The U.S. Geological Survey has recorded five more earthquakes near Greenbrier - including one with a preliminary magnitude of 3.9. No injuries or damage is reported.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Rare WWII plane stuns experts
A WWII plane hailed as one of the biggest "finds of the century" yields new surprises.
Also: Spacewalks
The Blue Sky Below Us
Breathtaking views of spacewalks with our blue planet below. Space shuttle Discovery made its last appearance to ISS and the astronauts had a few spacewalks. Here are some images of these spacewalks and previous spacewalks throughout history.
Car parts made of mushrooms
A New York design firm is working with Ford to develop a fungus-based foam for bumpers and dashboards. Not a joke
Also: Embryonic eye tissue grown from stem cells
Researchers were amazed when stem cells in a test tube spontaneously organised themselves into a complex structure that resembles the developing embryonic eye. The surprising development could lead eventually to whole retinas being cultured and then transplanted, restoring sight in the blind and visually impaired.The experiment was performed on murine cells, but the hope is that human retinal transplants might be feasible within a decade.
The team from the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Japan, first cultivated embryonic stem cells in a test tube and then added proteins to trigger them into developing. They hoped that they would form a recognisable organ but were still stunned when over 10 days they clustered together and began to grow the "optical cup" of a retina.
Tests showed that the cells were functioning normally and were capable of communicating with each other.
Two 'superbugs' emerge
The bacteria CRKP is even scarier than MRSA because it can be so hard to treat.
Also: Superbug termed NDM-1 is drug resistant and threatens mankind?
There's a new Superbug that the World Health organization has termed "NDM-1" that appears to be resistant to all known forms of antibiotics.
Scientists Develop Zebra Barcode Reader
Scientists have developed an image scanning program that can distinguish between individual zebras by their stripes:
When a zebra has been entered into the database and given a StripeCode, the researchers match another picture of the same animal by comparing the StripeStrings of the new and original images. Each image will generate a different set of StripeStrings, but the underlying ratios of black and white should remain similar.
By finding the StripeCode with the most similar StripeStrings in the database, the system is able to accurately identify the correct animal. Other existing zebra identification systems are less accurate, more complex, and require a greater level of manual input from the user.
Rock Vomit
A Sea Squirt Infestation
Although it looks like something a whale coughed up, this chunky, brown mass is actually an invasive species of sea squirt.
New Method Attempts to Determine Which Endangered Species Can Actually be Saved
Can we save this guy? Truthfully?
We already have some well-established methods we use to determine how healthy species are -- the International Union for Conservation of Nature's 'Red List' perhaps being the most widely used. But is it enough to know whether a species is vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered, and so forth? Might not it be useful, for conservation purposes, how likely each of those species is to forestall extinction? A group of researchers believes so, and they're seeking to put the new method, called safe into action. Why Are Penguins Losing Their Feathers?
- A new condition is causing many penguin chicks to lose their feathers, with some victims dying as a result of the mysterious problem. Read more
Abandoned pit bull's new fame
A pup found at the bottom of a N.J. trash chute defies the odds — and gets offers from around the globe.
Also: 
Chimps 'catch' contagious yawns
Australian rats scurry to desertSalamander Has Symbiotic Cellmate
The first known vertebrate with an endosymbiont, spotted salamanders take their gardening personally.
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