Original Signal - Transmitting Science

National Geographic

St. Patrick's Day Facts: Shamrocks, Snakes, and a Saint: St. Patrick was born in Britain, stout may be good for your heart, and theres a shamrock shortage in 2010. Learn more in our roundup of St. Patricks Day facts.

Space Photos of the Week: Spring Auroras, Starlets, More: Auroras spring to life, the Milky Way enters middle age, a Mars moon gets its close-up, and more in the weeks best space pictures.

Half-Male, Half-Female Chicken Mystery Solved: It was a tough egg to crack, but scientists have discovered that half-male, half-female chickens possess a mixture of genetically male and female cells.

Extended Daylight Saving Time Not an Energy Saver?: An extra month of earlier mornings might be reducing use of artificial light, but other types of energy consumption more than offset the reduction, some studies suggest.

$20-Million Prize for Renewable Ocean Energy Announced: Scotlands head of state unveiled the largest challenge prize to date for spurring advances in marine renewable energy, part of a bid to combat climate change.

Roll-Up Solar Cells Printed Like Money: Sheets of flexible solar power cells have been printed using presses that normally churn out money—a technology that could help slash energy costs, experts say.

Watermelon Juice May Be Next "Green" Fuel: Step aside, corn: Another summertime picnic favorite might be the next big thing in ethanol production, a new study suggests.

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Universe Today

ISS Change of Command as Russian American Crew readies Earth return: ISS Station Commander Jeff Williams, from NASA, handed over command of the massive orbiting outpost to Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotev, in a formal ceremony early today (Wed, March 17) in preparation for the return to earth of two crew members

STS-134 Does Star Trek with New Poster: I love the crew posters that NASA has been creating lately, and this one is especially cool. If you are a Star Trek fan, you likely will recognize the pose that Commander Mark Kelly and his crew are assuming. If

Spitzer Spies Earliest Black Holes: The Spitzer Space Telescope has found what appear to be two of the earliest and most primitive supermassive black holes known. "We have found what are likely first-generation quasars, born in a dust-free medium and at the earliest stages of

Answer to Universe Puzzle No. 5 Now Posted: I've now posted the answer in the original post.Check back next week for another Universe Puzzle!© Jean Tate for Universe Today, 2010. |Permalink |No comment |Add todel.icio.usPost tags:Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Where In The Universe #96: It’s time once again for another Where In The Universe Challenge. Test your visual knowledge of the cosmos by naming where in the Universe this image was taken and give yourself extra points if you can name the spacecraft responsible

Planck Reveals Giant Dust Structures in our Local Neighborhood: Dust has never looked so beautiful! This new image from the Planck spacecraft shows giant filaments of cold dust stretching through our galaxy. The image spans about 50 degrees of the sky, showing our local neighborhood within approximately 500 light-years

Beautiful Cosmic Barbeque Pit: NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE has been a busy spacecraft since its launch on Dec. 14, 2009. It has found asteroids and comets, and now has found a cosmic barbeque pit. Well, not really, but the green material

You, Too Can Find Missing Russian Spacecraft: On Monday, NASA released the complete set of science data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera’s first six months of observations, consisting of more than 100,000 lunar images. Straight away, Phil Stooke from the University of Western Ontario began scanning

New Images Unlock Secrets of Jupiter's Red Spot: It's difficult enough to track the weather on Earth, but with new thermal images of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, scientists now have the first detailed interior weather map of a giant storm system on another planet. "This is our first

Cassini the Artist: Shadows, Ringshine, Double Crescent Moons: I often ponder whether the Cassini spacecraft is a better scientist or artist. I found three recent images from Cassini that definitely give the nod to artist, but surely there's lots of great science here as well. In this image,

New Hubble Project Will Survey Beginnings of Cosmic Time: An ambitious new project using the Hubble Space Telescope will allow astronomers to peer deep into the universe in five directions to document the early history of star formation and galaxy evolution. Using an unprecedented amount of time of the

Spacewalking: Through an Astronaut's Eyes: What is it really like to go on a spacewalk? Some astronauts have said there are no words to describe the experience, but we talked with astronaut Chris Hadfield – the same guy who gave the best description ever of

