Science News

Will tobacco plants provide the next cosmetic filler? Very possibly, according to findings recently published in the journal Biomacromolecules.

Researcher Oded Shoseyov of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has figured out how to get tobacco plants to produce a human-like collagen. Collagen is the main protein in skin, tendons, cartilage, bone and connective tissue.

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A computer algorithm modeled after the human brain has learned how to recognize different galaxy types ranging from spiral to elliptical, and can now help flesh-and-blood stargazers with the daunting task of classifying billions of galaxies.

That should help astronomers keep up with a deluge of galaxy imagery from observational projects such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Galaxy Zoo.

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Last fall, a fossil skeleton named “Ardi” shook up the field of human evolution. Now, some scientists are raising doubts about what exactly the creature from Ethiopia was and what kind of landscape it inhabited.

The new work is being published by the journal Science, which last year declared the original presentation of the 4.

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The purported human ancestor nicknamed Ardi and unveiled to the world last October was not the woodland creature its discoverers made it out to be, claim another group of researchers.

If correct, the argument would undermine the claim by Ardis discoverers that the fossil contradicted the “savanna hypothesis” - the idea that hominids, or human ancestors, evolved to walk upright after an environmental shift that saw jungle give way to savanna.

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Whales and dolphins should get “human rights” to life and liberty because of mounting evidence of their intelligence, a group of conservationists and experts in philosophy, law and ethics said Sunday.

Participants at a University of Helsinki conference said ever more studies show the giant marine mammals have human-like self-awareness, an ability to communicate and organize complex societies, making them similar to some great apes.

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A former Apollo astronaut is upset with recent Congressional testimony by fellow space travelers including the first and last men to walk on the moon that derided President Barack Obamas new space agenda.

On May 12, both Armstrong and Cernan told a Senate committee that U.S. Presidents Obamas vision for space which aims to send

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A new app could morph you into a caveman.

Paleo-artist John Gurche created the early human faces used in the app from fossils of early humans.

The MEanderthal app (a combination of “me” and “Neanderthal”) just released by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History for the iPhone or Android, is grounded in science.

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A newfound ancient relative of humanity discovered in a cave in Africa is a strong candidate for the immediate ancestor to the human lineage, an international team of scientists said today.

Scientists dont know how they died, but its possible they fell into the cave.

The remarkably well-preserved skeletons - a juvenile male and an adult female that lived nearly 2 million years ago - were found near the surface in the remains of a deeply eroded limestone cave system.

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Bacteria in the guts of some Japanese people are specialized for chowing down on seaweed - part of the daily diet in Japan - a new study finds. In contrast, the gut bacteria of North Americans appear to lack this special ability, at least in the individuals that have been studied.

The gut bacteria with this enzyme can digest carbs that their fellow microbe neighbors cant, which gives them an advantage in an environment (i.

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Francis Collins, who helped map the human genome, did not get around to having his own genes analyzed until last summer. And he was surprised by what he learned.

“I signed up for all three because I wanted to see if they gave the same answer,” he said. “They all agreed my diabetes risk is higher.

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