News Article

By Eliza Barclay We get a little suspicious when we hear the claims that it’s possible to get rid of the gunk that accumulates in our cells by doing a cleanse with “clean” foods. But what if some foods actually do help detox the body? The results of a recent clinical trial suggest that compounds in cruciferous …

By Maanvi Singh Delinquent children are much more likely than their nondelinquent peers to die violently later in life, a study finds. And girls who ended up in juvenile detention were especially vulnerable, dying at nearly five times the rate of the general population. “This was astonishing,” says Linda Teplin, a professor of psychiatry and …

By Herb Silverman   This is my 184th article for OnFaith since I started writing for the publication back in November of 2008. OnFaith was founded by Sally Quinn and remained at the Washington Post until late 2013, when it moved to FaithStreet. What I liked about writing for OnFaith at the Post, aside from it being part of a prestigious newspaper, was that …

By BBC   Scientists have discovered that a number of spider species catch and eat fish. Spiders are traditionally viewed as predators of insects, but a new study suggests that eating fish is widespread among species that live near water. In some cases, the arachnids used powerful poisons to kill fish that were much bigger …

By NASA   After careful consideration and analysis, the Hubble Space Telescope Time Allocation Committee has recommended using Hubble to search for an object the Pluto-bound NASA New Horizons mission could visit after its flyby of Pluto in July 2015. The planned search will involve targeting a small area of sky in search of a …

By Nell Greenfieldboyce Scientists have long puzzled over the origin and evolution of our closest relative, the Neanderthal. Now, researchers say that Neanderthals seem to have developed their distinctive jaws and other facial features first, before they evolved to have big brains. That’s according to an analysis of 17 skulls, all taken from one excavation site …

By Yoko Kubota   The Japanese government is planning to offer ample support to popularize fuel cell vehicle technology as Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co prepare to launch hydrogen-powered cars in 2015. The government on Thursday drafted a timeline that spelled out targets and actions over the next 25 years to commercialize fuel cell …

By Christine Dell’Amore   One of Kenya‘s most adored elephants, who had giant tusks and was known as Satao, has been killed for his ivory—a “monumental” loss, experts say. Poachers shot the bull elephant with a poisoned arrow in Tsavo East National Park, waited for him to die a painful death, and hacked off his face to …

By Jonathan Amos   The orbiting Gaia telescope will lose some performance because stray light is getting inside the observatory, the European Space Agency (Esa) says. But the impacts are likely to be very small, scientists believe, and the expectation is that all the mission’s chief objectives will still be met. Most of the unwanted …

By Rebecca Morelle   The top of a 3,000m-high (10,000ft) mountain in Chile has been blown up to make way for the world’s largest optical and infrared telescope. A million tonnes of rock were blasted in order to create a level surface on which to build the European-Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). At its heart will …

By Heather Chen   Swarms of giant moths have descended on Malaysia, invading homes and even disrupting a national football match. Thousands of the furry insects, with a wing span of up to 16cm (6in), interrupted a semi-finals match at the Darul Makmur Stadium last week. Over 800 sightings were also reported in neighbouring Singapore last month, …

By P. Nash Jenkins   If engineered correctly, the enzyme can “chew up” toxic agents in the human body. A team of researchers at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville has identified an enzyme produced in the bodies of squid that may be effective in breaking down nerve gasses and other deadly chemical weapons. The team’s study, recently …