A captive Hawaiian crow using a stick tool to extract food from a wooden log is shown in this image released on September 14, 2016. Courtesy Ken Bohn/San Diego Zoo Global/Handout via REUTERS An endangered crow species from Hawaii that already is extinct in the... More »
An artist’s illustration of Psittacosaurus, a little dinosaur with a parrot-like beak and bristles on its tail that roamed thick forests in China about 120 million years ago is shown in this image released on September 15, 2016. Courtesy Jakob Vinther/Universi... More »
Nubian giraffes are seen in Murchison Falls, Uganda in this undated handout picture. Courtesy Julian Fennessy/Handout via REUTERS Genetic research on the world’s tallest land animal has found that there are four distinct species of giraffe, not just one as lon... More »
Swiss drugmaker Roche’s logo is seen at their headquarters in Basel, Switzerland January 28, 2016. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann Swiss drugmaker Roche (ROG.S) said on Monday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) fo... More »
A bumble bee collects pollen from a flower in a garden near York, northern England, June 28, 2008. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis Wild bees that forage from oilseed rape crops treated with insecticides known as neonicotinoids are more likely to undergo long-term populat... More »
By Will Dunham | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The Greenland shark, a big and slow-moving deep-ocean predator that prowls the frigid waters of the Arctic and North Atlantic, can claim the distinction of being the planet’s longest-living vertebrate, with a lifespan per... More »
WASHINGTON Researchers applying modern forensic techniques to a century-old puzzle have laid bare intriguing new details about one of the most notorious scientific hoaxes on record, the so-called Piltdown Man, and are confident in the culprit’s identity. The p... More »
WASHINGTON Fossils unearthed in a South Carolina drainage ditch are providing insight into the development of ultrasonic hearing in prehistoric whales, a trait closely linked to their uncanny ability to hunt and navigate using sound waves and echoes. Scientist... More »
SUCRE, Bolivia A footprint measuring over a meter wide that was made by a meat-eating predator some 80 million years ago has been discovered in Bolivia, one of the largest of its kind ever found. The print, which measures 1.2 meters (1.3 yards) across, probabl... More »
LONDON The heirs of Dolly the sheep are enjoying a healthy old age, proving cloned animals can live normal lives and offering reassurance to scientists hoping to use cloned cells in medicine. Dolly, cloning’s poster child, was born in Scotland in 1996. She die... More »
WASHINGTON Fossils of a carnivorous dinosaur unearthed in Argentina are shedding new light on an intriguing group of predators that apparently were just as happy to slash victims to death with sickle-shaped hand claws as to chomp them into an early grave. Scie... More »
WASHINGTON Neuroscientists acting as cartographers of the human mind have devised the most comprehensive map ever made of the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain responsible for higher cognitive functions such as abstract thought, language and memory. Using... More »
WASHINGTON A chunk of amber found along the Baltic Sea in Russia provides evidence roughly 50 million years old of an extremely fortunate bug. An Oregon State University scientist on Thursday described a remarkable piece of amber -fossilized tree sap – contain... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla/CHICAGO Given her background in researching some of the deadliest pathogens on Earth, including Ebola, colleagues of newly arrived astronaut Kate Rubins had expected her to want to do “crazy science fiction” on the International Space Stati... More »
WASHINGTON A newly discovered meat-eating dinosaur that prowled Argentina 90 million years ago would have had a hard time using strong-arm tactics against its prey. That’s because the beast, though a fearsome hunter, possessed a pitifully puny pair of arms. Sc... More »
WASHINGTON The White House announced on Wednesday measures aimed at advancing President Barack Obama’s precision medicine initiative, including plans to speed the development of tests used to identify genetic mutations and guide medical treatment. The U.S. Foo... More »
WASHINGTON Fossils unearthed on the Indonesian island of Flores may resolve one of the most intriguing mysteries in anthropology: the ancestry of the extraordinary diminutive human species dubbed the “Hobbit.”Scientists on Wednesday described bone fragments an... More »
CHICAGO Early results from a clinical trial of Roche Holding AG cancer drugs released on Saturday suggest some promise in matching treatments based on abnormalities found in a patient’s tumor rather than the organ in which the cancer was originally detected. T... More »
WASHINGTON A group of 25 scientists on Thursday proposed an ambitious project to create a synthetic human genome, or genetic blueprint, in an endeavor that is bound to raise concerns over the extent to which human life can or should be engineered. A synthetic ... More »
NEW YORK World Health Organization officials on Friday cautioned that “many thousands” of infants infected with Zika virus could suffer neurological abnormalities and said nations dealing with an outbreak need to watch for problems beyond the widely reported c... More »
