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AP Science NewsBrief at 8:15 a.m. EDT
(AP Online Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Plastics expert wins $500K Lemelson-MIT awardBOSTON (AP) _ Consumers have environmentally friendlier plastics, patients in clinical trials have a new device to treat clogged arteries and we all might get disease-treating nanoparticles inside our bodies thanks in part to the work of one man, the winner of this year's Lemelson-MIT Prize. The $500,000 prize to chemistry professor Joseph DeSimone was to be announced Wednesday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The prize recognizes people who turn their ideas into inventions that help change the world.
Hurricane Center director talks forecasting in interviewMIAMI (AP) _ Substantially improving the accuracy of hurricane intensity predictions could take years and tens of millions of dollars, the National Hurricane Center's director said Tuesday. In an interview with The Associated Press, Bill Read said reducing by half the errors made in tasks such as determining whether a storm would remain a Category 1 or grow stronger would be a costly and long-term effort.
NASA warming scientist: 'This is the last chance'WASHINGTON (AP) _ Exactly 20 years after warning America about global warming, a top NASA scientist said the situation has gotten so bad that the world's only hope is drastic action. James Hansen told Congress on Monday that the world has long passed the "dangerous level" for greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and needs to get back to 1988 levels. He said Earth's atmosphere can only stay this loaded with man-made carbon dioxide for a couple more decades without changes such as mass extinction, ecosystem collapse and dramatic sea level rises.
Scholars set date for Odysseus' bloody homecomingWASHINGTON (AP) _ Using clues from star and sun positions mentioned by the ancient Greek poet Homer, scholars think they have determined the date when King Odysseus returned from the Trojan War and slaughtered a group of suitors who had been pressing his wife to marry one of them. It was on April 16, 1178 B.C. that the great warrior struck with arrows, swords and spears, killing those who sought to replace him, a pair of researchers say in Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
NASA estimates 3,000 to 4,000 shuttle job lossesCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) _ NASA told a Senate panel on Monday that it anticipates losing 3,000 to 4,000 jobs at its launching site once the space shuttles stop flying in two more years, about half the cutback initially reported. Although as many as 6,000 to 7,000 shuttle jobs will be eliminated at Kennedy Space Center, about 3,000 positions will open up in the new exploration program, said NASA Administrator Michael Griffin. Those jobs will be created to build and fly new spaceships to the international space station and, ultimately, to the moon.
Some searchers still expect to see rare woodpeckerBRINKLEY, Ark. (AP) _ For the last three years, researchers in camouflage and waders have slogged through the east Arkansas woods hoping to spot a rare bird that so far seems unwilling to be seen. Some scientists still believe the ivory-billed woodpecker exists in the Big Woods, but they haven't been able to capture a sharp image of its remarkable 30-inch wing span and glossy black and white feathers on film or video camera.
Supreme Court agrees to review Navy sonar caseWASHINGTON (AP) _ The Supreme Court on Monday stepped into a dispute over the Navy's use of sonar off the Southern California coast and its potential harm to dolphins and whales. Acting at the Bush administration's urging, the court agreed to review a federal appeals court ruling that limits the use of sonar in naval training exercises.
Can the Martian arctic support extreme life?LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Bizarre microbes flourish in the most punishing environments on Earth from the bone-dry Atacama Desert in Chile to the boiling hot springs of Yellowstone National Park to the sunless sea bottom vents in the Pacific. Could such exotic life emerge in the frigid arctic plains of Mars?
Zoos ask, what to do with an aged lemur?Even as a youngster, Rollie looked older and wiser than his years. His white mustache sprouted longer by the month, until it flamed from his cheeks like a German kaiser's. Sometimes, it all but hid his mouth. In the last few years, though, the tribulations of age _ not just the appearance of it _ have begun catching up with Rollie. It wasn't immediately noticeable on the outside. But his keepers are reminded each time they get a look past the Emperor Tamarin's flowing whiskers, and into his jaws.
Opposition mounts to clean air change affecting parksKNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Critics fear the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will adopt a rule in the waning days of the Bush administration that will make it easier to build coal-fired power plants near national parks. The proposed change, pending since last June, comes as the utility industry moves into its biggest building boom in coal-fueled power plants in decades. To meet growing electricity needs, more than 20 plants are under construction in 14 states and more than 100 are in various stages of planning.
Copyright ? 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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