Ever wondered why cultures can be so different, with Westerners more focused on the individual than people in the East? Psychologists said Thursday that the divide may come down to which crops are historically farmed in different regions. This “rice theory,” described in the journal Science, holds that people who traditionally grow paddy rice become more collective and holistic over time becaus...

Older mice got stronger, exercised longer and performed better mentally after they were injected with blood from young mice, or even just with a substance that's more abundant in younger blood, U.S. researchers found. Someday, if more research goes well, this may lead to a way to treat some infirmities of old age in people. In the meantime, scientists have a warning for do-it-yourselfers. "Don'...

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― In the next few months, highly secretive U.S. military researchers say they will unveil new advances toward developing a brain implant that could one day restore a wounded soldier’s memory. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is forging ahead with a four-year plan to build a sophisticated memory stimulator, as part of President Barack Obama’s $100 million initiative ...

PRAGUE (AP) ― The Iron Curtain was traced by an electrified barbed-wire fence that isolated the communist world from the West. It was an impenetrable Cold War barrier ― and for some inhabitants of the Czech Republic it still is. Deer still balk at crossing the border with Germany even though the physical fence came down a quarter century ago, new studies show. Czechoslovakia, where the communi...

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Cow manure, commonly used to fertilize vegetable crops, contains a high number of genes that can fuel resistance to antibiotics, a U.S. study out Tuesday found. These genes come from the cows’ gut bacteria, and while none have yet been found in superbugs that are infecting humans, researchers said the potential is real. The research was done by scientists at Yale University, ...

PARIS (AFP) ― Cold and dry today, Mars was previously warm and wet but possibly only at intervals, a study suggests. Scientists have long puzzled over what happened to the water, the precious stuff of life, on the Red Planet. Unmanned spacecraft have sent home tantalizing images of gouged canyons, valleys and sedimentary deltas, while landers have found hydrous rocks, all suggesting Mars at one...