|  Huge long-necked dinosaurs had big, precocious babies  | By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The babies of a huge, long-necked dinosaur called Rapetosaurus that lived on the island of Madagascar did not just sit in a nest and look cute. Scientists on Thursday announced the discovery of fossils of a baby Rapetosaurus the size of a big dog that apparently starved to death during a drought several weeks after hatching from its soccer-ball-sized egg. Unlike many animal babies, particularly humans, the hatchling Rapetosaurus had adult proportions, meaning it likely did not need significant parental support and was actively foraging for plants rather than waiting for momma to feed it.
| Read More » AstraZeneca taps gene pioneer Venter for huge drug-hunting sweep  | By Ben Hirschler CAMBRIDGE, England (Reuters) - AstraZeneca, working with genome pioneer Craig Venter, is launching a massive gene hunt in the most comprehensive bet yet by a pharmaceutical firm on the potential of genetic variations to unlock routes to new medicines. The initiative, announced on Friday, involves sequencing up to 2 million human genomes - the complete set of genetic code that acts as the software of life - including 500,000 DNA samples collected by AstraZeneca in global clinical trials. Financial details of the 10-year project were not disclosed but Mene Pangalos, head of early drug development, said the company would be investing "hundreds of millions of dollars".
| Read More » Robot monk blends science and Buddhism at Chinese temple  | By Joseph Campbell BEIJING (Reuters) - A Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Beijing has decided to ditch traditional ways and use technology to attract followers. Longquan temple says it has developed a robot monk that can chant Buddhist mantras, move via voice command, and hold a simple conversation. Named Xian'er, the 60-cm (2-foot) tall robot resembles a cartoon-like novice monk in yellow robes with a shaven head, holding a touch screen on his chest.
| Read More » AstraZeneca taps gene pioneer Venter for huge drug-hunting sweep  | By Ben Hirschler CAMBRIDGE, England (Reuters) - AstraZeneca , working with genome pioneer Craig Venter, is launching a massive gene hunt in the most comprehensive bet yet by a pharmaceutical firm on the potential of genetic variations to unlock routes to new medicines. The initiative, announced on Friday, involves sequencing up to 2 million human genomes - the complete set of genetic code that acts as the software of life - including 500,000 DNA samples collected by AstraZeneca in global clinical trials. Financial details of the 10-year project were not disclosed but Mene Pangalos, head of early drug development, said the company would be investing "hundreds of millions of dollars".
| Read More » Building for Egypt's First Female Pharaoh Discovered  | Ancient stone blocks depicting Queen Hatshepsut have been discovered on Egypt's Elephantine Island, providing insights into the early years of her reign, Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities announced this week. On several of the blocks, Queen Hatshepsut was represented as a woman, according to the Ministry, suggesting that the blocks and building it came from were erected during the early part of the first female pharaoh's reign, which lasted from 1473 B.C. to 1458 B.C. Later in her reign, the queen was depicted as a male. Mentions of Queen Hatshepsut were erased and monuments bearing her image were defaced after her death, and her female figure was replaced with images of a male king: her deceased husband Thutmose II. It is believed that her co-ruler and stepson/nephew Thutmose III ordered the change.
| Read More » Dinosaur Decline Started Long Before Asteroid Impact  | The dinosaurs — the so-called tyrants of the Mesozoic era — weren't exactly thriving during their last few million years on Earth, a new study finds. The new analysis of the dinosaur family tree reveals that dinosaurs were disappearing even before the asteroid hit about 65.5 million years ago. Roughly 24 million years before that impact, dinosaur extinction rates passed speciation rates, meaning that the animals were losing the ability to replace extinct species with new ones, the researchers said.
| Read More » Faster Than Light! Incredible Illusion Makes Images 'Time Travel' Taken together, the results finally prove a century-old prediction made by British scientist and polymath Lord Rayleigh. Lord Rayleigh — the brilliant British physicist who discovered the noble gas argon and explained why the sky is blue — also made a bizarre prediction about sound waves nearly a century ago. Rayleigh reasoned that, because the speed of sound is fixed, an object traveling faster than that while spewing out sound would result in sound waves that would seem to travel in the opposite direction of the object and thus seem to be reversed in time orientation. Read More » Dutch fountain runs on sunshine and air A Dutch sculpture presented on Earth Day spouts water 6 meters high without using conventional water or power sources in what creators hope will inspire new ways to ease resource shortages in drought-prone climates. The Solar Fountain, which took Dutch inventor Ap Verheggen six years to develop, produces around 2 liters (4.2 pints) of water per day using an ordinary dehumidifier, two 250-watt solar panels and a rechargeable battery pack. "We present the sculpture with technology that's off the shelves," Verheggen said. Read More » Sci-Tech Visionaries Gather for 'Future Is Here' Festival This weekend, hundreds of scientists, tech visionaries and industry leaders will flock to the nation's capital for Smithsonian magazine's "Future Is Here" festival, a three-day event that explores research and innovations at the intersection of science and science fiction. "It's an explosion of creativity — it's really a unique program," said Michael Caruso, editor in chief of Smithsonian magazine, which is hosting the event. "The theme of the whole thing is science meets science fiction. Read More » 108-Year-Old Message in a Bottle Is Oldest Ever Found  | The oldest message in a bottle spent 108 years, 4 months and 18 days at sea. This year, Guinness World Records recognized it as the oldest message in a bottle ever found. One of more than 1,000 bottles thrown into the North Sea by marine biologist George Parker Bidder, the bottle was part of a research project on the patterns of ocean currents.
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