Persistent job insecurity poses a major threat to worker health, according to a new study.

Scientists have found a simple method of sandwiching organic molecules between silicon and metal, two materials fundamental to electronic components. By doing so, they may have overcome one of the principal obstacles in creating switches made from individual molecules.

It takes just seconds for tall buildings to collapse during earthquakes. Knowing what's happening in those seconds can help engineers design buildings that are less prone to sustaining that kind of damage. But the nature of collapse is not well understood. That's why researchers are trying an innovative "hybrid" approach to testing that may provide a safer, less expensive way to learn about building collapses.

Scientists have discovered why older people may be so vulnerable to cancer and infections in the skin. The team has shown in human volunteers that defective immunity in the skin is caused by an inability to mobilize essential defenses that would otherwise recognize threats and clear them before irreparable damage is done. This discovery could be important for preventing, managing or treating many age-related skin health problems.

Nitrous oxide has now become the largest ozone-depleting substance emitted through human activities, and is expected to remain the largest throughout the 21st century, scientists report in a new study.

Two independent studies have determined how changes in the density of different ion channels in the surface membrane of heart muscle cells can lead to life-threatening abnormal heartbeats.

If you find yourself in a crowded building during an emergency, perhaps the last thing you want to see is an obstructed exit. But a new study by a group of Japanese researchers shows that wide-open exits are not always the most efficient at speeding pedestrians through. A judiciously placed obstacle, such as a column, can actually reduce bottlenecking and evacuation times. [More]

Dairy farmers living in Central Europe around 7,500 years ago may have been the first human adults to drink cow's milk--at least comfortably. [More]

It isn't the most picturesque of locations, but a number of scientists spent their summer taking in the 25.9-million-square-kilometer oval of the Pacific Ocean known as the North Subtropical Gyre, or "Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch," located about 1,600 kilometers off California's coast. [More]

Scientists have shown for the first time that the spectroscopic "fingerprint" of high-temperature superconductivity remains intact well above the super chilly temperatures at which these materials carry current with no resistance. This confirms that certain conditions necessary for superconductivity exist at the warmer temperatures that would make these materials practical for energy-saving applications -- if scientists can figure out how to get the current flowing.