Dec
15

Zebrafish made to grow pre-hands instead of fins

PERHAPS the little fish embryo shown here is dancing a jig because it has just discovered that it has legs instead of fins. Fossils show that limbs evolved from fins, but a new study shows how it may have happened, live in the lab. ...
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Obama picks Kerry for top diplomatic post: TV

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama has chosen Senator John Kerry to succeed Hillary Clinton as US secretary of state, news networks CNN and ABC reported Saturday.CNN cited a Democratic source who had spoken to Kerry, while ABC mentioned unnamed sources. Asked for comment by AFP, the White House did not immediately confirm the reports, but Kerry is seen as a frontrunner for the role.The...
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The victims

STORY HIGHLIGHTSPrincipal Dawn Hochsprung was "a tough lady in the right sort of sense," friend saysMary Sherlach served as Sandy Hook's school psychologist since 1994Teacher Victoria Soto died while shielding first graders from shooterFirst-grader Emilie Parker "was the sweetest little girl I've ever known," aunt says Editor's note: CNN is listing the full names of children only when their parents...
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Conn. dad recalls loving, creative 6-year-old

NEWTOWN, Conn. Fighting back tears and struggling to catch his breath, the father of a 6-year-old gunned down in Friday's school shooting in Connecticut told the world about a little girl who loved to draw and was always smiling, and he also reserved surprising words of sympathy for the gunman. Robbie Parker's daughter Emilie was among the 20 children who died in the one of the worst attacks on...
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Conn. Victim's Father Remembers 'Loving' Daughter

(Image credit: Emilie Parker Fund/Facebook)Emilie Parker, the little girl with the blond hair and bright blue eyes, would have been one of the first to comfort her classmates at Sandy Hook Elementary School, had a gunman’s bullets not claimed her life, her father said.“My daughter Emilie would be one of the first ones to be standing and giving support to all the victims because that’s the kind...
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Dec
14

CERN becomes first pure physics voice in UN chorus

Lisa Grossman, physical sciences reporter(Image: UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras)If CERN observes the proceedings of the United Nations, will it change the outcome?The international particle physics laboratory, based near Geneva, Switzerland, has been granted observer status in the General Assembly of the United Nations, CERN officials announced today. The lab joins environmental groups and public...
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Police hunt man who threatened shooting at US mosque

LOS ANGELES: Police in California are looking for a man who reportedly walked into a California mosque saying he had a gun and threatened to kill everyone, a spokeswoman said Friday.The man entered the Ibrahim Khalilullah Islamic Center in Fremont, south of San Francisco, during afternoon prayer Wednesday, said mosque leaders, urging official action to track down the man.According to witnesses,...
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Pearlman: I think Bobby Petrino is slime

Bobby Petrino was named head coach at Western Kentucky, months after being embroiled in scandal at University of ArkansasSTORY HIGHLIGHTSBobby Petrino was named the new football coach at Western Kentucky this weekHiring came just months after he was fired from Arkansas amid scandalJeff Pearlman says, sadly, this is no surprise in big-time college sportsHe says the vast majority of players are ultimately...
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Hundreds pack Conn. church for vigil after rampage

Girls embraces outside St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, which was filled to capacity, during a healing service held in for victims of an elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. A gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children. / AP Photo/Charles Krupa NEWTOWN, Conn. Hundreds of people are packing a...
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Conn. Shooter Adam Lanza: 'Obviously Not Well'

Adam Lanza of Newtown, Connecticut was a child of the suburbs and a child of divorce who at age 20 still lived with his mother.This morning he appears to have started his day by shooting his mother Nancy in the face, and then driving to nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School armed with at least two handguns and at least one semi-automatic rifle.There, before turning his gun on himself,...
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Dec
13

Today on New Scientist: 13 December 2012

Violent beauty at the end of an Alaskan glacier You can almost hear the crash of ice on water in this stunning image of an ice sheet calving off the Chenega glacier in AlaskaOvereating now bigger global problem than lack of food The most comprehensive disease report ever produced confirms that, for the first time, there is a larger health problem from people eating too much than too littleIn...
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With Rice's withdrawal, US lawmakers eye Kerry for State

