Science Headlines

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02/03/2012 10:22 AM
New map pinpoints Lyme disease risk areas (AP)

This map released by the Yale School of Public Health on Friday, Feb. 3, 2012 shows a map which indicates areas of the eastern United States where people have the highest risk of contracting Lyme disease based on data from 2004-2007. Researchers dragged sheets of fabric through the woods to snag ticks for the survey. The map shows a clear risk across much of the Northeast, from Maine to northern Virginia. Researchers at Yale University also identified a high-risk region across most of Wisconsin, northern Minnesota and a sliver of northern Illinois. Areas highlighted as 'emerging risk' regions include the Illinois-Indiana border, the New York-Vermont border, southwestern Michigan and eastern North Dakota. (AP Graphic/Yale School of Public Health, Maria Diuk-Wasser)AP - Researchers who spent three years dragging sheets of fabric through the woods to snag ticks have created a detailed map they claim could improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease.




02/03/2012 10:20 AM
Unlike Patriots, NFL slow to embrace 'Moneyball' (AP)

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, left, talks with head coach Bill Belichick during practice on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012, in Indianapolis. The Patriots are scheduled to face the New York Giants in NFL football Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)AP - It's advice that sounds like heresy on the gridiron: Go for it on fourth down. Try more onside kicks. Running backs don't matter much.




02/02/2012 03:36 PM
NASA says Russian space woes no worry (AP)
AP - NASA says it still has confidence in the quality of Russia's manned rockets, despite an embarrassing series of glitches and failures in the Russian space program.

02/02/2012 06:41 AM
Sandia Labs engineers create 'self-guided' bullet (AP)

In this undated photo provided by Sandia National Laboratories, a time exposure, a light-emitting diode, or LED, attached to a self-guided bullet at Sandia National Laboratories shows a bright path during a nighttime field test. The New Mexico-based Sandia National Laboratories announced Tuesday Jan. 31, 2012 that its engineers have invented a bullet that directs itself to a target like a tiny guided missile and can hit a target more than a mile away. According to Sandia Labs engineers, the bullet twists and turns to guide itself toward a laser-directed point. Officials say it can make up to thirty corrections per second while in the air. (AP Photo/Sandia National Laboratories)AP - Figuring out how to pack a processor and other electronics into a machine gun bullet has been a challenge for engineers at Sandia National Laboratories, so weapons experts say the miniature guidance system the lab has developed is a breakthrough.




02/03/2012 02:35 PM
Russian Scientists Poised to Reach Ice-Buried Antarctic Lake (LiveScience.com)
LiveScience.com - At a tiny outpost in the middle of Antarctica, Russian scientists are poised to become the first humans to reach a massive liquid lake that has been cut off from the sunlit world for millennia, and may house uniquely adapted life forms that are new to science.    

02/03/2012 03:10 PM
Canada, Alberta seek to assuage oil sands critics (Reuters)
Reuters - Canada will set up a new environmental monitoring system for the northern Alberta oil sands as it seeks to fend off harsh international criticism following revelations that oversight of the huge petroleum development has been insufficient.

02/03/2012 04:52 AM
Kiev blames Moscow for Europe gas cutbacks (AP)

FILE- A gas pipeline worker, checks the valves at the gas pumping station at Pisarevka, Russia, in this file photo dated Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009. European nations, that get much of their natural gas supplies from a trans-Russia-Ukraine pipeline, reported significant cutbacks in supplies Thursday Feb. 2, 2012, although the cut is disputed by Ukraine, as winter temperatures across Europe plunged to record lows. (AP Photo/Svetlana Kozlenko, file)AP - Ukraine's government is blaming Russia for natural gas shortages in some European countries as a severe cold spell grips the region.




02/03/2012 03:31 PM
Space Rock of Love: Asteroid Eros Attracts Skywatchers in Earth Flyby (SPACE.com)
SPACE.com - In 1931, the close approach of the asteroid Eros allowed professional astronomers to calculate its distance and make that era's most accurate measurement of the solar system. As the asteroid passes near Earth this week, amateur astronomers and students from around the world seek to recreate the historical experience.

02/02/2012 08:46 PM
Same Genes Key to Early & Late-Onset Alzheimer's: Study (HealthDay)
HealthDay - THURSDAY, Feb. 2 (HealthDay News) -- People who develop Alzheimer's disease late in life may have the same gene mutations linked to the inherited, early onset form of the condition, according to a new study.

01/30/2012 05:44 AM
AP Enterprise: Monkey owners flee La. crackdown (AP)

In this Jan. 24, 2012 photo, Jim and Donita Clark play with two of their four Capuchin monkeys in the bedroom inside their RV at an undisclosed location near the Louisiana Border in Texas. Even in their Texas hideout, the Clarks are terrified that wildlife agents from their home state of Louisiana will descend on their motorhome and seize the four Capuchin monkeys they've reared for 10 years. Exotic animal owners like them say wildlife agents have been cracking down in Louisiana and around the country after high-profile cases of exotic animals getting loose or attacking people. At least six states have also banned the ownership of wild animals since 2005, and Congress is also mulling tighter restrictions. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)AP - Even in their Texas hideout, Jim and Donita Clark are terrified that wildlife agents from their home state of Louisiana will descend on their motorhome and seize the four Capuchin monkeys they've reared for 10 years.




