News Briefs 20-01-2012

“A great truth is a truth whose opposite is also a truth."

• When worlds turn to vapor.
• Determining the Sun’s birthplace.
• Taos hum explained?
• Octopi and RNA editing.
• DOJ shuts down Megaupload. Anonymous shuts down DOJ (to start). More here.
• That said, is the internet unstoppable?
• And when two white dwarves collide, said George Pal to his bride…
• More on exploding stars.
• The spin of the Milky Way.
• Thunderbolts’ take on the Helix Nebula.
• Does the ‘Devil’s Staircase’ predict a serial killer’s pattern?
• Redfern on the missing Roswell files.
• Comet decides it’s better to burn out than fade away.
• More on the claim that the US shot down Russia’s lunar probe.
• The Mayans of Georgia.
• Decision on leap second delayed years.
• The first ‘secure’, blind quantum computer.
• 2011 temperatures warmer but far from record-setting.
• Get out of my mind, Jobe!
• Troubled by asteroids late at night? NEOshield to the rescue!
• The year of the dragon is upon us.
• Code of deadly blood parasite, cracked.
• Extinct monkey re-emerges in Borneo.
• Engineered microbe turns seaweed into biofuel.
• The benefits of teardrops.
• Alcohol proven to extend lifespan … of worms.
• Radioactive material stolen from Egyptian power plant.
• Movies so terrible, even the filmmakers agree.
• Can injections keep Venice afloat?
• Thomas Jefferson’s secret bible.
• This week’s evidence of the robo-pocalypse on the horizon… Life-like ‘bot crafted in mad scientist’s Ottowa lab.

Quote of the Day:

“Has the world ever been changed by anything save the thought and its magic vehicle the word?”

T. Mann