Reuters: Science News

Space shuttle Atlantis returns to Earth

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:57:18 -0500

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Space shuttle Atlantis touched down at its Florida home port on Friday, wrapping up an 11-day mission to deliver cargo to the International Space Station, one of NASA's final supply runs before the shuttle fleet is retired next year.

Experts scan disease links with Chinese "gene map"

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:24:52 -0500

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A large analysis of the genes of 8,200 ethnic Chinese has revealed subtle genetic differences between inhabitants in northern China and southern China, and even between different Chinese dialect groups.

Darwin debate rages on 150 years after "Origin"

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:28:50 -0500

PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) - Even 150 years after it first appeared in print, Charles Darwin's "On The Origin of Species" still fuels clashes between scientists convinced of its truth and critics who reject its view of life without a creator.

Hormones, incentive, experience "make best traders"

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:44:34 -0500

LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists say a perfect combination of testosterone, experience and a hunger for a share of profits can produce financial traders who consistently outperform the market -- even during a crisis.

Big Bang machine achieves first particle collisions

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:52:15 -0500

ZURICH (Reuters) -- Scientists have smashed together proton beams for the first time in a 27-kilometre tunnel under the French-Swiss border in an initial step toward discovering how the universe came into existence, they said on Monday.

Dark ocean depths home to exotic, unknown life

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:05:26 -0500

OSLO (Reuters) - The permanent darkness of the ocean depths is home to a far greater range of animals, from luminous jellyfish to tubeworms that live off oil seeping from the seabed, than previously thought, scientists said on Sunday.

Houston, we have a baby

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:49:14 -0500

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Shuttle Atlantis astronaut Randy Bresnik awoke early on Sunday to a much-anticipated call that his new daughter had been born.

Soviet Union's non-Communist astronaut dies age 83

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:35:30 -0500

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Soviet Union's only non-Communist astronaut, Konstantin Feoktistov, has died at the age of 83, Russia's space agency said on Sunday.

Art collector finds Galileo's lost tooth, fingers

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:44:25 -0500

ROME (Reuters) - An art collector has found a tooth, thumb and finger of the renowned Italian scientist Galileo Galilei who died in the 17th century, Florence's History of Science museum said on Friday.

New fossils reveal a world full of crocodiles

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:21:13 -0500

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New fossils unearthed in what is now the Sahara desert reveal a once-swampy world