Latest Science News
Florida's major power company prepares for this year's hurricanes by dealing with a fake one
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Under blue skies, officials at Florida's largest power company dealt Thursday with the aftermath of a major hurricane that slammed into Miami and Fort Lauderdale — or a pretend one, anyway. Florida Power & Light is conducting its annual mock...
Men behind the doomsday seed vault in the Arctic win World Food Prize
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — As Cary Fowler and Geoffrey Hawtin began thinking about ways to prevent starvation and protect the world's food supply, they came up with what Fowler called “the craziest idea anybody ever had” — a global seed vault built into the side of an Arctic mountain. ...
Japan Fisheries Agency proposes allowing commercial catching of fin whales
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Fisheries Agency has proposed a plan to allow catching fin whales in addition to three smaller whale species currently permitted under the country's commercial whaling around its coast, officials said Thursday. The proposal comes five years after Japan resumed...
A scorching, rocky planet twice Earth's size has a thick atmosphere, scientists say
DALLAS (AP) — A thick atmosphere has been detected around a planet that’s twice as big as Earth in a nearby solar system, researchers reported Wednesday. The so-called super Earth — known as 55 Cancri e — is among the few rocky planets outside our solar system with a...
From flooding in Brazil and Houston to brutal heat in Asia, extreme weather seems nearly everywhere
In sweltering Brazil, flooding killed dozens of people and paralyzed a city of about 4 million people. Voters and politicians in India, amid national elections, are fainting in heat that hit as high as 115 degrees (46.3 degrees Celsius). A brutal Asian heat wave has closed schools...
Boeing's first astronaut launch is off until late next week to replace a bad rocket valve
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Boeing’s first astronaut launch is off until late next week because of a bad valve in the rocket that needs to be replaced. The countdown was halted Monday night after a pressure-relief valve in the Atlas V rocket’s upper stage opened and closed so...
Scientists are learning the basic building blocks of sperm whale language after years of effort
ROSEAU, Dominica (AP) — Scientists studying the sperm whales that live around the Caribbean island of Dominica have described for the first time the basic elements of how they might be talking to each other, in an effort that could one day help better protect them. Like many...
Boeing calls off its first astronaut launch because of valve issue on rocket
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Boeing called off its first astronaut launch because of a valve problem on the rocket Monday night. The two NASA test pilots had just strapped into Boeing’s Starliner capsule for a flight to the International Space Station when the countdown was...
Russia defends veto of UN resolution to prohibit nukes in outer space, urges vote to ban all weapons
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia on Monday defended its veto of a U.N. resolution urging all nations to prevent a nuclear arms race in outer space, challenging the U.S., Japan and their Western allies to support Moscow’s rival resolution calling for a ban on all weapons in space “for all time.”...
A gene long thought to just raise the risk for Alzheimer's may cause some cases
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time, researchers have identified a genetic form of late-in-life Alzheimer’s disease — in people who inherit two copies of a worrisome gene. Scientists have long known a gene called APOE4 is one of many things that can increase people’s risk...
