Inside Science is an editorially independent nonprofit science news service run out of the American Institute of Physics in College Park, MD. 

Neural Networks Can Manipulate Mammograms and Fool Radiologists

A cyber attacker could potentially insert a feature that looks like cancer into a scan, or remove it, researchers warn.

(Inside Science) -- Researchers have developed a method for augmenting mammograms that could one day help radiologists evaluate medical scans and identify early warning signs of cancers that may not be easily spotted by a human, but the scientists also warn of potential misuses of the software.

The research team from the University Hospital of Zurich in Switzerland used a dee

Rodent Study Suggests Hysterectomy May Affect Memory and Cognition

Rats struggle to solve a maze after their uteruses are removed, raising questions about the impacts of the widespread procedure in humans.

(Inside Science) -- In medical textbooks, the nonpregnant uterus is often described as quiescent, dormant and useless. But now, researchers have found that the uterus may play a role in memory and cognition -- a role hitherto unappreciated because researchers haven’t looked closely at the uterus’s role outside of pregnancy.

A third of women in the U.S. have

Hospitals, Hacks, Malware and Medical Safety

We may be vulnerable, researchers warn after demonstrating a cyberattack on a CT scanner, highlighting the need for better security.

(Inside Science) -- Last year, a malicious piece of blackmail software called WannaCry swept the world, using a stolen National Security Agency hacking tool to infect computers, encrypt their files and demand bitcoin ransoms of hundreds of dollars or more per computer.

Among the victims of the ransomware were more than 140 hospitals in the United Kingdom alone. T

It's Not Just the Flu: Many Infectious Diseases Are Seasonal

It's Not Just the Flu: Many Infectious Diseases Are Seasonal

Polio peaks in the summer, measles during the school year, and chickenpox in the spring.

(Inside Science) -- During the height of the polio epidemic in the U.S. in the 1940s and '50s, parents often kept their children away from swimming pools, concerned that the disease, which peaked in the summer, was frequently spread through the water. But this fear couldn’t account for the summertime outbreaks around the world where public pools

Paleontologists' Discovery Suggests Dinosaur Kids' Table

The smallest Diplodocus skull ever discovered reveals clues about the group's evolution.

(Inside Science) -- Sauropods were the largest animals that ever lived on land. These plant-eating dinosaurs could reach 120 feet in length, and yet their heads were small enough that you could hold its skull in your arms. Despite a robust overall fossil record, until now scientists had only about 12 sauropod skulls from which to build an understanding of how these creatures lived.

Then came Andrew the Dip

Focusing on the Lasers from the Last Two Physics Nobel Prizes

Focusing on the Lasers from the Last Two Physics Nobel Prizes

Innovations in laser methods and technology won Nobel Prizes in 2017 and 2018, but not all lasers are the same.

(Inside Science) -- The Nobel Prizes in physics for the last two years honored advances and innovations in lasers. While lasers are plentiful today in laboratories, commercial production facilities and many homes around the world, they aren’t to be taken for granted. Lasers are used to cut diamonds or slice thick metal. Th