Science News

This handout photo from NASA shows David Bashford, right, lead of the LaserMotive team, preparing their robotic climber entry in the $2 million Space Elevator Games at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. In a the test of the concept, robotic machines powered by laser beams will try to climb a cable suspended from a helicopter, on a course 900 meters (2,953 feet) high. (AP Photo/NASA, Tom Tschida)
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AP

Seattle team wins $900,000 in Space Elevator Games

AP - Sat Nov 7, 8:53 AM ET

LOS ANGELES - A Seattle team has collected a $900,000 prize in a NASA-backed competition to develop the concept of an elevator to space — an idea spurred by science fiction novels.

Weather News

  • Storm Ida revives, churns towards Gulf of Mexico Reuters - 47 minutes ago

    MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Ida strengthened back into a tropical storm early on Saturday off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and was moving north toward the Gulf of Mexico, where it could again become a hurricane.

  • A man moves a boat in front of a flooded home near Huimanguillo, Mexico, Friday, Nov. 6, 2009. According to local reports, nearly 200,000 people in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco have been affected by this week's flooding, as more rain fell on the region today. (AP Photo/America Rocio)
    Tens of thousands of homes flooded in Mexico AP - Sat Nov 7, 6:06 AM ET

    VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico - A week of torrential rain has flooded the homes of more than 200,000 people along Mexico's Gulf coast, officials said Friday. Residents in some towns complained that no help had arrived.

  • This NOAA satellite image taken Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009 at 3:45 a.m. EST shows clear skies over much of the East as a high pressure system continues to dominate the area, bringing dry conditions. A mass of clouds east of the Yucatan Peninsula is associated with Tropical Depression Ida. (AP PHOTO/WEATHER UNDERGROUND)
    Ida returns to tropical storm strength AP - Sat Nov 7, 5:00 AM ET

    MIAMI - Ida has become a tropical storm again, with top winds of 45 mph (72 kph), as it swirls in the Caribbean on a track that could bring it to the U.S. Gulf Coast next week.

Space & Astronomy News

  • This handout photo from NASA shows David Bashford, right, lead of the LaserMotive team, preparing their robotic climber entry in the $2 million Space Elevator Games at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. In a the test of the concept, robotic machines powered by laser beams will try to climb a cable suspended from a helicopter, on a course 900 meters (2,953 feet) high. (AP Photo/NASA, Tom Tschida)
    Seattle team wins $900,000 in Space Elevator Games AP - Sat Nov 7, 8:53 AM ET

    LOS ANGELES - A Seattle team has collected a $900,000 prize in a NASA-backed competition to develop the concept of an elevator to space — an idea spurred by science fiction novels.

  • In this image provided by NASA, the Russian segment of the international space station is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 18 crewmember during a spacewalk Tuesday March 10, 2009.
    Space Junk Buzzes Station as Astronauts Sleep SPACE.com - Fri Nov 6, 11:02 PM ET

    A small chunk of space trash made an uncomfortably close pass by the International Space Station late Friday, but not close enough to force the astronauts aboard to take shelter in their Russian lifeboats.

  • Seattle Team Wins $900,000 in Space Elevator Contest SPACE.com - Fri Nov 6, 11:02 PM ET

    A Seattle-based team has won $900,000 in this year's Space Elevator Games, a NASA-sponsored contest to build machines powered by laser beams that can climb a cable in the sky.

Animals/Pets News

  • This October 2002 picture provided by Dr. David Head of the Norton Sound Health Corporation shows the village of Diomede on Little Diomede Island in extreme western Alaska. So many of the 130 residents of the isolated community have been stricken with flu-like symptoms that the Alaska Army National Guard stepped in with a Black Hawk helicopter to transport a medical team there from Nome 135 miles away. The medics arrived Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009 to administer doses of swine flu vaccine and deliver enough medicine to treat every resident if necessary. (AP Photo/Norton Sound Health Corporation, David Head)
    Alaska island village hit by suspected swine flu AP - 1 hour, 57 minutes ago

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Suspected swine flu is sweeping a traditional Eskimo whaling village on a remote Alaska island — prompting an urgent medical mission to deliver help.

  • An elephant that escaped from the Family Fun Circus at the Garfield County Fairgrounds after being spooked caused a vehicle accident Wednesday night, Nov. 4, 2009 as it ran along North the U.S. 81 bypass in Enid, Okla. According to Enid Police Department Sgt. Billy Varney, the couple in the vehicle were not injured. The elephant suffered a broken tusk, a hurt leg and bumps, bruises and scratches, he said. (AP Photo/Enid News & Eagle, Billy Hefton)
    Circus elephant that escaped and was hit by SUV OK AP - Fri Nov 6, 6:28 PM ET

    OKLAHOMA CITY - An animal rights group on Friday asked a U.S. Department of Agriculture agency to look into an owner's treatment of a circus elephant that escaped and was hit by a sport utility vehicle on a northwestern Oklahoma highway.

