The Discovery Files

Researchers at Purdue University and The Catholic University of America have proposed a new mechanism for how the "motor" inside of a virus works in order to propel the virus from one location to another.

A professor at Brown University has determined that men's faces tend to have a more reddish skin tone, while a greenish facial skin tone is more common for women.

Georgetown University researcher studies subset of bottlenose dolphin that uses marine sponges as a tool to hunt for food.

Brain scans of young, aggressive bullies suggest they may actually enjoy seeing others in pain, according to a new University of Chicago study.

An ultra-high-strength composite metal foam developed by engineers at North Carolina State University helps absorb the energy from impacts better than any known metal foam, offering applications in many safety devices.

Nalini Nadkarni of Evergreen State College currently advises a team of researchers, who also happen to be inmates at Cedar Creek Corrections Center, on how best to cultivate slow-growing mosses that are reguarly stripped from Pacific Northwest forests by horticulturalists.

Iowa State researchers are working on creating high tech networks of underground sensors that could be buried throughout a farmer's field to supply the farmer with constant feedback on soil moisture and other ground conditions.

Pine bark beetles appear to be doing more than killing large swaths of forests in the Rocky Mountains. Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, suspect that their hunger for trees is also altering local weather patterns and air quality.

Researchers at Emory University have located a protein that might play a key role in the formation and retention of "fear" memory. The researchers removed this protein from cells and, when this was done, their test subjects were less frightened by the same things that once gave them great fear.

Research teams from Virent Energy Systems and the University of Wisconsin at Madison have successfully converted sugar--potentially derived from agricultural waste and non-food plants--into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and a range of other valuable chemicals.

A team of biologists from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, UC San Diego and Oregon State University has identified the genes that enable plants to undergo bursts of rhythmic growth at night and allow them to compete when their leaves are shaded by other plants.

New research conducted by University of Washington biologists suggests that the invasive brown tree snake has had an indirect impact on Guam's forests due to the snake's hunting of the island's bird population to near extinction.

MIT mathematicians have now figured out exactly how hundreds of types of insect species are able to spend much of their time under water. When these insects submerge, their rough, water repellent coats trap air next to their bodies and form a small airpocket from which to breathe.

Engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new assistive technology, the Tongue Drive system, which could help individuals with severe disabilities lead more independent lives by allowing them to operate powered wheelchairs and computers using only their tongues.

Princeton psychology researchers have developed a computer program that allows scientists to understand better then ever before what it is about certain human faces that makes them appear either trustworthy or fearsome.