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January 29, 2013 Microbes can thrive in extreme environments, from inside fiery volcanoes to down on the bottom of the ocean. Now scientists have found a surprising number of them living in storm clouds tens of thousands of feet above the Earth. And those airborne microbes could play a role in global climate.

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January 24, 2013 Multitaskers tend to test high for traits like risk-taking, sensation-seeking and impulsivity. And those very traits interfere with people's ability to stay focused, researchers say.

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January 24, 2013 One new analysis finds female smokers are more than 26 times more likely to die of lung cancer than nonsmoking women — twice the rate calculated 30 years ago. New data also quantify the surprising payoffs of smoking cessation — especially under the age of 40.

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January 24, 2013 The world is full of data — and that's a problem. We have to find a place to store all those digital photos, tax records and unfinished novels. British scientists have demonstrated a possible solution: They've stored all of Shakespeare's sonnets on several small stretches of DNA.

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January 23, 2013 After researchers created versions of the bird flu virus that could spread more easily, critics began to worry that the work could spawn a pandemic if a virus escaped from the lab. After halting their work for more than a year, scientists now say the benefits outweigh the risks, and they are set to restart their experiments.

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January 23, 2013 A study of a new drug therapy for pancreatic cancer finds it works better than the standard approach. While the improvement is modest for the typical patient, some people who received the treatment lived a year or two longer than those receiving conventional therapy.

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January 23, 2013 An NIH working group recommends that most of the agency's 360 research chimpanzees be sent to a sanctuary — a non-laboratory setting where chimps can live more natural lives. But even if the NIH accepts the recommendations, putting them into effect won't be easy.

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January 17, 2013 Flu viruses hijack the machinery inside animal cells to replicate. The theft is a complicated process that takes time. If the virus leaves the cells too early or too late, the risk of infection falls.

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January 17, 2013 Some of the most beloved nature writers of all time, Henry David Thoreau and Aldo Leopold, are helping scientists learn how global warming will affect spring. Using historical records, the scientists are able to predict when flowers will bloom during especially hot years.

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