|  Pretty in Pink: 3D-Printing 'Jimmy Choos' for Horses  | Gone are the days when a sinewy blacksmith would hammer out a set of horseshoes over a hot anvil. One Australian racehorse is now sporting high-tech horseshoes that some are calling "the Jimmy Choos of horseshoes," referring to the luxury shoe designer. Designed by researchers at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), the Australian science agency, the hot-pink horseshoes are custom-made for each of a horse's four hooves, using lightweight titanium and 3D-printing technology. Each new shoe weighs about 3.5 ounces (100 grams) less than a regular aluminum horseshoe — and every ounce counts in the high-stakes world of horse racing.
| Read More » Gotcha! Photons Seen Without Being Destroyed in a First  | The atom was in two states. In the other state it isn't — the atom is "out of tune" with both the cavity and the incoming photon. Atoms and subatomic particles are governed by the rules of quantum mechanics, which allowed the rubidium atom to be in both states at once. When the photon reached the cavity, it would either continue inside and get reflected straight back or it would just bounce off the cavity, never entering — which happened if the atom was coupled to the cavity.
| Read More » Twice as Much Methane Escaping Arctic Seafloor  | The Arctic methane time bomb is bigger than scientists once thought and primed to blow, according to a study published today (Nov. 24) in the journal Nature Geoscience.
| Read More » Last Chance to See Comet ISON Before Its Thursday Sun Encounter  | The early morning of Tuesday, Nov. 26, will be the last chance to spot Comet ISON streaking above the horizon before it makes its Thanksgiving Day slingshot around the sun, according to NASA. Comet ISON can be spotted near the southeast horizon to the right of Saturn and Mercury about an hour before dawn, space agency officials said. From very dark locations free of light pollution, Comet ISON should be visible to the naked eye early Tuesday, though it will be more clearly visible with binoculars and telescopes. For novice skywatchers who need help finding the planets to guide their eyes to ISON, NASA recommends using a stargazing app.
| Read More » Shrine Found at Buddha's Birthplace dates to 6th Century B.C.  | An ancient timber structure that may have once marked Buddha's birthplace has been unearthed in Nepal. Charcoal and grains of sand from a timber structure at the Maya Devi Temple in Lumbini, Nepal, date to the sixth century B.C., according to the a study published in the December issue of the journal Antiquity. The ancient building may have been a shrine built to enclose a tree that the Buddha's mother clung to during the birth of her son. Previously, the site, which was widely believed to be Buddha's birthplace, contained evidence going back just to the third century B.C. [In Photos: An Ancient Buddhist Monastery]
| Read More » Dead Bird Drift Hints at Disease Outbreak  | That somebody is Karl von Ellenrieder, an associate professor of ocean and mechanical engineering at Florida Atlantic University. Von Ellenrieder and his colleagues' new work contributes to simulations of how deceased birds move as they float along lakes and other bodies of water. "If the die-off resulted from some sort of man-made problem, like maybe dumping or just runoff from crops, it would help them understand what the source was and then maybe mitigate it or clean it up," von Ellenrieder said of the U.S. Geological Survey scientists who will use this research. in 2007, 10,000 more birds died than in 1963 from the effects of the toxin.
| Read More » Mushrooms 'Make Wind' to Spread Spores  | But new research shows mushrooms take a more active role in spreading their seed: They "make wind" to carry their spores about, said UCLA researcher Marcus Roper. This study by Roper and Dressaire presents another example of how "fungi are actively manipulating their environment," said Pringle, who wasn't involved in the study.
| Read More » SpaceX to Launch Landmark Commercial Satellite Mission Today: Watch It Live  | The private spaceflight company SpaceX is counting down to a critical commercial satellite launch in Florida today (Nov. 25), and you can watch the launch attempt live online. SpaceX's upgraded Falcon 9 rocket will blast off from a pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 5:37 p.m. EST (0037 Nov. 26 GMT) carrying the SES-8 satellite into orbit for the communications satellite company SES. The mission will mark several big firsts for SpaceX, including the company's first launch of its upgraded Falcon 9 rocket from Florida, its first launch of a huge commercial satellite and its first flight to a high geostationary transfer orbit needed for commercial satellites. Today's launch will be the second flight of SpaceX's upgraded Falcon 9 rocket, known as the Falcon 9 Version 1.1.
| Read More » Seeking a Russian Silicon Valley (Op-Ed)  | Nikolai Nikiforov, minister of Communications and Mass Media for the Russian Federation, contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. With more Internet users than anyplace else in Europe, Russia is not exactly a newcomer to the digital superhighway. But a new information technology (IT) roadmap approved by the Russian government in July 2013 is eliminating speed bumps as never before, with the potential to drive growth rates comparable to the expansion of the oil, gas and natural resources sectors a generation ago. Venture capital investment into the IT sector in the next five years is expected to multiply by a factor of five, reaching $1.2 billion, and this should be accompanied by a doubling of the export of IT products and services to $9 billion, according to estimates compiled by the Russia Ministry of Telecommunications and Mass Media.
| Read More » Baby Dinosaur Skeleton Unearthed in Canada  | The toddler was just 3 years old and 5 feet (1.5 meters) long when it wandered into a river near Alberta, Canada, and drowned about 70 million years ago. The fossil is the smallest intact skeleton ever found from a group of horned, plant-eating dinosaurs known as ceratopsids, a group that includes the iconic Triceratops. "The big ones just preserve better: They don't get eaten, they don't get destroyed by animals," said study co-author Philip Currie, a paleobiologist at the University of Alberta. Paleontologists had unearthed a few individual bones from smaller ceratopsids in the past.
| Read More » Scientists Explore New Zealand s Deep Sea (Part I)  | Scientists Explore New Zealand s Deep Sea (Part I)
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