Weaver ants help flowers get the best pollinator

MOST flowers don't want pesky ants hanging around scaring away would-be pollinators. Not so the Singapore rhododendron - the first flower found to recruit ants to chase poor pollinators away. Francisco Gonzálvez at EEZA, the arid...

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Rugby: England end All Blacks' unbeaten run

LONDON: England ended world champions New Zealand's 20-match unbeaten run with a stunning 38-21 victory at Twickenham on Saturday.Tries from Brad Barritt, Chris Ashton and Manu Tuilagi helped England, who had been 15-0 up early in the second half, stave off an All Blacks fightback that saw the visitors close to within a point at 15-14.This was England's record margin of victory over the...

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Hsu Research's overachieving home theater speakers

I recently wrote about a Hsu Research subwoofer, "Shaken & stirred: The Hsu VTF-1 MK2," but today I'll cover a complete Hsu 5.1 channel sub/satellite system. There are four HB-1 MK2 sats, one HC-1 MK2 center channel speaker, and the VTF-1 MK2 sub. The six pieces sell for $1,159, and the sound is truly astonishing for the money. ADenon AVR-1912 receiver and an Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray player completed...

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Photos: Kilauea Lava Reaches the Sea

Into the Sea Photograph by Hugh Gentry, ReutersA spectacular natural phenomenon was on display early this week as lava from a vent in Hawaii's Kilauea volcano flowed into...

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Obama: Don't Hold Middle-Class Tax Cuts Hostage

Dec 1, 2012 6:00am AP Photo/Charles DharapakPresident Obama is urging Congress to extend tax breaks for the middle class, saying it’s “unacceptable for some Republicans in Congress to hold middle class tax cuts hostage simply because they refuse to let tax rates go up on the wealthiest Americans.”With the clock ticking toward the so-called “fiscal cliff,” Obama asked...

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Dinosaurs might have once gazed into the Grand Canyon

Joanna Carver, reporter(Image: John Burcham/NGS)Picture the scene. It's late in the Cretaceous period, 70 million years ago. A group of dinosaurs have gathered at the rim of what will become known as the Grand Canyon. They're gawping over the edge, just as humans will in millennia to come.That might not be complete fantasy. It had been thought that the canyon formed 6 million years ago. But now...

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US Senate approves new sanctions on Iran

WASHINGTON: The US Senate unanimously approved new economic sanctions Friday aimed at further crippling Iran's energy, shipping and port sectors, a year after Congress passed tough restrictions against Tehran.The amendment, tacked on to a sweeping defense spending bill being debated by the chamber, passed 94-0 and should sail through the House of Representatives.It was introduced by Senator...

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Windows 8 slower out of gate than Windows 7, says report

Windows 8 is playing second fiddle toWindows 7, at least in Internet traffic, according to data out today from StatCounter.Over the four-week period ending November 26,Windows 8 had grabbed a worldwide Internet usage share of just 1.31 percent, the Web traffic firm said.In comparison, Windows 7 had achieved a global Internet usage share of 4.93 percent during the one month after its debut in October...

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Pictures: Inside the World's Most Powerful Laser

Photograph courtesy Damien Jemison, LLNLLooking like a portal to a science fiction movie, preamplifiers line a corridor at the U.S. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF).Preamplifiers work by increasing the energy of laser beams—up to ten billion times—before these beams reach the facility's target chamber.The project's lasers are tackling "one of physics' grand...

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Fiscal Cliff Creeps Closer With Few Signs of Optimism

"Absurd" -- that's the word one top Republican Hill aide used to describe the plan that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner presented to GOP leaders yesterday to avoid the fiscal cliff.And an aide to House Speaker Boehner described the White House's offer as "completely unrealistic" and "a break with reality."Meanwhile, a top Democratic insider complained to ABC's Jonathan Karl...

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Junk radio signals track all space debris in one go

Call it Junk FM. Rogue signals from your radio may help warn about space debris on a dangerous collision course with Earth. Stray FM signals from radios, bouncing back off space junk, could allow astronomers to track the whole population of space debris, suggest preliminary...

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IAEA chief calls for "urgent" Iran diplomacy

VIENNA: The head of the UN atomic agency called Thursday for diplomatic "urgency" in the Iranian nuclear standoff, even as Tehran signalled its continued defiance of UN Security Council demands to suspend key activities."All countries, and the IAEA, are willing to find a diplomatic solution. If there is political will we can reach agreement," said International Atomic Energy Agency chief...