Video of Falcon 9 Hotfire Test: Unfortunately, I was not in Florida over the weekend to see SpaceX's successful static testfire of the Falcon 9’s rocket’s engines. But fortunately, SpaceX has now released a video of the event. Plus, Ken Kremer wrote a great article about

Answer Now Posted for WITU #95: Mars or Earth? That's been the big question for last week's Where In The Universe Challenge. Find the answer back on the original post. And check back later this week for a new WITU Challenge to test your visual knowledge

New Images of Phobos from Mars Express Flyby: ESA released new images of Mars' moon Phobos, taken during the Mars Express March 7, 2010 flyby, showing the rocky moon in exquisite detail and also in 3-D. Mars Express orbits the Red Planet in a highly elliptical, polar orbit

Carnival of Space #145: This week's Carnival of Space is hosted by Adam Crowl over at Crowlspace.Click here to read the Carnival of Space #145.And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If you’ve got

Universe Puzzle No. 5: As with last week's Universe Puzzle, something that cannot be answered by five minutes spent googling, a puzzle that requires you to cudgel your brains a bit, and do some lateral thinking. This is a puzzle on a "Universal" topic

Gemini – Twins Everywhere!: Now that we've hunted down Orion and been bull ridin' with Taurus, it's time for us to discover a pair of celestial brothers – the Gemini twins. Gemini is one of the members of the zodiac which means the imaginary

New Episode of This Week In Space With Miles O'Brien: This Week in Space with Miles O'Brien highlights: Space hits the red carpet: IMAX: Hubble 3D debuts at the Air and Space Museum, a Falcon 9 "hot fire" disappoints, the shuttle program manager says "no problem" for shuttle to keep

A Deep Sky Celebration…: If you don't know this face, then let me introduce you. His name is Ken Crawford and he's the man "behind the curtain" of some of the most amazing works of astrophotography just this side of the Hubble Space Telescope.

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The New York Times

Divide and Diminish: The human impulse to parcel nature into smaller and smaller plots is a danger to biodiversity.

New Finding Puts Dog Origins in Middle East: A discovery strengthens the link between the first animal to enter human society and the subsequent invention of agriculture about 10,000 years ago.

High-Speed Rail Gains Traction in Spain: The Alta Velocidad Española, or AVE, has made train travel in Spain the way to go, both environmentally and in comfort and convenience.

50 Years After Defect Tragedy, Finding Answers on How Thalidomide Caused Defects: In embryos, thalidomide-induced malformations, bottom, of a fin of a zebrafish, left, and a wing of a chick using mutated cereblon, a protein.Researchers trying to decipher the drug’s effects have discovered surprising clues to how normal limbs develop.

Books on Science: “Insectopedia,” by Hugh Raffles: A new book is as inventive, wide ranging and full of astonishing surprises as the insect world itself.

Observatory: Researchers Find New Paths to Cool Down Computer Chips: Researchers have used a short-pulse, high-intensity laser in the effort to help electronics engineers make faster chips.

In a Desert in China, a Trove of 4,000-Year-Old Mummies: Archaeologists believe the hundreds of 13-foot poles at the Small River Cemetery in a desert in Xinjiang Province, China, were mostly phallic symbols.Chinese archaeologists unearthed a 4,000-year-old cemetery in Xinjiang Province that seemed to be a vanished people’s paean to

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Scientific American

Hominins lived on Flores for nearly one million years before hobbit: Predecessors of the controversial " hobbit " ( Homo floresiensis ) discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores might have had a longer history there than researchers previously thought.

Where's My Fusion Reactor?: Scientific American staff editor Michael Moyer talks about his article "Fusions False Dawn" in the March issue, and editor-in-chief Mariette Dichristina discusses the rest of the issue.

Shrimp creature found in Antarctica: Scientists discover a shrimp-like creature -- a Lyssianasid amphipod -- under the West Antarctica ice shelf.

