Original Signal - Transmitting Science

National Geographic

Biblical City Where David Battled Goliath Found?: The remains of a gate in an ancient Israeli fortress has pinpointed the location of a biblical city, Shaarayim, which one expert says may have been part of King Davids Kingdom of Israel.

Black Hole "Hearts" Warm Galaxies, Control Growth: A supermassive black hole at the center of a distant galaxy gently pumps out energy at regular intervals that keeps the black holes growth in check, astronomers report.

"Screaming Mummy" Is Murderous Son of Ramses III?: An Egyptian mummy preserved with a pained facial expression could be Prince Pentewere, suspected of plotting the murder of his father, according to a new analysis.

Massive Prehistoric Fort Emerges From Welsh Woods: An vast Iron Age settlement hidden for centuries under lush forests has been reconstructed using computer analysis.

Infrared Technology Reveals Volcanoes' Secrets: Scientists are using infrared images to track potentially deadly patterns of heat in the Earth in and around active volcanoes. One aim: to save lives by predicting eruptions.

VIDEO: Herod Mausoleum, Art Found?: Archaeologists in Israel announced new discoveries at what the team believes is the tomb of the biblical King Herod on Wednesday.

VIDEO: Salt Lake Disappearing: Irans largest saltwater inland lake is diminishing because of drought, alarming environmentalists.

WEEK IN PHOTOS: Puppy Smuggling, California Fires, More: Smuggled puppies, raging fires, a Sistine ceiling, and more in the weeks best news photos.

Invisibility Cloak "Feasible Now": Scientists are one step closer to creating a Harry Potter-like invisibility cloak. But when well be able to hide under the high-tech garments is a matter of will and money, experts say.

Buried Mars Glaciers May Be Remnants of Past Ice Age: Sloping features at Marss mid-latitudes are the largest bulk of water ice not at the poles and could be leftover from past climate changes, radar data suggest.

Superdirt Made Lost Amazon Cities Possible?: Long seen as myth, an ancient Amazon civilization may have been fueled by a man-made soil. Scientists are racing to recreate the recipe, which they say might fight hunger and global warming.

Earliest Swimming Turtle Fossils Found -- New Species: Newly discovered fossils of the oldest known swimming turtles show the reptiles first took to water some 165 million years ago, researchers say.

Beetle Invasion to Dim New England Fall Colors?: A tree-devouring Asian beetle is encroaching on New Englands forests, beloved for their brilliant autumn colors and maple syrup, experts say.

VIDEO: Spacewalker Loses Tool Bag: A NASA astronaut accidentally lost a tool bag during a spacewalk Tuesday when a grease gun exploded. The kit is one of the largest items ever lost by a spacewalker.

VIDEO: Stem Cell Transplant a Success: Doctors in Spain successfully transplanted a windpipe into a woman using tissue grown from her own stem cells.

Mammoth Genome Decoded -- Clones on the Way?: The first genetic blueprint from an extinct animal could reveal what separates the fuzzy giants from elephants—and may open the door to a resurrection.

New Finds at King Herod's Tomb: 2,000-Year-Old Frescoes: Archaeologists exploring King Herods tomb complex near Jerusalem have uncovered rare Roman paintings and two stone coffins that could have contained the remains of Herods sons.

Dark Matter Proof Found Over Antarctica?: Unexpected numbers of high-energy electrons could be physical evidence of the mysterious substance—or they may reveal a nearby astrophysical object thats bombarding Earth.

SPACE PHOTOS THIS WEEK: Earth Mosaic, Exoplanet, More: Flares erupt from our galaxys heart, the ISS gets an extreme home makeover, fires blaze near LA, and more in this weeks best space photos.

Fossils Lend Clues to Alaska's Eurasian Roots: The discovery of 420-million-year-old snail fossils adds to a growing body of evidence about Alaskas long-ago links to Eurasia

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Universe Today

"Wasteful" Sample Storage Box Removed from Mars Science Laboratory: Stern: "The Mars program is slowly committing suicide in front of our very eyes"NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) has been beset by technical challenges and inevitable budget overruns. The nuclear-powered rover is set for an October 2009 launch and engineers

Spiders Adapt to Space, Weaving a Near-Perfect Web: The educational experiment currently being carried out on the space station has just returned a surprise result. It would appear the two web-weaving spiders being studied have turned their fortunes around - they have scrapped their aimless 3D mess of

Constellation Launch Abort System Successfully Tested (Again): When the Constellation Program is completed, we'll have a brand new generation of rocket design (Ares) and a hi-tech space ship (Orion). It only seems fair that we should also have a new kind of emergency mechanism that will carry

