Please go to noweasel's comment, with a beautiful poem, posted here.
US News:
Search on for AWOL Afghans from U.S. base
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS |
Some of the 17 Afghan military members who went AWOL while training in Texas over the past 18 months have been picked up or turned themselves in but others are still missing. |
Amtrak train hits van in La; 4 dead
An Amtrak passenger train struck a van at a crossing in southeastern Louisiana on Friday, killing four people in the van, local television stations reported. |
Utah death row inmate executed by firing squad
Convicted killer Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed early Friday by firing squad, the Utah Department of Corrections said. |
Twitter execution comment causes controversy
Comments about the execution of a prisoner — "I just gave the go ahead" — by Utah's attorney general on Twitter were generating lots of comments by others on the microblogging site and in the world of social media. |
Grizzly kills man near Wyoming's Yellowstone park
A grizzly bear killed a Wyoming man outside Yellowstone National Park, apparently just hours after researchers trapped and tranquilized the animal. |
AP: Accused professor attempts suicide
The biology professor charged with killing three Alabama university colleagues in a shooting rampage attempted suicide in jail early Friday, a source told The Associated Press. |
Official: Justice Department plans to sue over Arizona law
Obama administration lawyers are planning to file a legal challenge to a controversial Arizona immigration law within a month, according to a senior administration official. |
Twisters kill three in Minnesota
Deadly tornadoes touched down Thursday in Minnesota, killing at least two people, police said. |
15 million pounds of SpaghettiOs recalled
Campbell Soup Co. is recalling about 15 million pounds of canned "SpaghettiOs with Meatballs" because of possible under-processing, the U.S. agriculture department said. |
World News:
Ethnic Uzbeks fear returning home
Viktor Drachev / AFP - Getty Images |
Ethnic Uzbeks sheltering in squalid tent camps say they don't have enough food or clean water but are terrified of going back to live alongside those they hold responsible for days of shootings, arson and sexual assaults. |
Son kills father who translated for US in Iraq
An al-Qaida-linked insurgent shot and killed his own father as he slept in his bed Friday for refusing to quit his job as an Iraqi interpreter for the U.S. military, police said, a rare deadly attack on a close family member over allegations of collaborating with the enemy. |
Irish town evacuated after 300-pound bomb
British Army experts defused a 300-pound (135-kilogram) bomb left by Irish Republican Army dissidents in a van outside the police station in a Northern Ireland border village on Friday, police said. |
Obama: G20 must cooperate to aid recovery
U.S. President Barack Obama urged G20 countries to accelerate financial reform and strengthen public finances in a letter released Friday before the group's meeting in Toronto. |
Colombian rescuers fight to reach miners
Colombian rescuers struggled against gas and debris to reach more than 50 miners still trapped and feared dead Friday after the country's worst mining disaster. |
China now pressuring Tibetans outside politics
Activist groups say a growing number of Tibetan intellectuals are coming under pressure from authorities determined to squelch all forms of dissent. |
World Cup ref gets roasted
Koman Coulibaly, the hapless referee from Mali who became public enemy number one for American fans due to his often dubious officiating in an unlikely U.S. vs. Slovenia draw, is getting roasted in the real world and online. |
World Blog: Historic Beijing area faces wrecking ball
As Beijing embraces newer, more shiny development, cultural conservationists worry that the city's 800-year-old historic district will soon succumb to the wrecking ball. NBC's Adrienne Mong reports. |
Kyrgyz leader: Death toll much higher
The acting president of Kyrgyzstan said the real death toll in her country's ethnic violence may be 10 times the official count of 191, according to the Russian news website Kommersant. |
Venezuela asks Interpol to arrest critical TV station owner
Venezuela has asked Interpol to arrest the owner of the only TV station still openly critical of leftist President Hugo Chavez, the government announced Friday. |
Portuguese writer Jose Saramago, winner of 1998 Nobel, dies
Jose Saramago, the outspoken Portuguese author who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1998, died Friday at his home on the Spanish island of Lanzarote, his foundation said. |
Car bomb near Baghdad kills 5, injures 52
At least five people were killed and 52 others were wounded in a car bombing north of Baghdad on Friday afternoon, police told CNN. |
Two American troops killed in Afghan insurgent attack
Two coalition service members died in an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan on Friday, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said. |
Poles set to vote for new president
