FAA Grounds Boeing 787 Dreamliners

The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered the grounding of Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets until their U.S. operator proves that batteries on the planes are safe.United is the only U.S. carrier flying the Boeing 787s, which have been touted as the planes of the future. However, several operated by overseas airlines have run into recent trouble, the latest because of a feared...

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Why musical genius comes easier to early starters

Good news for pushy parents. If you want your child to excel musically, you now have better justification for starting their lessons early. New evidence comes from brain scans of 36 highly skilled musicians, split equally between those who started lessons before and after the age of 7, but who had done a similar amount of...

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Several 'slight injuries' in Dreamliner evacuation: police

TOKYO: Several people were slightly injured during the evacuation of an All Nippon Airways Dreamliner that made an emergency landing in Japan on Wednesday, police said."We have reports that several people were slightly injured," said a spokesman at Kagawa police, which covers the Takamatsu area in western Japan."We heard they sustained injuries -- minor ones such as scratches -- when they...

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White House raises petition signature threshold to 100K

Future petitions to the White House to build a Death Star, have Piers Morgan deported, or fire Aaron Swartz's prosecutor will have to attract more support in the future to merit the White House's attention.Beginning today, petitions filed on WhiteHouse.org's We the People platform will need to log 100,000 signatures in 30 days to receive an official response from the Obama Administration, quadrupling...

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Mars Rover Finds Intriguing New Evidence of Water

The first drill sample ever collected on Mars will come from a rockbed shot through with unexpected veins of what appears to be the mineral gypsum.Delighted members of the Curiosity science team announced Tuesday that the rover was now in a virtual "candy store" of scientific targets—the lowest point of Gale crater, called Yellowknife Bay, is filled with many different materials that could...

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Sandy Aid Clears Huge Hurdle in Congress

(ASSOCIATED PRESS)Seventy-nine days after Hurricane Sandy slammed into the Northeast, the House of Representatives voted this evening to approve about $50 billion of additional relief for the region pounded by the storm.The measure passed 241-180, mostly behind Democratic support, winning 49 votes from Republicans and 192 votes from Democrats. Just one Democrat opposed the legislation, while...

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Today on New Scientist: 14 January 2013

Activist's death sparks open-access tribute on Twitter Hundreds of researchers have been offering free access to their work in tribute to internet freedom activist Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide on Friday Exploding microchip could make arms dumps safer Shrapnel and bullets can set off huge explosions if they hit weapons stores. But microchip-based detonators could help keep them safeThe...

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Tilted jack-up rig in Jurong Shipyard restored

SINGAPORE: Jurong Shipyard has restored and floated the jack-up rig that tilted in 2012 to its original upright position.Eighty-nine workers were injured in the incident at the shipyard on 3 December.Sembcorp Marine said on Tuesday that with the rig now back to its upright position, Jurong Shipyard and the authorities will focus on investigations into what caused it to tilt.Repairs and...

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PayPal's in-store payment partners grow to 23 retailers

Increasingly bringing its service offline, PayPal announced today that it has nearly doubled its brick-and-mortar store lineup to 23 retailers that now accept its payment service. "Delivering valuable digital and mobile payments is alive and thriving, and consumers all over the U.S. will now start seeing PayPal more where they shop every day, including the grocery store and at the gas pump," PayPal's...

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"Fantastic" New Flying Frog Found—Has Flappy Forearms

Scientists have stumbled across a new species of flying frog—on the ground.While hiking a lowland forest in 2009, not far from Ho Chi Minh City (map), Vietnam, "we came across a huge green frog, sitting on a log," said Jodi Rowley, an amphibian biologist at the Australian Museum in Sydney and lead author of a new study on the frog.Rowley later discovered that the 3.5-inch-long (9-centimeter-long)...

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