A look inside RHIC, Brookhaven's little big bang machine: In the high-energy physics community, all eyes have been on Europe for some time, as the Large Hadron Collider , or LHC, has proceeded in fits and starts to become, in 2009, the most powerful atom smasher the world has

Male pregnancy: The dark side: Male pregnancy occurs only in seahorses, pipefish and seadragons. The male protects and feeds developing offspring in its brood pouch. But new research shows that male pipefish selectively abort embryos from less attractive females.

A Warm Jupiter: A Newfound Exoplanet Bears a Resemblance to the Solar System's Own Worlds: A French spacecraft designed to discover new worlds beyond our solar system has made one of its most significant finds yet--a planet that looks like a cousin to those in our own celestial backyard. COROT 9 b, named by astronomical

Pregnant male fish can choose to make good babies better or abort (and consume) them: Seahorses and their cousins in the syngnathid group are the only known animals in which the male gets pregnant and bears the offspring . In these unusual reproductive circumstances, however, the next generation often does not thrive--or even survive.

"Glimmer of hope": A Tasmanian devil colony displays possible immunity to deadly facial tumor d(...): Nearly 70 percent of the worlds Tasmanian devils ( Sarcophilus harrisii ) have been killed in the past 10 years by an infectious cancer called devil facial tumor disease (DFTD). So far, no cure has been found, and the disease

Can Local 'Domes' of Carbon Dioxide Affect Human Health?: A running mantra through the climate debate is that global warming is global indeed. Now, however, a scientist has found that localized "CO2 domes" could increase urban smog and other air pollution problems.In a study published in Environmental Science &

Problem Solved, LOL: A Complex Tic-Tac-Toe Puzzle Falls Thanks to Blog Comments: In the mid-20th century the encyclopedic works of French mathematician Nicolas Bourbaki traced every mathematical concept back to the subject’s foundations in the theory of sets--the stuff of Venn diagrams--and changed the face of his field. Like many of his

Robots Compete in Wiffle Ball Challenge: Associate editor Larry Greenmeier covers the FIRST technology challenge held in New York City. High school students put their bot designs to the test and compete for a spot in the national competition held later this year in Atlanta.

Finding the Top Bot: High School Students (and Their Robots) Take the Prize at Tech Challenge: NEW YORK CITY--Despite the rain and cold this past weekend, dozens of robots took the field to compete in the New York City FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) regional championship at the Javitz Center in Manhattan. The tournament tested the skills

US NOAA warns of major floods after fierce winter: * NOAA warns of potentially historic flooding * Red River Valley in Minnesota, Iowa at risk of floods

Living On a New Earth: Forget banking and the automotive industry. Earth is the one system that is truly “too big to fail.” For centuries humans have used up the planet’s resources, saddled it with our waste and simply moved on when a wellspring dried

Buck Privates Require Buck Rogers: The American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium hosted a discussion of the future of manned space flight on March 15th. Retired Air Force General Lester Lyles was asked about the military’s interest in space:“It’s the high ground. It’s the

"Neuroframing" the global warming issue won't win converts: Last week the Garrison Institute, a retreat center just a few miles down the Hudson River from my home, hosted an impressive symposium on “Climate, Mind and Behavior.” An organizer made the mistake of inviting me to the meeting’s wrap-up

U.N. meeting asked to regulate world shark trade: By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Exploding Asian demand for shark fin soup has slashed worldwide shark populations, and global regulation is the best way to save eight species now under pressure, ocean conservationists reported on Monday.

Can Smiley Faces (and a 14-Step Program to Stop Overconsumption) Save the Global Climate?: Energy efficiency seems to make rational economic sense--the less energy used, the more money saved. Yet, in the real world its actually competition with neighbors rather than cost savings that can drive people to turn down their thermostats, install insulation

Going with the Flow: Hydrokinetic Power Developers Face Technical and Regulatory Hurtles In Bid(...): The quest to turn the motion of the worlds waterways into a significant source of energy may still be in its nascent stage, but several tidal power projects are making headway. Whether they operate in lakes, rivers or the oceans,

Extraordinary Perception: When Pulitzer Prize–winning music critic Tim Page was in second grade, he and his classmates went on a field trip to Boston. He later wrote about the experience as a class assignment, and what follows is an excerpt:“Well, we went

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Space.com

MISSION UPDATE: 2 Station Astronauts to Land Early Thursday

NASA Shows Ireland From Space for St. Patrick�s Day: NASA has unveiled a photo of Emerald Isle as it appears from space.