WASHINGTON: US Republican and Democratic senators were fiercely split over Susan Rice's withdrawal on Thursday as candidate for secretary of state, but they appeared to unite over a likely replacement: Senator John Kerry.UN ambassador Rice, a close ally of President Barack Obama, had been a frontrunner to replace Hillary Clinton as Washington's top diplomat but fell foul of a row over...
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Obama, Boehner have 'frank' meeting about fiscal cliff

STORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: Like Boehner's office, the White House describes the meeting as "frank" "Lines of communication remain open," both sides sayBoehner says "spending is the problem;" Democrats say the rich should pay more Stocks fall amid uncertainty about the political impasse over the fiscal cliff Washington (CNN) -- Facing a looming deadline to avoid the fiscal cliff, President Barack Obama and...
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Donation-based hospital rescues Afghanistan's wounded

(CBS News) KABUL - In Afghanistan, an American soldier and two Afghans were killed by a car bomb Thursday. It happened near the U.S. airbase in Kandahar, a few hours after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta left there to meet with Afghan President Karzai. Taliban attacks have grown more frequent, causing a sharp rise in civilian casualties. There's one place where many of those lives are saved or lost....
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Health-Exchange Deadline Looms

All of the Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare," doesn't go into effect until 2014, but states are required to set up their own health care exchanges or leave it to the federal government to step in by next year. The deadline for the governors' decisions is Friday.The health insurance exchanges are one of the key stipulations of the new health care law. They will offer...
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Dec
12

UK government urged to consider relaxing drug rules

JUST say yes to considering relaxed drug controls, urged a panel of UK parliamentarians this week - but Prime Minister David Cameron has rejected the calls. Many countries have loosened their penalties for drug use, including the Czech Republic and Portugal, which...
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Philippines typhoon death toll tops 900

MANILA: The death toll from the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year has climbed above 900, with hundreds still missing, the government said Thursday.Typhoon Bopha killed 902 people mostly on the southern island of Mindanao, where floods and landslides caused major damage in nearly 2,000 villages on December 4, the civil defence office said.A total of 615 people remain missing,...
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Mall gunman: 'I have lived one crazy life so far'

STORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: Gunman's mother died at childbirth; he never met father, friend saysNEW: He was an 'outgoing' skateboarder in high school, another friend saysNEW: He told a friend he left aunt's home at age 14 and raised himselfJacob 'Jake' Roberts uses edgy, dark humor on his Facebook page(CNN) -- Intended or not, the central image on the Facebook page of Jacob "Jake" Roberts, the Oregon shopping...
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Bruce Springsteen kicks off Sandy benefit

Updated: 9:00 p.m. ETMusic filled New York's Madison Square Garden Wednesday night for the "12-12-12" gig all in the name of helping superstorm Sandy victims. Bruce Springsteen kicked off the star-studded concert, a fitting start for the benefit, which will aid hard-hit storm areas such as the rocker's native New Jersey. The Boss launched into "Land of Hope and Dreams" as audience members rose to...
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Mall Shooter Quit Job, Was Going to Hawaii

In the days before he stole a semiautomatic weapon and stormed into an Oregon shopping mall, killing two people in a shooting spree, Jacob Roberts quit his job, sold his belongings and began to seem "numb" to those closest to him.Roberts' ex-girlfriend, Hannah Patricia Sansburn, 20, told ABC News today that the man who donned a hockey mask and opened fire on Christmas shoppers...
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Dec
11

No attempt to shoot down N.Korea rocket: Japan govt

TOKYO: Japan did not try to shoot down a North Korean rocket as it passed over its southern island chain of Okinawa, the government said Wednesday, strongly condemning the launch.Tokyo confirmed the launch had taken place and that said it believed parts of the rocket had fallen into the sea off the Korean peninsula, with another part dropping into the ocean near the Philippines."Launch...
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Two victims, gunman dead after shooting at Oregon mall

By Catherine E. Shoichet and Michael Martinez, CNNupdated 8:55 PM EST, Tue December 11, 2012STORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: Three people are killed in the mall shooting, including the gunmanOne witness in Macy's says she saw a man wearing a hockey mask, wielding an assault rifle"Multiple victims" have been shot, authorities say, and 10 ambulances were at the scene(CNN) -- Two people were killed when a gunman...
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