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Commercial spacecraft speeds toward space station
Opening a new, entrepreneurial era in spaceflight, a ship built by a billionaire businessman sped toward the International Space Station with a load of groceries and other supplies Tuesday after a spectacular middle-of-the-night blastoff.
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What's the big deal about private space launches?
The first private spaceship is headed to the International Space Station. Some questions and answers about the cargo mission by Space Exploration Technologies, known as SpaceX:
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Beam them up: Ashes of 'Star Trek' actor in orbit
James Doohan, Scotty from "Star Trek," spent his acting career whizzing through the cosmos. Gordon Cooper was one of America's famous Mercury seven astronauts. And Bob Shrake spent his work life anonymously helping send NASA's high-tech spacecraft to other planets.
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UK virtual orchestra puts you in conductor's stand
A London museum is putting the conductor's baton in visitors' hands, allowing guests to direct a virtual orchestra using three-dimensional motion sensors.more
UK may allow IVF for older women, same-sex couples
A powerful health advisory agency says Britain should extend free fertility treatments to women up to age 42 as well as same-sex couples, recommendations likely to be followed by many of the U.K.'s medical centers.more
Believers Leave Punishment to Powerful God
Believing in an involved, morally active God makes people less likely to punish others for rule-breaking, new research finds.
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Streetlights Lure Beasts of the Tiny Kind
Beware streetlights: A new study finds that well-lit areas of cities and towns are more likely to be home to predators and scavengers.
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Stubby-Armed Dinosaur Was T. Rex of Southern Hemisphere
A newfound giant predatory dinosaur with even stubbier arms than Tyrannosaurus rex may now hint that a vast desert once existed in the heart of a lost supercontinent, potentially barring this carnivore and its kin from spreading across the entire ancient world, researchers say.
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SpaceX's Private Rocket Launch Just Step 1 of Tough Test Flight
NASA and commercial spaceflight pioneers are hailing Tuesday's historic launch of a private spaceship toward the International Space Station, but the successful liftoff is just the first step in a challenging 10-day test flight.
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Astronaut Photographs Solar Eclipse's Moon Shadow from Space
As millions of skywatchers gazed up at a dazzling solar eclipse on Sunday, one astronaut was amazed by looking down at the eclipse's shadow moving across the Earth.
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Scientists turn skin cells into beating heart muscle
LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have for the first time succeeded in taking skin cells from patients with heart failure and transforming them into healthy, beating heart tissue that could one day be used to treat the condition. The researchers, based in Haifa, Israel, said there were still many years of testing and refining ahead. But the results meant they might eventually be able to reprogram patients' cells to repair their own damaged hearts. ...
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Scientists deploy genetics in search for bigfoot
LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists are turning to genetic testing to see if they can prove the existence of the elusive hairy humanoid known across the world as bigfoot, yeti and sasquatch. A joint project between Oxford University and Switzerland's Lausanne Museum of Zoology will examine organic remains that some say belong to the creature that has been spotted in remote areas for decades. "It's an area that any serious academic ventures into with a deal of trepidation ... It's full of eccentric and downright misleading reports," said Bryan Sykes at Oxford's Wolfson College. ...more
Science Fiction Barely Ahead of Space Exploration Reality
Science and space exploration have caught up to science fiction in many ways, producing marvels beyond the imaginings of the visionary writers of the past. Yet there are staples of science fiction that current technology is still leagues away from attaining, and which some doubt can ever be achieved.
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Google provides temporary Cornell science campus
Google on Monday agreed to provide a temporary home to a high-tech science college run by Cornell University in New York City.
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Climate scientists say they have solved riddle of rising sea
Massive extraction of groundwater can resolve a puzzle over a rise in sea levels in past decades, scientists in Japan said on Sunday.
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Malaysia scientist says found new Borneo frog
A Malaysian researcher known for finding new amphibian species said Friday his team had discovered at least one new species of frog in studies he said highlight Borneo's rich biodiversity.
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Science Fiction or Fact: Will Tractor Beams Ever Become Reality?
In this weekly series, Life's Little Mysteries rates the plausibility of popular science fiction concepts.
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Human Genome adopts rights plan to ward off Glaxo
(Reuters) - Human Genome Sciences Inc said on Thursday it adopted a stockholder rights plan as the biotechnology company defends itself against a $2.6 billion (1.6 billion pounds) hostile takeover bid by drug maker GlaxoSmithKline Plc . Human Genome said its board determined the $13-a-share bid by the British drug maker was inadequate and undervalued the company and it recommended stockholders not tender their shares. Glaxo, however, said it plans to proceed with its tender offer and restated its preference to complete the acquisition on a friendly basis. ...
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Space Spiders and Wine: Weird Science Launching on Private Space Capsule
The first private spacecraft ever to launch toward the International Space Station will be carrying a host of student science experiments when it blasts off Saturday (May 19), including projects looking at spiders in space and how microgravity affects wine.
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Human Genome adopts rights plan to ward off Glaxo
(Reuters) - Human Genome Sciences Inc said on Thursday it had adopted a stockholder rights plan as the biotechnology company defends itself against a $2.6 billion hostile takeover bid by drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc. Human Genome said its board determined the $13-a-share bid by the British drugmaker was inadequate and undervalued the company, and it recommended stockholders not tender their shares. ...more