Newfound Alien World Resembles Those in Our Solar System: CoRoT mission finds gas giant exoplanet that most closely resembles Jupiter, Saturn.

Primordial Black Holes Formed Just After Big Bang: A pair of primordial black holes have been spotted so far away that they likely formed relatively soon after the Big Bang, scientists announced Wednesday.

Cold Interstellar Dust Shines Bright in New Image: New image from Planck telescope shows cold interstellar dust reaching across Milky Way.

NASA Crashes Helicopters to Improve Safety

Moon to Have Close Encounters with Star Clusters: The moon will have close encounters this week with two star clusters: the Pleiades and Messier 35.

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ScienceDaily

Some clinical trials explicitly exclude gay and lesbian patients: All clinical trials have guidelines that clearly state who can and cannot participate, but according to the National Institutes of Health these guidelines are typically based on age, gender, previous treatment history, the type and stage of a disease, and

Water oxidation advance boosts potential for solar fuel: Chemists have developed the most potent homogeneous catalyst known for water oxidation, considered a crucial component for generating clean hydrogen fuel using only water and sunlight.

Another serious eye disease, uveitis, linked to smoking: Smoking is already a known risk factor for age-related macular degeneration, cataract and thyroid eye disease. Now, the first study to specifically examine the impact of smoking on uveitis-inflammation of the eyes middle layer of tissue-indicates that tobacco smoke likely

When mom has an eating problem: Norwegian research reveal the nature of emotional problems experienced by mothers with eating difficulties. Guilt and shame are key factors. Health workers need better training in order to be able to spot and alleviate such problems.

Genes linked to ulcerative colitis identified: A study of the human genome has now identified genes linked to ulcerative colitis, offering clues as to what causes the condition and potential avenues for new therapies to treat the disease.

Chemists influence stem-cell development with geometry: Scientists have successfully used geometrically patterned surfaces to influence the development of stem cells. The new approach is a departure from that of many stem-cell biologists, who focus instead on uncovering the role of proteins in controlling the fate of

Computer scientists create a multilingual search engine: Researchers have developed a multilingual search engine to query a contents repository written in Interlingua using questions formulated in any language. The search engine returns a precise answer in the language in which the question was formulated.

Media reports may paint overly optimistic view of cancer: Newspaper and magazine reports about cancer appear more likely to discuss aggressive treatment and survival than death, treatment failure or adverse events, and almost none mention end-of-life palliative or hospice care, according to a report.

Switch mechanism for controlling traffic in cells discovered: Scientists have identified a mechanism that switches on an extremely important process for the proper functioning and survival of our bodys cells. Specifically, the fast-track transportation pathway of cargo to and from the surface of the cell.

Mother is 'more essential' to orphans than breadwinner father, research suggests: The role of a mother in African families is even more essential to the well-being of a child than the role played by the breadwinner father, according to a new study.

Brain naturally follows scientific method? Less effort to register 'predictable' images: It turns out that there is a striking similarity between how the human brain determines what is going on in the outside world and the job of scientists. Good science involves formulating a hypothesis and testing whether this hypothesis is

Staying the course: Fruit flies employ stabilizer reflex to recover from midflight stumbles: Observing the aerial maneuvers of fruit flies, researchers have uncovered how the insects -- when disturbed by sharp gusts of wind -- right themselves and stay on course. Fruit flies use an automatic stabilizer reflex that helps them recover with

Molecules in cell membranes move in a flowing motion rather than chaotically, new research finds: Researchers in Spain have discovered that the molecules in cell membranes move in a flowing motion rather than chaotically, as previously thought.

Hypnotherapy eases irritable bowel syndrome symptoms, expert says: Hypnotherapy seems to be very effective for easing the distressing symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, and in a goodly proportion of cases, clears up symptoms altogether, reveal experts.

