By MIKE SCHNEIDER on Nov 21, 2008 02:12AM

Shuttle, astronauts prep for mid-mission reboost

HOUSTON (AP) -- Astronauts at the international space station prepared to work on a urine-recycling contraption and re-fire the space shuttle's thrusters Friday, before enjoying a half-day off to reboost their own energy....

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA on Nov 20, 2008 07:01PM

Scientists say Copernicus' remains, grave found

WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Researchers said Thursday they have identified the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus by comparing DNA from a skeleton and hair retrieved from one of the 16th-century astronomer's books. The findings could put an end to centuries of speculation about the exact resting spot of Copernicus, a priest and astronomer whose theories identified the Sun, not the Earth, as the center of the universe....

By JACOB ADELMAN on Nov 21, 2008 03:11AM

Urban growers go high-tech to feed city dwellers

POMONA, Calif. (AP) -- Terry Fujimoto sees the future of agriculture in the exposed roots of the leafy greens he and his students grow in thin streams of water at a campus greenhouse....

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID on Nov 20, 2008 01:32PM

Study shows messiness leads to behavior decline

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Does a messy neighborhood make a difference on how people act? It sure does! Graffiti on the walls, trash in the street, bicycles chained to a fence, all resulted in a decline in how people behaved in a series of experiments....

By MARCIA DUNN on Nov 20, 2008 02:59PM

Happy Birthday: Space station celebrates 10 years

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- NASA couldn't have staged it any better: 10 people in orbit for Thursday's 10th anniversary of the world's most elaborate and expensive housing project, the international space station....

Nov 20, 2008 01:31PM

Winter forecast looks mixed across nation

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Winter looks likely to be mild in the Midwest and dry in the Southeast, the government said Thursday. Warmer-than-average temperatures are expected for the nation's center, especially Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration....

By STEVE WEIZMAN on Nov 19, 2008 10:23PM

Herod may have been buried among lavish artwork

HERODIUM, West Bank (AP) -- King Herod may have been buried in a crypt with lavish Roman-style wall paintings of a kind previously unseen in the Middle East, Israeli archaeologists said Wednesday. The scientists found such paintings and signs of a regal two-story mausoleum, bolstering their conviction that the ancient Jewish monarch was buried there....

By MIKE STARK on Nov 20, 2008 04:03AM

Invasive mussel confirmed in Utah's Electric Lake

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Trouble-making zebra mussels have arrived in Utah. But not where they were expected to show up....

Nov 21, 2008 06:00PM

'4-D' Microscope Revolutionizes The Way We Look At Nano World

More than a century ago, the development of the earliest motion picture technology made what had been previously thought "magical" a reality: capturing and recreating the movement and dynamism of the world around us. A breakthrough technology based on new concepts has now accomplished a similar feat, but on an atomic scale by allowing, for the first time, the real-time, real-space visualization of fleeting changes in the structure and shape of matter barely a billionth of a meter in size.

Nov 21, 2008 06:00PM

Children Of Centenarians Live Longer, Have Lower Risk Of Heart Disease, Stroke, Diabetes

Centenarian offspring (children of parents who lived to be at least 97 years old) retain important cardiovascular advantages from their parents compared to a similarly-aged cohort.

Nov 21, 2008 06:00PM

Research Finds Way To Double Rice Crops In Drought-stricken Areas

New research has yielded a way to double the output of rice crops in some of the world's poorest, most distressed areas.

Nov 21, 2008 06:00PM

Calorie Restriction And Exercise Show Breast Cancer Prevention Differences In Postmenopausal Women

Scientists have identified pathways by which a reduced-calorie diet and exercise can modify a postmenopausal woman's risk of breast cancer.

Nov 21, 2008 06:00PM

New Method For Tracing Metal Pollution Back To Its Sources

A new way of pinpointing where zinc pollution in the atmosphere comes from could improve pollution monitoring and regulation, according to new research.

Nov 20, 2008 11:00PM

Solar Wind Rips Up Martian Atmosphere

The solar wind appears to be ripping big chunks of air from the atmosphere of Mars. This could help solve a longstanding mystery about the Red Planet.

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Nov 18, 2008 11:00PM

Discovered: Cosmic Rays from a Mysterious, Nearby Object

An international team of researchers has discovered a puzzling surplus of high-energy electrons bombarding Earth from space. The source of these cosmic rays is unknown, but it must be close to the solar system and it could be made of dark matter.

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Nov 12, 2008 11:00PM

Hubble Directly Observes a Planet Orbiting Another Star

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has taken the first visible-light snapshot of a planet circling another star. The planet, called 'Fomalhaut b', orbits the bright southern star Fomalhaut, located 25 light-years from Earth.

