Cosmologists at the University of Illinois say ancient light absorbed by neutral hydrogen atoms could be used to test certain predictions of string theory - but they'll need a gigantic array of radio telescopes to do it, somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 square kilometers.

String theory is commonly considered (and one of our Ph.D.s will likely point out the flaws in this simplified explanation) a theory in which the fundamental building blocks are tiny one-dimensional filaments. One of its many flavors is usually the leading contender for a 'theory of everything' that unifies all four fundamental forces of nature - the strong and weak nuclear forces, electromagnetism, and gravity. It's not an easy thing to test.

Now these cosmologists say absorption features in the 21-centimeter spectrum of neutral hydrogen atoms could be used for such a test.

In The Big Bang and the Birth of Culture, we talked about the beginning of culture long before what anthropologists had previously assumed and discussed why space travel is not only becoming important for ecological reasons, it's part of a universal mandate.

Now we're going to talk about some aspects of galactic order. Infinite monkeys in a random universe? No, more like a railroad train with a lot of ways to get from point A to point B - but it has rails and the universe can never leave them.

In the aftermath of the Big Bang, particles collided and shifted with terrific force - yet protons came out of these crashes intact. This identity retention was a primitive form of memory and it was the foundation of culture.

Communist dictatorships don't get credit for much but one thing about them made anti-smoking advocates happy; a lack of cigarettes meant fewer people puffed. Yes, according to a new study in an anti-smoking journal, capitalism is to blame.

Contrary to health wisdom in the west, the number of Russian women who smoke has more than doubled since the collapse of the Soviet Union, say authors of a study published in the journal Tobacco Control.

In 1992, seven per cent of women smoked, compared to almost 15 per cent by 2003. In the same period, the number of men who smoke has risen from 57 per cent to 63 per cent.

Think it's laws or governments that keep people honest? Not according to a new study in Psychological Science. Two psychologists examined the psychological impact of genetic determinism, free will, and ethical behavior and found that people who felt like they were in control of their destiny acted more ethically than people who felt like they were not.

It is well established that changing people’s sense of responsibility can change their behavior. But what would happen if people came to believe that their behavior was the inevitable product of a causal chain beyond their control – a predetermined fate beyond the reach of free will?

Daily consumption of caffeine in coffee, tea or soft drinks increases blood sugar levels for people with type 2 diabetes and may undermine efforts to control their disease, say scientists at Duke University Medical Center.

Researchers used new technology that measured participants’ glucose (sugar) levels on a constant basis throughout the day. Dr. James Lane, a psychologist at Duke and the lead author of the study, says it represents the first time researchers have been able to track the impact of caffeine consumption as patients go about their normal, everyday lives.

Marine bacteria come almost a billion to a cup. Until recently, however, little has been known about how these minute creatures live or what they need to flourish.

New research led by a marine microbial ecologist at the University of Georgia is showing for the first time that the roles played by bacteria in coastal waters aren’t nearly as specific as some scientists suspected.

The newly discovered asteroid 2007 TU24 is passing within 1.4 lunar distances, or 334,000 miles, of Earth today.

The asteroid, estimated at between 150 and 600 meters in diameter, was discovered by the University of Arizona’s Catalina Sky Survey in October 2007. It poses no threat to Earth, but its near approach gives astronomers a golden opportunity to learn more about potentially hazardous near-Earth objects. And conspiracy theorists a chance to speculate on NASA.

Some people are genuinely concerned about this asteroid causing an End of Life event on Earth. Not to worry.

A University of Rochester scientist discovered that the toxins in cigarette smoke wipe out a gene that plays a vital role in protecting the body from the effects of premature aging. Without this gene we not only lose a bit of youthfulness – but the lungs are left open to destructive inflammation and diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer.

By identifying the Sirtuin (SIRT1) gene’s role in pulmonary disease, scientists also hope to find ways to restore it and jump-start lung healing. They’ve begun testing the powerful antioxidant resveratrol, which is extracted from red grape skins, to develop a treatment to target SIRT1 and reverse lung damage, or at least enhance the way standard COPD therapies work.

In transportation, road traffic contributes the most to global warming, aviation is second, railways are negligible and shipping actually has a net cooling effect on the earth’s climate, according to a study published recently.

But we can't simply switch to shipping and cure global warming. Shipping emits large portions of SO2 and NOx, which both have cooling effects, but this effect will diminish as the gases don’t live long in the atmosphere. After a few decades, the long-lived CO2 will dominate, giving shipping a warming effect in the long run.