Space Station Urine Recycler Breaks Down: The system has only just been installed and it is already broken down. Unfortunately, the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) don't have the luxury of returning their faulty urine recycling system to the store to replace it with

Bright Meteor Seen Over Western Canada: A bright fireball lit up the sky over parts of Canada and was probably a meteor which may have hit the ground in central Alberta. Reports from all over western Canada said the bright flashes occurred at 5:30 pm MST

How To Be a Frugal Astronomer: These are tough economic times for almost everyone, including those of us interested in doing a little backyard astronomy. Even if you're a casual astronomer or have never done much observing, gazing at the stars might be just the remedy

Weekend SkyWatcher's Forecast - November 21 - 23, 2008: Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Are you ready for the weekend? It's Friiiiiday and it's time to make a date with the Queen as we gather up a few more studies in the great constellation of Cassiopeia. Since we've got some dark

Another Direct Image of an Exoplanet?: Have the floodgates opened for imaging exoplanets?! A team of French astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope have discovered an object located very close to the star Beta Pictoris. This object lies only 8 times the Earth-Sun distance, and it's

Want to Know the Answer For This Weeks WITU Challenge?: Don't forget to check out the answer for this week's Where In The Universe Challenge." Check out the original post to find the answer (and to check how everyone else answered, too!)© nancy for Universe Today, 2008. |Permalink |No comment

Dawn Spacecraft Shuts Down Ion Engines: The Dawn spacecraft's three ion engines have done their work for now, and mission engineers shut down the frugal but powerful ion propulsion system on Thursday as scheduled. The spacecraft is now gliding toward a Mars flyby/gravity assist in February

The Bow Shock of Betelgeuse Revealed: You may be familiar with Betelgeuse, as it is the upper-left star in the constellation Orion, forming what would be his shoulder. But this is an image of Betelgeuse that you wouldn't see with your own eyes or even your

Mars Atmospheric "Bubbles" Carried Away by the Solar Wind: Mars is a strange planet. There is evidence that the Red Planet once played host to a thick atmosphere and vast oceans. However, at some point in its evolution, the planet seemed to leak the majority of its atmospheric gases

Final Resting Place of Nicolas Copernicus is Confirmed: The rightful place of the man who put the Earth in its rightful place has now been confirmed. New DNA analysis confirms that the remains of a 70-year old man found in Frombork Cathedral in Northern Poland are those of

Despite Dust Storms, Solar Power is Best for Mars Colonies: Dust — a solar panel's worst nightmare.Is sending solar-powered robots to the Red Planet is a bad idea? Mars is a very dusty planet, and Mars dust sticks to everything, especially solar arrays. After all, Phoenix's death was probably hastened

Air Quality Sensor to be Tested on ISS for Future Missions to Moon and Mars: Air quality is a serious issue for any space-based activity. After all, if a harmful gas is leaked into the sealed space station, the astronauts on board cannot simply open the window to get some fresh air. The International Space

MSL News: Landing Sites and Naming Contest: Landing sites for the Mars Science Laboratory have been narrowed down to four intriguing places on the Red Planet. The car-sized rover will have the capability to travel to more scientifically compelling sites, and with its radioisotope power source, it

"Loner" Galaxy is Actually in the 'Hood: Astronomers have long wondered why a small, nearby, isolated galaxy is pumping out new stars faster than any galaxy in our local neighborhood. Usually, galaxies need some sort of gravitational interaction with other galaxies to trigger star formation, and galaxy

Astronomers Catch Binary Star Explosion Inside a Nebula: The explosion of a binary star inside a planetary nebula has been detected, an event not witnessed for more than 100 years – and of course the astronomical equipment to observe such an event is much improved since a century

MRO Finds Huge Underground Glaciers on Mars: There's more than just a little ice under Mars' surface. According to data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter radar system, vast Martian glaciers of water ice lie buried under rocky debris. And this ice is not just at the Arctic

10 Years of the ISS in Pictures: Ten years ago today the Russian built Zarya control module was launched into space and the International Space Station was born. The orbiting outpost has gone from one small module to an expansive station with ten different modules made in

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The New York Times

About New York: At a New York Seminary, a Green Idea Gets Tangled in Red Tape: A geothermal energy plan to reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions has been continually delayed by a four-year siege of red tape.

G.M. Pins Hopes on a Plug-In Car, 2 Years Off: The Chevrolet Volt is the centerpiece G.M.’s strategy to convince Congress of the strength of their business plan.

Observatory: Study of Old Penguin Bones Reveals a New Species: The most unusual aspect of the scientists’ discovery of a new species of penguin is that it’s extinct.

