Science - LiveScience.com

The European Alps are both growing and shrinking, with two dynamic processes acting against each other for a net effect of ... nothing.

In the current atmosphere of heightened concern over the H1N1 virus, the everyday sneeze can trigger fears of totally unrelated hazards, including heart attacks, new research suggests.

Before there were flowers, pollination of plants by insects was likely rare, and scientists had no idea of the insect culprits. But a new discovery suggests at least one flittering pollinator.

Antarctica's icy lakes are home to a surprisingly diverse community of viruses, including some that were previously unidentified.

An incriminating photograph of accused John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is not a fake, as Oswald and others had claimed, a new analysis concludes.

The latest fuel economy ratings for 2010 models have been published, and nine of the top 10 are hybrid electric cars.

From their very first days, the cries of newborns already bear the mark of the language their parents speak, scientists now find.

Silicon Valley's name may as well be Steam Locomotive Alley if some scientists have their way - they have come up with a way to replace the silicon used in semiconductor chips with another element called gallium, producing much faster circuits.

If you think SpongeBob puts junk in your kids' heads, then you need to pay closer attention to the commercials.

Editor's Note: This is Part 5 in 10-part series LiveScience series on the origin, evolution and future of the human species and the mysteries that remain to be solved.

The small earthquakes that sporadically rattle the central United States may actually be aftershocks from a few extremely large quakes that occurred in the region almost 200 years ago, according to a new study

Eating meals on the go may be unwise for those wanting to lose weight. New research reveals that scarfing down a lot of food, quickly, curbs the release of certain gut hormones that make you feel full.

With the upcoming disaster film "2012" and the current hype about Mayan calendars and doomsday predictions, it seems like a good time to put such notions in context.

Spanning just 10 feet in length and sporting a tiny horn on its nose, a newly identified dinosaur has become the oldest known relative of the fierce meat-eater, Tyrannosaurus rex. The discovery suggests such tyrannosaurs were quite petite before they evolved into giant killing machines just before their demise.

Great white sharks tend to patrol specific neighborhoods for weeks on end, a new study finds.

The world's largest cruise ship is making its first transatlantic crossing from Finland to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where it will make its U.S. debut. Though colossal, the ship relies on the same physical principles as its smaller brethren to stay afloat.

If human teenagers seem terrible at times, be thankful we don't have young tyrannosaurs to deal with.

Add one more insult to the injury of working the night shift: Drinking coffee during work hours may just keep you awake during the day.

A crowd of consumer gadgets such as cell phones and wireless devices may overwhelm the small band of scientists straining to detect faint radio emissions from offbeat sources ranging from hurricanes here to galaxies in the distant cosmos.

A 35-mile rift in the desert of Ethiopia will likely become a new ocean eventually, researchers now confirm.

The ancient South American Nasca civilization may have caused its own demise by clear-cutting huge swaths of forest, a new study has found.

Editor's Note: This is Part 4 in 10-part series LiveScience series on the origin, evolution and future of the human species and the mysteries that remain to be solved.

In the arachnid version of trying to get some, male suitors of a female cannibalistic spider must perform a 100-minute-long dance on the gal's web lest they be eaten before copulation is complete.

It's no secret the stress of work can keep you up at nights. Now research shows that retirement can spur less fitful sleep, at least for people who are financially stable.

When they do their thing, female Chinese fruit bats add oral sex to get the males to prolong the act, scientists now find, suggesting the behavior confers evolutionary benefits.

Silken spider webs dating back some 140 million years have been discovered preserved in amber, scientists announce today.

A husband and wife team of paleontologists has discovered a newfound species of armored dinosaur that lived 112 million years ago in what is now Montana.

Each year at Halloween, parents have concerns about trick-or-treating, and many believe that a danger far graver than chocolate overdose awaits their children in quiet neighborhoods: sex offenders.