Science News

PANGANDARAN, Indonesia (Reuters) - Survivors of the Java coast tsunami tried to return to normal life amidst the rubble of disaster on Thursday despite aftershocks that continued to spread fear and anxiety.

KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. - A tropical storm warning was issued Thursday morning for southeastern Massachusetts as forecasters said Tropical Storm Beryl was expected to gain speed over the next day.

PANGANDARAN, Indonesia (AFP) - Aid efforts for Indonesian tsunami survivors have intensified, a day after another tsunami alert triggered panic on the country's main island of Java.

NEW ORLEANS - A woman who prosecutors say was killed by a doctor and two nurses in a sweltering, flooded hospital after Hurricane Katrina had suffered from bronchitis but was otherwise in good health, family members said.

PANGANDARAN, Indonesia - Rescue workers dug through the ruins of this tsunami-devastated town in search of bodies Thursday, as frightened locals woke up from a third night spent in hillside camps overlooking the sea. The death toll stood at 531, with more than 270 missing.

KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. - Tropical Storm Beryl gained strength Wednesday as it pulled away from the North Carolina coast and headed toward New England.

With Discovery back on Earth, NASA is confident the orbiter can be turned around in time for a December 2006 launch, though ground crews have their work cut out for them to redress the orbiter for that STS-116 mission.

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.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese vets and dentists are considering implanting three false teeth into a giant panda injured in the wilds of the northern province of Shaanxi, Xinhua news agency said.

LONDON - Lions licked blood-flavored ice blocks in the zoo, judges went wigless in court and guards at Buckingham Palace ducked into the shade.

LONDON (AFP) - Britons endured the hottest July day on record by pouring grit on melting roads, allowing school children home early and giving zoo lions blocks of ice flavored with blood.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Southern California hybrid drivers may soon be weaned further from the petroleum pump by a modification allowing these vehicles to operate almost exclusively in electric mode, according to engineers.

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

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 - After waiting 5 1/2 years to make good on a veto threat, President Bush used his first to underscore his politically risky stand against federal funding for the embryonic stem cell research that most Americans support.

WASHINGTON - The "veto bubble" has finally burst. Five-and-a-half years into his presidency, George W. Bush has ended his record stretch of bill-signings as he rejected legislation Wednesday that would expand federal funding of human embryonic stem-cell research.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A second suspect has pleaded guilty to plotting to blow up a U.S. Forest Service genetics lab and other targets, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES - A renowned geneticist was convicted Wednesday of molesting a colleague's daughter, starting at age 10 when the girl took martial arts classes at his home.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - President George W. Bush used his first-ever veto to block legislation that would have expanded US funding for embryonic stem cell research.

ROANOKE, Va. - The carbon monoxide that killed an elderly man and sickened more than 100 teens and adults staying in a Roanoke College dormitory last week had leaked from a natural gas-powered water heating system, investigators said Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Southern California hybrid drivers may soon be weaned further from the petroleum pump by a modification allowing these vehicles to operate almost exclusively in electric mode, according to engineers.

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.

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.

The Red Sea is parting again, but this time Moses doesn’t have a hand in it. 

Top-level predators strike fear in the hearts of the animals they stalk. But when a deer is being mauled by a wolf, at least it can know that it's giving its life for the greater good.

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.

Studies have long shown that boys in the United States and around the world do not read or write as well as girls. There are several reasons, according to the common wisdom: Girls mature more quickly. Boys are more likely to suffer dyslexia and other reading disorders. Race and poverty play a role.