WASHINGTON Researchers who dove hundreds of times into a sinkhole beneath the brown murky waters of Florida’s Aucilla River have retrieved some of the oldest evidence of human presence in the Americas including stone tools apparently used to butcher a mastodon... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. A SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday carrying about 3,700 pounds (1,680 kg) of experiment results and cargo from the International Space Station, NASA said. It was the first return load from the station i... More »
WASHINGTON Tiny bubbles that formed inside volcanic rock 2.7 billion years ago are providing big insights into the conditions on primordial Earth. Scientists said an analysis of gas bubbles trapped in ancient basalt rock that formed from ancient lava flows in ... More »
WASHINGTON Scientists have gotten to the root of the carrot, genetically speaking. Researchers said on Monday they have sequenced the genome of the carrot, an increasingly important root crop worldwide, identifying genes responsible for traits including the ve... More »
WASHINGTON It was a creature so outlandish that scientists say it reminds them of the fanciful beasts conjured up by Dr. Seuss. But would the famous children’s book author have thought up a marine reptile with a hammerhead snout it used to snack on algae? Scie... More »
WASHINGTON A treasure trove of fossils of six furry critters that inhabited the trees of southern China 34 million years ago is providing a deeper understanding of a pivotal moment in the evolution of primates, the group that eventually gave rise to people. Sc... More »
WASHINGTON The babies of a huge, long-necked dinosaur called Rapetosaurus that lived on the island of Madagascar did not just sit in a nest and look cute. They were born ready for action. Scientists on Thursday announced the discovery of fossils of a baby Rape... More »
WASHINGTON Monkeys resembling today’s capuchins accomplished the astonishing feat of crossing at least 100 miles (160 km) of open ocean 21 million years ago to get from South America to North America eons before the two continents joined together. Scientists s... More »
An experimental once-daily combination hepatitis C treatment being developed by AbbVie Inc demonstrated very high cure rates across a wide range of disease genotypes, according to data presented on Saturday, likely giving the company a more competitive product... More »
ZURICH Roche Holding AG said on Monday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted priority review for atezolizumab for treating people with a specific type of lung cancer. The designation covers treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic ... More »
JERSEY CITY, N.J. With the push of a button, a perfectly healthy 34-year-old museum-goer named Ugo Dumont was transformed into a confused 85-year-old man with cataracts, glaucoma and a ringing in his ears known as tinnitus. Dumont had volunteered at Liberty Sc... More »
WASHINGTON When the first prehistoric people trekked into South America toward the end of the Ice Age, they found a wondrous, lush continent inhabited by all manner of strange creatures like giant ground sloths and car-sized armadillos. But these hunter-gather... More »
CONAKRY/MONROVIA Guinea will soon vaccinate people who have come into contact with more than 500 men who have recovered from Ebola, a senior health official said, the first time it has vaccinated the contacts of survivors. The decision reflects research that i... More »
LONDON The world’s first life-saving gene therapy for children, developed by Italian scientists and GlaxoSmithKline, has been recommended for approval in Europe, boosting the pioneering technology to fix faulty genes. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said o... More »
WASHINGTON A gorilla named Susie is helping provide fresh insight into the genetic similarities and differences between people and these endangered apes that are among our closest living relatives. Scientists on Thursday unveiled an upgraded version of the gor... More »
WASHINGTON The extinct human species dubbed the “Hobbit” vanished from its home on the Indonesian island of Flores far earlier than previously thought, according to scientists who suspect our species may have had a hand in these diminutive people’s demise. Res... More »
WASHINGTON Scientists on Thursday announced the creation of a synthetic organism stripped down to the bare essentials with the fewest genes needed to survive and multiply, a feat at the microscopic level that may provide big insights on the very nature of life... More »
WASHINGTON When a female “burying beetle” is focused on caring for babies and not making new ones, she releases a chemical signal to her libidinous mate that says in no uncertain terms, “Honey, I’m not in the mood.” Scientists described on Tuesday how these fe... More »
WASHINGTON Our species, Homo sapiens, has a more adventurous sexual history than previously realized, and all that bed-hopping long ago has left an indelible mark on the human genome. Scientists said on Friday an analysis of genetic information on about 1,500 ... More »
