Panel Says Humans `Very Likely' Cause of Global Warming
International scientists and officials hailed a report Friday saying that global warming is ''very likely'' caused by man, and that hotter temperatures and rises in sea level ''would continue for centuries'' no matter how much humans control their pollution. The head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, called it a ''very impressive document that goes several steps beyond previous research.'' A top U.S. government scientist, Susan Solomon, said ''there can be no question that the increase in greenhouse gases are dominated by human activities.''

You can visit the The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to stay informed about their important work.  I'm sure the latest report will be available for download soon, though I couldn't find a link for it yet.

Crude oil lingers from Exxon Valdez spill
Lingering crude from the nation's largest oil spill has weathered only slightly in some places almost 18 years after the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground and fouled hundreds of miles of Alaska shoreline, a new federal U.S. study released Wednesday concludes.

Site for Next Mars Mission Debated
The original landing spot was nixed after images beamed back by the eagle-eyed Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter unexpectedly showed scores of bus-sized boulders littered over old crater rims on flat plains....Scientists scouring images of the Martian arctic have narrowed options down to three possible candidates for where the spacecraft can safely touch down. They have until March to choose a destination. The three sites are clustered around the north pole, which is believed to have a huge amount of ice just below the surface.

Flies live longer if they can't smell their food
Eating less can lengthen an animal's life. But now it seems that -- for flies at least -- they don't have to actually cut down on the calories to benefit. Fruitflies can boost their lifespan just by not smelling their food.

Granny's tree is tasty find
A Dorset granny's apple tree could be a unique variety that is over 200 years old....83-year-old Diana's great, great grandfather...planted it around 1803 when he bought the house in Beaminster.

Coffee could cure baldness
Scientists say coffee could hold the secret to curing male baldness. They discovered caffeine stimulates the growth of tiny follicles in the scalp in men who are starting to lose their hair.

Quantum mechanics may explain how humans smell
Quantum mechanical tunneling, a process often exploited in technology, occurs when a particle passes through a barrier despite being forbidden by classical physics. This is possible for small-scale objects, such as electrons, due to their wave-like properties. If an odorant molecule's vibrations (or phonons) cause electrons in a nasal receptor to tunnel between energy states, nerve signals are sent to the brain. Different vibrational frequencies are detected by different receptors, so because different odorants have different frequencies, odorants smell different.

Yellow-orange snow falls in Siberian province
Snow ranging in colour from light yellow to orange and carrying a distinctive "musty" odour was observed Wednesday in five districts of Omsk province, which lies in western Siberia and borders Kazakhstan, ITAR-TASS said.

Research Links Change in Brain with Addiction
Repeated abuse of drugs results in long-lasting changes in the function of the reward pathway that leads to craving for drugs and the compulsion for more drugs....the persistent or long-lasting nature (3-6 weeks in animal models equivalent to approximately two years in humans) of this effect helps to explain why it is so difficult to abstain from using cocaine, nicotine, amphetamine and alcohol. In addition, [Roh-Yu Shen, Ph.D] added, it is a time-dependent effect that is not seen immediately after drug use, but rather manifests over a period of time following drug use and intensifies over time.

Time spent driving may up cancer risk
"Our initial findings confirm that there is a correlation between more time spent driving and a higher incidence of left-sided skin cancers, especially on sun-exposed areas in men,"...

The winners of the Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition have just been announced

And in tech news:
NFL Wants To Remind You That Having People Over To Watch The Super Bowl On A Big Screen Is Copyright Infringement
The NFL apparently nastygrammed a church for planning to host a Super Bowl party.


Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -Margaret Mead