Poles are set to vote Sunday for a new president, following the death of President Lech Kaczinski in a plane crash in April. Kaczinski's twin brother and the acting president are on the ballot. |
Times Square suspect Shahzad indicted
A U.S. grand jury indicted Faisal Shahzad in the Times Square bombing attempt on 10 counts, some of which carry a mandatory life sentence. |
Holloway father urged to delay search
Aruban authorities are urging Natalee Holloway's father, Dave Holloway, to delay volunteer search efforts in her disappearance until police get better information on the case from Peruvian investigators who have spoken to Joran van der Sloot, prosecutor Peter Blanken said. |
Finance News:
Anadarko blasts BP for 'reckless actions'
Anadarko, a minority partner in the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico, blamed BP for "reckless" behavior, seeking to distance itself from the worst oil spill in US history. |
Stocks end higher for second week
Stocks ended a choppy session higher Friday, with the market managing to carve out a second consecutive week of gains as buyers dipped back in after the May sell-off. |
10 fastest growing U.S. counties
These 10 counties have the fastest growth rates in the nation. Would you follow your fellow Americans to one? |
Docs' win on Medicare too late to stop 21% cut
Doctors who receive Medicare payments won a round Friday in their bid for a raise - but first they'll suffer a big cut in their government reimbursements. |
Gold surges to all-time high
The price of gold surged to an all-time high for the second straight day Friday as economic anxiety continued to fuel a rally for the precious metal. |
China buys Greek when no one else will
China is hunting for bargains in some unlikely corners of the world. Earlier this week, it opened its checkbook to make 14 commercial investments inside Greece, which is struggling to avoid defaulting on its mounting debt. |
Health News:
Author: Who will teach my daughters?
Bruce Feiler knew that he might not live to see his twin daughters grow up. He decided to put together a group of men and call them his council of dads. |
OK urged for 5-day 'morning after' pill
An advisory panel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave the green light Thursday to an emergency contraceptive for use up to five days after sex. |
Drug for women who don't want sex?
When Cyndi met her husband at a picnic on the beach nearly 20 years ago, the two had instant physical chemistry. "We would kiss and my hormones would go riding. I'd want it to last forever, more and more and more." |
What does gene testing tell you?
Anyone can go on the Internet and get a panel of genetic tests. But what do these tests really mean for your health -- and do you want to get them? |
Eating more: The key to never dieting again?
As a child, were you encouraged to clean your plate and then go back for seconds? If so, you probably didn't grow up in France, where children are taught to savor the feeling of longing, or envie, for their next course (just think of the cheese!). Our differing notions of satisfaction were examined in a 2006 study of 133 Parisians and 145 Chicagoans published in the journal Obesity. While the French paid attention to an internal cue, the feeling of fullness, the Windy City-ers relied on the external: when their plate was empty; when their companion had finished eating; or when -- quelle horreur! -- the credits started to roll on the TV show they were watching. |
Should public housing projects go smoke-free?
Between puffs of his cigarette, Aristo Lizica explains why he's all for a smoking ban in public housing -- including his own housing project on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. "When you smoke indoors, it hurts everybody," the 59-year-old says, leaning against an iron fence outside his building. "It's better for me to just make myself sick." |
FDA: 'Female Viagra' helps little
A Food and Drug Administration review of data on the effectiveness of Flibanserin -- a pill anticipated to become the first "female Viagra" -- resulted in questions about how well the drug will actually work in treating premenopausal women suffering from low sex drive. |
Kevorkian: 'I have no regrets'
Dr. Jack Kevorkian tells Dr. Sanjay Gupta he still strongly advocates assisted suicide, or, as he calls it, "patholysis." |
Pro-Eating Disorder Websites: First Large-Scale Analysis Conducted By Hopkins/Stanford Researchers
Web sites that promote anorexia and bulimia offer interactive communities where site users can encourage one another in unhealthy eating behaviors, yet the majority of these sites also recognize eating disorders as a disease, according to new research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Stanford University School of Medicine... |
New Complication Of Stem Cell Therapy for Kidney Disease
Scientists who investigated a case of stem cell therapy to treat kidney disease are warning of a new type of complication not seen before, the development of blood vessel and bone marrow masses, the long term effects of which are unknown... |
FDA Fines American Red Cross $16 Million For Blood Safety Failures
