US News:
Report: Most Gitmo detainees low-level fighters
Washington Post: A task force says 10 percent of 240 Guantanamo Bay detainees when President Obama took office were major anti-U.S. figures, most were low-level fighters. |
Feds meet with Arizona officials over immigration law
The Justice Department Friday dispatched an assistant attorney general and other key officials to meet with top Arizona officals to emphasize federal reservations about the state's recently-passed immigration law. |
First responders may have faked certificates
More than 200 emergency medical technicians, firefighters and police officers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire may have to surrender their licenses after an investigation into falsified EMT course completion certificates, state officials say. |
World News:
Israeli gunships head to sea to block flotilla
Israeli gunships headed out to sea on Friday to stop a flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists from reaching the Gaza Strip, the military said, setting the stage for what could become a showdown on the high seas. |
Report: Most Gitmo detainees low-level fighters
Washington Post: A task force says 10 percent of 240 Guantanamo Bay detainees when President Obama took office were major anti-U.S. figures, most were low-level fighters. |
Big volcanic eruptions in Guatemala, Ecuador
Explosive eruptions shook two huge volcanos in Central and South America on Friday, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes and disrupting air traffic as ash drifted over major cities. |
Gunmen kill 80 at Pakistan mosques
Suspected Islamist militants attacked two mosques packed with hundreds of worshippers from a minority sect in Pakistan Friday. More than 80 people died with dozens wounded. |
U.S. tries to dampen dispute with allies over Iran
Even as the United States pushes at the United Nations for sanctions against Iran's nuclear program, three senior administration officials, in a hastily scheduled briefing for reporters, tried late Friday to tamp down a dispute with two allies over the Islamic Republic. |
Suspected drone kills 12 in South Waziristan
A suspected U.S. drone strike killed 12 militants and wounded four others Friday afternoon in Pakistan's tribal region, intelligence officials told CNN. |
Volcano closes airport, prompts evacuation in Ecuador
Two villages in Ecuador were being evacuated Friday after the Tungurahua volcano erupted again, as it has done periodically since 1999, the government's emergency management agency said. |
Finance News:
Why We Need Better Corporate Slogans
BP, Goldman Sachs, and their ilk should just tell the truth: They exist to make money. |
Firms Plan to Eliminate Retiree Health Plans
A new federal subsidy aims to maintain employer health insurance for retirees. |
How Deficit Reduction Will Affect Seniors
Higher taxes and reduced benefits are inevitable, and that's if Congress acts responsibly. |
Three U.S. cities on the brink of broke
Several downtrodden cities are on the verge of defaulting on their debt, putting financially encumbered states and taxpayers on the hook to pick up the tab. The National League of Cities says municipal governments will probably come up $56 billion to $83 billion short between now and 2012. That's the tab for decades of binge spending; municipal defaults could be our collective hangover. |
Dow ends worst May in 70 years
Stocks cut losses but finished in the red Friday, ending a dismal month that saw the Dow Jones industrials suffer their worst May in 70 years, after a downgrade of Spain's debt reminded investors that Europe's economic woes continue. |
Jobless benefits to expire as Senate recesses
For the nation's unemployed, here we go again. |
Health News:
Coleman battled health woes: transplants, kidney problems
Actor Gary Coleman battled major medical problems including an on-set seizure, several operations, transplants and a lifelong kidney condition. |
Skin color affects ability to empathize with pain
Humans are hardwired to feel another person's pain. But they may feel less innate empathy if the other person's skin color doesn't match their own, a new study suggests. |
Anxiety adds to Gulf workers' health concerns
Stress combined with heat and exposure to chemicals could be among the factors that sent seven Gulf fishermen who were helping with oil cleanup to the hospital Wednesday, experts say. |
Mexico City Puts Cops On Diet
The problem of overweight officers is now so great that the authorities in Mexico City have brought in a new eating plan, cutting a cop's daily menu offering from 4,000 to 2,500 calories. The Mexican capital of nearly 9 million citizens is one of the most populous cities in the world, requiring a police force of 70,000 officers, three quarters of whom are overweight... |
Treating Long-Term Addicts With Medical Grade Heroin More Effective Than Methadone
Medical grade heroin administered under medical supervision results in larger reductions in street heroin use in long-term (chronic) heroin addicts who are not responding properly to treatment, compared to either injectable or oral methadone, say researchers from The National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry (IoP), King's College Londond (KCL), who are involved in RIOT... |
