Yup, the aughts or naughts or naughties or whatever you want to call them have been confirmed to be the hottest decade in recorded history--a full 0.2 degrees C warmer than the nineties. And now, as Joe Romm puts it, "the hottest decade begins." So were do we stand?
The most popular space stories of the year include a visualization of what it would look like to fall into a black hole. |  | Researchers identify the genetic source of fatal tumors that are driving Tasmanian devils towards extinction. |
The Labor Department said Thursday that new claims for unemployment insurance fell by 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 432,000, the lowest since July 2008. That's much better than the rise to 460,000 that Wall Street economists expected.
The four-week average, which smooths fluctuations, fell for the 17th straight week to 460,250, the lowest since September 2008, when the financial crisis intensified. The crisis led to widespread mass layoffs, which sent jobless claims to as high as 674,000 last spring.
The monk's legal team said the firearms had been planted and a confession extracted through torture. They added that while his property had been ceded to him, the paperwork had not been drawn up correctly.
An initial trial last year provoked a wave of media attention and a verdict was never returned. "The story of this religious leader is symptomatic of Beijing's heavy-handed treatment of Tibetans," said Woeser, a leading Tibetan activist. The local government in Kardze county viewed his case as one of the biggest causes of "instability" in the region.
At a second trial in Kangting, the monk's lawyers were disqualified from representing him and his family was forbidden to hire a fresh legal team and forced to use a court-appointed defence. Although he was acquitted of the illegal possession of a firearm, he was given seven years for illegally occupying state land and a further one-and-a-half years for possessing the bullets.
If you know the right way to open a bottle of bubbly, you may avert a major accident.
Relive the thrills, tragedies, and most unforgettable moments of the 2000s.
You can increase your savings by looking for deals online and learning to haggle.
A 9,500-ton warship conceived during the Cold War isn't done being the "envy of the world" just yet.
Forget the Mayas' gloomy predictions for 2012 — it's the coming year that has many Mexicans worried.
While the U.S. waits for the stroke of midnight, revelers around the globe ring in 2010 with wild displays.
As a prisoner at Guantanamo, Said Ali al-Shihri said he wanted freedom so he could go home to Saudi Arabia and work at his family's furniture store.
A gunman clad in black went on a shooting rampage Thursday at a suburban shopping mall near the Finnish capital of Helsinki, killing four people, police and witnesses said.
A decade has started in Auckland, New Zealand.
Berlin Zoo presented its most recently born piglets on Wednesday.According to German tradition, the birth of this particular breed of pig in mid-winter means great luck for the new year.
A Somali court acquitted and released a suspect who tried to board a plane in Mogadishu in November with chemicals and a syringe -- materials similar to those used in the attempted attack against a Detroit-bound airliner.
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Just 12 chief federal judges wield almost exclusive power over secret misconduct investigations of more than 2,000 fellow jurists — though some have themselves been accused of botching reviews or committing ethical blunders, according to a Houston Chronicle review.
A Somali man tried to board a plane last month with chemicals, liquid, and a syringe.
Jonathon Slack was moved to help the homeless by an experience he had on a city street.
Setting unrealistic goals can cause you to give up on your diet quickly.
People visit 10 to 12 homes on average before buying, but Lidia Pringle has seen hundreds more.
The verdict seems to be that slow and steady wins the economic race.
Learn why our bodies are more prone to heart attacks in the cold and how to prevent them.
Many people mistakenly believe that a roaring fire can warm the house and save energy.
Starting in early 2010, shoppers can get as much as $200 back on certain new appliances.
In a plot straight out of Hollywood, Russia mulls plans to knock an asteroid off course.
Get your horoscope's predictions for your career and love life in the coming year.
William Sullivan's state tells him that he can no longer use a plate he's held for decades.
Photo via Marietta
The relationship between the tropical acacia plant and 'guard' ants that defend it from predators has long been a fascinating example of symbiosis in nature: the ants feed on the acacia's sugary nectar, and in turn aggressively sting and bite other animals that would eat and damage the plant. But it turns out that this arrangement might not be as friendly as previously thought. New research reveals that the acacia plant actually produces a chemical that drives the ants into a defensive frenzy--alternately persuading them to fight to protect it and banishing them from its flowers when convenient.
In Africa, vultures are facing the threat of extinction from an unlikely source--gamblers who want to smoke their brains. Some people believe that inhaling the smoke from the burning vulture brain will give them insight into the future, which will help them place wiser bets. And, with increased gambling around the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, environmentalist groups fear that the practice may be on the rise.
The flamingo tongue snail Cyphoma gibbosum appears to have a shell decorated with bright spots (top of image). Amazingly though, the spots aren't actually part of the shell, but rather the animal's flesh! When the animal retracts into its stark white shell, so do the spots (bottom of image). 
You're looking at a water flea, as captured by Dr. Jan Michels of the University of Kiel, Germany. It's the top-prize winner in the 2009 Olympus BioScapes contest—a competition focused on images taken via microscope. The winners gallery is full of gorgeous pictures in striking, day-glo purples, greens and reds. Worth browsing, for both art and science nerds.
Olympus BioScapes 2009 Winners Gallery
Image credit: nick_russill/Flickr
Named after Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn, and Boreas, Greek for "northern wind," the aurora borealis is more commonly known as the "northern lights."
"Polar lights," however, is a more accurate name, as they occur in both the northern and southern hemispheres, but intensify with increasing proximity to the magnetic poles.
There is a lot more to this seemingly magical phenomena than pretty lights.
Photo via Steve aka Crispin Swan @ flickr
If you live in the kind of place where pigeons and robins are pretty much de riguer for bird sightings, then you're missing out on a whole world of birds that look--well, to be honest, atypical in comparison. Short bodies, huge wings, giant beaks, and rainbows of feathers make these weird and wacky birds must-sees--but since they're all classified as vulnerable or endangered, you'd better catch these feathered friends while you can.
From space storms to vampires to porn, here's a countdown of the year's most-read articles. Warning: contains sex stories. A lot of them.
It was a year as hopeful as it was scary, with a flu pandemic, genome hackers and fresh hopes for Alzheimer's disease and HIV.Thoughts of climate change were never far away, but with ice on fire and a salamander uglier than ET, there was more to 2009 than political brouhaha.
Astronomers found water on the moon and saw the most distant object yet, but space radiation hit a record high and the Spirit rover struggled for life.
More brainpower than ever before has been expended on technologies to cut the damage we do to the environment – here are some of the most interesting.
The most popular physics stories of the year include a report on an artificial black hole and an investigation into the best way to slice a pizza. 
Clues should have been pieced together before the attack, the president says.
Card issuers are rolling out or expanding methods to collect millions more in fees.
NY's Tavern on the Green Restaurant Bites the Dust
A N.Y. hotspot that was once America's highest-grossing restaurant will serve its last meal on New Year's Eve.
Something that only occurs once every 19 years will light up the sky Thursday night.
A devastated father watched as his wife died in labor, then his son was born not breathing.