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Thursday that it has fined the American Red Cross, one of several organizations responsible for the nation's blood supply, $16.18 million for failing to comply with federal laws and regulations on the collection and manufacture of blood products... |
In Genetically Susceptible Individuals Gut-Residing Bacteria Trigger Arthritis
A single species of bacteria that lives in the gut is able to trigger a cascade of immune responses that can ultimately result in the development of arthritis. Our gut, like that of most mammals, is filled with thousands of species of bacteria, many of which are helpful and aid in the development of a normal, healthy immune system... |
Link Between Low Calcium Intake And Increased Risk Of Osteoporosis And Hypertension In Postmenopausal Women
Italian postmenopausal women who have a low calcium intake show a higher risk of developing both osteoporosis and hypertension (a chronic medical condition in which arterial blood pressure is elevated) than those who consume higher levels of calcium according to research presented at EULAR 2010, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Rome, Italy... |
Environment News:
Foreign help on spill comes with a price
Gerald Herbert / AP |
At least 22 nations — including Britain, where BP is based — have offered oil-collecting skimmers, boom, technical experts and more to help the U.S. cope with its worst environmental disaster. But their generosity comes with a price tag. |
For proud BP employees, a new reality
The green-and-yellow logo that BP employees normally wear with pride is meant to evoke an environmentally friendly sunflower. These days, it feels more like a bull's-eye. |
Part-owner of gushing well calls BP 'reckless'
Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which owns a quarter of BP PLC's blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, on Friday blasted BP "reckless decisions and actions" that led to the well's explosion. |
Survivors: Rig was fire-breathing monster
Daniel Barron III was on the drill floor when the hissing began, a sound that grew so loud, it enveloped the offshore oil rig. A thunderstorm of goo rained down on him: a dirty, slippery mix of oil, saltwater and mud. |
BP CEO Hayward still in control of Gulf oil spill response
BP is clarifying comments Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg made Friday in a broadcast interview, that BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward will relinquish control over the company's daily operations in the Gulf of Mexico. |
Allen: Oil collection rate ahead of schedule
As oil continued gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's ruptured deepwater well Friday, the political firestorm sparked by the environmental disaster showed no signs of slowing. |
The Oddness of Water and Ice
Water is vital for life and how it freezes is very important. For years water (ice) has been known to exist in 15 phases. Subjected to higher pressures and varying temperatures, ice can form in fifteen separate known phases. With care all these types can be recovered at ambient pressure. The types are differentiated by their crystalline structure, ordering and density. There are also two metastable phases of ice under pressure, both fully hydrogen-disordered; these are IV and XII. Ice XII was discovered in 1996. In 2006, XIII and XIV were discovered. Ices XI, XIII, and XIV are hydrogen-ordered forms of ices Ih, V, and XII respectively. In 2009 ice XV was found at extremely high pressures and –143 degrees celsius. Now there is another variation. |
Oceanic Volcanos
Though unseen the ocean floor is a volcanic hot bed where the tectonic plates collide and spread apart. New research reveals that when two parts of the Earth's crust break apart, this does not always cause massive volcanic eruptions. The study, published today in the journal Nature, explains why some parts of the world saw massive volcanic eruptions millions of years ago and others did not.
The Earth's crust is broken into plates that are in constant motion over timescales of millions of years. Plates occasionally collide and fuse, or they can break apart to form new ones. When the latter plates break apart, a plume of hot rock can rise from deep within the Earth's interior, which can cause massive volcanic activity on the surface (sort of like blood from a skin cut). |
Breaking the Cost Barrier on Algae-based Biofuels
It's been a hot topic for a few years now. And certainly the potential for incorporating algae as a key feedstock for future biofuel production is massive. But the sobering fact is that we're at least a good eight to ten years from seeing any kind of real, commercially-ready product... At least at the volumes that could allow for meaningful market penetration. So where does that leave us in the meantime? |
No-Fish area in Gulf expanded again
The area of the Gulf of Mexico closed to fishing has been expanded again by NOAA to capture portions of the oil slick moving beyond the area’s current northern boundary, off the Florida panhandle’s federal-state waterline. This boundary was moved to Panama City Beach.
