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Nicknamed Conan the Bacterium, Deinococcus radiodurans can survive doses of ionising radiation thousands of times stronger than would kill a human. So how does it do it?
The Kuiper Belt is a vast ring of icy objects beyond Neptune (Illustration: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T Pyle)
Well-hung males may enjoy an evolutionary advantage over their less well-endowed competitors - in certain rodents, anyway. The finding may help answer the vexing question of why penis size is so variable among mammals.
Reports that the bubble had burst for a form of cheap, table-top nuclear fusion may have been premature. Rusi Taleyarkhan, the physicist at the centre of a furore surrounding so-called bubble fusion, was last week cleared of scientific misconduct.
How can pharmaceutical companies be persuaded to develop vaccines for diseases of the poor, when poor people can't afford to buy them? The not-for-profit Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) and the World Bank have come up with a solution: rich countries should give money to poor countries to pay for the vaccines in advance.
Hop away toads, you've lost your title as the world's strongest animal. That honour now passes to the giant palm salamander Bolitoglossa dofleini, whose tongue explodes outward with more instantaneous power than any other known vertebrate muscle. At 18,000 watts of power per kilogram of muscle, the salamander, from the forest floors of Central America, is nearly twice as strong as the previous champ, the Colorado river toad Bufo alvarius.
Flocks of the Christian faithful in the US will this Sunday hold special services celebrating Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The idea is to stand up to creationism, which claims the biblical account of creation is literally true, and which is increasingly being promoted under the guise of "intelligent design". Proponents of ID say the universe is so complex it must have been created by some unnamed designer.
The long-suspected link between Alzheimer's disease and abnormalities in the way amyloid protein is processed in the brain has been confirmed at last.
The Grand Canyon was formed a few thousand years ago by Noah's flood, and not a few million years ago by geological forces, right? So says a glossy book still on sale in Grand Canyon National Park, despite scientists' protests.
Despite its 300-year history, Newton's gravitational constant, G, is the least well measured of all the fundamental constants. Now quantum mechanics may help pin down the strength of gravity more precisely.
"He has only forbidden you dead meat and blood, and the flesh of swine and that on which any other name has been invoked besides that of God." (The Koran, 2:173)
YET more evidence is in that the Ebola virus is spreading in a wave across Africa - putting the world's last big populations of lowland gorillas directly in its path.
IN cash-starved regions of the world, deciding who should get anti-retroviral drugs for HIV is a tough call. Now it seems that one of the main tools for making that decision may be less reliable than it appeared.
For poor people, living in an affluent area can be a health hazard. That is the provocative conclusion of a study of the death records of more than 8000 people living in four US cities.
On 29 August 2005, as hurricane Katrina was rumbling towards New Orleans, a seismic hum more than 1000 times the strength of the average volcanic tremor was felt nearly 3000 kilometres away in southern California. Its source was the hurricane itself.
The ridge on Iapetus remains almost exactly parallel to the equator to within a couple of degrees (Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
Keeping squabbling children apart is a problem that taxes all parents, but for the grey nurse shark it is a little more serious. Its embryos have a nasty habit of eating each other in the uterus.
It gives a new meaning to the phrase "publish or perish". Scientists have not been sharing information about bird flu fast enough, say experts. While the World Health Organization keeps a database of viral sequences, access has been restricted, and other researchers have hoarded data for fear of rivals publishing it without giving them credit.
Chagas' disease is often termed a silent killer because many victims don't realise they are infected. Now epidemiologists, backed by two recent studies, are saying the US government must take firmer action against its stealthy spread.
Genetic trophy hunters, beware. From Friday next week it will be illegal in the UK to covertly analyse someone's DNA. The Human Genetics Commission (HGC), which advises the UK government, says that such an act constitutes a "gross intrusion" on their privacy.
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