Observatory: Blanket of Soil May Hide Vast Martian Glaciers: New evidence suggest that pure ice in the form of glaciers may buried under a thin layer of soil and rock on the red planet.

National Briefing | Science: Spacewalk Goes Well: The second spacewalk during a mission of the shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station proceeded without mishap.

Court Says Shell Can’t Drill Near Alaska: The federal appeals court’s decision came after finding that the Interior Department had failed to conduct an environmental study before issuing the company’s drilling permit.

Observatory: Invasive Plants in Galápagos May Really Be Native: Some plants that were thought to be invasive species in the Galapagos Islands predate humans by thousands of years.

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Scientific American

New computer model gives particle physics another thumbs-up: The Standard Model of particle physics, that old workhorse of a theory, has dodged another bullet. The model lays out the properties of all known elementary particles and describes three of the four fundamental forces that govern nature (gravity is

Obama's cell phone hacked, privacy issues murky: Verizon Wireless today apologized to President-elect Barack Obama after discovering that employees had snooped into his cell phone records in the latest example of a VIP’s private information being accessed by nosy staffers.

A Flight to a Continent Dressed in White: Editors Note: Marine geophysicist Robin Bell is leading an expedition to Antarctica to explore a mysterious mountain range beneath the ice sheet. Following is the second of her updates on the effort as part of Scientific American.coms In-depth Report on

Space station urine recycling system still on the fritz: Turning urine into drinkable water apparently isnt so easy. At least not in space. As the space shuttle Endeavour and International Space Station (ISS) crews gear up for tomorrows scheduled seven-hour spacewalk, theyre still wondering what to do with their

Hope for Rabies Victims: Unorthodox Coma Therapy Shows Promise: Four years ago, Jeanna Giese, now 19, became the first person to survive rabies without a preventive vaccine. Now, the medical procedure developed for treating Giese may have saved the lives of two children in South America.

Talk about cyberspace: NASA's space-spanning Internet clears its first hurdle: With more nations sending up more spacecraft conducting more advanced scientific studies, how will the worlds space agencies keep everyone and everything in the loop? NASA has devised a system, touted as a sort of deep-space Internet protocol, to form

Titan's Rival: Enceladus: No description.

Fact or Fiction?: Cell Phones Can Cause Brain Cancer: This summer, Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, sent a memo to staffers warning them to limit their cell phone use and to use hands-free sets in the wake of "growing evidence that we should reduce

Titan's Rival: Enceladus: Saturns small, snow and ice–covered moon, Enceladus, only 310 miles (500 kilometers) across, has made a big impact on astronomers. On a series of close flybys in 2004, the Cassini spacecraft revealed a great deal of unexpected activity bursting forth

Most still skip HIV tests: Two years after federal health officials recommended that everyone get tested for HIV at least once, the exam still isn’t routine.

Baby virus could be key to childhood asthma: Asthma, a respiratory disease whose prevalence skyrocketed in the latter part of the 20th century, is believed to have a genetic component, and environmental triggers -- including pollution and pests -- are also blamed. Now a common infant virus –

Predicting Floods In A Flash: No description.

100 Years Ago: Engineering a City--New York City's Bridges: DECEMBER 1958EVOLUTION OF BEHAVIOR-- “But is it not possible that beneath all the variations of individual behavior there lies an inner structure of inherited behavior which characterizes all the members of a given species, genus or larger taxonomic group--just as the

After the Crash: How Software Models Doomed the Markets: If Hollywood makes a movie about the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, a basement room in a government building in Washington will serve as the setting for a key scene. There investment bankers from the largest institutions pleaded

Microsoft changes direction, will offer free security software: Microsoft is changing its tune on computer security, two years after its much-heralded foray into the security space turned out to be less than spectacular. Instead of charging customers $50 per year for its Windows Live OneCare subscription security service,

A Cut above: Ultrapowerful Laser Offers Greater Precision Sans Heat Damage: Most lasers rely on continuous waves of energy to generate heat that allows doctors to make cuts during surgery, computers to burn information onto CDs and DVDs, and scanners to read bar codes. But a newer type of laser promises

Red (Planet) Alert: Massive Subsurface Glaciers Discovered on Mars: The more we learn about Mars, it seems, the icier the Red Planet appears to be. The recently departed Phoenix lander dug up water ice and even spotted falling snow from its position in the northern polar plains. And now

As Somali pirates step up attacks, shippers consider technology options for defense: Piracy on the high seas is making a comeback this year, particularly off the coast of the African nation Somalia, where raiders are using increasingly more powerful and sophisticated technologies to attack ships and hold their crew and cargo for

Farmed fish can be organic, too, ag advisors say: What exactly makes a fish organic? Apparently, one that feeds on a non-organic diet.