Phylogenetic analysis of Mexican cave scorpions suggests adaptation to caves is reversible: A new study of the scorpion family Typhlochactidae, a group of nine dark-adapted species endemic to Mexico, shows that specialized traits are not necessarily an evolutionary dead end. At least three reversals, or a return to generalized morphology, were found

Significant amount of inappropriate CT and MRI referrals from primary care physicians, study finds: A large academic medical center has found that a significant percentage of outpatient referrals they receive from primary care physicians for computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging studies are inappropriate (based upon evidence-based appropriateness criteria developed by a radiology benefits

Drug dramatically reduces nausea and vomiting in bone marrow transplant patients: Bone marrow transplant patients say two of the most debilitating side effects of the treatment are nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy and radiation. But a new study has found the drug aprepitant can dramatically reduce both nausea and vomiting

Newer cornea transplant surgery shows short- and long-term promise: One year post-surgery, patients who underwent Descemets stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK) experienced greater cell loss overall compared to those who underwent penetrating keratoplasty (PKP), according to a new analysis of data. However, the study showed that cell loss in

Cells of aggressive leukemia hijack normal protein to grow: Researchers have found that one particularly aggressive type of blood cancer, mixed lineage leukemia, has an unusual way to keep the molecular motors running. The cancer cells rely on the normal version of an associated protein to stay alive.

If you take simvastatin to control cholesterol, watch out for infection, says new report: Simvastatin might help us control our cholesterol, but when it comes to infection, its an entirely different story says a new research study. Scientists have shown that simvastatin delivers a one-two punch to the immune system. First it impairs the

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New Scientist

Personalised cancer trial promises better drugs faster: Testing several drugs at once and allowing doctors to adapt treatments to patients responses should make trials more efficient

Cosmic clocks: Relativity's final test: Pulsars tick with absolute regularity. So if these stellar corpses timekeeping is off, something must be warping space-time

Polluting ships have been doing the climate a favour: New restrictions on sulphur emissions from shipping will save thousands of lives – but cutting back will take another brake off global warming

The predictioneer: Using games to see the future: The CIA says Bruce Bueno de Mesquitas political predictions come true 90 per cent of the time. So how does he do it?

Zoologger: Pregnant males are pro-choice for abortion: Male Gulf pipefish are left holding the babies: they get pregnant and rear offspring in their bodies. But selective abortion gives them the last word

First quantum effects seen in visible object: A tiny strip of metal visible to the naked eye has been induced to oscillate and not oscillate at the same time in a quantum superposition

Today on New Scientist: 17 March 2010: All todays stories on newscientist.com at a glance, including: relativitys ultimate test, the positive side of shipping pollution, and how to see the future using games

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BBC

Planck spies massive dust clouds: Europes Planck space telescope pictures of the colossal swathes of cold dust that spread through the Milky Way galaxy.

Limits of quantum world stretched: Scientists have created the largest-ever quantum state, a result that has implications for quantum physics and computing.

New exoplanet like 'one of ours': A temperate new planet, discovered 1,500 light-years away from Earth is the first found which is similar to planets within our Solar System.

In pictures: Arctic peril: Populations of many species living in the high Arctic have declined by one quarter, according to a new assessment measuring how the wildlife there is responding to environmental change.

Earth Watch: Complex climate message of UK ads and African divinity

Crimean ship found off Balaclava: Ukrainian archaeologists say they have found the HMS Prince, a British naval vessel sunk during the Crimean War.

In pictures: Nature's palace: An exclusive behind the scenes peek at one of the worlds finest collections of animals and plants, held at the Natural History Museum in Kensington, London, UK

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CNN

Mars Science Lab launch delayed two years: NASAs launch of the Mars Science Laboratory -- hampered by technical difficulties and cost overruns -- has been delayed until the fall of 2011, NASA officials said at a news conference Thursday in Washington.

Shuttle lands at California air base: NASA officials Sunday waved off the first opportunity for space shuttle Endeavour to return to Earth, citing poor weather conditions.

iReporters watch planets, moon align

Inspiration for 'Contact' still listening: From a remote valley in Northern California, Jill Tarter is listening to the universe.

Indian lunar orbiter hit by heat rise: Scientists have switched off several on-board instruments to halt rising temperatures inside Indias first unmanned lunar spacecraft.

