Open any introductory biology textbook and one of the first things you’ll learn is that our DNA spells out the instructions for making proteins, tiny machines that do much of the work in our body’s cells. Results from a study published on Jan. 2 in Science defy textbook science, showing for the first time that the building blocks of a protein, called amino acids, can be assembled without blueprints – DNA and an intermediate template called messenger RNA (mRNA). A team of researchers has observed a case in which another protein specifies which amino acids are added. 

Instead of an apple, could a hug-a-day keep the doctor away? According to new research from Carnegie Mellon University, that may not be that far-fetched of an idea.

Innovative optical fiber developed by researchers from Clemson University, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the University of New Mexico and Corning Incorporated was chosen as one of Physics World’s Top Ten Breakthroughs of 2014.

Women exposed to high levels of fine particulate matter specifically during pregnancy—particularly during the third trimester—may face up to twice the risk of having a child with autism than mothers living in areas with low particulate matter, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). The greater the exposure, the greater the risk, researchers found. It was the first U.S.-wide study exploring the link between airborne particulate matter and autism.

Berkeley Lab team has launched The Particle Adventure app for Android and Apple phones.

Game apps rapidly provide inexpensive, continuous sources of data for experiments.

For its 2014 BioArt Awards, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) awarded top honors for an image produced by postdoctoral fellow Sabriya Stukes and processed by Hillary Guzik in the Albert Einstein College of Medicine's Analytical Imaging Facility.

For the first time, a mission designed to set its eyes on black holes and other objects far from our solar system has turned its gaze back closer to home, capturing images of our sun. NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has taken its first picture of the sun, producing the most sensitive solar portrait ever taken in high-energy X-rays.

Weddells may use "sixth sense" as a kind of GPS to find vital breathing holes after dives.

Researchers at Sandia and Argonne national laboratories have demonstrated, for the first time, a method to successfully predict pressure-dependent chemical reaction rates. It’s an important breakthrough in combustion and atmospheric chemistry that is expected to benefit auto and engine manufacturers, oil and gas utilities and other industries that employ combustion models.