Why A 20mph Speed Limit Really Does Matter, A Doctor's Personal Experience
Speed limits in built-up areas should be reduced to 20 miles per hour (mph), says a UK GP (general practitioner, primary care physician) who had an accident with a child. Dr. Nicholas Foreman, Rickmansworth, United Kingdom explains in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) how a child ran out in front of his car. In February, 2010 Dr... |
Canadian Teen Birth And Abortions Rates Drop Significantly
Abortion and pregnancy rates in Canadian teenage girls has dropped 36.9% since 1996, according to a new report released by the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada (SIECCAN). SIECCAN says this is mainly due to improved access to contraception, better broadly-based quality sex education and a shifting of social norms... |
Environment News:
Waiting game for results of 'top kill'
BP warned on Friday that it could be Sunday or later before the outcome of the cliffhanger becomes clear. |
Obama calls oil spill 'assault on our shores'
President Barack Obama inspected a fouled beach, took in what he called "heartbreaking stories" of the catastrophe and declared "we’re going to keep at it" until the America’s largest-ever oil spill is stopped and cleaned up. |
Oil spill cam becomes Internet sensation
The grainy video of mud, gas and oil billowing from the seafloor has become an Internet sensation — a sort of warm-weather version of TV's Yule Log — as Americans watch to see whether BP's effort to plug the gusher in the Gulf of Mexico succeeds. |
Workers bused in for president's visit?
A Gulf Coast official accused BP of shipping workers into Grand Isle, Louisiana, for President Barack Obama's visit to the oil-stricken area Friday and sending them away once the president left the region. FULL STORY | OBAMA VISITS | ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS | 'SOME SUCCESS' | FULL COVERAGE |
How to Kill a Well With Gravity
Oil giant BP plc has a very long straw stuck 3048 meters into the Gulf of Mexico sea floor with oil and gas spouting out the top at several thousand pascals. How do BP engineers stop the flow when none of the control valves at the top is working and there's no way to put a stopper in the straw's end? The only option is using gravity, notes petroleum engineer Paul Bommer of the University of Texas, Austin. |
U.S. to halt 33 exploration rigs in deepwater review
The U.S. government ordered a temporary halt to drilling at 33 deepwater exploration rigs on Thursday, part of a broader response to the massive BP oil spill that threatens efforts to tap offshore fields seen as crucial to increased U.S. oil output.
The move may potentially delay project development plans by companies like Chevron Corp in the Gulf of Mexico, where rising production has helped offset shrinking domestic onshore supply.
Unlike the administration's six-month extension of its ban on new deepwater drilling permits, and cancellation of a much-anticipated lease sale offshore Virginia, the pause for existing deep-sea exploratory rigs threatens to affect proven oil discoveries rather than untested areas. |
Webcams burnish zoo's animal appeal
Putting a camera into salt water and watching a live feed from that camera is nothing new for researchers at the National Zoo in Washington. |
LEED System Expands to Include Neighborhood-Scale Developments
The U.S. Green Building Council ("USGBC") recently released a certification system for green neighborhood development, known as LEED-ND.[1] LEED-ND expands the well-known LEED system for green buildings to larger-scale projects ranging in size from two buildings to multiple buildings on sites up to 320 acres. The system incorporates the principles of new urbanism, emphasizing mixed-use planning and walkable neighborhoods, and was developed in concert with the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Congress of the New Urbanism. While LEED-ND is primarily designed for neighborhood-scale projects, it may also apply to campus-style developments, such as university campuses, military bases, resort developments, religious retreat centers or summer camps. |
Huge air pollution study under way in California
Instrument-laden aircraft and a research ship equipped to sniff the atmosphere and ocean have joined land-based monitoring stations in a huge field study of air pollution and climate change in California. |
Alaska pipeline company restarts pipeline
The operator of the trans-Alaska pipeline system says it has restarted the 800-mile line idled after a contained spill this week. |
Science News:
First student-built interplanetary mission goes silent
A student-built spacecraft that launched towards Venus last week has fallen ominously silent |
Airborne telescope makes its first observations
SOFIA – a jet with an infrared telescope built into its side – has made its first airborne observations of the night sky |
How short can a planet's year be?
