Heavy and bulky sperm would not be good swimmers. To trim down, sperm rely on cell death proteins called caspases, which facilitate the removal of unwanted cellular material and radically remodel these cells into their sleek, light shape. New research from scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Rockefeller University has now uncovered a new pathway that regulates these killer...

The New York Times announced Monday it would stop charging for access to certain articles and archives on its web site, reversing a marketing plan implemented two years ago.

(AP) -- Hackers who intercepted e-mail from MediaDefender Inc., a firm that tries to stymie unauthorized downloading of songs and movies on behalf of record companies and Hollywood film studios, have released hundreds of megabytes of data on the Internet.

(AP) -- Yahoo Inc. is buying e-mail service Zimbra Inc. for $350 million in an all-cash deal that may open a new revenue channel for the slumping Internet icon.

Farmers' use of certain pesticides can cause asthma, a breakthrough study presented in Stockholm at an international conference on respiratory diseases showed.

A joint Canadian-American research team have, for the first time, demonstrated that mercury concentrations in fish respond directly to changes in atmospheric deposition of the chemical. The international team`s research began in 2001 at the Experimental Lakes in Northern Ontario and is featured in this week`s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A team led by biophysicist Jeremy Smith of the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory has taken a significant step toward unraveling the mystery of how proteins fold into unique, three-dimensional shapes.

What began more than 50 years ago as a way to improve fishing bait in California has led a University of Tennessee researcher to a significant finding about how animal species interact and that raises important questions about conservation.

Scientists have discovered how the gene mutation responsible for fragile X syndrome--the most common inherited form of mental retardation--alters the way brain cells communicate. In neurons cultured from laboratory rats, the scientists also were able to reverse the effects of the mutation using a drug targeted to the specific site in an upstream pathway of the defect. The finding could lead to...

(AP) -- An experiment that involves Montana State University scientists and students is orbiting the earth aboard a Russian space capsule.

(AP) -- Leaky hydraulic seals on space shuttle Discovery must be replaced, and the extra work may end up delaying next month's flight, a NASA official said Monday.

(AP) -- Adobe Systems Inc. reported Monday that its third-quarter profit more than doubled from last year, setting a revenue record and easily exceeding Wall Street's expectations as the software company comes off its biggest-ever product launch.

A preliminary study suggests that patients with cancer in the head and neck region may have inferior performance in some driving skills compared with individuals without the disease, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

U.S. astronauts on the next shuttle mission will test the ability of a silicon substance loaded into a high-tech caulk gun to patch tiles.

An Ipswich, England, businessman has created a bottle that makes even the filthiest water drinkable in a matter of seconds.

To many, urine smells like urine and vanilla smells like vanilla. But androstenone, a derivative of testosterone that is a potent ingredient in male body odor, can smell like either - depending on your genes. While many people perceive a foul odor from androstenone, usually that of stale urine or strong sweat, others find the scent sweet and pleasant. Still others cannot smell it at all.

Brown University chemists have found the origins of an odor - the sweet smell of fresh dirt. In Nature Chemical Biology, the Brown team shows that the protein that makes geosmin - source of the good earth scent - has two similar but distinct halves, each playing a critical role in making this organic compound.

Texas doctors have identified nine cases of the skin disease leishmaniasis in patients who have not traveled to endemic areas.

A new study published in Nature Genetics on Sunday 16 September 2007 show that common, complex diseases are more likely to be due to genetic variation in regions that control activity of genes, rather than in the regions that specify the protein code.

A consortium led by a Taiwanese private equity firm said Sunday that it had acquired a 70-percent stake in leading computer accessories maker Primax Electronics Ltd. for 185.5 million US dollars.

An Oklahoma company's development of a commercial U.S. spacecraft sustained a setback when NASA decided to quit financing the company's project.

A meeting of signatories to the Montreal Protocol could make a "historic gesture" by working simultaneously to restore the ozone layer and halt global warming, a UN official said in an interview published Saturday.

(AP) -- It's been 14 years since first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's health care reform plan sank like a stone, swallowed by fears of a big-government power grab. In the years since, wary presidential candidates at first avoided the issue altogether, then gingerly dipped one toe, then another, back into the pool.

(AP) -- Arctic ice has shrunk to the lowest level on record, new satellite images show, raising the possibility that the Northwest Passage that eluded famous explorers will become an open shipping lane.