|  500-Million-Year-Old 'Smiling' Worm Rears Its Head  | Scientists finally have an answer in the case of the odd ancient worm Hallucigenia, which leaves fossils so bizarre that researchers once thought its top was its bottom and its back was its front. Indeed, after decades, researchers have confirmed which side of Hallucigenia was the head, and found its circular "grinning" mouth lined with teeth, according to a new study detailed today (June 24) in the journal Nature. This toothy ring may be the link that connects creatures as diverse as spiders, nematode worms and teeny-tiny tardigrades — the cute and nearly indestructible micro animals also known as water bears.
| Read More » Mighty X-Ray Echos Circle 'Lord of the Rings' Neutron Star  | This newly observed "X-ray echo" — the largest and brightest of its type ever caught on camera — has allowed researchers to pin down the location of the neutron star Circinus X-1, which was found to lie 30,700 light-years from Earth. Circinus X-1 is a tiny remnant left over after a massive star died in a violent supernova explosion. The neutron star orbits in a binary system with another massive star and tends to emit intense X-rays into the surrounding dust-filled space.
| Read More » 'Oh Pluto': Song Celebrates Upcoming Flyby of Dwarf Planet  | A NASA spacecraft's epic flyby of Pluto next month now has a soundtrack. Singer-songwriter Craig Werth has written a song called "Oh Pluto" to highlight and celebrate NASA's New Horizons mission, which will give the world its first up-close looks at the frigid, faraway dwarf planet during a highly anticipated flyby on July 14. "My thought about the song was to treat Pluto as a friend we've been appreciating from afar and are now coming to visit," Werth told Space.com via email.
| Read More » US Falls in World Happiness Rankings Panama tops the rankings of the world's happiest countries for the second year in a row, according to a new report. In 2014, people living in the Central American country known for it's man-made canal scored the highest on a yearly survey of global well-being created by Gallup-Healthways. In contrast, Afghanistan scored the lowest out of the 145 ranked countries. Read More » Insight - "Paving paradise": Scientists alarmed over China island building in disputed sea  | By Greg Torode HONG KONG (Reuters) - Concern is mounting among some scientists that China's reclamation work in the disputed Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea has done severe harm to one of the most important coral reef systems in Southeast Asia. China's use of dredged sand and coral to build artificial islands on seven reefs had also damaged reef systems beyond the outposts, meaning the affected area could be greater than first thought, several scientists who have studied satellite images of the Spratlys told Reuters. John McManus, a prominent University of Miami marine biologist who has worked with Philippine scientists to research the South China Sea, told fellow experts this month that China's reclamation "constitutes the most rapid rate of permanent loss of coral reef area in human history".
| Read More » 'Paving paradise': Scientists alarmed over China island building in disputed sea  | By Greg Torode HONG KONG (Reuters) - Concern is mounting among some scientists that China's reclamation work in the disputed Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea has done severe harm to one of the most important coral reef systems in Southeast Asia. China's use of dredged sand and coral to build artificial islands on seven reefs had also damaged reef systems beyond the outposts, meaning the affected area could be greater than first thought, several scientists who have studied satellite images of the Spratlys told Reuters. John McManus, a prominent University of Miami marine biologist who has worked with Philippine scientists to research the South China Sea, told fellow experts this month that China's reclamation "constitutes the most rapid rate of permanent loss of coral reef area in human history".
| Read More » California's Lake Fire Burns Massive 'Scars' into Forest (Photo)  | California's four-year-long drought is helping fuel its first major forest fire of the year, a blaze that is engulfing federal land about 80 miles (130 kilometers) east of Los Angeles. As of Tuesday (June 23), the fire had engulfed at least 27 square miles (70 square kilometers) of the San Bernardino National Forest. The satellite images were taken on Saturday (June 20), when the fire had burned about 23 square miles (60 square km) and was just 10 percent contained.
| Read More » 'Endangered' Cougar Has Likely Been Extinct for 70 Years  | The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is planning to remove the eastern cougar from the endangered species list after determining the subspecies has likely been extinct for 70 years. The proposal comes after a formal review of the subspecies' status that concluded in 2011. Wildlife officials looked at more than 100 reports (going back to 1900) and found that recent "sightings" of the eastern cougar were actually of Florida panthers, wild western cougars or other cougars that escaped from captivity or were released.
