Zebrafish made to grow pre-hands instead of fins

PERHAPS the little fish embryo shown here is dancing a jig because it has just discovered that it has legs instead of fins. Fossils show that limbs evolved from fins, but a new study shows how it may have happened, live in the lab. ...

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Golf: South African Horne hits second successive hole-in-one

MALELANE, South Africa: South Africa's Keith Horne hit a second successive hole-in-one at the Alfred Dunhill Championship on Saturday and drove away a brand new BMW for his efforts.The 41-year-old Horne celebrated his achievement at the same par-3 12th hole at the Leopard Creek Estate."Unbelievable. It was the same club, but the wind was different, so I had to hit a full eight-iron this...

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Can a MP3 sound better than a high-resolution FLAC or Apple Lossless file?

A great-sounding recording will sound its best only when it's properly mastered to LP, SACD, DVD-Audio, or a high-resolution file. Those formats will reveal the full glory of the music in ways that lower-resolution formats like MP3 or analog cassette always miss. But if you didn't have access to the high-resolution file to compare it with, a great recording will still sound pretty terrific as an AAC,...

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Space Pictures This Week: Frosty Mars, Mini Nile, More

Photograph by Mike Theiss, National GeographicThe aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, illuminates the Arctic sky in a recent picture by National Geographic photographer Mike Theiss.A storm chaser by trade, Theiss is in the Arctic Circle on an expedition to photograph auroras, which result from collisions between charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere and gaseous particles...

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'Good Evidence' on Massacre Motive

Police indicated today they have "some very good evidence" about the motive behind Adam Lanza's massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School and said that the sole person to survive being shot by Lanza will be "instrumental" in the probe.Authorities also finished the grim task of identifying all of Lanza's 27 victims, which included 20 children. Families, who already feared...

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Today on New Scientist: 14 December 2012

Global cuteness increased by discovery of new loris Three new species of Bornean slow loris have been discovered, quadrupling the world's cuteness indexTime-travelling 3D tour shows birth of Eiffel Tower Watch an ultra-realistic 3D reconstruction that lets you experience Paris through the agesWarning, speedsters: you can't fool quantum radar A technique borrowed from quantum cryptography could...

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Clashes in Egypt on eve of divisive referendum

CAIRO: Stone-throwing clashes broke out Friday in the Egyptian city of Alexandria between Islamists and opposition protesters, on the eve of a highly charged referendum on a new constitution, witnesses and state media said.Fifteen people were wounded, according to medics, and several cars set on fire in the violence in the Mediterranean city, Egypt's second largest.State television showed...

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Latest Steve Jobs action figure remarkably detailed

Legend Toys' Steve Jobs figure kicks back with an iPad. The Japanese caption says "Apple is always in my heart."(Credit:Legend Toys)You know the holidays are getting close when Steve Jobs action figures start to appear. We've seen a few toy tributes to Jobs from Chinese companies. There was a kerfuffle in January of this year when Hong Kong toymaker In Icons bowed to pressure from Jobs' family and...

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Pictures: Unspoiled Rivers

Photograph by David Doubilet, National GeographicA bushman paddles a canoe along the Okavango River, southern Africa's fourth longest waterway. The Okavango starts in Angola and 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) later drains into Botswana's Moremi Wildlife Reserve, where it creates an unusual landlocked, delta-like oasis in the Kalahari Desert.This oasis, protected by the reserve, is a near-pristine...

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At Least 27, Mostly Kids, Killed at Grade School

More than two dozen people, mostly elementary school children, were shot and killed at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school this morning, federal and state sources tell ABC News.The massacre involved two gunmen and prompted the town of Newtown to lock down all its schools and draw SWAT teams to the school, authorities said today.One shooter is dead and a manhunt is on for a second...

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Today on New Scientist: 13 December 2012

Violent beauty at the end of an Alaskan glacier You can almost hear the crash of ice on water in this stunning image of an ice sheet calving off the Chenega glacier in AlaskaOvereating now bigger global problem than lack of food The most comprehensive disease report ever produced confirms that, for the first time, there is a larger health problem from people eating too much than too littleIn...

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Football: Serbia fined 80,000 euros for England violence

LAUSANNE: Serbia were fined 80,000 euros on Thursday and ordered to play their next Under-21 international behind closed doors as UEFA handed out a range of sanctions following October's violent European qualifier against England.Two of Serbia's coaching staff and four players were handed suspensions while two England players were also banned.In chaotic scenes at the October 21 game in...

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Low Latency No. 47: Thinking outside the box

Low Latency is a weekly comic on CNET's Crave blog written by CNET editor and podcast host Jeff Bakalar and illustrated by Blake Stevenson. Be sure to check Crave every Thursday at 8 a.m. PT for new panels! Want more? Here's every Low Latency comic so f...

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Maya Calendars Actually Predict That Life Goes On

This December, not everyone is concerned with making plans for the New Year—especially not the people who think doomsday will get here first. Instead of planning parties, they're stockpiling food, refining escape routes, and honing survival skills ahead of the alleged date on which the Maya calendar "ends"—December 21, 2012.So should we all be preparing for imminent apocalypse? According...

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Court: CIA Tortured German in Botched Rendition

Nearly a decade after a German man claimed he was snatched off the street, held in secret and tortured as part of the CIA's extraordinary rendition program -- all due to a case of mistaken identity -- a panel of international judges said today what Khaled El-Masri has been waiting to hear since 2004: We believe you.The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) handed down a unanimous...

