LONDON - It's unlikely to occur by swallowing a pill or donning a special cloak, but invisibility could be possible in the not too distant future, according to research published on Monday.

Harry Potter accomplished it with his magic cloak. H.G. Wells' Invisible Man swallowed a substance that made him transparent.

Harvard Scientists to Try and Clone Human Embryos to Create Stem Cells

Stepping into a research area marked by controversy and fraud, Harvard University scientists said Tuesday they are trying to clone human embryos to create stem cells they hope can be used one day to help conquer a host of diseases.

SEATTLE - Researcher David Baker believes the key to an AIDS vaccine or a cure for cancer may be that old PC sitting under a layer of dust in your closet or the one on your desk doing little else but running a screen saver. Those outdated or idle computers may be just what Baker needs to turn his ideas into scientific breakthroughs. 
 

Duck X-Ray Reveals What Appears to Be a Clear Image of an 'Alien Head' in the Bird's Stomach

CORDELIA, Calif. — The International Bird Rescue Research Center in Cordelia plans to raise funds with an unusual duck X-ray.

Canadian Officials Believe They Have First Documented Case of Grizzly-Polar Bear in Wild

TORONTO — A DNA test has confirmed what zoologists, hunters and aboriginal trackers in the far northern reaches of Canada have dreamed of for years: the first documented case of a grizzly-polar bear in the wild.

The computers are speeding up lab work to combat avian flu

A cure for bird flu is being sought by computers that usually search for the fundamental elements of matter. In April, the UK grid of computers that crunches data from particle physics experiments was used by scientists to study the avian H5N1 virus. 
 

London, England - High powered computers are searching for a cure for the bird flu. 
 
According to BBC, the UK grid of computers that crunches data from particle physics experiments was used by scientists to study the avian H5N1 virus. 
 

The LifeStraw is used in some places direct from the river

A new straw that purifies water as it is drunk is hoped to be part of a solution to water-borne disease killing thousands in developing countries. 
 
Water from most sources can be drunk if done so through the LifeStraw say the makers of the product. 

Pasedena, CA - A newly discovered asteroid is now the biggest thing known with a possibility of hitting the Earth in this century – and it is also the one that could hit the soonest.

Boulder, CO - A spacecraft on a nine-year cruise to Pluto has spent its first 100 days getting warmed up for the scientific mission ahead. 
 
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft launched from Earth on January 19, 2006. On April 7, sailing along at 111,960 kilometres per hour, it passed the orbit of Mars – the first planet to pass on its way to Pluto. By May 7, it will be twice as far from the Sun as is the Earth.
 

China News Agency Says Glaciers in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Are Melting at a Rate of 7 Percent Annually

BEIJING — Glaciers in western China's Qinghai-Tibet plateau, known as the "roof of the world," are melting at a rate of 7 percent annually due to global warming, the country's official Xinhua News Agency said.

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured unprecedented images of a comet breaking up as it approaches the Sun.

Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann is a fragile chap, and is set for an Earth fly-by on May 6.

Bees eyes are made of thousands of lenses

An artificial insect eye that could be used in ultra-thin cameras has been developed by scientists in the US. 
 
The dimpled eye contains over 8,500 hexagonal lenses packed into an area the size of a pinhead.  The dome-shaped structure, described in the journal Science, is similar to a bee's eye. 
 

Sensitive Skin Covering for Robots Proposed

NASA -- The ballerina gracefully dances on a small stage. She is followed not by a male partner, but by a robotic arm manipulator that seems to sense her every move.

Source: RedNova News

For NASA Goddard technologist Vladimir Lumelsky, the performance captured on the videotape neatly shows the future of robotics.

It also demonstrates an advanced technology that Lumelsky hopes to develop as part of the push from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. to develop niche robotics capabilities critical for carrying out the Vision for Space Exploration.

Bahrain May Build Sea Horse-Shaped Island

Bahrain Wants to Add Sea Horse-Shaped Island to Odd Collection of Manmade Gulf Archipelago

By ADNAN MALIK, Associated Press Writer

MANAMA, Bahrain — Man-made islands shaped like palm trees and a map of the world are already rising above the turquoise Persian Gulf, and Bahrain said Wednesday it wants to join the craze by building an island of its own in the shape of a sea horse.

NASA Satellite Captures Black Hole Birth

NASA's Swift Satellite Captures, for the First Time, the Birth of a Black Hole

Source: Associated Press

GREENBELT, Md.— The birth of a black hole has been captured for the first time, a NASA scientist said Monday.

NASA's Swift orbiting observatory detected the gamma ray burst of the collision between two dense neutron stars about early Monday and pointed its visible light and X-ray telescopes at the collision about a minute later, said Neil Gehrels, lead scientist for the Swift mission.

Oceans Heating, not Carbon Dioxide, is the Cause of Global Warming

About a million journalists, bureaucrats and evnironmentalists are promoting global warming issues assuming 0.04% of the atmosphere (CO2) is causing global warming while not knowing everything else in the atmosphere is a greenhouse gass also. It’s like saying ants on the road determine gas mileage.

Source: Techwhack.com

The real greenhouse gasses include nitrogen 78%, oxygen 20% and water vapor 0-3%. They absorb and reemit infrared radiation just like CO2 does, and they conduct and convect heat which the sun produces.

Animal Waste Studied As Energy Source

Answer to New York State Zoo's Power Needs May Be Right Under Their Nose

By WILLIAM KATES, Associated Press Writer

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Rosamond Gifford Zoo is looking to become the first zoo in the nation to be powered by its own animal waste particularly the prodigious piles produced by its pachyderms.

The zoo world prominent for its Asian elephant breeding program is studying how feasible it would be to switch to animal waste as an alternative energy source to reduce its $400,000 annual heating and electricity bill.

Planet Outside Solar System Is Observed

Scientists Claim They're the First to Directly Observe a Planet Outside of Our Solar System

By ALICIA CHANG, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — New images taken of an object five times the mass of Jupiter confirm that it is a giant planet closely orbiting a distant star, an international team of astronomers reported. The team of European and American astronomers said this is the first time a planet outside of our solar system has been directly observed a claim other scientists have also made.

Cure for baldness may lie in skin cell injections

BANISHING baldness or getting rid of stretch marks could one day be as simple as having an injection of skin cells.

By LYNDSAY MOSS, scotsman.com

Scientists have been celebrating amazing results using skin cells known as fibroblasts to treat burns victims after the method was first used to reduce lines and wrinkles on the face.

Now they hope the technique could be developed to tackle baldness, reduce stretch marks and treat gum disease, according to Chemistry & Industry magazine.

NASA's Deep Impact Probe Spots Quarry

NASA's Deep Impact Probe Spots Quarry, a Comet With Which the Spacecraft Is to Collide

Source: ABC News

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — NASA's Deep Impact probe has spotted its quarry, a comet with which the spacecraft is to collide July 4.

The spacecraft photographed comet Tempel 1 from a distance of 39.7 million miles on Monday, and the image was released by NASA on Wednesday. The photograph, showing the comet as little more than a dot, is the first of many, said astronomer Michael A'Hearn of the University of Maryland, College Park, the mission's principal investigator.

Texas A&M Researchers Clone Horse

Texas A&M University Researchers Partner With French Company and Successfully Clone a Horse

Source: Associated Press

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — A team of French and American researchers has successfully cloned a horse, Texas A&M University officials announced Wednesday. The foal was named Paris Texas.

The university believes it's the first successful cloned horse in North America; horses have previously been cloned in Italy.