Detecting Rabid Bats Before They Bite

A picture is worth a thousand words—or in the case of bats, a rabies diagnosis. A new study reveals that rabid bats have cooler faces compared to uninfected colony-mates. And researchers are hopeful that thermal scans of bat faces could improve rabies surveillance in wild colonies, preventing outbreaks that introduce infections into other animals—including humans.Bats are a major reservoir...

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Obama Invokes Newtown on 'Cliff' Deal

Invoking the somber aftermath of the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., President Obama today appealed to congressional Republicans to embrace a standing "fair deal" on taxes and spending that would avert the fiscal cliff in 13 days."If there's one thing we should have after this week, it should be a sense of perspective about what's important," Obama said at a midday news conference."I...

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Say what: The top tech quotes of 2012

Felix Baumgartner, on surviving his supersonic free fall: "It was really a lot harder than I thought it was going to be." Mark Zuckerberg might have said the same thing about taking Facebook public, or Tim Cook about Apple releasing its own maps app in iOS 6.(Credit:Red Bull Stratos)Sometimes it's what you say. Sometimes it's how you say it. What really matters is that what you said captured a moment,...

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Race Is On to Find Life Under Antarctic Ice

A hundred years ago, two teams of explorers set out to be the first people ever to reach the South Pole. The race between Roald Amundsen of Norway and Robert Falcon Scott of Britain became the stuff of triumph, tragedy, and legend. (See rare pictures of Scott's expedition.)Today, another Antarctic drama is underway that has a similar daring and intensity—but very different stakes.Three...

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Newtown Settles In for Prayerful, Somber Christmas

Residents of Sandy Hook, Conn., gather every year under an enormous tree in the middle of town to sing carols and light the tree. The tree is lit this year, too, but the scene beneath it is starkly different.The tree looms over hundreds of teddy bears and toys, but they are for children who will never receive them. The ornaments are adorned with names and jarringly recent birth...

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'The idea we live in a simulation isn't science fiction'

If the universe is just a Matrix-like simulation, how could we ever know? Physicist Silas Beane thinks he has the answer The idea that we live in a simulation is just science fiction, isn't it?There is a famous argument that we probably...

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Changi Airport's aircraft handling capacity to be increased 40%

SINGAPORE - The authorities are gearing up to increase Changi Airport's aircraft handling capacity as there is scope for Changi Airport to handle about 40 per cent more aircraft movements than the 302,000 aircraft movements handled last year. The airport's air traffic potential of about 430,000 annual aircraft movements is based on findings from a terminal airspace consultancy study commissioned...

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Samsung announces Galaxy Grand; 5-inch Jelly Bean-powered smartphone

Samsung's Galaxy Grand: an Android 'Jelly Bean'-powered 5-inch smartphone with a dual-core processor.(Credit:Samsung)Samsung today unveiled the Galaxy Grand smartphone, which runs the latestAndroid 4.1.2 'Jelly Bean' mobile operating system, and sports a 5-inch WVGA display. The smartphone also features a powerful dual-core 1.2 Ghz Dual Core powered smartphone with 1GB RAM, an 8-megapixel rear camera...

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GRAIL Mission Goes Out With a Bang

Jane J. Lee On Friday, December 14, NASA sent their latest moon mission into a death spiral. Rocket burns nudged GRAIL probes Ebb and Flow into a new orbit designed to crash them into the side of a mountain near the moon's north pole today at around 2:28 p.m. Pacific standard time. NASA named the crash site after late astronaut Sally Ride, America's first woman in space.Although the mountain...

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Conn. Kids Laid to Rest: 'Our Hearts Are With You'

Visibly shaken attendees exiting the funeral today for 6-year-old Noah Pozner, one of 20 children killed in the Connecticut school massacre last week, said they were touched by a story that summed up the first-grader best.His mother, Veronique, would often tell him how much she loved him and he'd respond: "Not as much as I [love] you," said a New York man who attended the funeral...

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