Astrophile: A scorched world with snow black and smoky

Astrophile is our weekly column on curious cosmic objects, from the solar system to the far reaches of the multiverse Object: Titanium oxide snowLocation: The hot-Jupiter planet HD 209458b There is something magical about waking...

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India set to introduce death penalty in some rape cases

NEW DELHI - India's Cabinet has approved harsher punishments for rapists, including the death penalty, after a brutal gang-rape in New Delhi that sparked national outrage.A government-appointed panel recommended the changes to ministers after the death of a 23-year-old woman who was savagely raped and attacked in a bus on December 16 and died nearly two weeks later.The case ignited nationwide...

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Super Bowl from the sidelines: Tech readiness is priority No. 1

View from main CBS control truck at the Superdome.It's always a treat to watch the game coverage by the peerless NFL on CBS team, which is the very best in the business. And backing up our amazing group of analysts and experts in front of the camera is a trained crew of CBS Sports production and technical pros behind the scenes. Their No. 1 priority is to deliver the perfect angle of every play, along...

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Pictures We Love: Best of January

Photograph by Dieu Nalio Chery, APThe magnitude 7 earthquake that struck near Port au Prince, Haiti, in January 2010 so devastated the country that recovery efforts are still ongoing.Professional dancer Georges Exantus, one of the many casualties of that day, was trapped in his flattened apartment for three days, according to news reports. After friends dug him out, doctors amputated his right leg...

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Gov's Handling of Sandusky Case Under Investigation

The newly-elected attorney general of Pennsylvania is going after the state's governor, Tom Corbett, who was attorney general when child sex allegations against Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky were first brought forward.Kathleen Kane, a Democrat who was sworn in as attorney general on Jan. 15, said that she will name a special prosecutor in the coming days to investigate Corbett's...

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Mind-meld brain power is best for steering spaceships

TURNS out two heads really are better than one. Two people have successfully steered a virtual spacecraft by combining the power of their thoughts - and their efforts were far more accurate than one person acting alone. One day groups of people hooked up to brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) might work together to...

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A*STAR scientists solve century-old mystery in yeast infections

SINGAPORE: Scientists from the Agency for Science Technology And Research (A*STAR) have solved a century-old mystery in yeast infections.They constructed stable strains of Candida albicans, the most prevalent human fungal pathogen and a major cause of hospital acquired infection.A*STAR said on Friday that their discovery will help pave the way to develop drugs that effectively target and...

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Crave giveaway: $200 shopping spree at KlearGear.com

In case you've been missing the '80s lately. (Credit:KlearGear.com)Feeling geeky? This week's giveaway lets you wear your geekiness on your sleeve, head, desk, or wherever else you can put it. We're giving away a $200 gift certificate from KlearGear.com, purveyor of geek goods galore. The gadget manufacturer and retailer sells more than a thousand items -- everything from an iBrick case that gives...

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Sinkhole Swallows Buildings in China

Photograph from AFP/Getty ImagesThe sinkhole that formed in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou (pictured) is, unfortunately, not a new occurrence for the country.Many areas of the world are susceptible to these sudden formations, including the U.S. Florida is especially prone, but Guatemala, Mexico, and the area surrounding the Dead Sea in the Middle East are also known for their impressive sinkholes....

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Keep rainforests – they drive the planet's winds

WHAT creates the wind? Anyone will tell you that temperature differences are key. Hot air rises and is replaced by cooler air surging in beneath. Except that maybe the explanation found in every textbook is too simple. What if, instead,...

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SK Group head gets four-year jail sentence

SEOUL: The head of South Korea's third largest conglomerate, the SK Group, was sentenced to four years in prison on Thursday after being convicted of embezzling close to $50 million.The custodial sentence was seen as relatively tough in a country where convicted business tycoons are often given suspended prison terms in recognition of their apparent contribution to the national economy.The...

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Tumblr avoids porn label and adds mature rating to iOS app

Tumblr's iPhone app.(Credit:Tumblr)Tumblr looks to be trying to avoid the porn-war that recently harangued the 500px photo app and Twitter's Vine app. The microblogging company threw up a 17-and-over age warning for its iOS app for all new users and any people updating their app to the 3.2.4 version, which was released today. "You must be at least 17 years old to download this app," Tumblr writes...

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New Theory on How Homing Pigeons Find Home

Jane J. Lee Homing pigeons (Columba livia) have been prized for their navigational abilities for thousands of years. They've served as messengers during war, as a means of long-distance communication, and as prized athletes in international races.But there are places around the world that seem to confuse these birds—areas where they repeatedly vanish in the wrong direction or scatter on...