The federal closure does not apply to any state waters. Closing fishing in these areas is a precautionary measure to ensure that seafood from the Gulf will remain safe for consumers. |
Salt, Genes and Bitterness
Salt is a very common food ingredient and condiment. Many people enjoy the taste. Many doctors do not like because of the potential threat to health and heart attacks. Salt (good old Sodium Chloride) can mask bitter tastes and make food more palatable. Some people are more sensitive to bitter flavors and then tend to eat more salt and have a harder time eating less of it. As experts urge Americans to cut their intake by more than half to 2,300 milligrams (about a teaspoon) of sodium a day or less, insights like these might help identify the people who will may need some other way to mask bitter tastes. |
Monitoring the Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide in the Earth
Global Warming is caused by several factors such as the release of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. One solution to the problem is to capture the carbon dioxide before it enters the atmosphere, and instead, deposit the CO2 into the ground. However, up to this point, scientists have been unable to effectively track how it might move underground. The desire is to get the CO2 in place and not have it move elsewhere and potentially cause problems. Now, with the advent of Electric Resistance Tomography (ERT), developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), tested by the Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SECARB), and funded by the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, sequestration of greenhouse gases may expand. |
Oil spill full of methane, adding new concerns
It is an overlooked danger in oil spill crisis: The crude gushing from the well contains vast amounts of natural gas that could pose a serious threat to the Gulf of Mexico's fragile ecosystem. |
Sea creatures flee spill, gather near shore
Marine scientists studying the effects of the BP disaster are seeing some strange — and troubling — phenomena. |
Fla. homeowners lose beach dispute at high court
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Florida can undertake beach-widening projects without paying beachfront property owners who lose exclusive access to the water. |
Plan addresses Agent Orange legacy in Vietnam
Thirty-five years after the Vietnam War, a $300 million price tag has been placed on the most contentious legacy still tainting U.S.-Vietnam relations: Agent Orange. |
Newsweek: Why aren't Environmentalists up in arms?
As a cap on carbon emissions dies a slow death in the Senate, environmentalists—not known for their optimism—are surprisingly sanguine. |
Obama accuses BP of 'recklessness'
President Barack Obama accused BP of "recklessness" in the first Oval Office address of his presidency and swore not to rest until the company has paid for the damage it has caused. |
Long road from Gulf to grave for oiled refuse
The monumental Gulf oil spill cleanup effort goes far beyond what we see on TV — the oily waste must be catalogued, cleaned and processed before being settled in a final resting place. |
Science News:
Thundercloud gamma rays hint at origins of lightning
Image: Keith Kent/SPL |
Mysterious gamma ray bursts that occur in the first moments of a storm, as lightning jumps between clouds, hint at where lightning comes from |
Young stars found at record-breaking distances
New stellar life found at the Milky Way's edge could be from a cannibalised galaxy |
Rats have an innate concept of space - do humans?
Before rats even open their eyes, their brains have highly developed mechanisms for mapping out their environment – and it looks like ours do too |
How does a fish change its stripe? With Italian design
The neon tetra fish's striking stripe changes colour because tiny plates inside its scales move like venetian blinds |
Fly cells flock together, follow the light
Scientists at Johns Hopkins report using a laser beam to activate a protein that makes a cluster of fruit fly cells act like a school of fish turning in social unison, following the lead of the one stimulated with light. |
NASA watching System 94L over Lesser Antilles for development
Tropical waves can't escape the view of satellites, and System 94L which is associated with a strong tropical wave in western Atlantic Ocean and over the Lesser Antilles is being watched for development. |
Tropical Storm Blas bearing bouts of strong convection in NASA imagery
Tropical Storm Blas is on a west-northwesterly track in the open waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, and a NASA satellite flying overhead noticed some strong areas of convection in the storm. |
NASA's TRMM Satellite sees Tropical Depression 2-E dissipating
The National Hurricane Center issued the final advisory on the Eastern Pacific Ocean's second tropical depression (2-E) on June 17 at 11 a.m. EDT. NASA satellite imagery from mid-afternoon that day revealed the depression's rains were waning, and the heaviest rainfall was over open ocean. As of June 18 Tropical Depression 2-E had dissipated off the coast. |
Therapeutic potential of embryonic stem cells
