Smoking in pregnancy linked to child depression
Children of women who smoked during pregnancy seem more likely to have a smaller superior frontal cortex – a brain region involved in regulating moods
Planet of the vines: Climbing plants are taking over
Giant vines are beginning to strangle Earth's tropical forests, warns biologist William Laurance, and it's not just down to climate change
Medicine Nobel for solving how cells shuttle molecules
Research on how cells transport vital hormones, signalling molecules and enzymes has won the Nobel prize for medicine
Is happiness found in our minds or in our wallets?
Three new books explore the origins of inequality, what scarcity does to our minds and how to teach your brain to be happy
Don't let fear of bioweapons kill off science
Overzealous suppression of disease research because of a fear of bioweapons makes the world less safe, not more, says Debora MacKenzie
Hefty twins shed light on obesity paradox
Pairs of identical twins, one obese, one thin, are helping unravel the puzzle of how you can be fat and fit at the same time
How citizens can make cities better
A new exhibition in New York showcases 100 important urban trends identified by a pop-up laboratory that visited New York, Berlin and Mumbai
We're crushing tonnes of ivory to discourage poachers
The US Fish and Wildlife Service is crushing 6 tonnes of illegal ivory this week in a bid to deter traffickers – biologist Richard Ruggiero explains
The oceans are heating, acidifying and choking
A new health check on the state of the oceans warns that they are withering under a "deadly trio" of global threats
US shutdown threatens response to disease outbreaks
Viruses imported from abroad or that mutate unexpectedly, including flu and MERS, could go undetected because of diminished federal disease monitoring
Silk Road bust hints at FBI's new cybercrime powers
The world's biggest online drug marketplace has been taken down in a swoop that indicates the FBI's growing ability to probe the darker reaches of the net
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