| Read More » Is It Ethical to Choose a Baby's Sex? Kim & Kanye Fuel Debate Celebrity couple Kim Kardashian and Kanye West might not have simply wished for a boy when they found out they were expecting their second child — some sources claim the couple chose their baby's sex during an in vitro fertilization procedure. Earlier this year, Kardashian and West underwent an IVF procedure in which an egg was fertilized in a lab dish and was then implanted in the uterus, after the couple had trouble conceiving. During this type of procedure, it's possible for a fertility clinic to screen the embryos and determine their sex, and in the case of Kardashian and West, an unnamed source told US Weekly that the couple had only male embryos implanted. Read More » It's no hallucination, that creature is just really weird  | Hallucigenia is one of the species emblematic of the Cambrian Period, a pivotal juncture in the history of life on Earth when most major groups of animals first appeared and many unusual body designs came and went. "It is nice to finally know rather fundamental things such as how many legs it has, and to know its head from its tail," University of Cambridge paleontologist Martin Smith said. Hallucigenia, whose fossils have been unearthed in the Burgess Shale site in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, belongs to a primitive group of velvet worms, animals that still exist today.
| Read More » 'Yeti' Crab Grows Its Own Food, Lives in Antarctic Spa  | A yeti, of course! Or, in this case, a yeti crab — a marine creature that lives near the thermal vents in the ocean floor where hot water gushes into the sea. K. tyleri is the only species of yeti crab known to reside in the Southern Ocean, off Antarctica.
| Read More » Mars Astronauts Could See Blue Auroras on Red Planet  | Astronauts visiting Mars in the future will be awed by dazzling auroral displays in the planet's southern hemisphere, a new study suggests. While previous research had confirmed the presence of beautiful "southern lights" on Mars, the new study predicts for the first time that the auroras of the Red Planet may be visible to the human eye. "An astronaut looking up while walking on the red Martian soil would be able, after intense solar eruptions, to see the phenomena with the naked eye," study co-author Cyril Simon Wedlund, of Aalto University in Finland, said in a statement.
| Read More » More Pool Outbreaks Tied to 'Crypto' Parasite  | From 2011 to 2012, there were 90 outbreaks and 1,788 cases of any illness linked to using recreational water, according to information reported from 32 states and Puerto Rico. Most of these outbreaks (77 percent) occurred in water that was treated (for example, with chlorine or bromine), such as pools, spas and hot tubs, while 23 percent of the outbreaks involved untreated water, such as lakes and oceans, the CDC said. Among the outbreaks linked to treated water, more than half were caused by a parasite called Cryptosporidium, also known as Crypto, which causes diarrhea, the CDC said.
| Read More » 'Crypto' Parasite Outbreaks Increasing in Pools Across US | From 2011 to 2012, there were 90 outbreaks and 1,788 cases of any illness linked to using recreational water, according to information reported from 32 states and Puerto Rico. Most of these outbreaks (77 percent) occurred in water that was treated (for example, with chlorine or bromine), such as pools, spas and hot tubs, while 23 percent of the outbreaks involved untreated water, such as lakes and oceans, the CDC said. Among the outbreaks linked to treated water, more than half were caused by a parasite called Cryptosporidium, also known as Crypto, which causes diarrhea, the CDC said.
| Read More » Scientists crack gene secret that lets poppies make morphine  | By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have identified a key gene used by poppies to make morphine, paving the way for better methods of producing the medically important drug, potentially without the need for cultivating poppy fields. The latest finding follows recent success in engineering brewer's yeast to synthesize opiates such as morphine and codeine from a common sugar, boosting the prospect of "home-brew" drug supply. "Poppies are not going to be displaced overnight by any stretch of the imagination," said Ian Graham, a professor at the University of York, who worked on the latest gene discovery.
| Read More » Sunrise at Copernicus: Spot Famous Moon Crater Tonight  | As the moon climbs the western sky this week, watch it with binoculars. Earth's natural satellite shows at least as much detail through binoculars as Galileo Galilei saw with his crude telescope 400 years ago. Your first glance through binoculars will reveal large dark areas, the so-called seas or maria (the plural of mare), which in reality are flat lava plains.
| Read More » Spectacular Northern Lights Show Could Continue This Weekend (Photos, Video)  | Throughout Canada and as far south as Philadelphia, the northern lights have been wowing skywatchers this week, and the colorful displays could continue, following another solar explosion spotted by NASA. A large sun storm last weekend known as a coronal mass ejection (CME) sent high-energy particles streaming toward Earth, where their interaction with the atmosphere and the magnetic field supercharged the gorgeous color displays known in the northern hemisphere as the aurora borealis.
| Read More » Scientists crack gene secret that lets poppies make morphine  | By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have identified a key gene used by poppies to make morphine, paving the way for better methods of producing the medically important drug, potentially without the need for cultivating poppy fields. The latest finding follows recent success in engineering brewer's yeast to synthesise opiates such as morphine and codeine from a common sugar, boosting the prospect of "home-brew" drug supply. "Poppies are not going to be displaced overnight by any stretch of the imagination," said Ian Graham, a professor at the University of York, who worked on the latest gene discovery.
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