Candid criminal: undercover psychologists find bad behavior may be contagious: Attention, shoppers: If the cart you selected has a handle greased with Vaseline, you may be an unwitting participant in an undercover experiment.

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Space.com

Astronauts Finish Long, Tough Spacewalk at Station: Astronauts completed their longest spacewalk yet to repair a space station gear on Saturday.

Obama Vetting Bill Richardson, Space Enthusiast: Richardson said its in the interest of our national space industry that commercial space could properly develop.

Spaceflight Going 'Wonderful' Despite Glitches, Astronauts Say: Shuttle and space station astronauts laud their joint missions accomplishments.

Astronauts Tackle Glitches with Space Water Recycler: A recycling system that converts astronaut urine into drinking water has hit its first glitch.

Jupiter and Venus to Converge: Jupiter and Venus, the two brightest planets, draw closer together.

Spider Success! Weightless Webs Spun in Space: A pair of orb-weaver spiders on the International Space Station succeeded in spinning webs in space after failing a day earlier.

Asteroid-bound Spacecraft Cuts Engines, Coasts Awhile: NASAs Dawn spacecraft shut down its ion propulsion system yesterday as scheduled.

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ScienceDaily

Teacher Education Programs May Pay Too Little Attention To Real Challenges Of Teaching: Professional standards program falls short of an A, suggests research official professional standards in both Scotland and England which aim to nurture the development of new teachers pay too little attention to what becoming a teacher is really like. New

Melatonin May Save Eyesight In Inflammatory Disease, Study Suggests: Current research suggests that melatonin therapy may help treat uveitis, a common inflammatory eye disease.

From Genes To Farmers' Fields: New 'Waterproof' Rice Developed: Waterproof versions of popular varieties of rice, which can withstand two weeks of complete submergence, have passed tests in farmers fields with flying colors. Several of these varieties are now close to official release by national and state seed certification

Adults Need Vaccines, Medical Societies Urge: The American College of Physicians and the Infectious Diseases Society of America have released a joint statement on the importance of adult vaccination against an increasing number of vaccine-preventable diseases. The statement has been endorsed by 17 other medical societies

Ultra-wideband Radio Rides A Beam Of Light: Multiple high-definition videos and other data-rich services may soon stream through homes, offices, ships and planes via new hybrid optical/ultra-wideband-radio systems developed by European researchers.

Pregnant Women Who Do Aquarobics Have Easier Deliveries, Study Finds: A course of water aerobics classes has been shown to reduce the amount of pain-killing medication women request during labor. Research shows that, as well as being safe, the gentle exercise has the benefit of making it easier to give

Simple Eyes Of Only Two Cells Guide Marine Zooplankton To The Light: Scientists now explain the remarkable ability of marine zooplankton to swim towards light. A new study reveals how simple eyes of only two cells, sense the direction of light and guide movement towards it. The research also provides new insights

Lactic Acid Found To Fuel Tumors: A team of researchers has found that lactic acid is an important energy source for tumor cells. In further experiments, they discovered a new way to destroy the most hard-to-kill, dangerous tumor cells by preventing them from delivering lactic acid.

Drug Addiction: Environmental Conditions Play Major Role In Effective Treatment And Preventing (...): Environmental conditions play a major role in treating drug addiction and in preventing relapses, according to new research. For the first time, researchers have shown that positive and stimulating environmental conditions make it easier to treat cocaine addiction.

New Technologies Gearing Up To Meet Rising Demand For Vital Malaria Drugs: Three emerging technologies have the potential to significantly improve supplies of drugs to combat malaria, according to a new report.

Fluorescence Used To Develop Method For Detecting Mercury In Fish: Researchers have developed a simple and quick method for detecting mercury in fish and dental samples, two substances at the center of public concern about mercury contamination. The technique involves a fluorescent substance that glows bright green when it comes

Behavior Very Similar In Distracted Humans And Rats On Neurotransmitter Blocker: When picking through a basket of fruit, it doesnt seem very difficult to recognize a green pear from a green apple. This is easy, thanks to feature binding -- a process by which our brain combines all of the specific

Could Marijuana Substance Help Prevent Or Delay Memory Impairment In The Aging Brain?: Scientists are finding that specific elements of marijuana can be good for the aging brain by reducing inflammation there and possibly even stimulating the formation of new brain cells. Some research suggests that developing a legal drug that contains certain

New Approach To Screen Individuals For Early Alzheimer's Disease: With millions of baby boomers entering late adulthood, the number of patients with Alzheimers disease is expected to drastically rise over the next several decades. A team of national researchers, has developed a rapid screening test to detect mild cognitive

Glacial Erosion Changes Mountain Responses To Plate Tectonics: Intense glacial erosion has not only carved the surface of the highest coastal mountain range on earth, the spectacular St. Elias range in Alaska, but has elicited a structural response from deep within the mountain.