Scientists at Children's Memorial Research Center at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine investigated the expression of key members of the Nodal embryonic signaling pathway, critical to maintaining pluripotency, in hiPSC and hESC cell lines. Nodal is an important morphogen -- a soluble molecule that can regulate cell fate -- in embryological systems that requires tight regulatory control of its biological function. |
Scientists see billions of miles away
A large group of scientists, including Jay Pasachoff, Bryce Babcock, and Steven Souza at Williams College, reveal the character of one of the most distant objects in the solar system in a scientific paper to appear in the June 17 issue of the journal Nature. In observing the object named 2002 TX300 Oct. 9, 2009, as it passed in front of a distant star, they could tell what its surface is like and its size. |
Children with home computers likely to have lower test scores
Around the country and throughout the world, politicians and education activists have sought to eliminate the "digital divide" by guaranteeing universal access to home computers, and in some cases to high-speed Internet service.However, according to a new study by scholars at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy, these efforts would actually widen the achievement gap in math and reading scores. |
Like fireflies, earthquakes may fire in synchrony
Scientists have well established that big earthquakes can trigger other big quakes by transferring stress along a single fault, as successive earthquakes in Turkey and Indonesia have shown. But some powerful quakes can set off other big quakes on faults tens of kilometers away, with just a tiny nudge, says a new paper. Christopher Scholz, a seismologist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, explains how: the faults are already synchronized, he says. |
Tech News:
Gadget Lab Podcast: E3 Gadgets, Dolby 7.1 Rock the Week in Gadgets
Gadget Lab |
The Gadget Lab podcast returns, with a quick video rundown of the week's top gadget stories, from E3, Apple, Dolby and elsewhere in the world of gear. |
U.S. Testing Pain Ray in Afghanistan
A controversial microwave weapon, long kept from the battlefield, is getting its first war-zone test. But will invisible pain beams really help turn local Afghans against the Taliban? |
6 Genre-Tripping Gunfighters Jonah Hex Must Duel FTW!
With the Jonah Hex movie strafing theaters this weekend, Wired.com ponders the question: How would the grievously scarred comic book character fare in a shootout with other cinematic gunslingers? Let the hot lead (and the lasers) fly. |
Video Gallery: Musical Mad Scientist Concocts Bizarre Instruments, Strange Sounds
Diego Stocco makes music for big-budget films with sand, bonsai and burning pianos. Watch and listen to six examples. |
New tech tries to kill the mouse, keyboard
Goodbye computer mouse, keyboard and monitor. |
Vuvuzela buzz infects app stores and Twitter
The droning honk of the vuvuzela has become the real star of the World Cup -- and now the web. |
It's not just teens who text and drive
Adults are just as likely as teenagers to text while driving, according to a report released Friday by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. |
Why you won't pay for Facebook
Millions of Facebook addicts worldwide worry that someday soon they'll have to pay to use the site. |
Space News:
Hundreds of Possible Alien Planets Found by NASA Spacecraft
NASA's Kepler spacecraft hunting for Earth-like planets around other stars has found 706 candidates for potential alien worlds while gazing at more than 156,000 stars packed into a single patch of the sky. Stringent follow-up checks will determine if they are actually extrasolar planets and not false alarms. |
World's First Solar Sail Photographed in Deep Space
The world's first solar sail, the unmanned Ikaros spacecraft built by Japan, shines in new photos taken by a tiny space camera during a deep space photo session. |
Air Force Sees Hypersonic Weapons and Spaceships in Future
Scramjet and hypersonic tests by the Pentagon, Air Force and NASA may point to the future of travel. |
Spacecraft to Skim Atmosphere of Saturn's Moon Titan
NASA's Cassini spacecraft will get its best look yet at Saturn's biggest moon Titan this weekend when it takes the deepest dip yet into the cloud-covered satellite's hazy atmosphere. Cassini will fly just 547 miles above Titan's surface, closer than ever before. |
Interplanetary Art Smuggler Sought By Moon Mystery Detectives
In November 1969, an interplanetary art smuggler hatched a plot to send potentially priceless works of art to the moon on tiny chips. Now, history detectives hope to solve this moon art museum mystery in a new PBS documentary. |
Amelia Earhart's Watch Reaches Space Station 82 Years After Historic Flight
A watch worn by famed female pilot Amelia Earhart during her historic trans-Atlantic flights reached the International Space Station Thursday, 82 years to the day after its historic first flight. The timepiece is one of several astronaut mementos — including a medal of honor — that flew to orbit with the outpost's three newest crewmembers. |
Lawmakers Demand Documents Behind Human Spaceflight Plan
Lawmakers frustrated with the new plan for NASA proposed by President Obama have requested the documents behind the decision. |
World's Largest Digital Camera Begins Hunt for Killer Asteroids
A new telescope in Hawaii being billed as the world's largest digital camera has begun searching the sky for potentially killer asteroids that could endanger our planet Earth. |