2012 review: The year in health science

Read more: "2013 Smart Guide: 10 ideas that will shape the year" The first half of 2012 will be remembered for the saga over whether or not to publish controversial research involving versions of the H5N1 bird flu virus engineered to spread...

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N.Korea leader vows "radical" economic shift

SEOUL: North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-Un called for a "radical turnabout" in the impoverished country's economy in a rare New Year's address Tuesday that also urged improved relations with the South.While the heart of his lengthy speech was devoted to turning the North into an "economic giant" and raising living standards, Kim stressed that military power remained a national priority."The...

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Reddit's visitors skyrocket in 2012 with 37 billion page views

Whether readers want to learn the complexities of how the Mars Curiosity rover was able to enter the Red Planet's atmosphere or just see photos of cats being weird, they can go to Reddit. The social news site announced today its end-of-year stats and it appears that users are frequenting the site at an ever-increasing rate. Reddit revealed that in 2012 it received 37 billion page views, 400 million...

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Space Pictures This Week: Ice “Broccoli,” Solar Storm

Happy TrailsPhotograph by Alex Cherney, TWANAmateur astronomer Alex Cherney captured these star trails as they blazed above Lake Tyrrell, a salt lake in Victoria, Australia in...

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Fiscal Cliff Deal Reached; Biden Pitches It to Dems

The so-called "fiscal cliff" came tonight -- but now there is a specific deal on the table to try to soften it after the fact, according to congressional sources."It is a compromise, so we don't love it," said a senior White House official. "But it is the right thing to do for the economy."Vice President Joe Biden still had to convince Senate Democrats to support the proposal,...

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Today on New Scientist: 28 December 2012

Best videos of 2012: Rare view of Challenger tragedy Watch a rare amateur video of the Challenger explosion, our most-viewed video of the year Strong jet stream super-charged US Christmas storms Record snowfall and dozens of tornadoes snarled holiday travel as a powerful winter storm plowed across much of the US, while rainstorms battered the UK 2012 review: The year in life science The year's...

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Gang hits gem-cutting plant in Brazil, takes hostages

BRASILIA: Military police killed the leader of a gang that had spectacularly blasted its way into a gem-cutting plant on Sunday, traded fire with police and made off with nine hostages who were later safely freed.Three of the assailants died in the assault in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, a military police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.The dead included Elisandro Falcao,...

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Huawei linked to plan to sell restricted equipment to Iran

Already considered a threat to U.S. national security, Huawei is again finding itself under scrutiny, linked to an offer to sell embargoed computer equipment to Iran.A major partner of the Chinese telecommunications gear maker offered to provide 1.3 million euros ($1.7 million) of Hewlett-Packard computer equipment to Iran in 2010, according to documents reviewed by Reuters. However, Huawei says neither...

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How to Banish That New Year's Eve Hangover

For those of us who enjoy the occasional cocktail, the holiday season would be incomplete without certain treats of the liquid variety. Some look forward to the creamy charms of rum-laced eggnog; others anticipate cupfuls of high-octane punch or mugs of warm, spiced wine.No matter what's in your glass, raising one as the year winds down is tradition. What could be more festive? The problem...

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Hillary Clinton Hospitalized With Blood Clot

(MICHAL CIZEK/AFP/Getty Images)By DANA HUGHES and DEAN SCHABNERSecretary Hillary Clinton was hospitalized today after a doctors doing a follow-up exam discovered a blood clot had formed, stemming from the concussion she sustained several weeks ago.She is being treated with anti-coagulants and is at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital so that they can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours, Deputy...

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Today on New Scientist: 28 December 2012

Best videos of 2012: Rare view of Challenger tragedy Watch a rare amateur video of the Challenger explosion, our most-viewed video of the year Strong jet stream super-charged US Christmas storms Record snowfall and dozens of tornadoes snarled holiday travel as a powerful winter storm plowed across much of the US, while rainstorms battered the UK 2012 review: The year in life science The year's...

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Italy upbeat at end of 2012 after year of market tension

ROME: Italy is ending 2012 on an upbeat note, with renewed financial market confidence and optimism among analysts that the worst of the financial crisis is over, despite expectations of political uncertainty in the run-up to a general election in February.The Treasury's borrowing rates were slightly higher at short, medium and long-term debt auctions last week, but were well below levels...

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Windows 8 wrestles with PC's legacy

I spend precious little time in Metro when using a traditional laptop.(Credit:Microsoft)I'm by no means the first one to say this butWindows 8 and older PCs make an odd couple. But let me back up for a second. Before the release of Windows 8 on October 26, I tested Windows 8 ontablets only, such as the Intel-based Samsung slate that Microsoft sold in its stores. And I was impressed with Metro. That...

