An electron scan showsthe HIV-1 virus budding (in green) from a white blood cell in a laboratory. An HIV vaccine that could outwit the deadly virus could undergo human trials in as little as a year’s time, scientists say. The ‘mosaic vaccine’, which is being designed by an international team of investigators, works by being able to adapt to the virus as it mutates. HIV’s ability... 

A zombie ant infected with the parasitic fungus bites the neck of one of its dead fellows, mistaking it for a leaf vein. ‘Zombie ants’ may sound like the title of an Ed Wood movie, but, according to National Geographic, they are quite real. Oddly, there’s nothing very zombie-like about the actual ants. It’s only when a particular fungus takes over the ant’s brain that... 

People are discovering antique fishing tackle all the time, in closets and at garage sales, but none of that compares to discoveries made recently by archaeologists at two of the Channel Islands off Southern California. Looking for signs of ancient human settlement, they unearthed meticulously-crafted spearheads and other tools (see photo at right) that date back 12,000 years and provide insight into... 

World's smallest computer system: At just one square millimetre in size, the tiny device is a pressure monitor that is implanted in a person's eye Scientists have created the world’s smallest computer system to help treat glaucoma patients. At just one square millimetre in size, the tiny device is a pressure monitor that is implanted in a person’s eye. It may be small but it packs... 

Breakthough: Wires are connected from the bionic arm to muscles in the chest. Most modern prosthetic limbs can be considered high tech. But Jesse Sullivan has a particularly clever prosthetic arm – it doesn’t work using a motor, but is controlled by his mind. Scientists have found a way to make the thought controlled limb by connecting the nerves from Mr Sullivan’s stump to muscles... 

Second sun may appear at any moment. Scientists claim that Betelgeuse, a star 640 light years away from Earth, is going to explode soon. Nikolai Chugai, head of the department of Variable Stars and Astronomical Spectroscopy of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Astronomy shares his views with RIA Novosti’s Samir Shakhbaz, on possible threats and impact this star may cause to our planet. Samir... 

On the verge of a catastrophe? Yellowstone National Park's caldera has erupted three times in the last 2.1 million years and scientists monitoring it say we could be in for another eruption. The super-volcano beneath Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming has been rising at a record rate since 2004. It would explode with a force a thousand times more powerful than the Mount St Helens eruption in... 

A woolly mammoth skeleton is seen on display at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas in September 2009. Instead of Jurassic Park, try Pleistocene Park. A team of scientists from Japan, Russia and the United States hopes to clone a mammoth, a symbol of Earth’s ice age that ended 12,000 years ago, according to a report in Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun. The researchers say they hope to produce... 

In 2009, Brown University biology professor Ken Miller wrote in the journal New Scientist that “the most profound unsolved problem in biology is the origin of life itself.” Actually, it is not a problem in “biology,” but a problem for evolution’s anti-supernatural bias. And the problem is not only still unsolved from an evolutionary standpoint, it shows all the signs... 

Researchers at Edinburgh University’s department of psychology report that there is a biological mechanism underpinning the loyalty that a person feels to their social group. The study investigated whether people are hard-wired to show bias to people of their own religion, ethnicity and race, or whether loyalties depend more on context. This work adds to an extensive body of previous research... 

Photo released by CERN on Thursday, Nov 18, 2010 shows an image taken by the ALPHA annihilation detector showing untrapped antihydrogen atoms annihilating on the inner surface of the ALPHA trap. The events are concentrated at the electrode radius of about 22.3 mm. Scientists at the world’s biggest physics lab said they have achieved a breakthrough in the hunt for antimatter. An international... 

A remote weather station. Scientists have signed up to two new initiatives that aim to provide the media with accurate climate science information. Two initiatives will provide information for journalists as elections bring strong sceptic presence to new Congress. Hundreds of scientists have signed up to two new campaigns that seek to regain control of the message about climate science. The two separate... 

Virus (purple) circulating in the bloodstream recognised by antibodies (yellow) of the immune system. In a dramatic breakthrough that could affect millions of lives, scientists have been able to show for the first time that the body’s immune defences can destroy the common cold virus after it has actually invaded the inner sanctum of a human cell, a feat that was believed until now to be impossible. The... 

Spirit, the poor Mars Rover that’s been stuck in Martian sand since last year, has actually contributed to a pretty fantastic discovery in its sedentary months: the evidence of subsurface water on Mars. To recap: Spirit, one of two plucky Mars Rovers that had finished their initial missions in 2004 and had embarked upon, as NASA calls them, “bonus missions” ever since, slipped through... 

Bumblebees can find the solution to a complex mathematical problem which keeps computers busy for days. Scientists at Queen Mary, University of London and Royal Holloway, University of London have discovered that bees learn to fly the shortest possible route between flowers even if they discover the flowers in a different order. Bees are effectively solving the ‘Travelling Salesman Problem’,...