A spate of scientific reports released during the two-week meeting provided compelling new evidence that the Earth’s climate is warming. They also predicted dire consequences – from rising sea levels to more severe droughts, floods and storms – unless action is taken to reduce climate-changing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. It is hoped […]
UN Climate Conference Extends Kyoto Protocol
Posted December 8th, 2012 at 12:55 pm (UTC-5)
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Doha Climate Talks Extended
Posted December 7th, 2012 at 11:45 pm (UTC-5)
The U.N. climate talks in Doha were extended into Saturday because delegates remain divided over how to stop climate change and how to pay for it, and how to deal with their differences. The talks were due to end Friday, but negotiators struggled to agree even on more modest issues. Developing countries want to extend […]
US Space Agency Announces New Plans for Mars Exploration
Posted December 5th, 2012 at 5:45 pm (UTC-5)
The U.S. space agency has big plans for the Red Planet. NASA has announced an ambitious multi-year Mars exploration program, looking ahead to meeting President Barack Obama’s challenge to send humans to Mars in the 2030s. NASA administrator Charles Bolden says the seven missions, planned or already under way, will ensure America remains the world […]
Astronaut, Cosmonaut Prepare for Year in Space
Posted November 27th, 2012 at 5:35 pm (UTC-5)
The U.S. and Russian space agencies have selected two men for a one-year mission aboard the International Space Station. Astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will head to the orbiting laboratory on a Russian Soyuz rocket in the spring of 2015, and return to Kazakhstan 12 months later. The mission will include collecting scientific […]
Colony of Microbes Thriving in Dark, Frozen Antarctic Lake
Posted November 26th, 2012 at 5:30 pm (UTC-5)
Where there is water, there is life… even when the water is 13 degrees below zero Celsius and six times saltier than the ocean. A report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes an ancient community of bacteria in the salty, pitch dark and subfreezing environment beneath nearly 20 meters of ice […]
The Nose Knows: Simple Scents Increase Sales, Performance
Posted November 26th, 2012 at 4:10 pm (UTC-5)
Smells can evoke memories. The scent of a certain perfume can prompt visions of a first love, perhaps. Smells can provide comfort, as any practitioner of aromatherapy will tell you. And smells can encourage you to buy something – which is why clever realtors often bake cookies in homes they’re trying to sell. Marketing experts […]
Study: After-School Activities Influence Teens’ Mental Health
Posted November 20th, 2012 at 5:45 pm (UTC-5)
The choice of an after-school activity might lead to better mental health… or depression. The finding comes from two new studies that looked at teens’ extracurricular activities and the youngsters’ states of mind. An analysis of teens involved in arts programs such as music, drama and painting found that they were more likely than teens […]
Happiness May Lead to Wealth
Posted November 20th, 2012 at 1:35 pm (UTC-5)
Money may not buy you happiness, but happiness can improve your financial bottom line. A study by researchers from University College London finds that young people who report a higher level of happiness and satisfaction with their lives earn higher levels of income later in life. The impact is significant: using a 5-point scale, a […]
Ancient Stone Weapons Find in South Africa Pushes Human History Back in Time
Posted November 15th, 2012 at 5:00 pm (UTC-5)
Archaeologists digging at a site on the southern coast of South Africa have found a trove of sophisticated stone tools they believe were made 50,000 years before the technology to create them emerged in Europe and other regions of Africa. The finding, reported in the journal Nature, could mean that the first modern humans evolved […]
Archeologists Identify Oldest Spear Tips
Posted November 15th, 2012 at 4:10 pm (UTC-5)
There is new evidence that early human hunters were attaching stone points to the tips of their spears half a million years ago — 200,000 years earlier than previously thought. A University of Toronto-led team of anthropologists examined 500,000-year-old stone points from a site in South Africa, and determined that they had been used as […]