U.S. health regulators said a genetically engineered mosquito being used in the fight against Zika will not have a significant impact on the environment, possibly paving the way for the technique to be used in the country. The self-limiting strain of the Aedes... More »
WASHINGTON A study in which people chewed on pieces of raw goat meat and vegetables smacked with a rock is shedding light on how changes long ago in the way our ancestors dined paved the way for physiological advances that helped make us who were are today. Sc... More »
WASHINGTON One of the enduring mysteries of paleontology, the demise of a highly successful group of dolphin-like marine reptiles called ichthyosaurs that flourished in Earth’s seas for more than 150 million years, may finally have been solved. Scientists on T... More »
LONDON A Scottish nurse, who recovered from Ebola but then suffered life-threatening complications from the virus persisting in her brain, was discharged from hospital in London on Sunday. The Royal Free Hospital said in a statement that Pauline Cafferkey was ... More »
CHICAGO A study of nine pregnant women from the United States who traveled to countries where the Zika virus was circulating shows a greater-than-expected number of fetal infections and brain abnormalities, U.S. health officials said on Friday. Two of the wome... More »
U.S. health officials are investigating 14 reports of the Zika virus that may been transmitted through sex, including to several pregnant women, raising new questions about the role sexual transmission is playing in the growing outbreak. In two of the suspecte... More »
WASHINGTON DNA coaxed out of a 12,000-year-old fossil from Argentina is providing unique insight into one of the strangest Ice Age giants: a tank-like mammal the size of a small car with a bulbous bony shell and a spiky, club-shaped tail. Scientists said on Mo... More »
BOGOTA More than 3,100 pregnant Colombian women are infected with the mosquito-borne Zika virus, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Saturday, as the disease continues its rapid spread across the Americas. Brazil is investigating the potential link between Zi... More »
WASHINGTON In an ancient streambed on Kenya’s Rusinga Island, scientists have unearthed fossils of a wildebeest-like creature named Rusingoryx that boasted a weird nasal structure more befitting of a dinosaur than a mammal. Researchers said on Thursday the cre... More »
RIO DE JANEIRO One major hurdle is thwarting efforts to measure the extent of the Zika epidemic and its suspected links to thousands of birth defects in Brazil: accurate diagnosis of a virus that still confounds blood tests. Genetic tests and clinical symptoms... More »
WASHINGTON They emerge from their hiding places at night, driven to slake their thirst for human blood. Vampires? No. Bedbugs! These tiny insects have staged a global resurgence in the past two decades after being nearly eradicated in many regions, but scienti... More »
BOGOTA More than 2,100 pregnant Colombian women are infected with the mosquito-borne Zika virus, the country’s national health institute said on Saturday, as the disease continues its spread across the Americas. The virus has been linked to the devastating bir... More »
WASHINGTON The mystery behind the extinction of a huge flightless bird called Genyornis that flourished in the grasslands and woodlands of prehistoric Australia may have been solved, with burned eggshells as the clue and people as the culprits. Scientists said... More »
WASHINGTON You can chalk it up as another victory for the machines. In what they called a milestone achievement for artificial intelligence, scientists said on Wednesday they have created a computer program that beat a professional human player at the complex ... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday called for the rapid development of tests, vaccines and treatments to fight the Zika virus, following a briefing on the spread of the mosquito-transmitted disease, the White House said. The World Health Organiz... More »
WASHINGTON A Virginia resident who traveled outside the United States has tested positive for the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus, state health officials said on Tuesday. The adult resident had recently traveled to a country where Zika virus transmission was o... More »
RENNES, France A man left brain dead after a drug trial in northwest France died on Sunday, said the hospital where he was being treated. The Rennes hospital said in a statement that five other volunteers were in stable condition after they were admitted last ... More »
PARIS Sanofi boosted its presence in cancer research on Monday by signing two deals with biotech companies worth up to $1.2 billion, as the French drugmaker plays catch-up with rivals in the hot research field. Shares in French biotech group Innate Pharma, one... More »
WASHINGTON Plesiosaurs, marine reptiles that thrived in the world’s seas when dinosaurs ruled the land, swam much like penguins by using their flippers to “fly” underwater, scientists said on Thursday, resolving a debate that began nearly two centuries ago. Pl... More »
WASHINGTON Along a lush river delta in what is now northeastern Spain, a herd of dinosaurs munched on ferns and conifers similar to modern-day cypresses 125 million years ago. These creatures stood out from the others in this Cretaceous Period landscape by vir... More »