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The 10,000-year bender: Why humans love a tipple

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S'pore moves up to 2nd spot in trust survey

SINGAPORE: Singapore has moved up to the number two spot for the most trusting nation in the world, according to the 2013 Edelman Trust Barometer. It was third in 2012 and seventh in 2011.Edelman, which measured levels of trust in institutions in 26 countries worldwide, said on Wednesday that Singapore's total trust score rose by nine points and is three points more than the global average...

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Michael Dell to use personal funds to seek majority control -- report

Dell founder and Chief Executive Michael Dell.(Credit:James Martin/CNET) Just weeks after reports surfaced that Dell was looking to go private, the company's founder appears willing to put his personal funds where his mouth is.Michael Dell may kick in equity financing of $500 million to $1 billion combined with his 15.7 percent stake in the company to seek majority control of the company, according...

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Timbuktu’s vulnerable manuscripts are city’s "gold"

French and Malian troops surrounded Timbuktu on Monday and began combing the labyrinthine city for Islamist fighters. Witnesses, however, said the Islamists, who claim an affiliation to al Qaeda and had imposed a Taliban-style rule in the northern Malian city over the last ten months, slipped into the desert a few days earlier. But before fleeing, the militants reportedly set fire to several...

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Iran launches monkey into space

Lisa Grossman, physical sciences reporterLast summer, the Iranian Space Agency announced their plan to send a monkey into space - and now they've apparently done it.According to Iranian state-run television, a press release on the space agency's website, and photos of the event, Iran sent a live rhesus monkey into sub-orbital space aboard a small rocket called Pishgam, or Pioneer. There's even a...

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Infrastructure development to keep pace with population growth

SINGAPORE: The government is planning to build 700,000 new homes by 2030.That is one of the long-term plans to support the projected increase in population which is expected to hit 6.9 million in about 20 years.Some Singaporeans have observed that population growth in Singapore has outpaced infrastructure development in the last five years.The government is now planning and investing in...

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Forget Episode VII, watch 'JJ Abrams Star Wars - The Musical'

Are you a late-model "Star Trek" fan with issues about your guy J.J. Abrams jumping ship in order to direct the next "Star Wars" film? Or maybe a "Star Wars" devotee filled with dread at having your favorite franchise be under the control of someone who's directed two "Star Trek" films?If so, there's a musical for you. "JJ Abrams Star Wars -- The Musical," to be precise.Picture Darth Vader and Abrams...

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Space Pictures This Week: Martian Gas, Cloud Trails

Image courtesy SDO/NASAThe sun is more than meets the eye, and researchers should know. They've equipped telescopes on Earth and in space with instruments that view the sun in at least ten different wavelengths of light, some of which are represented in this collage compiled by NASA and released January 22. (See more pictures of the sun.)By viewing the different wavelengths of light given off by the...

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Is Obama about to blow his climate credentials?

The US president could be poised to approve the doubling of imports of tar sands oil, one of the filthiest fuels on Earth FACED with rising anger from environmentalists last year over his plans for a transcontinental pipeline to deliver treacly Canadian tar sands to Texas oil refineries on the Gulf of Mexico,...

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Man in "trolley bag" case pleads guilty to failing to report death

SINGAPORE: The lover of a businessman acquitted of murder in the "trolley bag" case pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to report the death to the police.Pee Weai Hong, 33, admitted on Monday that he did not report the death of 28-year-old Dylan Wong Teck Siong on 2 April 2011 when he learnt about it the next day.Mr Wong's decomposed body was stuffed in a trolley bag and was found in...

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Meet the man who would make BlackBerry apps cool

The fate of Research in Motion rests on the success or failure of BlackBerry 10.(Credit:Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)LAS VEGAS--Alec Saunders needed a little bait.Soon after Saunders took over the developer relations team, he asked Research In Motion's then co-CEO Mike Lazaridis in October 2011 for 25,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets. When Lazaridis asked why, Saunders said he intended to give them away....

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Doomed Dolphin Speaks to New York's Vibrant Wildlife

By the time New Yorkers spied a dolphin swimming through the superfund sludge of the Gowanus Canal last Friday, it was too late. The marine mammal didn't even survive long enough for a rescue plan to come together. First sighted on Friday afternoon, the dolphin perished at 6:00 p.m.The reason the marine mammal died, and why the dolphin swam up the...

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