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UK government urged to consider relaxing drug rules

JUST say yes to considering relaxed drug controls, urged a panel of UK parliamentarians this week - but Prime Minister David Cameron has rejected the calls. Many countries have loosened their penalties for drug use, including the Czech Republic and Portugal, which...

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"Serious differences" in US fiscal stand-off

WASHINGTON: The United States economy was cruising towards the disaster of the looming "fiscal cliff" on Wednesday as President Barack Obama's Republican opponents warned a budget deal was still far off.The newly re-elected White House chief is locked in a stand-off with lawmakers over a budget deal that would prevent the onset of a toxic package of tax hikes and deep spending cuts kicking...

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Police: Google Maps giving dangerous directions, too

Colac, Victoria, Australia in Google Maps.(Credit:Screenshot by Casey Newton/CNET)Days after Australian police warned motorists not to rely on Apple Maps, lest they end up stranded in punishing heat, authorities issued a similar warning about Google Maps.Police in Colac, a town west of Melbourne, say Google Maps has created "a significant safety issue for tourists [and] locals" along the Great Ocean...

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Best Space Pictures of 2012: Editor's Picks

Photograph courtesy Tunç Tezel, APOY/Royal ObservatoryThis image of the Milky Way's vast star fields hanging over a valley of human-made light was recognized in the 2012 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition run by the U.K.’s Royal Observatory Greenwich.To get the shot, photographer Tunç Tezel trekked to Uludag National Park near his hometown of Bursa, Turkey. He intended to watch the moon...

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Mall Gunman Identified as Jacob Tyler Roberts

The masked gunman who killed two people in the crowded Clackamas Town Center mall in suburban Portland, Ore., was identified today as Jacob Tyler Roberts.Roberts, 22, was armed with a stolen AR-15 semi-automatic weapon, Sheriff Craig Roberts told a news conference today. He was not wearing a bullet-proof vest as previously reported.Earlier today the sheriff told "Good Morning...

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Today on New Scientist: 11 December 2012

Out-of-season's greetings from the Arctic frost flowers Season's regards from an icy meadow in the Arctic, but it's no winter wonderland and please don't dash out into itHow hacking a mosquito's heart could eradicate malaria Watch how a double-pronged trick helps mosquitoes remain healthy while carrying disease, a process that could be exploited to eliminate malariaNew drug lifts hard-to-treat...

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UN Security Council condemns Mali PM arrest

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council on Tuesday condemned the arrest of Mali's prime minister by the armed forces and renewed a threat to impose sanctions on those who threaten the country's "constitutional order."UN leader Ban Ki-moon is also "troubled" by the new turmoil in the African nation, where Islamist militants and rebels have taken over half the country, his spokesman said."The...

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Apple fixes Mac Mini video flicker with firmware update

Apple has released a firmware update that addresses a problem in which displays would flicker to black when used with the 2012 Mac Mini.The problem, which we reported on in late November, was assumed to be related to one outlined by Intel involving its integrated HD 4000 graphics and a rumor arising from statements made by Intel representatives (which were later changed) that this was a driver-based...

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U.K. Dash for Shale Gas a Test for Global Fracking

Thomas K. Grose in London The starting gun has sounded for the United Kingdom's "dash for gas," as the media here have dubbed it.As early as this week, a moratorium on shale gas production is expected to be lifted. And plans to streamline and speed the regulatory process through a new Office for Unconventional Gas and Oil were unveiled last week in the annual autumn budget statement by...

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Video of Columbus Circle Killer Released

The hunt for New York's Columbus Circle killer took on a new impetus today as police released surveillance video showing the killer moments before he calmly walked up to Brandon Lincoln Woodard and put one bullet from a silver colored handgun into the back of the Los Angeles man's head in full view of holiday shoppers.The video confirms the details of the hit man's calculated...

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Doha summit launches climate damage aid

The latest summit to stop climate change, held in Doha, Qatar, over the past two weeks has been roundly slammed. Little was agreed to curb greenhouse gas emissions and the latest modelling, carried out by the Climate Action Tracker consortium shows global averages temperatures are still set to rise by at least...

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7.1 quake hits eastern Indonesia, no tsunami threat: USGS

JAKARTA: A major 7.1-magnitude earthquake shook eastern Indonesia's Maluku islands Tuesday but there was no tsunami alert, the US Geological Survey said.The quake hit at 1653 GMT some 365 kilometres (226 miles) south-southeast of Ambon in the Maluku islands at a relatively deep 157 kilometres, it said, revising its strength down slightly from an initial measurement of 7.2.Indonesian government...

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Looks like dismal voter turnout to end Facebook's quasi democracy

So much for a quasi-democratic Facebook. So far, the social network's users haven't cast anywhere near enough votes to preserve users' ability to veto Facebook's policy changes.Facebook users have until noon today to vote on Facebook's recently proposed policy changes relating to data use and privacy. Unless at least 30 percent of Facebook's membership -- or around 300 million users -- cast ballots,...

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Plants Grow Fine Without Gravity

When researchers sent plants to the International Space Station in 2010, the flora wasn't meant to be decorative. Instead, the seeds of these small, white flowers—called Arabidopsis thaliana—were the subject of an experiment to study how plant roots developed in a weightless environment.Gravity is an important influence on root growth, but the scientists found that their space plants didn't...

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