
Future talk

Associated Press
Prosthetic devices are in the midst of a radical transformation. Claudia Mitchell is one of several amputees who have been fitted with artificial limbs that can be moved by thought alone.

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Western governors offer greenhouse emissions plan
SALEM, Ore., 1:20 a.m. July 24 (AP)
Seven Western states are joining four Canadian provinces to propose a plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions through use of a “cap and trade” system.
The draft plan, made public Wednesday by Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski's office, is aimed at gradually reducing carbon emissions across Oregon, Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Washington.
More Science News
2:01 a.m. July 24 (AP)
N.M. cavers chart unique 'snowy' river of crystals: FORT STANTON CAVE, N.M. – Hundreds of feet beneath Earth's surface, a few seasoned cave explorers venture where no human has set foot. Their headlamps illuminate mud-covered walls, gypsum crystals and mineral deposits.
TOKYO, 5:13 a.m. July 24 (AP)
Japanese, Mongolian scientists recover complete skeleton of young dinosaur: Japanese and Mongolian scientists have successfully recovered the complete skeleton of a 70-million-year-old young dinosaur, a nature museum announced Thursday.
July 24 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Summertime stars can be friends for life:Sultry summer nights were common during my childhood in eastern Pennsylvania, and you could usually find me lying on the cool grass, gazing into a star-filled sky.
July 24 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Questions answered:It seems that many famous artists, writers, etc., have suffered from bouts of madness. Is there a relationship between creativity and mental illness, or does it just seem that way because odd or tragic characters are more likely to be remembered?
TOWSON, Md., 8:16 p.m. July 23 (AP)
McKusick, pioneer in medical genetics, dies at 86: Dr. Victor A. McKusick, a key architect of the Human Genome Project and a winner of the National Medal of Science, has died. He was 86.
WASHINGTON, 1:42 p.m. July 23 (REUTERS)
Arctic's oil could meet world demand for 3 years: The Arctic Circle holds an estimated 90 billion barrels of recoverable oil, enough supply to meet current world demand for almost three years, the U.S. Geological Survey forecast Wednesday.
LOS ANGELES, 1:40 p.m. July 20 (AP)
Similar genetic profiles found to be more common: Genetic profiles may not be as reliable in pinpointing culprits as the FBI would have investigators – and juries – believe.
WASHINGTON, 1:35 p.m. July 23 (AP)
A hot (pepper) lead in hunt for salmonella source: It was a hot lead for detectives on a cold case. People suddenly were getting salmonella at a Minnesota restaurant more than 1,000 miles from the center of the nation's outbreak.
6:00 a.m. July 23 (REUTERS)
School failure harder on girls than boys: U.S. study: CHICAGO (Reuters) – Academic failure appears to trouble teen-age girls more deeply than boys, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
10:00 p.m. July 20 (REUTERS)
Cells from humans grow blood vessels in mice: study: WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Cells taken from human bone marrow, blood and umbilical cords grew into functioning blood vessels in mice with just the right coaxing, U.S. researchers reported on Saturday.
6:00 a.m. July 21 (REUTERS)
Drug restores speech in Alzheimer's; experts worry: Drug restores speech in Alzheimer's; experts worry CHICAGO (Reuters) – Alzheimer's patients given a popular rheumatoid arthritis drug showed seemingly dramatic improvements in a small study, but some doctors worried that the early findings will raise premature hopes in patients and their families.
CAIRO, Egypt, 5:28 a.m. July 19 (AP)
Archaeologists will reconstruct ancient wooden boat buried beside Egypt's Great Pyramid: Archaeologists will excavate hundreds of fragments of an ancient Egyptian wooden boat entombed in an underground chamber next to Giza's Great Pyramid and try to reassemble the craft, Egyptologists announced Saturday.
July 17 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Solar flair: The sun will set at 7:56 p.m. in San Diego today. Will something make it memorable? That might be hard to tell, until about 7:46. Timing is everything.
INDIANAPOLIS, 11:33 a.m. July 18 (AP)
Purdue panel finds misconduct by fusion scientist: A Purdue University panel has found two instances of misconduct by a researcher who claims he produced nuclear fusion in tabletop experiments.
July 17 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Sky watcher inspired others to look upward:John Day was a force of nature. Someday, if we're lucky, another person of his character will come along. But don't hold your breath. John Days show up about once every century – just a few years more than this one graced the Earth.
July 17 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Stars are as different as night and day:'If you've seen one star, you've seen 'em all.” I can't tell you how many times I have heard these words before stargazing sessions – but never afterward.
July 17 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Questions answered:Is chocolate really good for you? Does it matter what kind of chocolate?
WASHINGTON, 9:15 a.m. July 16 (AP)
Global Warming: Top 10, Again: Earth scored another Top 10 finish in June – climate wise. It was the eighth warmest June on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Wednesday.
WASHINGTON, 2:54 p.m. July 15 (AP)
NASA to workers: Go boldly (in cup) for science: The No. 1 need right now for some of the builders of the nation's next spaceship: Lots of No. 1. Space program contractor Hamilton Sundstrand is seeking urine from workers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston as part of its work on the new Orion space capsule that would eventually take astronauts to the moon, according to an internal memo posted on the Web site Nasawatch.com.