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AT&T's rugged Samsung Rugby III lands Dec 14 with PTT

AT&T's Samsung Rugby III will feature enhanced push-to-talk.(Credit:Samsung)AT&T's rough 'n' tumble "Rugby" team gets another player in the Samsung Rugby III, a durable flip phone that will feature AT&T's enhanced push-to-talk (PTT) capabilities.Starting December 14, the Rugby III costs $99.99 with a two-year contract, but free for organizations with an AT&T business account. Pre-orders...

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Caterpillar Fungus Has Anti-Inflammatory Properties

In the Tibetan mountains, a fungus attaches itself to a moth larva burrowed in the soil. It infects and slowly consumes its host from within, taking over its brain and making the young caterpillar move to a position from which the fungus can grow and spore again. Sounds like something out of science fiction, right? But for ailing Chinese consumers and nomadic Tibetan harvesters, the parasite...

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Death at School: Parents Protest Dangerous Discipline for Autistic, Disabled Kids

Thousands of autistic and disabled schoolchildren have been injured and dozens have died after being restrained by poorly trained teachers and school aides who tried to subdue them using at times unduly harsh techniques, an ABC News investigation has found.With no agreed upon national standards for how teachers can restrain an unruly child, school officials around the country...

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Infinity in the real world: Does space go on forever?

MacGregor Campbell, consultant!--By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and Cfound at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. -->It's an existential question most of us have probably pondered at some point: is space infinite? It's tricky to answer because there's not just one kind of infinity to consider. Even if the universe goes on forever, it may...

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Germany eyes September 22 for election

BERLIN: Germany will likely hold a federal election on September 22 next year, a government source told AFP on Wednesday, after the majority of the country's 16 states agreed on that date.The interior ministry would inform the political parties of the states' choice next week, the source added. The official date must be cleared by German President Joachim Gauck after a decision in cabinet.The...

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Bike parts get artists' imaginations in gear

It's a mask made from bike parts and an altered deer skull. We can't vouch for its comfort.(Credit:Mark Grieve and Ilana Spector)You know that greasy bike chain sitting in the corner of your garage? Take a look at the below gallery of original art made from bicycle components, and you might think twice about getting rid of it. Chicago-based bike parts company SRAM gave a group of handpicked artists...

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Pictures: Falcon Massacre Uncovered in India

Photograph courtesy Conservation IndiaA young boy can sell bundles of fresh Amur falcons (pictured) for less than five dollars. Still, when multiplied by the thousands of falcons hunters can catch in a day, the practice can be a considerable financial boon to these groups.Since discovering the extent of Amur hunting in Nagaland this fall, Conservation India has taken the issue to the local Indian...

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Susan Rice Made Allies, Enemies Before Benghazi

United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, on Capitol Hill this week answering questions about her role after the U.S. consulate attack in Benghazi, has become yet another player in the divide between the left and right, with her possible nomination as the next Secretary of State hanging in the balance.But who was Susan Rice before she told ABC's "This Week" and other Sunday morning...

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Banished diseases making a comeback in Europe

A perfect storm of warmer weather, tropical migrants and plummeting health budgets is stoking the resurgence of once-banished, mosquito-borne diseases in Europe. Several countries have been hit by Europe's financial crisis, and by diseases brought in by...

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Portuguese lawmakers clear biting 2013 austerity budget

LISBON: Bailed-out Portugal's lawmakers gave final approval Tuesday to a 2013 budget imposing an unprecedented austerity squeeze even as protesters massed outside.The budget, aimed at saving 5.3 billion euros ($6.9 billion), passed easily with the support of the centre-right government, which has an absolute majority.The government says the plan, which relies on higher taxes for 80 percent...

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Facebook ads really work, just ask Samsung

Carolyn Everson, Facebook global marketing chief (Credit: Dan Farber/CNET)Do Facebook ads work? Of course they do, said company global marketing head Carolyn Everson. "The biggest myth is that Facebook ads don't work," she said, reiterating Mark Zuckerberg's comments on Facebook's ad business. And, Facebook's rising stock price seems to support the notion that advertising dollars...

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Space Pictures This Week: Space "Horse," Mars Rover, More

High Horse Photograph by Greg Parker, Your Shot The Horsehead Nebula rears its pretty head in a November 17 photograph submitted to National Geographic's Your Shot photo community.Taken...

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GOP Senators More Troubled After Rice Meeting

Three Republican senators who met Tuesday with U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice say they are more troubled now over her initial explanations about the deadly Sept. 11 raid in Libya.Rice met behind closed doors Tuesday with Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte — three of her harshest critics. Ayotte said Rice told them that her national television description...

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UK consumers lose their taste for green energy

Continue reading page |1 |2 In a world of rising energy costs and consumer alarm, UK energy policy continues to lack focus In every debate about energy, the phrase "keeping the lights on" keeps on cropping up. The UK's energy secretary Ed Davey took just three sentences to reach it in his recent statement...

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