A new study on speed-daters suggests that people tend to rely on their own feelings and emotions even though a stranger’s advice could be more helpful.

Whether on a date, at the grocery store, or at work, people frequently misjudge how they will react to certain social situations, and sometimes their errors can have serious consequences, the study shows.

These findings suggest that people expect their own best guess to be the most reliable predictor of their future reactions – but they actually make more accurate predictions when they know how others responded.

The theoretical existence of Alfvén waves, which are capable of heating the solar atmosphere to millions of degrees, has been confirmed with actual detection of the unique plasma waves using the Swedish Solar Telescope, researchers say.

Astrophysicists have long puzzled over why the sun’s corona, the outer part of the solar atmosphere, is millions of degrees hotter than the surface of the sun itself.

The magnetic waves, called Alfvén waves, are considered the most plausible explanation for the transfer of so much energy from the sun’s surface to its outer atmosphere.

The researchers say that the wave motion and timing is consistent with current torsional Alfvénic wave models, and they suggest that these purely magnetic plasma waves are sufficient to heat the solar corona.

Researchers have erased brain cells in mice that store fearful memories.

While the sights and sounds of a terrifying blast or crash would stay intact, the memory of the fear it caused could conceivably be erased, the researchers suggest. Their work appeared in the journal Science.

In the future, a beam of sunlight may be all you need to repair a scratch on your car. Researchers have developed a new polyurethane material that heals its own scratches when exposed to ultraviolet light.

This material can repair itself in less than an hour and could be used as a coating in packaging, on vehicles, or on any surface that is exposed to the environment and sunlight.

John Barros of the University of Washington is one of many scientists who say a different kind of biochemistry than what is found on Earth may enable life to exist on a different planet. Extraterrestrial life may use electrical energy, wave action, or maybe even energy from bombardments, he says.

Biofuel is defined as solid, liquid or gaseous fuel obtained from relatively recently lifeless biological material and is different from fossil fuels, which are derived from long dead biological material.

There are various current issues with biofuel production and use, which are presently being discussed in the popular media and scientific journals. One of these issues is the so-called "food vs. fuel" dilemma, which relates to the risk of diverting farmland or crops for biofuels production.

A new study finds that many materials not previously studied for solar cell technology could help make it cheaper, according to Daniel Kammen, who is a UC Berkeley professor and a climate advisor to the Obama Administration.

In Western countries, the inclusion of evolution in science courses has been mostly uncontroversial, with the exception of parts of the United States.

The US Supreme Court has ruled the teaching of creationism as science in public schools to be unconstitutional. Intelligent design has been presented as an alternative explanation to evolution in recent decades, but it has also been ruled unconstitutional by a lower court.

The National Academies bring together committees of experts in all areas of scientific and technological endeavor. These experts serve pro bono to address critical national issues and give advice to the federal government and the public.

The National Academy of Sciences, the first institution in the National Academies, was founded by President Abraham Lincoln. The Academies also include the National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council.

Drinking three cups of tea reduces the risk of stroke by 21 percent, a new study shows. Drinking three more cups will reduce the risk by another 21 percent.

The study, led by Lenore Arab at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, covered over 195,000 people around the world. It describes the drinking of green and black tea, both made from the plant Camellia sinensis, not from herbal teas. Scientists do not know precisely what it is about tea that causes it to safeguard against stroke, but they suggest it could be the antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), or the amino acid theanine.

Once a person has a stroke there is very little time and few ways to treat the stroke damaged site. Drinking tea is a simple, inexpensive, and effective means of preventing a stroke from occurring, scientists say.