BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Extinction 'by man not climate'

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Extinction 'by man not climate': "The extinction of many ancient species may be due to humans rather than climate change, experts say.

Large prehistoric animals in Tasmania may have been wiped out by human hunting and not temperature changes, a team of international scientists argue.

This pattern may have been repeated around the globe on islands such as Great Britain, the scientists say.

The findings were published in the US scientific journal - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."

BBC NEWS | Health | Experts find 'scaredy-cat' gene

BBC NEWS | Health | Experts find 'scaredy-cat' gene: "Variations in a gene may help explain why horror movies shock some people and entertain others, say German scientists.

People with one version of the COMT gene startled more dramatically to unpleasant images than others, the researchers found."

BBC NEWS | UK | Eat kangaroo to 'save the planet'

BBC NEWS | UK | Eat kangaroo to 'save the planet': "Switching from beef to kangaroo burgers could significantly help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, says an Australian scientist.

The methane gas produced by sheep and cows through belching and flatulence is more potent than carbon dioxide in the damage it can cause to the environment.

But kangaroos produce virtually no methane because their digestive systems are different.

Dr George Wilson, of the Australian Wildlife Services, urges farming them."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Jimmy's quest for high-rise honey

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Jimmy's quest for high-rise honey

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Invisibility cloak 'step closer'

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Invisibility cloak 'step closer': "Scientists in the US say they are a step closer to developing materials that could render people invisible.

Researchers at the University of California in Berkeley have developed a material that can bend light around 3D objects making them 'disappear'.

The materials do not occur naturally but have been created on a nano scale, measured in billionths of a metre.

The team says the principles could one day be scaled up to make invisibility cloaks large enough to hide people."

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Iron Maiden refuse live award nod

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Iron Maiden refuse live award nod: "Rock band Iron Maiden have asked to be removed from the Vodafone Live Music Awards shortlist after being nominated for the best live return prize.

Vodafone said the band had complained they should not be considered for the prize because they said they had never stopped touring."

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Snoop Dogg makes Bollywood debut

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Snoop Dogg makes Bollywood debut: "US rapper Snoop Dogg has made his debut in a Bollywood film which is being released on Friday.

Dogg, whose real name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus, sings and acts in a romantic comedy called Singh is Kinng."

BBC NEWS | Health | 'Can anyone hear that picture?'

BBC NEWS | Health | 'Can anyone hear that picture?'

BBC NEWS | Europe | Heavy metal monk in second album

BBC NEWS | Europe | Heavy metal monk in second album: "At first glance, Cesare Bonizzi looks like the archetypal Capuchin monk - round-faced, stout, with twinkling eyes and a long flowing white beard. But beneath his robes beats a heart of metal.

Brother Cesare is the lead singer in a heavy metal band which has just released its second album.

A former missionary in the Ivory Coast, he lives in a small friary in the Milan hinterland.

The 62-year-old monk's love affair with heavy metal began when he attended a Metallica concert some 15 years ago.

'I was overwhelmed and amazed by the sheer energy of it' he says."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Water 'widespread' on early Mars

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Water 'widespread' on early Mars: "Water was once widespread on Mars, data from a Nasa spacecraft shows, raising the prospect that the Red Planet could have supported life.

Researchers found evidence of vast lakes, flowing rivers and deltas on early Mars, all of which were potential habitats for microbes.

They also discovered that wet conditions probably persisted for a long time on the Red Planet."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Water 'widespread' on early Mars

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Water 'widespread' on early Mars: "Water was once widespread on Mars, data from a Nasa spacecraft shows, raising the prospect that the Red Planet could have supported life.

Researchers found evidence of vast lakes, flowing rivers and deltas on early Mars, all of which were potential habitats for microbes.

They also discovered that wet conditions probably persisted for a long time on the Red Planet."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Fishing ban brings seas to life

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Fishing ban brings seas to life: "Five years without fishing around Lundy Island off the coast of Devon have brought a significant revival in sea life, scientists report.

Lobsters are seven times more abundant within the protected zone than outside.

The eastern coast of Lundy is the UK's only 'no-take' zone, where fishing is completely prohibited."

BBC NEWS | UK | Squaddie makes Miss England final

BBC NEWS | UK | Squaddie makes Miss England final: "A female soldier who once fought off a suspected Iraqi insurgent has won a place in the final of Miss England.

Katrina Hodge, 21, will participate in the contest in July, having already won the Miss Tunbridge Wells crown.

L/Cpl Hodge was nicknamed Combat Barbie in 2005 after being given a bravery commendation for saving the lives of members of her regiment in Iraq."

BBC NEWS | Health | Happiness 'immune to life events'

BBC NEWS | Health | Happiness 'immune to life events': "Momentous events in your life such as having children, or getting married, may make you happier, but only temporarily, say researchers.

Our basic happiness level essentially stays the same throughout adult life, the Economic Journal reports."

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Bradford | X-Men star becomes real professor

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Bradford | X-Men star becomes real professor: "Hollywood star Patrick Stewart, who plays Professor Xavier in the X-Men science fiction films, has had a real-life professorship given to him.

The actor was taking on the new role of Professor of Performing Arts at Huddersfield University, where he is chancellor, in a ceremony on Monday."

"Baby Boom" in a Stellar Nursery -- Berardelli 2008 (711): 2 -- ScienceNOW

"Baby Boom" in a Stellar Nursery -- Berardelli 2008 (711): 2 -- ScienceNOW: "Call it Cosmic Hollywood. Astronomers have found a very young galaxy that produces thousands of stars a year--hundreds of times more than our own Milky Way. The study is 'an important step forward' in understanding the evolution of early galaxies, says astronomer Giovanni Fazio of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Apples beat pears on crunch issue

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Apples beat pears on crunch issue: "Just why pears rot faster than apples can now be explained by science."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Living in a world without waste

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Living in a world without waste: "There are no waste collections from households at all. People have to take full responsibility for everything they throw away."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Pre-quake changes seen in rocks

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Pre-quake changes seen in rocks: "Scientists have made an important advance in their efforts to predict earthquakes, the journal Nature says.

A team of US researchers has detected stress-induced changes in rocks that occurred hours before two small tremors in California's San Andreas Fault.

The observations used sensors lowered down holes drilled into the quake zone.

The team says we are a long way from routine tremor forecasts but the latest findings hold out hope that such services might be possible one day.

'If you had 10 hours' warning, from a practical point of view, you could evacuate populations, you could certainly get people out of buildings, you could get the fire department ready,' said co-author Paul Silver of the Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington."

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | China bans dog from Olympic menu

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | China bans dog from Olympic menu: "Authorities have also told people to queue up politely, to smile and not to spit on the streets."