Ideal Time For Stem Cell Collection Defined For Parkinson's Disease Therapy: Researchers have identified a stage during dopamine neuron differentiation that may be an ideal time to collect human embryonic stem cells for transplantation to treat Parkinsons disease, according to new research.

Can Renewable Energy Be Sustained?: Engineers and entrepreneurs are rushing to explore alternative sources of efficient and renewable energy. One professor has strong words of caution as projects involving wind farms and photovoltaic cells proliferate. Coordination is lacking in development of alternative power sources, he

Methamphetamine Abuse Linked To Underage Sex, Smoking And Drinking: Teens who have never done drugs, but engage in other risky behaviours such as drinking, smoking and being sexually active, are more likely to use crystal meth, medical researchers have concluded.

How Red Wine Compounds Fight Alzheimer's Disease: Scientists have discovered the mechanism behind how compounds in red wine called polyphenols slow the cognitive declines of Alzheimers.

Complex Systems Science: How Do Math And Intuition Help Us Understand Whole Systems?: The human brain may be the ultimate complex system, but other examples appear everywhere. Take army ants. Despite their name, they have no general, and their queen sends out no instructions. No ant is aiming to get across that gully,

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New Scientist

Cellphone clusters give traffic jams away: Mapping GPS data from mobile phones carried by vehicle occupants can help road users avoid congested areas

Remains of devoured planet discovered: The dusty remains of a distant planet show what happens to a gas giant if it survives a red giant explosion

Space station's new urine recycler has glitches: NASA is having problems with a new $250 million machine that recycles urine into drinking water

Planet imaged closer to star than ever before?: A planet may have been imaged closer to its star than any photographed previously

Invention: Personal life mapper: A new patent application wants to have software reduce your life to easy-to-digest diagrams in 3D space

Bush to go out with a green bang?: One of the George W Bushs final acts as US president could be to create the largest marine conservation area in the world

Experts plan 'doomsday vault' for frog sperm: Freezing the genetic material of amphibians, along with assisted reproduction measures, could help species avoid looming extinctions

Hairspray link to genital birth defects: Pregnant hairdressers may be exposing their unborn children to harmful chemicals that can lead to health problems in boys, a study suggests

Material slicker than Teflon discovered by accident: Coating moving parts with a novel material that is almost as tough as diamond and more slippery than Teflon could save energy and reduce wear

China's disappearing land puts food supplies at risk: Over a third of the nations land area is being scoured by erosion that threatens food resources and could make conflict more likely

Bush takes aim at the environment with late rule changes: The US president looks set to weaken protection for endangered species and relax gun laws in national parks before leaving office

Computer chips give new spin on saving energy: An exotic processor that handles information in the form of waves rather than current could lead to ultra-low-power processors

New species of Ebola found in Uganda: The virus resembles no other previously discovered strains – a feature that might complicate ongoing efforts to develop a universal vaccine

Electron strobe turns atoms into movie stars: A microscope equipped with a strobe-like electron source can capture the movement of atoms with unprecedented clarity

Film review:: A new film dramatises the relationship between a young Einstein and English astrophysicist Arthur Eddington, at a time of war and great scientific change

New dolphin species revealed by genetic test: A third species of bottlenose has been discovered in the waters off southern Australia – it is only the second new dolphin in 50 years

Graffiti and litter lead to more street crime: People become more disobedient in environments where people obviously flout rules or social norms – backing up the broken window theory of degenerating neighbourhoods

Galactic recluse has friends after all: A revised distance for a galaxy thought to be a loner shows it actually has neighbours - a fact that explains its stellar baby boom

Vast stores of water ice surround Martian equator: Underground glaciers around the planets midsection contain the largest deposits of ice outside the polar regions

It's confirmed: Matter is merely vacuum fluctuations: The apparently solid stuff is no more than fluctuations in the quantum vacuum, fiendishly complex calculations confirm

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BBC

New walk from vexed space station: International Space Station astronauts try to resolve the latest of a series of glitches that have plagued their mission.

Light-wave implant hope for deaf: An implant which works by firing infrared light into the inner ear is being investigated by US researchers.

Valley Girls: How knowing your genes could change your life

Inner space: Making the space station just a bit more like home

Sea eagles could be reintroduced: Conservationists plan to bring the sea eagle, the UKs largest bird of prey, back to the skies above England.

IBM to build brain-like computers: A collaboration in the US is aiming to create artificial brain circuits that mimic the structure and workings of neurons.

