Obama's Pot-Smoking Detailed
Bristol Palin: I Made A Mistake
Scientist: Evolution debate will soon be history
NEW YORK (AP) — Richard Leakey predicts skepticism over evolution will soon be history. Not that the avowed atheist has any doubts himself.
New telescope to be in South Africa, Australia
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Australia and South Africa will share hosting of a giant radio telescope made up of thousands of separate dishes and intended to help scientists figure out the make-up of the universe, the international consortium overseeing the project announced Friday. South Africa led an African consortium that included Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia, and telescopes will be erected in all its partners. In South Africa, dishes will be added to a remote site in the arid Karoo desert where a smaller radio telescope project already is under way.
Astronauts enter world's 1st private supply ship
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Space station astronauts floated into the Dragon on Saturday, a day after its heralded arrival as the world's first commercial supply ship. NASA astronaut Donald Pettit, the first one inside the docked capsule, said the Dragon looks like it carries about as much cargo as his pickup truck back home in Houston. It has the smell of a brand new car, he added.
Say cheese! NASA Mars rover photographs own shadow
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Even robots like to have fun. NASA's rover on Mars showed off its playful side by snapping a picture of its own shadow. It's the latest self-portrait since the rover, named Opportunity, landed on the red planet in 2004. The photo was taken in March and NASA released it this week. The solar-powered, six-wheel rover was at an outcrop on the rim of a massive crater. The late afternoon sun set the crater aglow and Opportunity waited for just the right lighting to send a postcard back to Earth.
Is China poor? Key question at climate talks
BONN, Germany (AP) — Another round of U.N. climate talks closed without resolving how to share the burden of curbing man-made global warming, mainly because countries don't agree on who is rich and who is poor. China wants to maintain a decades-old division between developed and developing countries, bearing in mind that, historically, the West has released most of the heat-trapping gases that scientists say could cause catastrophic changes in climate.
Global warming winner: Once rare butterfly thrives
WASHINGTON (AP) — Global warming is rescuing the once-rare brown Argus butterfly, scientists say. Man-made climate is threatening the existence of many species, such as the giant polar bear. But in the case of the small drab British butterfly, it took a species in trouble and made it thrive.
Commercial space race gets crowded behind SpaceX
WASHINGTON (AP) — A privately built space capsule that's zipping its way to the International Space Station has also launched something else: A new for-profit space race. The capsule called Dragon was due to arrive near the space station for tests early Thursday and dock on Friday with its load of supplies. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. — run by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk — was hired by NASA to deliver cargo and eventually astronauts to the orbital outpost.
Wanted: Bigfoot hair samples for European study
LONDON (AP) — European researchers are planning to use new techniques to analyze DNA that could help crack the mystery of whether Bigfoot exists. In a project announced this week, Oxford University and Lausanne Museum of Zoology scientists appealed to museums, scientists and Yeti aficionados to share hair samples thought to be from the mythical ape-like creature.
Beam them up: Ashes of 'Star Trek' actor in orbit
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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. Now the three men who made space their lives are also making space their final resting place. Their ashes — and those of about 300 others — were aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket that blasted into orbit Tuesday as part of an in-space for-profit burial business.
What's the big deal about private space launches?
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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: Q: If this is just supplies and no astronauts, why is this launch such a big deal?
