Policy
Could lightning have brought down Air France Flight 447?
Airline officials say that an electrical storm may have been to blame for the disappearance of Paris-bound Air France Flight 447 between Natal, Brazil, and Africa last night.
News Blog
Health
Trekkie triage: Could a new device aid medics?
On Star Trek , medical diagnoses were easy: Dr. McCoy pulled out a tricorder, and named a medical ailment without even laying a hand on a patient. Could a similar – albeit less powerful – device soon aid earth-bound medics?...
Environment
June 12 digital TV deadline approaches--Can crypto tool to foil satellite TV freeloaders?
With counterfeit pay TV smart cards just a click away on the Internet, pay TV providers are constantly looking for new ways to protect their digital content from theft, particularly as the June 12 deadline to switch signals from analog to digital looms...
Space & Physics
Dedicated star-trackers turn up a big planet around a tiny star
Astronomers looking for planets encircling stars outside our solar system—known as extrasolar planets, or exoplanets—are claiming the first planetary detection from a technique known as astrometry, which tracks the location of stars in the sky with great precision...
Public Health
Swine flu strikes New York City flu expert's daughter
On Thursday, Scott Harper, an influenza expert at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, was speaking at a symposium on H1N1 swine flu. With 356 confirmed cases in the city, the recent pandemic has been striking close to home. In fact, it recently struck his home...
Health
Genetic survey finds healthy human skin is crawling with bacteria
Think a good antibacterial hand soap is keeping your skin relatively microbe and bacteria free? You might want to think again.
Scientists and germophobes alike have long known that human skin—from head to toe—is literally crawling with bacteria and microbes...
Environment
Powerful quake rocks Honduras, 4 confirmed dead
A powerful earthquake struck off the Caribbean coast near Honduras this morning, leaving four or more dead on shore, and injuring 40 others.
The magnitude 7.1 earthquake was centered 75 miles north of La Ceiba at 3:24 a.m...
Space & Physics
Space station population about to double
The International Space Station is about to get a lot more international. With a three-person craft en route, the space station's permanent population will double to six tomorrow for the first time...
Environment
Check out UNESCO's newest biosphere reserve ... in North Korea
How should the international community punish North Korea after Monday’s nuclear tests? While the Security Council of the United Nations was busy crafting a resolution to admonish the communist nation, the U.N...
Evolution
New evidence for volcanoes as source of mass extinction
Paleontologists have found more solid evidence that volcanoes likely set off the Guadalupian mass extinction in the Middle Permian about 260 million years ago.
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