'Superglue' brain op for toddler: The parents of a 17-month-old girl have told how surgeons used glue to seal tiny brain blood vessels that were threatening her life.

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CNN

Astronaut loses tool bag during spacewalk: Things didnt go quite according to plan for astronaut Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper during her spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Tuesday.

Endeavour docks with space station: Space shuttle Endeavour docked Sunday with the international space station, where the shuttle crew will help install more living space.

India probe crash-lands on moon: A TV-sized probe adorned with a painted Indian flag is set to crash on the moon Friday as part of New Delhis first unmanned lunar mission, Indian space officials said.

Astronomers capture images of new planets: The first-ever pictures of planets outside our solar system were released today in two studies.

Phoenix Lander silent, Mars mission over: A dust storm and the onset of Martian winter have brought the Phoenix Mars Landers mission to an end, NASA announced Monday.

Mission to fix Hubble Telescope postponed: NASAs plans to fly a fifth and final space shuttle mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope have suffered another set-back.

Endeavour set for November launch: Read full story for latest details.

Mars winter may end Phoenix's mission: The Phoenix Mars Lander has entered a state of suspended operation called safe mode due to low power, mission managers said Thursday. And while they hope to recharge batteries and reactivate the spacecraft in the coming days, they say the

Venezuela's first satellite launched: Venezuelas first satellite roared into space Thursday from a launching pad in southwest China.

Depressed astronauts to find comfort: Read full story for latest details.

Astronaut loses tool bag during spacewalk: Things didnt go quite according to plan for astronaut Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper during her spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Tuesday.

Endeavour docks with space station: Space shuttle Endeavour docked Sunday with the international space station, where the shuttle crew will help install more living space.

India probe crash-lands on moon: A TV-sized probe adorned with a painted Indian flag is set to crash on the moon Friday as part of New Delhis first unmanned lunar mission, Indian space officials said.

Astronomers capture images of new planets: The first-ever pictures of planets outside our solar system were released today in two studies.

Phoenix Lander silent, Mars mission over: A dust storm and the onset of Martian winter have brought the Phoenix Mars Landers mission to an end, NASA announced Monday.

Mission to fix Hubble Telescope postponed: NASAs plans to fly a fifth and final space shuttle mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope have suffered another set-back.

Endeavour set for November launch: Read full story for latest details.

Mars winter may end Phoenix's mission: The Phoenix Mars Lander has entered a state of suspended operation called safe mode due to low power, mission managers said Thursday. And while they hope to recharge batteries and reactivate the spacecraft in the coming days, they say the

Venezuela's first satellite launched: Venezuelas first satellite roared into space Thursday from a launching pad in southwest China.

Depressed astronauts to find comfort: Read full story for latest details.

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Discovery

Ancient Chariot Found in Bulgaria: A newly-found four-wheel chariot dates back to the end of the second century A.D.

SLIDE SHOW: Images From the Week's News: A look back at images from Discovery News, Nov. 17-21.

Mini Nuclear Reactors to Power Remote Areas: A company is taking orders for shed-sized, semi-truck-delivered nuclear reactors.

Einstein's E=MC2 Proven Thanks to Quarks: Scientists calculating the weight of particles prove Einsteins famous formula is right on.

NASA Narrows List of Next Mars Landing Sites: Potential signs of life is the priority as NASA decides among four Mars landing sites.

Space Station at 10: Much Teamwork, Less Science: A look at what value the International Space Station has offered after 10 years.

Vast Frozen Water Reserves Found on Mars: Underground reservoirs of frozen water on Mars suggest the planet could sustain life.

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Science/AAAS

Why the Lady Is a Tramp: Researchers identify possible motive for female philandering

At Long Last, Physicists Calculate the Proton's Mass: Result marks arrival of high-precision calculations of ultracomplex strong nuclear force

Did Icebergs Warm the World?: Errant ice might have driven ancient surges of carbon dioxide

The Waxman Cometh: U.S. climate scientists hail the new chair of a powerful congressional committee

Dancing Scientists Invade YouTube: Science announces the winners of its 2009 Dance Your Ph.D. contest

Close Call for Galápagos Native: Fossil pollen establishes plants right to spread

Badly Behaved Psychiatrists and Sexually Confused Mice: Science brings you the best from the Society for Neurosciences annual meeting

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USATODAY

Could a politician's DNA be abused in a campaign?: Although only a handful of humans have had their entire genome sequenced so far, the price of doing so is dropping, and DNA is pretty easy to obtain, especially from someone say, a politician who shakes a lot of hands

Cold start to winter will warm, forecasters say: Weather forecasters are predicting a colder-than-normal start to winter in the eastern part of the United States.

