proposed rules to regulate hydraulic fracturing on public lands. The final rule will determine what

Amy Harmon's excellent, recent article in the New York Times describes how the Florida orange juice industry may soon be wiped-out because of a new bacterial disease spread by an introduced insect.  It looks like there could be a technology-fix for the problem using genetic engineering.  The question is whether the growers will get to apply that solution.

On August 21st, 2013 at 1:24 am EDT, the sun erupted with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection - CME - a solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of particles into space and reach Earth one to three days later.

These particles cannot travel through the atmosphere to harm humans on Earth, but they can affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground.

Experimental NASA research models, based on observations from NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory show that the CME left the sun at speeds of around 380 miles per second, which is a fairly common speed for CMEs.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a wildly successful pathogen, if your goal is to infect up to two billion people in every corner of the world, with a new infection of a human host every second.

A new analysis of dozens of tuberculosis genomes gathered from around the world has shed some light on how it evolves to resist countermeasures - it that marches in lockstep with human population growth and history, evolving to take advantage of the most crowded and wretched human conditions.

The analysis reveals that tuberculosis experienced a 25-fold expansion worldwide in the 17th century, a time when human populations underwent explosive growth and European exploration of Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania was at its peak.

A new type of camera allows scientists to take sharper images of the night sky than ever before.  It combines a telescope with a large diameter primary mirror is being used for digital photography at its theoretical resolution limit in visible wavelengths – the light that the human eye can see.

The design team has been developing this technology for more than 20 years at observatories in Arizona, most recently at the Large Binocular Telescope, and has now deployed this latest version in the high desert of Chile at the Magellan 6.5-meter telescope.

That question is particularly relevant this week in light of numerous media articles reporting that exposure to a common chemical is linked to obe

If you're not convinced that Planet Nibiru is not hiding in an multiverse pocket of dark matter or you just want to know the best way to get to constellation Boötes so you can ask the residents of Gliese 526 if they got that email you sent from Lone Signal, a new 'GPS' tool can help.

But baby steps first. 

What do a coffee machine, a mosquito, a fridge, gastric ‘flu and silence have in common?
One answer is sounds. Or lack thereof. And all have been researched by Dr. Salomé Voegelin, who is Sound Arts Course Leader, and member of CRiSAP (Creative Research into Sound Arts Practice) at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London.

People with Crohn’s disease, an immune disorder causing inflammation mainly in the intestines, have been forced to learn how to manage and understand their “gut.”

This, together with the chronicity of the disease and the pretty serious medications often required, means sufferers are usually very open-minded about new approaches to relieve debilitating symptoms. While the exact cause of Crohn’s is unknown, researchers believe there is a link to the “hygiene hypothesis,” the notion that there is an increase in autoimmune disease incidence rates related to clean, modern Western society.