Science News

RALEIGH, N.C. - Tropical Storm Beryl headed north Wednesday, with the worst of its rain and wind remaining several miles off the North Carolina coast.

MIAMI (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Beryl, the second of what is expected to be a busy 2006 Atlantic hurricane season, moved north on Wednesday and forecasters said they likely would discontinue a storm watch for North Carolina later in the morning.

JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesians on the coasts of west Java and south Sumatra should be on alert for a tsunami after a 6.2-magnitude quake struck undersea at 5:57 pm (1057 GMT), a meteorology official has said.

PANGANDARAN, Indonesia - Rumors of another killer wave sparked mass panic Wednesday in the town hardest hit by the Indonesian tsunami, and amateur video that captured some of the horror of the disaster surfaced. The death toll rose to 531, with more than 270 missing.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Tall buildings swayed as an earthquake struck the Indonesian capital and nearby parts of Java island on Wednesday, sowing fear two days after an undersea quake triggered a tsunami on the southern coast, witnesses said.

JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesians on the coasts of west Java and south Sumatra should be on alert for a tsunami after a 6.2-magnitude quake struck undersea at 5:57 pm (1057 GMT), a meteorology official has said.

BEIJING (AFP) - China plans to embark on an ambitious space exploration program that will see it focusing on Mars as well as the moon, a senior space agency official was quoted as saying.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's space exploration plans include not only missions to the Moon but also Mars, the official Xinhua news agency on Wednesday cited a government official as saying.

HOUSTON - With a bit of poetic flair, space shuttle Discovery's astronauts thanked several hundred people Tuesday who welcomed them home to Texas.

WASHINGTON - A former senior NASA manager pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography from his government and home computers, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

LONDON (AFP) - The BBC defended a controversial television show it is developing in which celebrities try to adopt a child.

PEWAUKEE, Wis. - A small monkey made its way into a woman's home but disappeared into a nearby marsh when an officer tried to corral it, authorities said Monday.

SYDNEY, Australia - A man caught with six eggs from endangered species in his underwear as he was preparing to fly to Bangkok was fined 25,000 Australian dollars ($20,000) Monday by a judge who rejected his claim that he only wanted to surprise his girlfriend.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Hundreds of laboratory mice and rats died when a power outage at Ohio State University produced sent room temperatures soaring as high as 105 degrees, the school said.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese vets are seeking panda plasma to donate to a giant panda found with a fractured skull and broken legs, probably after a fall into a ravine, state media said Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a plan to increase the state's production of biofuels in hopes of reducing dependency on imported fossil fuels.

SALT LAKE CITY - A National Park Service visitor center that was built over a dinosaur bone quarry has been deemed unsafe and closed indefinitely.

SYDNEY, Australia - Before there were cuddly koalas, hoards of flesh-eating kangaroos, "demon ducks," and marsupial lions roamed Australia's Outback, according to recent fossil discoveries by paleontologists.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Fuels produced from corn and soybeans offer clear economic and environmental advantages over fossil fuels but scientists should still work to develop even cleaner alternative energy sources that do not sap the world's food supplies, a study said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - High crude oil prices will more than offset the benefits of debt relief the Group of Eight rich nations gave to poor countries last year, and this year the G8 will make the situation worse by promoting more investment in fossil fuels, a new report warned on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - President George W. Bush is expected to use his power of veto for the first time since he took office to stop the US Congress from expanding funding for stem cell research.

CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Debi Martin is a Christian, a Republican and opposes abortion but she is ready to vote against the party in November if President George W. Bush and congressional Republicans limit stem cell research.

WASHINGTON - With votes this week on gay marriage, stem cell research and the Pledge of Allegiance, the Republican-controlled Congress is systematically working through an agenda of conservative causes, eager to mobilize hard-core voters in the months before the midterm elections.

WASHINGTON - Pleadings from celebrities, a former first lady and fellow Republicans did not move President Bush from his determination to reject, with the first veto of his presidency, a bill expanding federally funded embryonic stem cell research.

MADISON, Wis. - In the birthplace of embryonic stem cell research, debate rages on over the morality of using human embryos to look for cures to diseases.

ABUJA (Reuters) - The latest spike in oil prices to near $80 a barrel is "very uncomfortable" and is hurting the world economy, the president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on Wednesday.

NEW YORK, Jul 18 (OneWorld) - Leaders of the world's industrial nations have drawn fire from international civil society groups after they embraced an energy plan that favors continued reliance on oil and other fossil fuels with no hint of any solid steps to deal with the impending threat of climate change.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Japanese automaker Toyota plans to expand its hybrid offerings in the United States as it struggles to meet demand for its popular Prius car, its top US executive said.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Ample supplies of hydroelectricity, imported power from nearby states, and new generation from in-state plants helped to ease the strain on the California grid on Tuesday, power officials said.

NEW YORK - Broiling temperatures in the 90s and beyond gripped large swaths of the country Monday, sending people scrambling for the shade and prompting officials to open air-conditioned buildings and take to the streets to rescue the homeless and elderly.

NORFOLK, Va. - Fire ants are showing up in greater numbers in coastal Virginia, much to the alarm of gardeners and farmers who dare disturb their nests.

TOKYO - Japan is planning ultra long-range 30-year weather forecasts that will predict typhoons, storms, blizzards, droughts and other inclement weather, an official said Tuesday.

Once upon a time, a 2-ton wombat lumbered across the Australian Outback. Around the same time, mammoths and saber-toothed tigers had the California coastline all to themselves.

SHEPPERTON, England - "All up!" goes a cry, and the scarlet-clad boatmen close in on the family of swans.

LOS ANGELES - As many as 1.5 million people are sickened by bacterial pollution on Southern California beaches each year, resulting in millions of dollars in public health care costs, a new study has found.