Space


02/03/2012 10:00 AM
IBEX Spacecraft Intercepts 'Alien' Particles
As it circles Earth, NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer hunts for particles streaming in from beyond the solar system. It has intercepted hydrogen, helium, neon and oxygen atoms. IBEX principal investigator Dave McComas discusses how the abundance of those atoms hints at the Milky Way's composition.

02/03/2012 10:00 AM
Blue Marble: The Making Of
NASA's iconic images of Earth from space date back to the late 1960s--with snapshots taken by Apollo astronauts. The modern "blue marble" images are captured by machines and they're not photos. They're datasets collected by instruments aboard satellites and then translated into imagery on the ground.

02/01/2012 03:35 PM
New Video Sheds More Light On Dark Side Of The Moon
The images from NASA's Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) lunar spacecraft offer a fresh view of the moon's far side.

01/27/2012 10:00 AM
How 'Space Weather' Affects Planes And Power Grids
This week solar flares sent a huge blast of X-rays and charged particles screaming towards the Earth. Solar astronomer David Hathaway and physicist Doug Biesecker discuss the sun's explosive behavior, and how that 'space weather' affects satellites, airplanes and the electric grid.

01/27/2012 10:00 AM
Ancient Skull Holds Clues to Dog Domestication
A 33,000-year-old skull of a "wolf on the way to becoming a dog" was found in a Siberian cave. Evolutionary Biologist Susan Crockford, co-author of a study about the skull in PLoS ONE, discusses why the discovery challenges common beliefs about dog domestication.

Yahoo! News: Space/Astronomy


02/04/2012 05:45 AM
Jupiter-Bound NASA Probe Adjusts Course Toward Giant Planet (SPACE.com)
SPACE.com - A NASA probe on a five-year mission to Jupiter fired up its rocket thrusters this week to better aim itself at the largest planet in our solar system.

02/03/2012 03:31 PM
Space Rock of Love: Asteroid Eros Attracts Skywatchers in Earth Flyby (SPACE.com)
SPACE.com - In 1931, the close approach of the asteroid Eros allowed professional astronomers to calculate its distance and make that era's most accurate measurement of the solar system. As the asteroid passes near Earth this week, amateur astronomers and students from around the world seek to recreate the historical experience.

02/03/2012 12:15 PM
NASA Awash In Astronaut Applications, But Still Lacks Spaceships (SPACE.com)
SPACE.com - NASA may not have space shuttles to launch people into the final frontier anymore, but that hasn't stopped Americans from lining up in droves for the chance to join the agency's iconic astronaut corps during the latest recruitment drive.

02/03/2012 12:14 PM
Earth From Space: The Secret of NASA's Amazing 'Blue Marble' Photos (SPACE.com)
SPACE.com - NASA's newest Earth-watching satellite is beaming back spectacular views of our home planet – huge mosaics of many images stitched together at the highest-resolution yet obtained. But there's a bit of science mojo at work to create the stunning photos.

02/03/2012 07:15 AM
Hubble Telescope Spies Milky Way Galaxy's Twin (SPACE.com)
SPACE.com - An uncanny twin of our own Milky Way galaxy takes center stage in a new cosmic portrait by the Hubble Space Telescope unveiled today (Feb. 3).

Yahoo! News: Dinosaurs & Fossils News


02/01/2012 11:46 AM
NASA Moves to Debunk 2012 Mayan Doomsday Predictions (ContributorNetwork)
ContributorNetwork - The latest end of the world craze concerns the Mayan Calendar that ends a 144,000 day cycle on Dec. 21, the winter solstice. While many people claim this presages the end of the world, NASA is moving to debunk that theory.

01/23/2012 06:40 AM
Mysterious 'Winged' Structure from Ancient Rome Discovered (LiveScience.com)
LiveScience.com - A recently discovered mysterious "winged" structure in England, which in the Roman period may have been used as a temple, presents a puzzle for archaeologists, who say the building has no known parallels.

01/21/2012 01:07 PM
Italy returns 2,000 year-old statue to Libya (AP)

An artifact returned by Italy to Libya, known as the Head Domitilla, which was stolen from Sabratha, Libya in 1990, is seen on display during Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti's visit to Tripoli, Libya, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Abdel Magid al-Fergany)AP - Italy has returned to Libya the head of a 2,000 year-old statue that was smuggled out of the country in the 1960s.




01/20/2012 10:50 AM
Correction: Human Remains-Fight story (AP)
AP - In a Jan. 15 story about Native American human remains, The Associated Press erroneously reported the name of the anthropology museum at UC Berkeley as the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Archaeology. The museum's actual name is the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology.

01/20/2012 09:41 AM
In Jerusalem, national parks seen by Palestinians as a land grab (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor - An Israeli government plan to create a greenbelt around Jerusalem, preserving the ancient city's natural beauty and archaeological wealth, is fueling opposition among Palestinians and their supporters as the project moves into a critical stage.