A planet has been found which takes under 18 hours to complete its orbit – but it's probably not the shortest year possible |
Prenatal exposure to BPA and DES may increase breast cancer risk
Exposure in the womb to chemicals like Bisphenol-A (BPA) and Diethylstilbestrol (DES) can increase an offspring's risk of breast cancer, researchers at Yale School of Medicine report in a study published in current issue of Hormones and Cancer, a journal of the Endocrine Society. |
Yale researchers develop test to identify 'best' sperm
Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have discovered a method to select sperm with the highest DNA integrity in a bid to improve male fertility. The method is comparable to that of the egg's natural selection abilities, according to the study published in the June/July issue of the Journal of Andrology. |
Novel protein essential for successful pregnancy
Researchers at Yale School of Medicine and their colleagues at the Society for the Investigation of Early Pregnancy have helped clarify the function of a unique protein called Preimplantation Factor, which is produced by healthy embryos to direct embryo attachment and help the mother adapt to pregnancy. |
Cold sore virus may contribute to cognitive and brain abnormalities in schizophrenia
Exposure to the common virus that causes cold sores may be partially responsible for shrinking regions of the brain and the loss of concentration skills, memory, coordinated movement and dexterity widely seen in patients with schizophrenia, according to research led by Johns Hopkins scientists. |
Gallery: The Tragic Race to Be First to the South Pole
Take a behind-the-scenes tour of artifacts, photographs, replicas and models that give life to the international rivalry that riveted the world's attention 100 years ago. |
Tech News:
First 4G Android Phone Feels Like the Future
It manages to be both a blazing fast internet machine and a frustrating battery-draining succubus. Meet The first 4G Android phone. |
Zuck Likes NYU Facebook Rival: 'I Donated'
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg explains why he donated to four students setting out to dismantle Facebook In an interview with Wired.com. He talks about why faces are so important and where Facebook is headed. |
What to expect from Apple next month
Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference will kick off in early June with a keynote by Steve Jobs, who will most likely unveil the next version of the iPhone. Here's what we think you'll hear. |
Most of us Google ourselves, survey finds
Web search engines make our lives easier: They connect us with what we're searching for in a matter of seconds, and sometimes they bring us to places we didn't even know we were looking for. |
Got questions? Facebook wants to give answers
If Facebook already tells you who's got big plans for this weekend (or what they planted on their FarmVille farm), why not ask it where to grab dinner or whom you should vote for in the next election? |
Space News:
Pale Blue Crescent: Earth Photographed from Deep Space
Two Japanese spacecraft have taken fantastic snapshots of Earth from deep space that reveal our planet in different hues amid a sea of stars. |
Cause of Black Hole Outbursts Determined
NASA's Swift satellite X-ray survey has revealed new supermassive black holes that confirm theoretical ideas about how black hole activity is triggered. |
Mystery Spirals on Mars Finally Explained
Radar reveals the secrets behind a mysterious pinwheel pattern at the Mars north polar ice cap. |
Chasms on Mars
Large sheets of ice and snow form on the poles of both Earth and Mars. On Earth their formation is shaped by ice and water flows. On Mars there is an oddness of spiraling troughs and a giant canyon. What in the climate of Mars does this? Data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have helped scientists solve a pair of mysteries dating back four decades and provided new information about climate change on the Red Planet. |
No Memorial Day Barbecue for Astronauts in Space
While many Americans enjoy a long holiday weekend this Memorial Day, there will be no barbecues for astronauts on the International Space Station. The astronauts are busy preparing for a Tuesday return to Earth. |