WASHINGTON, 2:29 p.m. July 15 (AP)
Training reassessed after plutonium spill: Use of radioactive materials has been suspended and worker training is being reassessed following a plutonium spill at the Boulder, Colo., laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the agency's deputy director told a congressional subcommittee Tuesday.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, 12:28 a.m. July 15 (AP)
Alaska volcano spews huge ash plume for 3rd day: Lonnie Kennedy was taking everything in stride after he and his family were rescued from their cattle ranch near an erupting volcano. The mountain, on the other hand, remained agitated, spewing out a huge plume of ash more than 6 miles high.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala., 12:05 p.m. July 14 (AP)
NASA engineers work on alternative moon rocket: By day, the engineers work on NASA's new Ares moon rockets. By night, some go undercover to work on a competing design.
BRANFORD, Conn., 7:19 a.m. July 14 (AP)
Neurogen stops adipiplon trial due to side effects: Biotechnology company Neurogen Corp. said Sunday it stopped a clinical trial of its insomnia candidate adipiplon because some patients experienced grogginess and memory loss. The stock plunged in Monday trading.
6:00 a.m. July 14 (REUTERS)
Residents fret in shadow of Chile's Llaima volcano: MELIPEUCO, Chile (Reuters) – Living in the shadow of Chile's sporadically erupting, snow-capped Llaima volcano, one of South America's most active, local residents like Eduardo Mendoza are paying a heavy price.
ZURICH, 5:59 a.m. July 14 (REUTERS)
Pharma gains from market turmoil, but for how long?: Big pharma has benefited from defensive status during recent market turmoil – but investors are asking how long that can mask the sector's fundamental problems.
PHILADELPHIA, 11:32 a.m. July 13 (AP)
Governors talk of moving beyond corn-based ethanol: Governors from the coal fields of West Virginia to the corn fields of Iowa talked Sunday at their summer meeting about moving beyond ethanol produced just from food sources.
WASHINGTON, 10:55 a.m. July 11 (AP)
Lightning claims 5 young lives in a week: Five young lives have been ended by lightning in less than a week, a deadly reminder of one of summer's leading hazards.
NEW YORK, 9:08 a.m. July 11 (REUTERS)
U.S. lawmakers say EPA to delay action on climate: U.S. lawmakers said the Bush Administration will delay tackling greenhouse gas emissions until the president leaves office in a proposal by environmental regulators to be revealed later on Friday.
TAIPEI, Taiwan, 2:31 a.m. July 11 (AP)
Frozen mammoths discovered in Siberia go on display in Taiwan: The frozen remains of two woolly mammoths – long extinct Ice Age elephants – went on display Friday in Taiwan.
July 10 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Scientists: 'Gene wiki' could decode genome faster: Unraveling the mysteries of the human genome, the chain of chemicals that determine everything from a person's hair color to predisposition toward cancer, is a mammoth undertaking.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., 3:15 p.m. July 10 (AP)
Astronauts handling explosives on daring spacewalk: Two space station astronauts took a daring spacewalk Thursday to cut into the insulation of their descent capsule and remove an explosive bolt with firecracker force – enough to blow off their hands.
WASHINGTON, 12:38 p.m. July 9 (AP)
Crystal skulls: Fact or Fiction?: Some mysteries are such fun you almost don't want to know the truth. That may help explain why people are fascinated with crystal skulls.
NEW ORLEANS, 7:21 p.m. July 9 (AP)
New federal rules proposed for offshore fish farms: The Bush administration proposed a set of rules on Wednesday to regulate future projects off American shores that would use the ocean for alternative energy and aquaculture.
July 10 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
This is Jupiter's time to loom large:Ah, Jupiter. Everyone talks about the beautiful rings of Saturn or the glistening crescent of Venus. But for my money, Jupiter's where it's at. Brilliant Jupiter returns to the evening sky this week when it achieves opposition – that point where it lies directly opposite the sun in our sky and rises as the sun sets.
WASHINGTON, 10 a.m. July 9 (REUTERS)
Frozen Ebola virus reveals its deadly spike: Researchers who have managed to freeze the Ebola virus and make images of the spike it uses to infect cells said Wednesday they hope their work may lead to a treatment or vaccine for the deadly microbe.
WASHINGTON, 11:46 a.m. July 9 (AP)
Ships produce more soot than expected: Ah! The cold splash of the ocean, the sooty smell of the sea. Sooty?
CHICAGO, 10:36 a.m. July 9 (REUTERS)
Fish fossils plug hole in evolutionary theory: Some odd-looking fish fossils discovered in the bowels of several European museums may help solve a lingering question about evolutionary theory, U.S. researchers said Wednesday.
WASHINGTON, 11:00 a.m. July 9 (REUTERS)
New scans show evidence of water on the moon: Tiny green and orange glass balls brought back from the moon nearly 40 years ago by astronauts show evidence that water existed there from the very beginning, scientists reported Wednesday.
SAN DIEGO, 4:07 p.m. July 8 (AP)
Edit your DNA: 'Gene wiki' to debut on Wikipedia: Researchers on Tuesday launched an effort to create a library of human genetics using the online encyclopedia Wikipedia in hopes it could spur widespread discussion about thousands of individual genes.
WASHINGTON, 1:57 p.m. July 8 (AP)
House moves to keep shark fins out of fancy soups: The House took steps Tuesday to keep shark fins out of soups served in pricey Asian restaurants.
Multimedia
Mars and more: Space photo galleries.
Weather Watch
By Rob Krier
Potential: Things might be different this weekend, storm lovers. But maybe not. There's plenty of moisture headed our way from down south. The PW (precipitable water) levels are expected to be...
Health
2 dates identified in Vegas hepatitis C outbreak: A hepatitis C outbreak that prompted the largest public health notification operation in U.S. history has been traced to patients treated at a Las Vegas endoscopy clinic on two days in 2007, health officials said Thursday.
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