Woolly mammoth task: Extinct critter's DNA mapped: Scientists for the first time have unraveled much of the genetic code of an extinct animal, the ice ages woolly mammoth, and with it they are thawing Jurassic Park dreams.

Archaeologists say they found witch doctor skeleton: Archaeologists believe a 12,000-year-old skeleton found in a grave containing 50 tortoise shells, a leopard pelvis, a cow tail and part of an eagle wing is the remains of a witch doctor.

Big hop forward: Scientists map kangaroo's DNA: Taking a big hop forward in marsupial research, scientists say they have unraveled the DNA of a small kangaroo named Matilda.

Scientists find new penguin, extinct for 500 years: Researchers studying a rare and endangered species of penguin have uncovered a previously unknown species that disappeared about 500 years ago.

Doctors transplant windpipe with stem cells: Doctors have given a woman a new windpipe with tissue grown from her own stem cells, eliminating the need for anti-rejection drugs.

Astronaut loses tool bag, spacewalk to continue: Flight controllers were revamping plans Wednesday for the remaining spacewalks planned during space shuttle Endeavours visit to the international space station, after a crucial tool bag floated out to space during a repair trip.

Experts: Warming to cause global water shortages by 2080: Half the worlds population could face a shortage of clean water by 2080 because of climate change, experts warned Tuesday.

Coloring on the other side of the brain: Infants perceive color in the right hemisphere of the brain, U.S. researchers report, while adults do the job in the brains left hemisphere.

Stone-age nuclear family unearthed: A stone-age burial in central Germany has yielded the earliest evidence of people living together as a family.

UN says greenhouse gas emissions rose in 2000-06: Greenhouse gas emissions by 40 industrialized nations that signed the Kyoto Protocol climate treaty have dropped an average of 5% below 1990 levels, U.N. officials reported Monday.

Va. scientist pleads guilty to selling rocket technology to China: A Virginia scientist pleaded guilty Monday to selling rocket technology to China and bribing Chinese officials to secure a lucrative contract for his high-tech company.

Stone-age nuclear family unearthed: A stone-age burial in central Germany has yielded the earliest evidence of people living together as a family.

It's unpacking day for astronauts at space station: Monday was unpacking day for the astronauts at the international space station.

Big particle collider repairs to cost $21 million: Fixing the worlds largest atom smasher will cost at least 25 million francs ($21 million) and may take until early summer, its operator said Monday.

Hackers, phishers can't get away with it like they used to: In what is shaping up as a breakthrough year, federal authorities have quietly cracked down on some of the biggest Internet crime rings.

Re-examining Supreme Court support for sterilization: Eugenics remains a blot on the history of American science, a pseudoscientific racist movement that led to the sterilization of perhaps 60,000 people nationwide in the first half of the 20th Century. Support for eugenics came from members of the

Endeavour passes inspection: Endeavour astronauts today are preparing to dock with the International Space Station, after intensive inspections Saturday of the shuttles heat shields for damage that could have occurred during a moonlit launch from Kennedy Space Center.

Shuttle Endeavour blasts off to space station: Space shuttle Endeavour and a crew of seven blasted into the night sky Friday, bound for the international space station and the most extreme home makeover project ever attempted by astronauts.

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Digg Science

Forgotten But Not Gone: How The Brain Re-learns: Thanks to our ability to learn and to remember, we can perform tasks that other living things can not even dream of. However, we are only just beginning to get the gist of what really goes on in the brain

NASA Developing Dark Energy Observatory: NASA and the Department of Energy are working together to build the first space-based observatory designed to understand the nature of dark energy.

Einstein's messy desk & office in Princeton

New Device Condenses Drinking Water Out of Thin Air: The company, Element Four, has developed a machine that can create water out of thin air. Their creation, the WaterMill, uses the electricity of about three light bulbs to condense moisture from the air and purify it into clean drinking

New Geothermal Plant Powers One Third of Utah: The enormous energy stored in the Earth’s interior will now power over one-third homes in Utah. Raser Technologies has finally announced the completion of the first geothermal plant in Utah over 20 years.

Soil Erosion Problems Threatens Land of 100 Million Chinese: Almost 100 million people in south-west China will lose the land they live on within 35 years if soil erosion continues at its current rate, a nationwide survey has found.

Agriculture goes urban and high-tech: Theres a growing effort to use hydroponics -- a method of cultivating plants in nutrient-rich water instead of soil -- to bring farming into cities. Hydroponic farming requires less water and less land than traditional farming, and reduces the environmental

Awesome Pic of Owl in Action, as Predator.: Beautiful, almost haunting shot. Not the usual (cliched) image of the owl. Close-up, enlargeable, wallpaper.

