Link between defects, weaponry possible? … Synthetic dyes could increase energy … Weapons-grade uranium removed from Ukraine … Brazil to join in international astronomy ... Health/Science news from UPI.
BRASILIA, Brazil, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Brazil says it is to be the newest member of the European Southern Observatory, a leading intergovernmental astronomy organization.
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin is suing a trading card company for using a photograph of him on his historic moonwalk as part of a recent card series.
BUFFALO, N.Y., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- U.S. chemists say newly developed photosensitizing dyes could greatly increase the efficiency of light-driven systems that produce green energy.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The Obama administration and Congress face a battle over regulation of climate-altering gases produced by factories and power plants, observers say.
FALLUJAH, Iraq, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A rise in birth defects in the Iraqi city of Falluja could have been caused by weaponry used in U.S. assaults that took place six years ago, a report says.
BOSTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Massachusetts officials have announced a plan to reduce greenhouse gases emitted in the state by 25 percent below 1990 levels during the next decade.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued warnings about drinks sold as supplements for sexual enhancement that could dangerously lower blood pressure.
ST. LOUIS, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A risk for alcoholism also may put individuals at risk for obesity, addiction researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis say.
GREENBELT, Md., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- NASA says strong support from the White House and Congress will allow it to plan extensive Earth science programs with 16 major missions between 2011 and 2021.
ATHENS, Ohio, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- An influx of invasive species can stop the usual natural process of new species formation and can trigger mass extinction events, a U.S. researcher says.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A study of one of nature's most primitive immune systems might lead to new, more effective antibiotics, a U.S. researcher says.
Canada plans bigger anti-smoking warnings … Pioneer transplant donor dies at 79 … Bird brains could give ancient flight clue … New detector could speed nuclear cleanup ... Health/Science news from UPI.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- NASA says it is considering merging its space operations and human spaceflight mission directorates to better reach its manned spaceflight goals.
EDINBURGH, Scotland, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Scottish researchers say reconstructing the brains of extinct birds could provide clues to when they evolved into creatures of flight.
CORVALLIS, Ore., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they've developed a radiation detecting and measuring device that promises faster and cheaper cleanup of radioactively contaminated sites.
NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A simple trap resembling a trash can that lures pregnant mosquitoes could help stop the spread of dengue fever, U.S. researchers say.
BUFFALO, N.Y., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Huge ancient sea scorpions, long characterized as terrors of the sea, may actually have been timid scavengers or even vegetarians, U.S. scientists say.
BOSTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A man who donated a kidney in 1954 in the world's first human organ transplant that resulted in long-term survival has died in Maine, his family said.
KOUROU, French Guiana, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Europe's Ariane launch rocket completed is final mission of 2010, lifting two satellites into orbit from its French Guiana launch pad, officials said.
SYDNEY, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- An Australian astronomer says a cosmic string of cold gas and dust 260 light years across the Milky Way has been identified as the birthplace of very big stars.
LONDON, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. and U.K. researchers say they've completed The Plant List, a database of land plant species intended to document plant diversity and improve conservation.
NEW YORK, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- A review of general anesthesia, sleep and coma by U.S. researchers says the brain under general anesthesia isn't "asleep" but in a state of reversible coma.
PARIS, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency says it was unable to win approval of NASA's proposed five-year extension of operations of the International Space Station.
ARDMORE, Okla., Dec. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have uncovered a gene responsible for plants' key growth characteristics, specifically their density, a finding that could improve agriculture.
Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego, California watches confetti rain down as she wins the two-day Scripps National Spelling Bee championship, May 31, 2012, in National Harbor, Maryland. Nandipati successfully spelled the word .* guetapens *, meaning to lure or ambush. UPI/Mike Theiler