Mars Science Lab launch delayed two years: NASAs launch of the Mars Science Laboratory -- hampered by technical difficulties and cost overruns -- has been delayed until the fall of 2011, NASA officials said at a news conference Thursday in Washington.

Shuttle lands at California air base: NASA officials Sunday waved off the first opportunity for space shuttle Endeavour to return to Earth, citing poor weather conditions.

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Discovery

What is God's Role in Natural Disasters?: It seems odd that two disciplines that often find themselves butting heads -- religion and science -- would end up at the same conclusion. But when it comes to natural disasters, thats pretty much the case. From the religious perspective

Vatican Investigates Virgin Mary Miracle: According to an AP story, the Vatican has begun an investigation into miracles and appearances of the Virgin Mary at the famous Medjugorje shrine in Bosnia. “An international commission of inquiry headed by Italian Cardinal Camillo Ruini — a top

'Cool Jupiter' Widens Exoplanet Search: The exoplanet could be the Rosetta Stone in the search for worlds beyond our own.

Who Was St. Patrick?: How to celebrate St. Patricks Day in the United States: Cover yourself in green (bonus points for shamrocks), put a smiling leprechaun cut-out on your front door, head to your local Irish Pub after work, get rowdy and wasted. How

Robot Baby Teaches Parenting Skills: It giggles and then it cries. It coos and then it wails. Ah yes. The wild swing of emotions from babies is now replicated in robots. Engineering students from Tsukuba University north of Tokyo in Japan have given birth to

Lunar Orbiter Spots Long Lost Russian Rover: If you thought the marathon being run by NASAs Mars Expedition Rover Opportunity was impressive (the wheeled explorer has covered over 19 kilometers, or 12 miles, and still roving strong), spare a thought for the Russian Lunokhod 2 rover that

Iditarod Winner Makes History: Lance Mackey is the first musher to win the 1,000-mile race four years in a row.

Early Dads Helped With Child Care, Researcher Suggests: Active fathers may have been a key factor in why our early ancestors were able to have many children, a study suggests.

Blind Soldier 'Sees' with His Tongue: A British soldier left blind by a grenade in Iraq says his life has been transformed by a new device that allows him to see with his tongue.

Is Nuclear Energy Safe?: With a financial push from the Obama administration (and even Bill Gates), nuclear energy is out in front as an alternative to generating electricity with fossil fuels. Nuclear power plants – and there are 104 operating in the United States

More Adventures With Plastic-Eating Bacteria: When it comes to bacteria, theres the good, the bad, and the ugh. Fortunately, scientists around the world are working on ways to enlist bacterial help in green technology. A crew from University College Dublin in Ireland has devised a

Plastic Vortex Eyed As Potential Fuel Source: Scientist Charles Moore has worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the insidious plastic soup swirling in the North Pacific, but he has said that cleaning it up is impossible. A scientific mission is under way now to see if its

Horses Never Forget Human Friends: Horses not only remember people who have treated them well, they also understand words better than expected, research shows.

Asteroid Mission May Offer Clues into Life's Origins: Four tablespoons worth of real estate from a nearby asteroid could help to explain how life began.

Jaws Circa 4 Million B.C.: Bite marks on a now-extinct dolphin reveal that it was killed by an enormous shark that bit, shook and bled its victim to death 4 million years ago, according to a study in the latest issue of the journal Palaeontology.

Dominant Female Mongoose Bully to the Max: To benefit their young, dominant female banded mongooses kick pregnant subordinate females out of their living groups.

Ancient Statues Found in Egyptian Temple: The temple belonged to Pharaoh Amenhotep III, grandfather of King Tut.

Whales Dying in Record Numbers Near Argentina: Southern right whales are dying in record numbers along Argentinas Patagonian coast, resulting in the largest die-off of great whales that has ever been documented.

Lost Shakespeare Play: Found?: An academic claims that an 18th century play, called Double Falsehood, was based on a work by William Shakespeare.