WASHINGTON In pandas as in people, it appears that passion prevails. Scientists studying captive breeding of the endangered bamboo-eating bears said on Tuesday pandas are far more likely to mate successfully and produce cubs when they show through a complex se... More »
LONDON James Watt or Alexander Graham Bell? Royal Bank of Scotland is asking the public to choose a Scottish scientist or other innovator to feature on its first plastic 10 pound note. Edinburgh-based RBS said on Monday nominees must be historical figures who ... More »
ZURICH Swiss drugmaker Novartis said the latest findings from a study on its newest therapy for two kinds of blood cancer track earlier results, bolstering its confidence in a 2017 U.S. regulatory submission. Novartis is testing CTL019, its investigational chi... More »
WASHINGTON Habitat destruction along routes taken by the world’s migratory birds poses an increasing peril to these long-distance fliers, with a vast majority crossing terrain that nations are inadequately protecting, according to scientists. The researchers s... More »
WASHINGTON What does a strange giraffe-like animal with three horns atop its head and a set of fangs that roamed Europe about 15 million years ago have in common with a pretty young queen from the “Star Wars” movies? Plenty, according to the scientists who on ... More »
SHANGHAI China, already a global powerhouse in high-tech areas from solar panels to bullet trains, is turning its industrial might to the challenge of making more of its own drugs for a vast and aging population. Given the 10 years or more it typically takes t... More »
WASHINGTON Geckos boast one of the most impressive talents of any animal: the ability to scamper up a smooth wall or across a ceiling with ease. How do they do it? Well, it is all in the genes. Scientists on Tuesday said they have sequenced the genome of the g... More »
WASHINGTON South America’s vast Amazon region harbors one of the world’s most diverse collection of tree species, but more than half may be at risk for extinction due to ongoing deforestation to clear land for farming, ranching and other purposes, scientists s... More »
Novartis AG said on Friday it received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s regular approval for a drug combination to treat an aggressive form of skin cancer. The FDA approved Tafinlar and Mekinist for treatment of metastatic melanoma based on two years ov... More »
WASHINGTON DNA extracted from a skull and a molar tooth of ancient human remains discovered in the southern Caucasus region of Georgia is helping sort out the multifaceted ancestry of modern Europeans. Scientists said on Monday they sequenced the genomes of tw... More »
WASHINGTON It is an aerial maneuver far beyond the capabilities of even the most sophisticated modern aircraft: landing upside down on a ceiling. But it is routine business for bats, and now scientists have learned precisely how they do it. Researchers using h... More »
WASHINGTON Murals from ancient Egypt’s vibrant New Kingdom era depicting bees and honey amid scenes of everyday life some 4,400 years ago provide early evidence of people using of beehive products. But humans have been using the stuff far longer than that. Sci... More »
WASHINGTON In a warm, lush environment near a meandering river 79.5 million years ago in Montana, a dinosaur nicknamed “Superduck” munched on leaves and kept a lookout for predators related to Tyrannosaurus rex that might threaten its herd. Scientists on Wedne... More »
WASHINGTON The well-preserved partial skull and skeleton of a gibbon-like creature that lived 11.6 million years ago in Spain is shedding new light on the evolutionary history of modern apes. Scientists on Thursday announced the discovery in Catalonia of fossi... More »
WASHINGTON When it comes to unleashing their trademark zaps, electric eels employ an impressive and sophisticated set of tactics. A study unveiled on Wednesday detailed how these dangerous denizens of the muddy waterways of South America’s Amazon and Orinoco b... More »
WASHINGTON The tractor beam, a staple of science fiction including “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” that is employed to grab spaceships and other things remotely, is entering the realm of reality. Researchers on Tuesday said they have developed a tractor beam that ... More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it approved Johnson & Johnson’s chemotherapy to treat specific soft-tissue sarcomas (STS) that have spread to other parts of the body or cannot be removed by surgery. The drug, Yondelis, is designed to delay the progr... More »
WASHINGTON The howler monkeys whose guttural calls reverberate through Central and South American rainforests possess a secret that the males of the species may prefer to be left unrevealed. Howler monkeys make among the loudest, deepest sounds of any land ani... More »
GENEVA The world should stop vaccinating children against one of the three strains of the crippling polio virus as part of a drive to eradicate the disease once and for all, a group of health experts has advised the World Health Organization. There is no cure ... More »
LONDON Alzheimer’s disease is moving out of the shadows as new plays tackle head-on the emotional pain of a condition that robs its victims of words, memories and coherent thought. For a generation of young playwrights, dementia is proving to be a touchstone i... More »