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Woman Charged With Murder in NYC Subway Push

A woman who allegedly told New York City police she pushed a man onto the subway tracks because she hated Hindus and Muslims has been charged with murder as a hate crime.Erica Menendez, 31, allegedly told police that she "pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers I've been beating them up."Menendez...

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Today on New Scientist: 28 December 2012

Best videos of 2012: Rare view of Challenger tragedy Watch a rare amateur video of the Challenger explosion, our most-viewed video of the year Strong jet stream super-charged US Christmas storms Record snowfall and dozens of tornadoes snarled holiday travel as a powerful winter storm plowed across much of the US, while rainstorms battered the UK 2012 review: The year in life science The year's...

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Gang-rape victim's body to be flown back home later Saturday

SINGAPORE: The body of an Indian woman who died in a Singapore hospital after a brutal gang-rape in New Delhi will be flown back on a chartered plane later Saturday, India's ambassador said."The requisite formalities (including the issue of the death certificate) for sending the body to India are being completed," Indian High Commissioner T.C.A. Raghavan told reporters, hours after the...

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New iOS app shows NY subway arrival times

Now arriving...(Credit:New York MTA)New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority finally joined the smartphone era today by releasing an iOS app showing train arrival times for seven subway lines.Available for the iPhone, theiPod Touch, and theiPad, MTA Subway Time will display train arrival times for 156 stations on the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 lines and the S shuttle line. Though officially in...

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How to Banish That New Year's Eve Hangover

For those of us who enjoy the occasional cocktail, the holiday season would be incomplete without certain treats of the liquid variety. Some look forward to the creamy charms of rum-laced eggnog; others anticipate cupfuls of high-octane punch or mugs of warm, spiced wine.No matter what's in your glass, raising one as the year winds down is tradition. What could be more festive? The problem...

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Epic Journey: Did Moses' Exodus Really Happen?

In the Bible, he is called Moses. In the Koran, he is the prophet Musa.Religious scholars have long questioned whether of the story of a prophet leading God's chosen people in a great exodus out of Egypt and the freedom it brought them afterwards was real, but the similarities between a pharaoh's ancient hymn and a psalm of David might hold the link to his existence.Tune in...

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Today on New Scientist: 27 December 2012

Best videos of 2012: Spiderman skin stops a bullet Watch reinforced skin stop a speeding bullet, at number 4 in our countdown of the top videos of the yearGastrophysics: Some said 'more', others said 'meh' Network theorists model everything from internet traffic to disease spread. But can they tease out titillating new taste combos? New Scientist gets cookingBest videos of 2012: Sea lice reduce...

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Football: Bosses on notice as owners eye Premier promotion

LONDON: Henning Berg, sacked by Blackburn after just 57 days, and Sean O'Driscoll, dismissed by Nottingham Forest just six months into his reign, became the latest managers to discover that patience is an increasingly rare quality among chairmen chasing the dream of a lucrative place in the Premier League.Owen Coyle, booted out by Bolton in October after a slow start to the season, and...

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Autonomy founder fires back at HP after news of DOJ inquiry

Autonomy founder Mike Lynch(Credit:HP)Autonomy founder and former CEO Mike Lynch is firing back at Hewlett-Packard after the release of HP's annual report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today. The report states that the federal government opened an inquiry into HP's acquisition of Autonomy in November and hints that Autonomy's accounting is partially to blame. "It is extremely disappointing...

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How to Live to a Ripe Old Age

Cento di questi giorni. May you have a hundred birthdays, the Italians say, and some of them do. So do other people in various spots around the world—in Blue Zones, so named by National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner for the blue ink that outlines these special areas on maps developed over more than a decade. (National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society.)In his...

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Gen. 'Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf Dead at 78

H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the retired general credited with leading U.S.-allied forces to a victory in the first Gulf War, died today at age 78.The man who Defense Secretary Leon Panetta today called "one of the great military giants of the 20th century" died in Tampa, Fla., where he lived in retirement, the Associated Press reported.Schwarzkopf, called "Stormin' Norman" because...

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Three gods: The hardest logic puzzle ever

* Required fields * First name * Last name * Country * Email address * Password Password must contain only letters and numbers, and be at least 8 characters * Confirm password...

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Indian rape victim arrives in S'pore for further treatment

SINGAPORE: An Indian student who was left fighting for her life after being gang-raped in New Delhi has arrived at Singapore's Mount Elizabeth Hospital for further treatment.The patient arrived at the hospital's Intensive Care Unit at 9.05am in extremely critical condition, said the hospital's spokesperson on Thursday.The hospital is working with the Indian High Commission, and has requested...

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