Writing

Nanostructures half the breadth of a DNA strand could improve the efficiency of light emitting diodes (LEDs), especially in a portion of the spectrum where LED efficiency plunges: the "green gap."

Humanity is on its way out. Post-humanity — technologically enhanced and perhaps even immortal — is coming. At least, that's what transhumanists say. Their critics say it's not that easy.

The sugars needed to make liquid biofuels like ethanol are locked up tight in the cellulose of non-food crops such as switchgrass. Researchers are using simulations to search for the keys to unlocking these sugars for biofuel production.

Gilbert Levin has been trying to convince NASA that the agency's own Viking probe found life on Mars in the 1970s years ago when it ran his 'labeled release' experiment.

Quantum dots hold out tantalizing prospects for all kinds of new technologies, but only if scientists can figure out how to stop them blinking.

Helium-3 is a nearly perfect fusion fuel. While there's almost none of this isotope on Earth, the moon has plenty stored in its crust. Mining it be easy, either technically or legally.

The move to raise so-called "heirloom" breeds is bringing more delicious eats to the plates of foodies, helping small farmers survive, and preserving breeds of domesticated animals that are otherwise disappearing from our factory-farmed, monoculture food supply.

The Pliocene epoch experienced an overabundance of greenhouse gases trapping heat and leading to planet wide temperature rises. Simulations suggest that tropical cyclones sparked by rising temperatures may have exacerbated the heat waves even more.

Since their introduction in the 1970s, handled plastic carry bags have become the world's favorite way to tote purchases. While they are light, durable and waterproof, the bags have also become blights on land and sea leading to curbs and outright bans around the world.

Thanks to a sensitive space telescope and some sophisticated supercomputing, scientists from the international Planck collaboration have made the closest reading yet of the most ancient story in our universe: the cosmic microwave background.

The same research that led scientists to believe biology may have a stronger hand than willpower in obesity is leading drug researchers to target the body's hunger and satiety signals directly.

High-fidelity computer simulations are lifting the veil on once enigmatic baby brute galaxies. These young, but massive galaxies appeared shortly after the Big Bang and are the engines that drove the Universe's most active period of star formation.