As part of the Pacific Centennial Oscillation pattern, ocean waters in certain areas become warmer and cooler as part of a century-long cycle. Red indicates warmer water; blue shows cooler.

New Climate-Shifting Pattern: Is PCO the Next El Niño?

Computer simulations indicate that ocean temperatures and weather patterns might vary on a 100-year-long cycle called PCO

A new study indicates that fraud in the biomedical sciences occurs but is exceedingly rare.

How Often Do Scientists Commit Fraud?

The evidence says scientists are pretty honest. New techniques could make it easier for scientific fabricators to be caught

Recyclosaurus rex, seen outside the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa, Florida.

Dinosaur Sighting: Recyclosaurus

A reader shows us a snapshot of a spare-parts dinosaur

Oldowan choppers are among the oldest-known type of stone tools.

Becoming Human: The Origin of Stone Tools

Archaeologists are still debating when hominids started making stone tools and which species was the first toolmaker

A rally round the flag in Washington

Can You Change Your Political Beliefs?

New research suggests that most people may not be as committed to their moral principles as they think they are

The USS Zumwalt, the Navy’s next-generation warship. The 600-foot, 15,000-ton vessels is being built by General Dynamics in Maine at the Bath Iron Works.

Introducing the USS Zumwalt, the Stealth Destroyer

Set to be christened in 2013, this new naval warship will amaze, leaving almost no wake in the open seas

Black swifts, with their preference for nesting on steep, wet, cold rock faces, are among the most enigmatic birds in North America.

What is North America’s Most Mysterious Bird?

Nesting behind waterfalls and in caves, the rarely seen black swift is only beginning to shed its secrets

A Smith electric delivery van (such as this one in New York City) can reduce emissions by 85 percent, compared with diesel power.

Forget the Volt, Make Way for Electric Trucks

Smith trucks are powered by batteries, not diesel, which could make a big difference in the fight against climate change

The Tyrannosaurus rex known as Stan, excavated in South Dakota in 1992, is one of the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons in the world.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex’s Dangerous and Deadly Bite

The dinosaur had the strongest bite of any land animal – even harder than we previously thought

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Why Power Corrupts

New research digs deeper into the social science behind why power brings out the best in some people and the worst in others

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Newly Discovered Comet, Headed Toward Earth, Could Shine as Bright as the Moon

Comet C/2012 S1(ISON) could become the brightest comet anyone alive has ever seen

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Triceratops Wasn’t Toxic

Triceratops was an awesome dinosaur, but, despite one site’s claim, it wasn’t equipped with poisonous quills

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Winged Tapestries

Jim des Rivières’ portraits of moths capture the insects’ exquisite patterns

Does greed live here?

How Brains Make Money

A new breed of scientists says that if you want to understand why people make financial decisions, you need to see what’s going on inside their brains

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Scientists Invent Electronic Circuits That Dissolve in Water

The new type of temporary electronics could be implanted in the body or used to monitor the environment without a need for cleanup afterward

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Where’s My Clone-o-saurus?

Physicist Michio Kaku says we’ll be able to clone dinosaurs in the future, but he glosses over some crucial technicalities

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VIDEO: Watch This Carnivorous Plant Fling an Insect Into Its Mouth

A small plant native to Australia features two sets of touch-sensitive tentacles to catapult insects towards its digestive concavity and then draw them in deeper

Dating and mapping fossil finds is one way anthropologists track early human migrations. The bones from Qafzeh, Israel, (a drawing of one of the skulls, above) indicate Homo sapiens first left Africa more than 100,000 years ago.

How to Retrace Early Human Migrations

Anthropologists rely on a variety of fossil, archaeological, genetic and linguistic clues to reconstruct how people populated the world

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Science Images that Border on Art

This year’s Wellcome Image Award winners pull at your “art” strings. The curious seek out the science behind them

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The Latest Cure for Acne: A Virus

Researchers are looking into a naturally-occuring virus which preys upon the skin bacteria that trigger outbreaks of acne

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