Today's Reuters Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Scientists call for rethink on consumption, population
Wed,25 Apr 2012 04:05 PM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have called for a radical rethink of our relationship with the planet to head off what they warn could be economic and environmental catastrophe. In a report published on Thursday by the London-based Royal Society, an international group of 23 scientists chaired by Nobel laureate Sir John Sulston called for a rebalancing of consumption in favor of poor countries coupled with increased efforts to control population growth to lift the estimated 1.3 billion people living on less than $1.25 a day out of poverty. ...
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GSK says it the only obvious owner for Human Genome
Wed,25 Apr 2012 07:16 AM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline said on Wednesday its $2.6 billion bid for long-time partner Human Genome Sciences was "full and fair" and it was the only obvious owner for the biotechnology firm. After releasing disappointing first-quarter results, Britain's biggest drugmaker insisted its $13 a share offer was generous and Chief Executive Andrew Witty played down the possibility of increasing the price. "We absolutely believe that we are the compelling owner for this business," he told reporters in a conference call. ...
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Tech billionaires bankroll gold rush to mine asteroids
Tue,24 Apr 2012 02:58 PM PDT
Reuters -  CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Google Inc executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt and filmmaker James Cameron are among those bankrolling a venture to survey and eventually extract precious metals and rare minerals from asteroids that orbit near Earth, the company said on Tuesday. Planetary Resources, based in Bellevue, Washington, initially will focus on developing and selling extremely low-cost robotic spacecraft for surveying missions. A demonstration mission in orbit around Earth is expected to be launched within two years, said company co-founders Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson. ...
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Worm turns sheep clone to "good" fat: China scientists
Tue,24 Apr 2012 06:20 AM PDT
Reuters -  HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese scientists have cloned a genetically modified sheep containing a "good" type of fat found naturally in nuts, seeds, fish and leafy greens that helps reduce the risk of heart attacks and cardiovascular disease. "Peng Peng", which has a roundworm fat gene, weighed in at 5.74 kg when it was born on March 26 in a laboratory in China's far western region of Xinjiang. "It's growing very well and is very healthy like a normal sheep," lead scientist Du Yutao at the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) in Shenzhen in southern China told Reuters. ...
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SpaceX delays its trip to space station
Mon,23 Apr 2012 05:40 PM PDT
Reuters -  CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Space Exploration Technologies, a privately held firm founded and run by entrepreneur Elon Musk, is delaying its trial cargo run to the International Space Station, Musk announced Monday. "Am pushing launch back approximately a week to do more testing on Dragon docking code. New date pending coordination with NASA," Musk said in a Twitter post. The company, also known as SpaceX, is expected to be the first private company to fly to the $100 billion research complex, which is owned by the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada. ...
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Google execs, director Cameron in space venture
Fri,20 Apr 2012 05:52 PM PDT
Reuters -  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt and billionaire co-founder Larry Page have teamed up with "Avatar" director James Cameron and other investors to back an ambitious space exploration and natural resources venture, details of which will be unveiled next week. The fledgling company, called Planetary Resources, will be unveiled at a Tuesday news conference at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, according to a press release issued this week. ...
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FDA says nanotech may need extra safety tests
Fri,20 Apr 2012 02:20 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators said consumer products that use nanotechnology may have unknown effects on the human body, and advised food and cosmetic companies to further study the safety of these tiny particles. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued two draft guidelines on Friday calling for more studies, putting, for now, much of the onus for safety on companies. The FDA also rejected a consumer group's petition from 2006 that urged a separate category of regulation for nanotechnology due to its "unique human health and environmental risks. ... Full Story | Top |
Pentagon "can manage" satellite imagery cuts
Fri,20 Apr 2012 01:54 PM PDT
Reuters - COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (Reuters) - Top U.S. military officials, grappling with proposed budget cuts for commercial satellite imagery, said new government-owned satellites, manned planes and other equipment can fill the gap. "We believe we can manage that," said Air Force General Robert Kehler, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, which is responsible for U.S. operations in space and cyberspace, referring to a decision to cut funding for orders for imagery from GeoEye Inc and DigitalGlobe Inc. ... Full Story | Top |
Space shuttle Discovery makes final flight to museum
Thu,19 Apr 2012 02:43 PM PDT
Reuters -  CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The space shuttle Discovery made its final voyage on Tuesday: a piggyback jet ride to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum annex in Virginia. The United States retired its space shuttles last year after finishing construction of the $100 billion International Space Station, a project of 15 countries, to begin work on a new generation of spaceships that can carry astronauts to destinations beyond the station's 240-mile-high (384-km-high) orbit. ...
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"Bumblebee" gecko discovered in Papua New Guinea: USGS
Thu,19 Apr 2012 02:02 PM PDT
Reuters -  (Reuters) - A new species of gecko with black and gold bands like a bumblebee and slender toes termed a "striking surprise" has been discovered deep in the tropical forests of Papua New Guinea, the U.S. Geological survey said. The lizard, which measures about 13 cm (5 inches) from head to tail and is covered with rows of skin nodules that make it easier for it to conceal itself on the forest floor, was collected on Manus Island in March, 2010 and described in a report published in the journal "Zootaxa" in April. ...
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Polar bears are no new kids on the block
Thu,19 Apr 2012 11:29 AM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - Polar bears evolved as a separate species far earlier than previously thought, according to a new genetic study, which adds to worries about their ability to adapt in a rapidly warming world. Research published on Thursday found the Arctic's top predators split off from brown bears, their closest relatives, around 600,000 years ago - five times earlier than scientists had generally assumed. ...
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Poland says ETS reform could bankrupt its industry
Thu,19 Apr 2012 09:54 AM PDT
Reuters - COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A European Commission plan to boost the carbon market is unfeasible and could bankrupt Polish companies, Poland's environment minister said on Thursday. European Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard announced a review of the auctioning profile for the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which could limit the number of allowances available and help tackle a glut that has kicked the market to record lows. ... Full Story | Top |
Ford to take slow road on electric trucks: CEO
Tue,17 Apr 2012 08:32 PM PDT
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co will be slower to build electric-powered pickups and other larger vehicles because the batteries to power them are still extremely costly, Ford CEO Alan Mulally said on Tuesday. The second-largest U.S. automaker is now electrifying the platforms used to build compact cars and mid-size sedans, a move that allows Ford to curb costs by building electric, hybrid and gas-powered versions of the same car on a single assembly line. ... Full Story | Top |
Is humanity quietly abandoning a future in space?
Tue,17 Apr 2012 10:30 AM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON, April 17 - As astronaut Leroy Chiao watches the space shuttles he crewed make their final journeys to become museum pieces, he worries humankind is unthinkingly ditching space exploration and a future beyond Earth. After flying its last mission into space last year, the shuttle Discovery arrived Tuesday at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., atop a NASA 747 to enter the National Air and Space Museum at its giant Udvar-Hazy facility in suburban Virginia. ...
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Space shuttle Discovery makes final flight to museum
Tue,17 Apr 2012 09:12 AM PDT
Reuters -  CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The space shuttle Discovery made its final voyage on Tuesday: a piggyback jet ride to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum annex in Virginia. The United States retired its space shuttles last year after finishing construction of the $100 billion International Space Station, a project of 15 countries, to begin work on a new generation of spaceships that can carry astronauts to destinations beyond the station's 240-mile-high (384-km-high) orbit. ...
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