The Discovery Files

Experts at the University of California, Riverside and The University of Nottingham report that they have discovered how plants sense low oxygen levels to survive flooding--a finding that could lead eventually to the production of high-yielding, flood-tolerant crops.

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new method to design antibodies aimed at combating disease. The process was used to make antibodies that neutralize the harmful protein particles that lead to Alzheimer's disease.

Audio engineers have developed a novel artificial intelligence system for understanding and indexing sound, a unique tool for both finding and matching previously un-labeled audio files.

A University of Chicago study has shown that children who learn to use a wide range of words related to spatial knowledge also show improved spatial skills.

In a first-of-its kind study, Harvard researchers have shown that cooked meat provides more energy than raw meat, a finding that challenges the current food labeling system and suggests humans are evolutionarily adapted to take advantage of the benefits of cooking.

A study from researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute shows that the juice from cranberries is better at fighting bacterial infections than the cranberry extract found in pill form.

Study links pollutants to a 450 percent increase in risk of birth defects.

Scientists at the University of Minnesota have designed a novel, noninvasive system that allows users to control a virtual helicopter using only their minds.

Cassava, banana and plantain, staple foods for millions of the world's poorest people, are notoriously difficult to breed. But an international team of scientists aims to change that, using a revolutionary new approach to plant breeding developed at the University of California, Davis.

Gamers have solved the structure of a retrovirus enzyme whose configuration had stumped scientists for more than a decade. The gamers achieved their discovery by playing Foldit, an online game that allows players to collaborate and compete in predicting the structure of protein molecules.

A new "subconscious mode" for smartphones and other WiFi-enabled mobile devices could extend battery life by as much as 54 percent for users on the busiest networks.

The power output of wind farms can be increased by an order of magnitude--at least tenfold--simply by optimizing the placement of turbines on a given plot of land, say researchers at the California Institute of Technology.

Researchers have discovered a way to capture and harness energy transmitted by such sources as radio and television transmitters, cell phone networks and satellite communications systems.

Cognitive scientists at Johns Hopkins University have new evidence that confirms an older theory that human beings are born with some innate knowledge of certain rules of linguistics that make learning human languages easier.

According to researchers at Caltech deciding what to eat forces your brain to figure out how it feels about a food's taste versus its health benefits versus its portion size or even its packaging, and it needs to determine the importance of these attributes relative to each other.