Spring, and 'a terrible case of déjà vu': National forecasters and emergency managers warned Tuesday that the Upper Midwest faces a second spring of potentially historic flooding with the melting of snow and ice from El Niño-driven winter storms. Administrator Jane Lubchenco of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

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Science/AAAS

Roundup 3/17: Recharge Needed Edition: Innovation in Europe is behind compared with the United States and Japan, and while...

Genetic Testing for Cancer Risk Not Clinically Useful: Testing genetic risk factors improves risk estimates, but only slightly

Varmus to Head Cancer Institute After All?: The Cancer Letter , a trusted Washington, D.C.-based newsletter, is reporting that the White...

Among Seahorses, Mr. Moms Play Favorites: Maternal male fish sacrifice offspring from less desirable females

New Ways the U.S. Could Target Soot: Scientists at a hearing yesterday held by the House of Representatives Select Committee on...

New Cancer Approach: Fast, Cheap, and Radical: Frustrated by the cost and the dead-slow pace of drug development, a group of...

Quivering Gizmo Ushers in Quantum Machines: Device that makes the slightest possible motion could be stepping stone to much weird quantum mechanical states of motion

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USATODAY

Silk Road mummies travel miles, millennia for U.S. exhibit: The first U.S. exhibit of the well-preserved mummies, discovered in western China, opens March 27 in Santa Ana, Calif.

Arctic animals doing better, but not close to pole: The overall number of animals in the Arctic has increased over the past 40 years ago, according to a new international study. But those who live closest to the North Pole are disappearing.

Research monkey deaths prompt calls for crackdown: Workers at a Nevada research lab were checking on a primate room when they came across a ghastly sight: Thirty dead monkeys were essentially cooked alive after someone left the heater on. Two others were near death and had to

Genetically modified foods get U.S. traction, global debate: The USA, China and South America have largely embraced biotechnology in crops, while Europeans are opposed. Where will Africa and Asia fall?

NASA finds shrimp dinner on ice beneath Antarctica: In a surprising discovery about where higher life can thrive, scientists for the first time found a shrimp-like creature and a jellyfish frolicking beneath a massive Antarctic ice sheet.

Dogs' lives may offer answers: Purdue University researcher David Waters hopes a bunch of old dogs will be able to teach scientists news tricks about aging and cancer.

Tracking the tarantula: Big, hairy, bloodthirsty vermin if youve seen one tarantula, youve seen them all, right?

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Digg Science

One Million Trees For Ethiopia: Gashaw Tahir returned to his birth country of Ethiopia to find the green hills that surrounded his home eroded and ruined due to deforestation.

Cash for Caulkers: Can Home Weatherization Save the Planet?: From the federal stimulus to cash for caulkers, home weatherization has never been hotter. But can it really save the environment and the economy?

The Anatomy of a Fart.: Did you know that no two farts are exactly alike? It’s true. Farts are sort of like snowflakes in that regard. Little, invisible, smelly, snowflakes.

Medieval child's brain to unlock human thought processes: The almost perfectly preserved brain of a medieval toddler who died 800 years ago is set to provide ground-breaking information into human thought processes.

Study: Today's youth aren't ego-driven slackers after all: Todays youth are generally not the self-centered, antisocial slackers that previous research has made them out to be, according to a provocative new study co-authored by a Michigan State University psychologist.

First temperate exoplanet sized up (w/ Video): Combining observations from the CoRoT satellite and the ESO HARPS instrument, astronomers have discovered the first normal exoplanet that can be studied in great detail. Designated Corot-9b, the planet regularly passes in front of a star similar to the Sun

Algae's solar electrons hijacked to steal power: An international gang of biologists has carried out an audacious heist, stealing valuable electrons from photosynthesising algae.The power grab could open a route to more efficient exploitation of photosynthesis to power machines...........

Is Cocaine to Blame for Global Warming?: We were horrified to learn for every few lines of cocaine snorted in a London club, four square metres of rain forest is destroyed, British politican Kieth Vaz said, according to the Mirror.

Pink Terror Hawking: *****

Asteroid Mission May Offer Clues into Life's Origins: Four tablespoons worth of real estate from a nearby asteroid could help to explain how life began.

