Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Paralyzed woman uses her mind to control robot arm

2012-05-16T18:20:39Z

Using only her thoughts, a Massachusetts woman paralyzed for 15 years directed a robotic arm to pick up a bottle of coffee and bring it to her lips, researchers report in the latest advance in harnessing brain waves to help disabled people.

AP IMPACT: Evacs and drills pared near nuke plants

2012-05-16T15:19:07Z

Without fanfare, the nation's nuclear power regulators have overhauled community emergency planning for the first time in more than three decades, requiring fewer exercises for major accidents and recommending that fewer people be evacuated right away.

April 2012 heats up as 5th warmest month globally

2012-05-15T16:10:38Z

Unseasonable weather pushed last month to the fifth warmest April on record worldwide, federal weather statistics show.

Three-man Soyuz crew departs for space station

2012-05-15T06:25:50Z

A three-man crew blasted off from a space center in southern Kazakhstan Tuesday morning on board a Russian-made Soyuz craft for a four-and-half-month stay at the International Space Station.

AP Photos: Enterprise's final journey continues

2012-05-13T19:58:34Z

The space shuttle Enterprise has been separated from the NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier at John F. Kennedy International Airport, just weeks after flying over New York City.

Brain-Controlled Robotic Arm Points Way to New Prosthetics

2012-05-16T18:13:53Z

In April 2011, a paralyzed woman named Cathy Hutchinson lifted a cup for the first time in nearly 15 years, using a robotic arm controlled by her thoughts.

Turning Down Heat May Save Much More Than Expected

2012-05-16T17:29:42Z

As spring blooms, researchers are looking back at the past winter to see how much people paid, and could have saved, on their heating bills.

First Images of Antarctic Volcano's Innards Revealed

2012-05-16T17:09:46Z

What's it like to stare into the roiling mouth of an active volcano? Pretty darn cool, say scientists who work at Antarctica's Mount Erebus, home of one of Earth's only long-lived lava lakes.

Colossal Superflares Erupt from Sun-Like Stars

2012-05-16T17:22:59Z

Stars like our sun can release "superflares," explosions of up to 10,000 times more energy than the solar flares seen from our sun, researchers say.

How Venus Transit of Sun in June May Help Find Alien Planets

2012-05-16T17:04:51Z

Observations of next month's historic Venus transit may eventually help astronomers spot and study alien planets circling faraway stars, one prominent researcher says.

Scientists lift lid on turtle evolution

2012-05-15T23:09:56Z

The turtle is a closer relative of crocodiles and birds than of lizards and snakes, according to researchers who claim to have solved an age-old riddle in animal evolution.

Science Fiction or Fact: Invisibility Cloaks Will One Day Exist

2012-05-15T17:08:55Z

In this weekly series, Life's Little Mysteries scores the plausibility of popular science fiction concepts.

Scientists to Watch Historic Venus Transit of the Sun from Alaska

2012-05-15T11:42:47Z

A NASA sun-watching spacecraft will have an unbeatable view of June's historic Venus transit, but some of the probe's scientists are taking measures to get a great look for themselves here on Earth, too.

More Than 8 Million Americans Sleepwalk, Surprising Scientists

2012-05-14T20:30:03Z

Adult sleepwalkers are more common than previously realized, with upward of 8 million American adults prone to nighttime ambulation, a new study finds.

Science Fiction or Fact: Humanlike Intelligent Machines Will Soon Exist

2012-05-14T19:53:02Z

In this weekly series, Life's Little Mysteries rates the plausibility of popular science fiction concepts.

Is Your Alarm Clock Making You Fat?

2012-05-11T13:23:36Z

In the industrialized world, a conflict between two opposing forces — biology and the alarm clock — is helping to make people fat, new research suggests.

Scientists spot unseen planet in Kepler scope data

2012-05-10T20:01:24Z

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Scientists poring over data collected by NASA's Kepler space telescope have discovered a world outside its field of view, demonstrating a new technique for finding planets beyond the Solar System, scientists reported on Thursday. From its vantage point in space, Kepler stares at about 150,000 sun-like stars located a few hundred light years to a few thousand light years from Earth. One light year is about 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). The goal is to find Earth-like worlds at the right distance from their parent stars for liquid water to exist. ...

Scientists spot unseen planet in Kepler scope data

2012-05-10T19:38:27Z

Scientists urge action on world's biggest problems

2012-05-10T18:55:47Z

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists from 15 countries are calling for a better political response to the provision of water and energy to meet the challenge of feeding a world of 9 billion people within 30 years. The joint statement by some of the world's leading science academies was issued on Thursday ahead of the G8 summit in the United States. It is part of the annual lobbying effort aimed at focusing the attention of world leaders on issues the scientific community regards as crucial. ...

Earthquake Forecasters Look Closer at Rock Friction

2012-05-10T18:08:30Z

More-accurate forecasts of earthquakes may arise from a new computer model focusing on the physics of the rock in one quake-prone segment of the San Andreas fault, researchers say.