Carbon dioxide discovered on distant planet: Carbon dioxide, one of the telltale signs that a planet may be able to support life, has been spotted in the atmosphere of a gas giant orbiting a star 63 light years from Earth.

The Science of the Future of War: TODAYS MOST BRUTAL WARS are also the most primal. They are fought with machetes in West Africa, with fire and rape and fear in Darfur, and with suicide bombs and improvised explosive devices in Israel, Iraq, and elsewhere. But as

How Do Math And Intuition Help Us Understand Whole Systems?: While the human brain may be the ultimate complex system, other examples appear everywhere. Take army ants. Despite their name, they have no general, and their queen sends out no instructions. No ant is aiming to get across that gully,

Explorers eye poles, Everest on climate mission: The prospect of encountering polar bears, cracking ice and frostbite doesnt horrify Arctic explorer Eric Larsen.

5 Reasons Why Your Company Should Generate Its Own Energy: Is this really the best time for your company to be thinking about generating renewable energy on-site? Yes!

The Science of Memory: An Infinite Loop in the Brain: Wouldnt it be great to be able to remember everything? To see all our most important moments, all the priceless encounters, adventures and triumphs? What if memory never faded, but instead could be retrieved at any time, as reliably as

Buried Glaciers Found on Mars: Orbiter radar reveals glaciers concealed under mid-latitude debris flows on Mars.

'4-D' Microscope Revolutionizes Way We Look At NanoWorld: A breakthrough technology based on new concepts has now accomplished a similar feat, but on an atomic scale--by allowing, for the first time, the real-time, real-space visualization of fleeting changes in the structure and shape of matter barely a billionth

Global warming will help Russian economy: Global climate change is supposed to contribute to Russian economy, according to Michael McConnell, director of US national intelligence.

APOD: From Moonrise to Sunset

Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan to get anti-sniper device: British and American forces fighting the guerilla insurgence in Iraq and Afghanistan could soon be protected by an anti-sniper device that can pinpoint the position of the shooter within a fraction of a second.

Deja Vu Tied to Familiarity with Past: A U.S. psychologist links deja vu, the eerie feeling of being somewhere new, again, to recognition memory.

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Science News Online

First detection of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet: Finding bodes well in searching for life signatures beyond the solar system

Comment: Debates over definition of planet continue and inspire: Planetary science is in the midst of a revolution. As recently as the early 1990s, “the planets” consisted of just nine famous objects in our solar system that every school kid learned to reco...

Book Review : Insatiable Curiosity: Innovation in a Fragile Future by Helga Nowotny: Review by Elizabeth Quill

Book Review : California’s Fading Wildflowers: Lost Legacy and Biological Invasions by Richar(...): Review by Rachel Ehrenberg

Book Review : Extreme Birds: The World’s Most Extraordinary and Bizarre Birds by Dominic Couzens: Firefly, 2008, 287 p., $45

Book Review : Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness after the Digital Explosion by H(...): Addison-Wesley, 2008, 366 p., $25.95

Book Review : The Quantum Ten: A Story of Passion, Tragedy, Ambition and Science by Sheilla Jones: Oxford Univ., 2008, 323 p., $24.95

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NASA

Solar Wind Rips Up Martian Atmosphere: The solar wind appears to be ripping big chunks of air from the atmosphere of Mars. This could help solve a longstanding mystery about the Red Planet.

Discovered: Cosmic Rays from a Mysterious, Nearby Object: An international team of researchers has discovered a puzzling surplus of high-energy electrons bombarding Earth from space. The source of these cosmic rays is unknown, but it must be close to the solar system and it could be made of

Hubble Directly Observes a Planet Orbiting Another Star: NASAs Hubble Space Telescope has taken the first visible-light snapshot of a planet circling another star. The planet, called Fomalhaut b, orbits the bright southern star Fomalhaut, located 25 light-years from Earth.

NASA Begins Hunt for New Meteor Showers: NASA astronomers have set up a monitoring station to scan the night sky for unknown or unexpected meteor showers--and theyre finding more than they bargained for.

Solar Cycle Update: The Sun Shows Signs of Life: A surge of new-cycle sunspots in October may signal the beginning of the end of the ongoing solar minimum.

Magnetic Portals Connect Earth to the Sun: Researchers have discovered magnetic portals forming high above Earth that can briefly connect our planet to the Sun. Not only are the portals common, one space physicist contends they form twice as often as anyone had previously imagined.

Halloween Sky Show: The planets are gathering for spooky sunset sky show on Oct. 31st. Read todays story to find out where to look.

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