NASA - The Wizard Nebula: This image of the open star cluster NGC 7380, also known as the Wizard Nebula, is a mosaic of images from the WISE mission spanning an area on the sky of about 5 times the size of the full moon.

WISE Captures a Cosmic Rose: A new infrared image from NASAs Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, shows a cosmic rosebud blossoming with new stars. The stars, called the Berkeley 59 cluster, are the blue dots to the right of the image center. They are

Red in Jupiter's Spot Not What Astronomers Thought: The best thermal images of Jupiters Great Red Spot yet captured have revealed surprising weather and temperature variation within the solar systems most famous storm.

Are Americans Giving Up On The Environment?: A survey released yesterday shows just 34 percent of the public is worried a great deal about the environment, down from 40 percent the year before. A second poll reveals Americans are less troubled about pollution, global warming, deforestation, and

General Relativity Passes a Large Scale Test: A new look at general relativity finds that it passes with flying colors at length scales never before tested, while its leading competitors come up short. Ever since relativitys first confirmation in 1919, when Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington observed that

TED: Suspended Animation Is Within Our Grasp: Mark Roth studies suspended animation: the art of shutting down life processes and then starting them up again. Its wild stuff, but its not science fiction. Induced by careful use of an otherwise toxic gas, suspended animation can potentially help

Molecules Could Create Tiny Circuits on Computer Chips: As the features on computer chips become increasingly smaller, finding ways to fabricate the chips has become a big challenge. In a new study, researchers from MIT have demonstrated that certain molecules can be deposited on mostly empty chips, where

UK law students will live long and prosper: Would-be lawyers at a British university are taking a lesson from the Starship Enterprise and boldly going into the potential legal conundra of outer space.

"Neuroframing" the global warming issue won't win converts: Basically, this was a brainstorming session on how to market “solutions” to global warming more effectively. The emphasis on packaging reminded me of the controversial proposal... that scientists need to become more adept at “framing” issues such as global warming

Methane May Be Building Under Antarctic Ice: Microbes living under ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland could be churning out large quantities of the greenhouse gas methane, a new study suggests.

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Science News Online

Ice drilling nets shrimpy surprise: Underwater camera captures an Antarctic crustacean

Body heat may draw particles into breathing range: Computer simulations suggest thermal plumes may trap infectious particles near the head

Who reined the dogs in: New genetic data reveals Fido likely originated in the Middle East

Physicists observe quantum properties in the world of objects: Demonstration ties the physics of the ultrasmall to the everyday

This exoplanet is so cool: Satellite finds first temperate planet outside solar system that can be studied in detail

Intel Science Talent Search spotlights America's whiz kids: This years winning high schooler takes top prize for work on space navigation

Big or small, financial bubbles burst alike: Even when they inflate and collapse in milliseconds, the same rules apply

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NASA

Solar 'Current of Fire' Speeds Up: A massive "current of fire" on the sun has started running at high speed, surprising researchers and challenging some models of the solar cycle.

Did the Chilean Quake Shift Earth's Axis?: Last months 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile was so strong it might have shifted the axis of the entire Earth.

Spirit's Journey to the Center of Mars: NASAs venerable Mars rover Spirit is starting a second career as an explorer of the Martian core--but first it must survive the deadly Martian winter.

Cool Movie: SDO Destroys a Sundog: NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory amazed onlookers last week when it flew past a sundog and destroyed it. Must-see videos of the event captured shock waves from the rocket billowing through the sundog, eliciting cries of delight and amazement from the

3D Sun for the iPhone: Imagine holding the entire sun in the palm of your hand. Now you can. A new iPhone app developed by NASA-supported programmers delivers a live global view of the sun directly to your cell phone.

Are TGFs Hazardous to Air Travelers?: Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) surge through thunderstorms at about the same altitude where commercial airliners fly. Do these blasts of gamma-radiation pose a hazard to air travelers?

Solar Dynamics Observatory: The 'Variable Sun' Mission: The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), slated for liftoff on Feb. 9th, will make IMAX-quality movies of solar explosions, peer beneath the stellar surface to see the suns inner dynamo, and--researchers hope--unravel the mysteries of solar variability.

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