Researchers use drones to weigh whales

By measuring the body length, width and height of free-living southern right whales photographed by drones, researchers were able to develop a model that accurately calculated the body volume and mass of the whales.

Mob mentality rules jackdaw flocks

Jackdaws are more likely to join a mob to drive off predators if lots of their fellow birds are up for the fight, new research shows.

Deaths from heavy monsoon rise to nearly 140 in eastern India

The death toll in eastern India from torrential late monsoon rains has risen to nearly 140, officials said Tuesday as hospitals and schools were inundated with dirty rainwater.

Russian alcohol consumption down 40%: WHO

Russia might still have a reputation as a nation of hard drinkers, but a report by the World Health Organization published Tuesday showed alcohol consumption has dropped by 43 percent since 2003.

Massive iceberg breaks off Antarctica—but it's normal

A more than 600-square-mile iceberg broke off Antarctica in recent days, but the event is part of a normal cycle and is not related to climate change, scientists say.

Twitter lets users sideline unwanted direct messages

Twitter on Monday said it is rolling out a filter that will hide away unwanted direct messages, providing a new tool to stymie abuse.

Air France to offset daily CO2 emissions by next year

French carrier Air France will offset the carbon dioxide emissions of its 500-odd daily internal flights by 2020 at a cost of millions of euros, the company's CEO has announced.

Iran state TV says country to launch 3 satellites this year

Iran's state TV says the country plans to send three satellites into orbit in the next three months despite a failed launch in August.

Juul stops funding San Francisco vaping measure

Juul Labs Inc. announced Monday that it will stop supporting a ballot measure to overturn an anti-vaping law in San Francisco, effectively killing the campaign.

'Relaxed' enzymes may be at the root of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

Treatments have been hard to pinpoint for a rare neurological disease called Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT), in part because so many variations of the condition exist. So far, mutations on more than 90 genes have been positively linked to the disorder; a patient needs just one of those mutations for the disease to emerge.

Researchers' new method enables identifying a person through walls from candidate video footage, using only WiFi

Researchers in the lab of UC Santa Barbara professor Yasamin Mostofi have enabled, for the first time, determining whether the person behind a wall is the same individual who appears in given video footage, using only a pair of WiFi transceivers outside.

The rise of deal collectives that punish profits

Researchers from the University of San Diego and University of Arizona published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing, which examines the rise of deal collectives that exploit ill-designed deals that give away more than companies intended.

Climate change could pit species against one another as they shift ranges

Species have few good options when it comes to surviving climate change—they can genetically adapt to new conditions, shift their ranges, or both.

Researchers publish comprehensive review on respiratory effects of vaping

Four scientists from four leading universities in the United States conducted a comprehensive review of all e-cigarette/vaping peer-reviewed scientific papers that pertain to the lungs and published their findings today in the British Medical Journal.

Quantum material goes where none have gone before

Rice University physicist Qimiao Si began mapping quantum criticality more than a decade ago, and he's finally found a traveler that can traverse the final frontier.

Cracking how 'water bears' survive the extremes

Diminutive animals known as tardigrades appear to us as plump, squeezable toys, earning them irresistible nicknames such as "water bears" and "moss piglets."

Biologists track the invasion of herbicide-resistant weeds into southwestern Ontario

A team including evolutionary biologists from the University of Toronto (U of T) have identified the ways in which herbicide-resistant strains of an invasive weed named common waterhemp have emerged in fields of soy and corn in southwestern Ontario.

Monthly phone check-in may mean less depression for families of patients with dementia

A monthly, 40-minute phone call from a non-clinical professional may suppress or reverse the trajectory of depression so frequently experienced by family members caring for patients with dementia at home, according to a study led by researchers at UC San Francisco.

Expanding Medicaid means chronic health problems get found and health improves, study finds

Nearly one in three low-income people who enrolled in Michigan's expanded Medicaid program discovered they had a chronic illness that had never been diagnosed before, according to a new study.

Babies have fewer respiratory infections if they have well-connected bacterial networks

Microscopic bacteria, which are present in all humans, cluster together and form communities in different parts of the body, such as the gut, lungs, nose and mouth. Now, for the first time, researchers have shown the extent to which these microbial communities are linked to each other across the body, and how these networks are associated with susceptibility to respiratory infections in babies.

Study reveals falsification issues in higher education hiring processes

When concerns are expressed about distrust in science, they often focus on whether the public trusts research findings.

Arrows and smartphones: daily life of Amazon Tembe tribe

They hunt with bows and arrows, fish for piranhas and gather wild plants, while some watch soap operas on TV or check the internet on phones inside thatch-roof huts.

Child deaths in Africa could be prevented by family planning

Children under 5 years of age in Africa are much more likely to die than those in wealthy countries as a direct result of poor health outcomes linked to air pollution, unsafe water, lack of sanitation, an increased family size, and environmental degradation, according to the first continent-wide investigation of its kind.