WASHINGTON Scientists have identified a new species of giant tortoise on the Galápagos Islands, using genetic data to determine that a group of 250 of the slow-moving grazing reptiles was distinct from other tortoise species residing in the Pacific archipelago... More »
WASHINGTON A diet of putrid rotting flesh may not be your cup of tea, but to the cinereous vulture, found across southern Europe and Asia, it is positively delightful. This tough bird, it turns out, is genetically wired to thrive on the stuff. Researchers on T... More »
WASHINGTON Maybe we cannot blame late-night TV, endless Internet surfing, midnight snacks, good books, bothersome work deadlines and other distractions of modern life for encroaching on our sleep. Research unveiled on Thursday showed that people in isolated an... More »
PARIS The Museum of Mankind in Paris re-opens its doors this week after six years of renovations that have breathed new life into France’s leading anthropological museum. President Francois Hollande inaugurated the Musee de l’Homme on Thursday after the instit... More »
WASHINGTON Scurrying under the feet of dinosaurs in swampy terrain in Spain around 125 million years ago was a furry chipmunk-sized critter with tiny hedgehog-like spines, horny body armor and an unpleasant fungal hair infection. This intrepid little guy now i... More »
WASHINGTON DNA extracted from the skull of a man buried 4,500 years ago in an Ethiopian cave is providing new clarity on the ancestry of modern Africans as well as shedding light on an influx of people from the ancient Middle East into the Horn of Africa. The ... More »
CHICAGO Cancer researchers are just beginning to understand the ramifications of the fundamental discoveries behind the 2015 Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, which were awarded on Wednesday to three scientists for explaining how cells repair mistakes in DNA that occ... More »
WASHINGTON The blue whale is the largest creature on Earth and perhaps the biggest that ever lived, so it is no surprise it has a huge appetite. But the strategies this behemoth uses to get enough food has not been well understood – until now. Scientists said ... More »
ORLANDO, Fla. A love triangle between bald eagles that played out before thousands of fans on a live webcam has ended badly in Florida with the death of Ozzie, longtime mate of Harriet, according to a Florida wildlife clinic. Ozzie was critically wounded on Se... More »
BRUGELETTE, Belgium Belgian researchers are examining the excrement of giant pandas to try to understand how they can digest tough bamboo, hoping for clues on how to develop new generations of biofuel. The genetic make-up of endangered pandas is that of a carn... More »
ZURICH Roche ‘s new immune-system boosting cancer drug has given positive results in tests on patients suffering from some lung and bladder cancers, according to data released on Sunday at the European Cancer Congress in Vienna that the company hopes will help... More »
UNITED NATIONS Liberia needs two years to regain its economic footing after it was battered by the Ebola epidemic, as it moves to boost access to electricity and infrastructure and diversify the economy, Liberia’s president said in an interview on Saturday. Li... More »
WASHINGTON Two-million-year-old fossils including the three tiny bones of the middle ear are helping scientists figure out the auditory abilities of early human ancestors at a time when they were beginning to hear more like a person and less like a chimpanzee.... More »
LOS ANGELES A brain-to-computer technology that can translate thoughts into leg movements has enabled a man paralyzed from the waist down by a spinal cord injury to become the first such patient to walk without the use of robotics, doctors in Southern Californ... More »
WASHINGTON The origins of the enamel that gives our teeth their bite is no ordinary fish tale.Scientists said on Wednesday fossil and genetic evidence indicates enamel did not originate in the teeth but in the scales of ancient fish that lived more than 400 mi... More »
WASHINGTON The Inuit, a group of people who make the Arctic their home, have benefited from a handy set of genetic adaptations that help them survive in some of Earth’s harshest conditions. Scientists on Thursday said a study of the genomes of Inuit from Green... More »
WASHINGTON Rising temperatures at the top of the world may be bad news for Arctic denizens like polar bears, but good news for the local mosquitoes, pesky bloodsuckers that prosper with warmer weather. Researchers said on Tuesday that increasing temperatures w... More »
WASHINGTON Scientists have discovered why TNT is so toxic to plants and intend to use this knowledge to tackle the problem of cleaning up the many sites worldwide contaminated by the commonly used explosive. Researchers on Thursday said they have pinpointed an... More »
FREETOWN Sierra Leone released its last confirmed Ebola patient from hospital on Monday and began a 42-day countdown to being declared free of the virus, medical sources said. The world’s worst known Ebola epidemic has raged in West Africa for more than 18 mon... More »
LONDON British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca named Sean Bohen as its chief medical officer, in an appointment that it said could help accelerate the development of new oncology and immunology medicines. AstraZeneca, Britain’s second biggest drugmaker behi... More »
