New Material Could Expand Applications And Lower Costs For Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

A new ceramic material could help expand the applications for solid oxide fuel cells -- devices that generate electricity directly from a wide range of liquid or gaseous fuels without the need to separate hydrogen.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Oct 2009 | 3:00 pm

Scientists Visualize Assembly Line Gears In Ribosomes, Cell's Protein Factory

Even as research on the ribosome, one of the cell's most basic machines, is recognized with a Nobel Prize, scientists continue to achieve new insights on the way ribosomes work. For the first time, scientists have a detailed picture of the ribosome trapped together with elongation factor G (EF-G), one of the enzymes that nudges the assembly line to move forward.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Oct 2009 | 3:00 pm

Findings About Veracity Of Peripheral Vision Could Lead To Better Robotic Eyes

Psychology researchers have found that peripheral vision is most important for telling us what type of scene we're looking at. Examining how people take in scene information paves the way for building better robots.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Oct 2009 | 3:00 pm

Norwegian Wood For The Ages: 'Mummified' Pine Trees Found

Norwegian scientists have found "mummified" pine trees, dead for nearly 500 years yet without decomposition.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Oct 2009 | 3:00 pm

Could The Hot Stuff In Chili Peppers Ease Your Tingling Nerve Pain?

Millions of people suffer peripheral pain and other troubling sensations accompanying diseases as varied as diabetes, AIDS, shingles and arthritis. Cancer patients also often suffer these so-called peripheral neuropathies because of their therapies. For afflicted patients, a new review suggests, although not strongly, that four of 10 people could experience some pain relief from topical capsaicin cream. Capsaicin is the active component of chili peppers.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Oct 2009 | 3:00 pm

H1N1 Simulation Modeling Shows Rapid Vaccine Rollout Effective In Reducing Infection Rates

Early action, especially rapid rollout of vaccines, is extremely effective in reducing the attack rate of the H1N1 influenza virus, according to a simulation model of a pandemic outbreak.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Oct 2009 | 3:00 pm

Those With Severe H1N1 At Risk For Pulmonary Emboli, Researchers Find

Researchers have found that patients with severe cases of the H1N1 virus are at risk for developing severe complications, including pulmonary emboli, according to a new study.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am

Global Surface Temperature Was Second Warmest For September

The combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the second warmest September on record, according to NOAA. Scientists also reported that the average land surface temperature for September was the second warmest on record, behind 2005. Additionally, the global ocean surface temperature was tied for the fifth warmest on record for September.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am

No Such Thing As 'Junk RNA,' Say Researchers

Tiny fragments of RNA previously dismissed as cellular junk are actually stable molecules that play a significant role in gene regulation, say researchers. The findings represent the first examination of very small RNA products and could lead to the development of biomarkers to detect and monitor cancer.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am

Do Three Meals A Day Keep Fungi Away? Protective Effect Of Being Warm-blooded

The fact that they eat a lot -- and often -- may explain why most people and other mammals are protected from the majority of fungal pathogens, according to new research.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Oct 2009 | 9:00 am

The nation's weather (AP)

AP - A low pressure system off the Eastern seaboard is continuing to pump cold air into the eastern third of the nation. The storm may stay just far enough out in the Atlantic to spare the Northeast its most fierce weather, but significant precipitation is expected along the New England coast.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 18 Oct 2009 | 4:21 am

Cargo craft docks with space station (AP)

AP - A cargo ship has delivered food, fuel, oxygen and other supplies to the International Space Station.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 18 Oct 2009 | 3:35 am

Moderate quake hits Indonesia (AFP)

Seismograph readings. A moderate, 5.8 magnitude quake has struck off Indonesia's Sulawesi island, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued.(AFP/File)AFP - A moderate, 5.8 magnitude quake struck off Indonesia's Sulawesi island Sunday, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued.



Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 18 Oct 2009 | 3:16 am

Iraqi honey industry battling to regain its buzz (AFP)

An Iraqi beekeeper is seen attending to his bees at the College of Agriculture, western Baghdad. Honey production in Iraq went through difficult times in the past few years due to environmental challenges, such as water shortages, and security issues that limited access to the hives.(AFP/File/Ahmad al-Rubaye)AFP - Iraq's once-flourishing honey industry is struggling to revive itself, hit by long-term environmental degradation and six years of unrest that followed the 2003 US-led invasion.



Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 18 Oct 2009 | 12:59 am

NASA photos show moon strike created plume (AP)

In this Oct. 9, 2009 image provided by NASA, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Diviner instrument captured infrared observations of the LCROSS impact. LRO flew by the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Centaur impact site 90 seconds after impact at a distance of ~80 km. New images show a mile-high (1.6 kilometer-high) plume of lunar debris from the Cabeus crater shortly after the space agency's Centaur rocket struck Oct. 9.(AP Photo/NASA)AP - NASA's much-hyped mission to hurl a spacecraft into the moon turned out some worthwhile data after all, scientists said.



Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 17 Oct 2009 | 11:56 pm

Biggest economies try again to strike climate deal (AP)

A Greenpeace activist fixes a poster at the landmark Victory Column in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Oct. 16, 2009. Poster reads: 'In Copenhagen 2009, make history Mrs. Merkel, save the climate'. The World Climate Change conference will take place in the Danish capital in December. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)AP - Representatives of the world's 17 biggest and most polluting nations gather Sunday to search for a breakthrough on financing efforts to contain climate change and reduce gas emissions causing global warming.



Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 17 Oct 2009 | 11:26 pm

Pakistan army faces black hole in Waziristan (AFP)

Pakistan soldiers on patrol during a curfew in Bannu, a town on the edge of Pakistan's lawless tribal belt South Waziristan on October 17. Pakistan pounded Taliban bases from the air and bore down on their leader's hometown on Sunday, intensifying a major offensive against the Islamists which it said had killed 60 militants.(AFP/Karim Ullah)AFP - Pakistan's military faces near impossible odds to smash Taliban networks in South Waziristan on impenetrable terrain infested with some of the most dangerous militants in the world, analysts say.



Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 17 Oct 2009 | 11:20 pm

New Robot Delivers Snacks (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Robotics researchers at Carnegie Mellon University get hungry at work just like you do. Unlike you, however, they can create robot minions to bring them food. Their latest creation is Snackbot, an autonomous mobile robot whose mission is to bring tasty treats.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 17 Oct 2009 | 10:22 pm

Climate concerns turn city's smell into cash cow (AP)

This Aug. 25, 2009 photo shows an artist's drawing of a proposed ethanol plant, pictured in the office of Great Western Ethanol in Greeley, Colo. In a shift driven partly by legislation in Congress that would reduce the gases linked to global warming, communities are looking anew at power sources that may exist in their own backyards. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)AP - The smell of manure hangs over Greeley as it has for half a century.



Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 17 Oct 2009 | 10:00 pm

UK looks to break climate logjam

The UK hopes to bridge divides over tackling climate change at a meeting representing the world's major economies in London.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 17 Oct 2009 | 5:05 pm

Iraq approves oil deal with BP-led consortium (AP)

File - The BP (British Petroleum) logo is seen at a gas station in Washington, in this Oct. 25, 2007 file photo. Iraq's government Saturday Oct. 17, 2009 approved an oil deal with a consortium led by British giant BP PLC to develop a prized oil field in the south. BP and its partner China's CNPC were the only winners in Iraq's first international oil auction in over 30 years in June for development rights for the 17.8 billion-barrel Rumaila field. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)AP - The Iraqi government said Saturday it has approved a contract with a British-Chinese consortium to develop a prized oil field in southern Iraq, a significant achievement for a country that has struggled to attract foreign investors despite its vast natural resource wealth.



Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 17 Oct 2009 | 2:59 pm

25 Amazing Ancient Beasts

Incredible creatures discovered in recent years, artfully rendered.
Source: Livescience.com | 17 Oct 2009 | 8:13 am

New Robot Delivers Snacks

Snackbot is an autonomous mobile robot whose mission is to bring tasty treats.
Source: Livescience.com | 17 Oct 2009 | 7:10 am

Maldives cabinet makes a splash

Maldives government ministers hold an underwater cabinet meeting to highlight the effects of global warming.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 17 Oct 2009 | 3:13 am

'Toxic waste' report gag lifted

Lawyers for oil trading firm Trafigura end attempts to keep secret a report about toxic waste dumping in the Ivory Coast.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 17 Oct 2009 | 3:10 am