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Nov 09, 2008 11:00PM

NASA Begins Hunt for New Meteor Showers

NASA astronomers have set up a monitoring station to scan the night sky for unknown or unexpected meteor showers--and they're finding more than they bargained for.

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Nov 06, 2008 11:00PM

Solar Cycle Update: The Sun Shows Signs of Life

A surge of new-cycle sunspots in October may signal the beginning of the end of the ongoing solar minimum.

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Nov 19, 2008 05:00PM

WEEK IN PHOTOS: Puppy Smuggling, California Fires, More

Smuggled puppies, raging fires, a Sistine ceiling, and more in the week's best news photos.

Nov 19, 2008 05:00PM

Invisibility Cloak "Feasible Now"

Scientists are one step closer to creating a Harry Potter-like invisibility cloak. But when we'll be able to hide under the high-tech garments is a matter of "will and money," experts say.

Nov 19, 2008 05:00PM

Buried Mars Glaciers May Be Remnants of Past Ice Age

Sloping features at Mars's mid-latitudes are the largest bulk of water ice not at the poles and could be leftover from past climate changes, radar data suggest.

Nov 18, 2008 05:00PM

Superdirt Made Lost Amazon Cities Possible?

Long seen as myth, an ancient Amazon civilization may have been fueled by a man-made soil. Scientists are racing to recreate the recipe, which they say might fight hunger and global warming.

Nov 18, 2008 05:00PM

Mammoth Genome Decoded -- Clones on the Way?

The first genetic blueprint from an extinct animal could reveal what separates the fuzzy giants from elephants?and may open the door to a "resurrection."

AFP on Nov 21, 2008 08:25AM

Einstein's E=MC2 Proven Thanks to Quarks

Scientists calculating the weight of particles prove Einstein's famous formula is right on.

Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News on Nov 21, 2008 08:35AM

BLOG: 'Dance Your Ph.D.' Winners Announced

Researchers perform interpretative dances illustrating their research.

Irene Klotz, Discovery News on Nov 21, 2008 07:25AM

NASA Narrows List of Next Mars Landing Sites

Potential signs of life is the priority as NASA decides among four Mars landing sites.

Irene Klotz, Discovery News on Nov 20, 2008 01:58PM

Space Station at 10: Much Teamwork, Less Science

A look at what value the International Space Station has offered after 10 years.

AFP on Nov 20, 2008 12:58PM

Vast Frozen Water Reserves Found on Mars

Underground reservoirs of frozen water on Mars suggest the planet could sustain life.

Renay San Miguel on Nov 21, 2008 05:00AM

Bond Goes Commercial: Quirky Gadgets Out, Product Placements In

The history of James Bond films is the history of our fascination with technology: booby-trapped briefcases, jetpacks, cars with machine guns and ejector seats, super-magnet watches, cars driven by remote control, acid-filled fountain pens, cars that become invisible, sharks with frickin' lasers...

Jason Z. Cohen on Nov 21, 2008 05:00AM

No Love, but Plenty of Like, for the G1

I've been using a T-Mobile G1 for about a month now, and while it's the best phone I've ever owned (yes, I bought it), I haven't yet found myself saying "I love this phone." I like it plenty, don't get me wrong, but like any device, it's got things about it that are frustrating and other things that are pretty cool.

Chris Maxcer on Nov 21, 2008 05:00AM

Mac Bloggers Dig Psystar's Grave, Decry DRM, Defend Apple TV

There's a lot of great Apple-focused news hitting the blogosphere this week, including rumors that Apple's next OS X version, Snow Leopard, could hit in the first quarter of 2009 -- and that Apple may be waiting on Intel to deliver Core 2 Quad processors for its next revision to the iMac line.

Erika Morphy on Nov 20, 2008 03:52PM

IBM, Academics Seek to Create a Computer That's More Like Us

IBM and five universities are receiving funding from a government agency to build a supercomputer -- but not just any supercomputer. They've been tasked with building hardware and software that mimics the human brain. "There are no computers today that can even remotely approach the robust and versatile functionality of the brain," said Dharmendra Modha of IBM Research.

Renay San Miguel on Nov 20, 2008 02:29PM

MySpace Suicide Case Exposes Legal Gap

So far, the testimony in the Lori Drew cyber-bullying trial, which began Wednesday in Los Angeles, has generated headlines for its inherent drama and tragedy: the mother of a teenage daughter, accused of using the MySpace social network to stage an elaborate hoax that ends with the suicide of a troubled 13-year-old classmate, Megan Meier.