Science

A visualization of the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background, or CMB, as detected by ESA's Planck satellite over the entire sky.

Science

First Stars Fired Up 140 Million Years Later Than Previously Thought

5:01pm February 05, 2015

by Scott Neuman

New data collected from the European Space Agency's Planck telescope shows that the first starlight in the universe occurred about 560 million years after the Big Bang.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg To Step Down

4:56pm February 05, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The head of the Food and Drug Administration has been on the job for six years and presided over such controversial decisions as relaxing age restrictions on the Plan B contraceptive.

Steve Kudlacek is an undergraduate at the University of California, Irvine who helped Professor Greg Weiss develop a way to unboil an egg.

Science

How Unboiled Eggs Could Help Fight Food Waste

11:05am February 05, 2015

by Alison Bruzek

No yolk: Researchers have discovered how to unboil egg whites. The chemical technique could help the food industry and others utilize more enzymes for cheese or beer with less waste.

Ready to feel the burn? Check out our tips for tiptoeing into hot sauce.

Science

Love Hot Sauce? Your Personality May Be A Good Predictor

11:05am February 05, 2015

by Allison Aubrey

Personality seems to play a key role in our lust for heat in our food. Research has found that thrill seekers tend to like the burn of a spicy meal, and the lure may be different for men and women.

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Does Facebook Cause Depression? Depends On How You Use It

9:52am February 05, 2015

by Elise Hu

Those great photos from your high school girlfriend's recent vacation in the Caribbean? A study says they're probably making you envious, and that envy could be contributing to feelings of depression.

Does Binge-Watching Make Us Depressed? Good Question

9:26am February 05, 2015

by Poncie Rutsch

Recent headlines make it sound as if watching just a few episodes at night can make us depressed and lonely. OK, more than a few. But the science on binge-watching is just getting started.

Juniper Russo walks her dogs with her daughter Vivian (left).

Once A Vaccine Skeptic, This Mom Changed Her Mind

8:16am February 05, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

Juniper Russo wants what is best for her daughter, Vivian, and she sometimes questions mainstream medicine. But after three years of soul-searching, she decided vaccination was best.

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Dr. Eric Ball examines a healthy 5-day-old patient in his office in Ladera Ranch, Calif. Ball and colleagues decided this week to take only patients whose parents follow the recommended vaccine schedule.

Pediatricians Pressured To Drop Parents Who Won't Vaccinate

8:15am February 05, 2015

by Patti Neighmond

The pressure, doctors say, is mostly coming from other parents who don't want their infants exposed to measles, whooping cough or other serious illnesses in the pediatric waiting room.

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Farming helped fuel the rise of civilizations, but it may also have given us less robust bones.

When Humans Quit Hunting And Gathering, Their Bones Got Wimpy

1:17am February 05, 2015

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Humans have lighter bones than other primates, and that change happened a lot later than anthropologists had thought. Blame our sedentary ways after our ancestors took up farming.

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Larkin Carey, an optical engineer with Ball Aerospace, examines two test mirror segments designed for the James Webb Space Telescope. The mirror for the scope is extremely powerful, but heavy and pricey.

Could Glitter Help Solve NASA's Giant Telescope Problem?

1:16am February 05, 2015

by Joe Palca

NASA's next big space telescope costs $8 billion and is very heavy. New York scientists think they may have found the makings of a cheaper, lighter answer for future space scopes — in a crafts store.

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