Astronomers have found an enormous hole in the Universe, nearly a billion light-years across, empty of both normal matter such as stars, galaxies and gas, as well as the mysterious, unseen "dark matter." While earlier studies have shown holes, or voids, in the large-scale structure of the Universe, this new discovery dwarfs them all.

Linus Torvalds is often described as an open source champion, interested in licensing only insofar as it affects his ability to share code and improve software more quickly. However, his real position is more complicated -- and to some, perhaps surprising.

It is not just what's in your genes, it's how you turn them on that accounts for the difference between species -- at least in yeast -- according to a new report. Conventional wisdom has been that if the difference is not the gene content, the difference must be in the way regulation of genes produces their protein products. In this study, the authors found the DNA binding sites by aiming at their function, rather than their sequence.

A new regional study shows that land-use policies in Peru have been key to tempering rain forest degradation and destruction in that country. Scientists analyzed seven years of high-resolution satellite data covering most (79 percent) of the Peruvian Amazon for their findings.

With the finding that fever is produced by the action of a hormone on a specific site in the brain, scientists have answered a key question as to how this adaptive function helps to protect the body during bacterial infection and other types of illness.