Nobel honours ‘masters of light’

Three scientists who corralled light to transform our communications systems share this year’s physics Nobel Prize.

The red and the black

As the People’s Republic celebrates its 60th birthday, the gangsterism the communists boasted of vanquishing has staged a comeback

Glaciers disappearing from Kilimanjaro

The ice and snow that cap majestic Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania are vanishing before our eyes.

Swift reaction at MTV Video Music Awards

Was it Kanye being Kanye, or was his outburst something more?

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Venice honour for Pixar directors

September 7, 2009 Entertainment No Comments

The animation directors of Pixar studios have won the Venice Film Festival’s lifetime achievement award – the first team to be given the honour.

Chief creative officer John Lasseter and its other directors are behind hits including Finding Nemo and Toy Story.

Pixar has made 10 films, four of which have won best animation Oscars.

Earlier, Lasseter said he hoped more animations would be put forward for the best picture Oscar now that 10 films will be eligible for the shortlist.
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Lampard praises improved England

September 7, 2009 Sports No Comments

ENGLAND v CROATIA
World Cup qualifier, European group six
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London Date: Weds 9 Sept (kick-off 2000 BST)

Midfielder Frank Lampard believes England are a far more confident team than the one that crashed out of the Euro 2008 qualifiers to Croatia.

Lampard and his team-mates face Slaven Bilic’s side again in a World Cup qualifier at Wembley on Wednesday.

And England will book their place in next summer’s finals if they pick up all three points.
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Japan vows big climate change cut

September 7, 2009 Politics No Comments

Japan’s next leader has promised a big cut in greenhouse gas emissions, saying he will aim for a 25% reduction by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.

Centre-left Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama is due to take over as prime minister on 16 September, after a resounding election victory in August.

His predecessor, Taro Aso, had pledged cuts of only 8%.

Mr Hatoyama said the plan was dependent on other nations agreeing targets at December’s climate talks in Copenhagen.
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Embattled Obama adviser resigns

September 6, 2009 Politics No Comments

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A White House adviser has resigned in a row about crude remarks he made about Republicans, and over his signing of a controversial 9/11 petition.

Van Jones, President Obama’s adviser on green jobs, had issued two public apologies in the past week.

One of the apologies was for signing a petition in 2001, which suggested the Bush administration may have allowed the 9/11 terror attacks to happen.

As he quit, Mr Jones said opponents had “mounted a vicious smear campaign.”

The row that has engulfed Van Jones centred on video of a speech he gave before joining the Obama administration, and a petition that questioned whether the Bush administration “may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war.”
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Jamaican athletes admit to doping

September 5, 2009 Sports No Comments

Four Jamaican athletes have admitted to taking a banned substance.

The four are Yohan Blake and Marvin Anderson, who train with triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt, as well as Allodin Fothergill and Lansford Spence.

“The athletes have admitted they took a banned substance,” said Jamaican Anti-Doping Appeals Tribunal (Jadco) chairman Ransford Langrin.

“We have to decide what is the sanction we apply – the minimum sanction is a reprimand or up to a two-year ban.”

Relay runners Blake, Fothergill, Spence and Anderson as well as Sheri-Ann Brooks were withdrawn by Jamaica from the World Championships in Berlin last month.
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The future of libraries, with or without books

September 5, 2009 Sci/Tech No Comments

(CNN) — The stereotypical library is dying — and it’s taking its shushing ladies, dank smell and endless shelves of books with it.

Books are being pushed aside for digital learning centers and gaming areas. “Loud rooms” that promote public discourse and group projects are taking over the bookish quiet. Hipster staffers who blog, chat on Twitter and care little about the Dewey Decimal System are edging out old-school librarians.

And that’s just the surface. By some accounts, the library system is undergoing a complete transformation that goes far beyond these image changes.
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Carrie Prejean Made a Pact With the Devil (or Perez)?!

September 5, 2009 Entertainment No Comments

Quick, who’s the reigning Miss America?

Don’t feel bad for being stumped. These days, pageant queens are anonymous. If they didn’t wear I.D. sashes, we’d mistake them for your average, everyday breast-implant model.

Except for Carrie Prejean. She’s famous.

Now how did that happen, you wonder? Yes, how did that happen?

Was it a quirk of the YouTube era? A miracle? Or perhaps something else—something else involving a contract, a drop of blood and a dark figure some call Beelzebub?! Or a blogger and a handshake. Same difference.
… Continue Reading

Jackson Family, Liz Taylor, Macaulay Culkin, Lisa Marie Presley Gather for Final Goodbye

September 5, 2009 Entertainment No Comments

At long last, the King of Pop was laid to rest tonight within the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Calif.

Macaulay Culkin and Mila Kunis, Elizabeth Taylor, Lisa Marie Presley, Quincy Jones, Berry Gordy, Gladys Knight, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Corey Feldman, Chris Tucker, Kenny Ortega, Marlon Brando’s son Miko and baseball star Barry Bonds were among those who braved the stifling San Fernando Valley heat to bid Michael Jackson a final goodbye, more than two months after his tragic death at the age of 50.

Rows of white chairs were set up for the mourners on the lawn right outside the mausoleum, which is not visible from the cemetery’s main gate.
… Continue Reading

Contraception myths ‘widespread’

September 5, 2009 Health No Comments

A UK survey has revealed that myths about contraception may be widespread.

