The Independent - Science RSS Feed

Religion vs science: can the divide between God and rationality be reconciled?

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

''A clergyman in charge of education for the country's leading scientific organisation – it's a Monty Python sketch," pronounced Britain's top atheist, Richard Dawkins, recently.

Nobel chemistry prize winners announced

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:21:20 GMT

Japan's Osamu Shimomura and Americans Martin Chalfie and Roger Tsien won the Nobel Prize in chemistry today for their discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP.

Scientists create formula for perfect shower

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:44:48 GMT

Scientists have developed a mathematical formula for the perfect shower.

Preening bosses mimic behaviour of monkeys

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Do you know a boss who struts around the office, preening himself and puffing out his chest, showing off a splash of colour – perhaps a red tie? According to a study of male managers, he is behaving like much of the animal kingdom, particularly monkeys and chimpanzees.

Humans will not evolve further, says geneticist

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Human evolution is grinding to a halt, according to a leading genetics expert.

Preening bosses mimic behaviour of monkeys

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Nobel medicine prize shared

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:21:17 GMT

Two French scientists who discovered the AIDS virus and a German who found the virus that causes cervical cancer were awarded the 2008 Nobel prize for medicine or physiology today.

Scientists spurn 'unfashionable' cancers

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Patients suffering from "unfashionable" cancers are being neglected by scientists in spite of record spending on cancer research, according to a new report by the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI).

Lebanon bomb hits bus carrying soldiers

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 06:29:58 GMT

A suspected car bomb blast ripped through a bus carrying soldiers in northern Lebanon on Monday, killing at least five people and wounding 17, local media reported.

How drugs can contaminate drinking water (graphic)

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 06:19:03 GMT

One giant leap for China

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:00:43 GMT

Three Chinese astronauts have returned to Earth after a 68-hour voyage and a space walk that the country's leaders hailed as a major technological achievement.

Discovery could ease pain of bone diseases

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

A protein which may ease the pain for millions of people who suffer from bone disease has been discovered.

Creationist offers prize for fossil proof of evolution

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

A controversial creationist who successfully campaigned for Richard Dawkins' official website to be banned in Turkey has offered a multitrillion- pound challenge to scientists.

Tests for drugs in tap water

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Drinking water supplies are to be tested for the presence of prescription drugs amid fears that rivers are being contaminated by the growing quantity of pharmaceuticals flushed unwittingly down the drain.

China's astronauts return to Earth

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 09:57:19 GMT

China's three astronauts landed safely back on Earth on Sunday after a challenging voyage, including a space walk, that showcased the country's technological mastery and put it one step closer to the Moon.

Spacewalker Zhai Zhigang and two other astronauts on board the Shenzhou VII landed around 5:40 p.m (0940 GMT) on the steppes of northern Inner Mongolia region, where helicopters with crews trained in search and rescue were on stand-by.

Beijing, we have lift-off

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Securely attached to his capsule high above the world, mission commander Zhai Zhigang waved the red flag yesterday to mark China's first space walk and celebrate the latest milestone in his nation's astonishing rise.

Half of Europe's frogs face extinction

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

More than half of all amphibian species in Europe could become extinct by 2050 because of a combination of habitat loss, infectious diseases and the effects of climate change, scientists have found.

Hundreds of methane 'plumes' discovered

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

British scientists have discovered hundreds more methane "plumes" bubbling up from the Arctic seabed, in an area to the west of the Norwegian island of Svalbard. It is the second time in a week that scientists have reported methane emissions from the Arctic.

Hadron collider out of action until spring

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 04:00:06 GMT

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva will be out of action until the spring while engineers investigate a fault, it was announced.

The deadly legacy of room 2.62 – or just a cancerous coincidence?

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

He was the man who launched the world into the nuclear age, winning a Nobel prize and laying the foundations for modern nuclear physics.

It's conquered the internet, now Google goes mobile

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

A rival to the all-conquering BlackBerry and iPhone mobile devices was launched in New York yesterday. Like Apple's iPhone, T-Mobile's G1 offers its users high-speed internet access, a music player, camera and the traditional phone and texting facilities.

The Big Question: What do new discoveries tell us about the meaning of Stonehenge?

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Collider halted till next year over magnets problem

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:25:24 GMT

CERN says scientists will have to wait until spring to use the world's largest particle collider because of repairs and a winter shutdown.

Exclusive: The methane time bomb

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

The first evidence that millions of tons of a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed has been discovered by scientists.

Sexism = success, according to US scientists

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

So there is hope for chauvinist men after all. Scientists in America have discovered that sexist men who believe a woman's place is in the kitchen consistently earn more than "modern-thinking" men. This amounts to an extra $8,500 (£4,722) in annual salaries, according to the researchers.