  • Norway seeks WTO help in disputed EU seal hunt ban AP - Thu Nov 5, 1:14 PM ET

    OSLO - Norway has joined Canada in asking the World Trade Organization to settle its seal hunt dispute with the European Union.

Dinosaurs & Fossils News

  • Scientist Greg Browne sits next to one of six 70 million-year-old footprints found in various locations in the Nelson region. They are the first dinosaur footprints found in New Zealand although bones, mostly vertebrae, have been found in two North Island locations. Browne, a sedimentologist, believes the footprints belonged to sauropods -- plant-eating dinosaurs.(AFP/HO)
    Dinosaur prints found on NZealand's South Island AFP - Sat Nov 7, 12:58 AM ET

    NELSON, New Zealand (AFP) - Scientists have discovered the first evidence that dinosaurs roamed the South Island of New Zealand with 70-million-year-old footprints found in six locations.

  • T. rex's Oldest Relative Discovered LiveScience.com - Tue Nov 3, 8:00 PM ET

    Spanning just 10 feet in length and sporting a tiny horn on its nose, a newly identified dinosaur has become the oldest known relative of the fierce meat-eater, Tyrannosaurus rex. The discovery suggests such tyrannosaurs were quite petite before they evolved into giant killing machines just before their demise.

  • New Dinosaur Built Like a Sherman Tank LiveScience.com - Fri Oct 30, 2:35 PM ET

    A husband and wife team of paleontologists has discovered a newfound species of armored dinosaur that lived 112 million years ago in what is now Montana.

Biotechnology News

  • Gene Therapy for Fatal Brain Disorder 'Just the Beginning' HealthDay - Thu Nov 5, 11:48 PM ET

    THURSDAY, Nov. 5 (HealthDay News) -- The reported success of gene therapy in treating two children with adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) brings hope to patients with the potentially crippling and fatal brain disorder and their families, says a nonprofit group that supports ALD research.

  • Genes Linked to 'Pot' Belly HealthDay - Thu Nov 5, 11:48 PM ET

    THURSDAY, Nov. 5 (HealthDay News) -- New research sheds light on the possible link between the genes you inherit and the size of your belly.

  • Company sequences whole human genome for $1,700 Reuters - Thu Nov 5, 7:24 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Want to know your entire DNA sequence? A California company has done it for as little as $1,700.

Energy News

  • Yemeni soldiers guard the Balhaf plant on the Gulf of Aden. Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries, has joined the international club of gas exporters as pumping started at the newly-built liquefied natural gas plant in the Gulf of Aden.(AFP/Marwan Naamani)
    Yemen joins gas exporters' club AFP - 1 hour, 18 minutes ago

    BALHAF, Yemen (AFP) - Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries, joined the international club of gas exporters Saturday with pumping starting at a newly built liquefied natural gas plant in the Gulf of Aden.

  • Obama Urged to Find Climate Money OneWorld.net - Fri Nov 6, 12:52 PM ET

    WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (OneWorld.net) - Climate analysts are calling on the Obama administration to use an international finance meeting this week to press for a swift end to subsidies for coal, oil, and natural gas companies around the world.

  • Oil experts work on an Iraqi oilfield, north of Baghdad. Exxon Mobil became the first US company to win a contract since Iraq's oil industry was nationalised almost 40 years ago, further expanding the role of foreign nations in the industry.(AFP/File/Karim Sahib)
    Exxon follows China lead in clinching Iraq oil deal AFP - Thu Nov 5, 1:37 PM ET

    BAGHDAD (AFP) - Exxon Mobil on Thursday became the first US company to win a contract since Iraq's oil industry was nationalised almost 40 years ago, further expanding the role of foreign nations in the industry.

Most Popular Science News

  • 10 Failed Doomsday Predictions LiveScience.com - Wed Nov 4, 9:17 AM ET

    With the upcoming disaster film "2012" and the current hype about Mayan calendars and doomsday predictions, it seems like a good time to put such notions in context.

  • File picture of a seismograph. A 4.9-scale earthquake struck the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas early Wednesday injuring at least 209 people, according to the official news agency Irna(AFP/File/Nicolas Asfouri)
    Recent Midwest Quakes Called Aftershocks from 1800s LiveScience.com - Wed Nov 4, 1:17 PM ET

    The small earthquakes that sporadically rattle the central United States may actually be aftershocks from a few extremely large quakes that occurred in the region almost 200 years ago, according to a new study

  • Device Like 'Star Trek' Replicator Might Fly on Space Station SPACE.com - Thu Nov 5, 8:39 AM ET

    Space explorers have yet to get their hands on the replicator of "Star Trek" to create anything they might require. But NASA has developed a technology that could enable lunar colonists to carry out on-site manufacturing on the moon, or allow future astronauts to create critical spare parts during the long trip to Mars.