One in five women said they had heard of kitchen items, including bread, cling film and even chicken skin, being used as alternative barrier methods.

Others had heard food items such as kebabs, Coca-cola or crisps could be used as oral contraceptives.

The survey questioned 1,000 women aged 18 to 50 and was carried out by market research company Opinion Health, sponsored by Bayer Schering Pharma.
… Continue Reading

G20 pledges tougher bank action

September 5, 2009 Finance No Comments

Finance ministers from the world’s most powerful economies have agreed a series of measures to try to regulate the global banking system.

They want a system that rewards long-term performance rather than short-term risk-taking.

However the G20 meeting in London did not agree on specific limits on the amounts individual bankers get paid.

Britain, the US and Canada opposed the idea, but the Financial Stability Board is to examine the issue.
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Huge head of pharaoh unearthed in Egypt

February 28, 2010

A colossal red granite head of one of Egypt’s most famous pharaohs has been unearthed in the southern city of Luxor, officials said.
The 3,000-year-old head of Amenhotep III – grandfather of Tutankhamun – was dug out of the ruins of the pharaoh’s mortuary temple.
Experts say it is the best preserved example of the king’s face [...]

Octopus snatches coconut and runs

December 14, 2009

An octopus and its coconut-carrying antics have surprised scientists.
Underwater footage reveals that the creatures scoop up halved coconut shells before scampering away with them so they can later use them as shelters.
Writing in the journal Current Biology, the team says it is the first example of tool use in octopuses.
One of the researchers, Dr Julian [...]

25 years on, Bhopal still suffers from gas leak tragedy

December 2, 2009

Bhopal, India (CNN) — T.R. Chouhan walked solemnly through the rusted remains of the Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal, India. “I come here frequently,” he said. “We used to work here, and now this is the condition of the plant. So it feels really bad.”
Chouhan was a 10-year veteran employee of the plant when [...]

Glaciers disappearing from Kilimanjaro

November 2, 2009

(CNN) — The ice and snow that cap majestic Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania are vanishing before our eyes.
If current conditions persist, climate change experts say, Kilimanjaro’s world-renowned glaciers, which have covered Africa’s highest peak for centuries, will be gone within the next two decades.
“In a very real sense, these glaciers are being decapitated from the [...]

‘Lipstick Killer’ behind bars since 1946

October 24, 2009

Dixon, Illinois (CNN) — William Heirens, the “Lipstick Killer,” is believed to be the longest-serving inmate in the United States. He turns 81 on November 15.
Diabetes has ravaged his body, but his mind is sharp.
“Bill’s never allowed himself to be institutionalized,” said Dolores Kennedy, his long-time friend and advocate. “He’s kept himself focused on the [...]

Study: States can’t afford death penalty

October 20, 2009

WASHINGTON (CNN) — At 678, California has the nation’s largest death row population, yet the state has not executed anyone in four years.
But it spends more than $130 million a year on its capital punishment system — housing and prosecuting inmates and coping with an appellate system that has kept some convicted killers waiting for [...]

Odd facts about Nobel Prize winners

October 9, 2009

It’s Nobel Prize announcement week, and if you had Carol W. Greider, Elizabeth Blackburn, or Jack Szostak in your office pool, you’re off to a good start (the trio will share this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine). As we await news of the rest of the winners, here are some stories about past Nobel laureates.
1. [...]

Report: More than 1M preemies die in first month annually

October 4, 2009

(CNN) — More than 1 million babies born prematurely die each year before they are a month old, the March of Dimes said Sunday in the first comprehensive global report on premature births.
The organization suggested the situation could worsen if the rate of premature births increases.
Each year, 12.9 million infants — or nearly 10 [...]

‘Hitler skull’ revealed as female

September 29, 2009

A bone fragment believed to be part of Adolf Hitler’s skull has been revealed as being that of an unidentified woman, US scientists have said.
The section of bone – marked with a bullet hole – was used to support the theory that Hitler shot himself.
Russian scientists said the skull piece was found alongside Hitler’s jawbone [...]

The Secrets Inside Your Dog’s Mind

September 14, 2009

Brian Hare, assistant professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, holds out a dog biscuit.
“Henry!” he says. Henry is a big black schnauzer-poodle mix–a schnoodle, in the words of his owner, Tracy Kivell, another Duke anthropologist. Kivell holds on to Henry’s collar so that he can only gaze at the biscuit.
“You got it?” Hare asks [...]

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Recent Comments:

  • Mad American: I would be willing to bet this project would have been much different if the scientists had to pay for it out of their own pockets. Its so easy to sp...
  • Mad American: Does no one else think this is a rediculous waste of money. We are in a recession, yet we can spend $80 Million to crash into the moon... which may a...
  • Skinny Dipper: Direct NK and US negotiations is a victory for North Korea. From Pyongyang's view, the US will be negotiating with the "one true" Korea....
  • KatieP: Awesome news about women's boxing in the 2012 London Olympics. Australia should field some strong contenders....
  • M Stein: Race is a sociological concept, not a biological category,” This is just a lie. There are readily identifiable clusters of points, corresponding t...

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