Today on New Scientist: 21 December 2012

Cadaver stem cells offer new hope of life after death Stem cells can be extracted from bone marrow five days after death to be used in life-saving treatmentsApple's patents under fire at US patent office The tech firm is skating on thin ice with some of the patents that won it a $1 billion settlement against SamsungHimalayan dam-building threatens endemic species The world's highest mountains...

Read More..

Offbeat game recasts Xmas tune as 'Little Bummer Boy'

If you don't want to be 'LDB Out,' avoid 'Little Drummer Boy' at all costs.(Credit:@Nelz9999)There's a bigger danger this holiday season than ending up on Santa's naughty list. A lump of coal in a Christmas stocking is one thing. What can happen to you if you hear "Little Drummer Boy" is something else altogether. You know the tune: "Come they told me/Pa rum pum pum pum/A newborn King to see/Pa rum...

Read More..

Pictures: Fungi Get Into the Holiday Spirit

Photograph courtesy Stephanie Mounaud, J. Craig Venter InstituteMounaud combined different fungi to create a Santa hat and spell out a holiday message.Different fungal grow at different rates, so Mounaud's artwork rarely lasts for long. There's only a short window of time when they actually look like what they're suppose to."You do have to keep that in perspective when you're making these creations,"...

Read More..

'Fiscal Cliff' Leaves Boehner a Wounded Speaker

John Boehner is a bloodied House speaker following the startling setback that his own fractious Republican troops dealt him in their "fiscal cliff" struggle against President Barack Obama.There's plenty of internal grumbling about the Ohio Republican, especially among conservatives, and lots of buzzing about whether his leadership post is in jeopardy. But it's uncertain whether...

Read More..

India seeks life sentences for Delhi bus rapists

NEW DELHI: India's government, facing swelling protests over the gang-rape of a female student on a bus, vowed on Friday to press for life sentences for her six attackers and promised stricter policing.Home Secretary R.K. Singh also said the government would pay the medical bills of the 23-year-old victim of the brutal Sunday night attack, who is fighting for her life after suffering serious...

Read More..

Apple Newsstand ropes in longtime holdout

WSJ's updated app.(Credit:Apple)Longtime holdout of Apple's Newsstand service, The Wall Street Journal changed course today, and is now offering a complete version of its paper through the paid subscription service.The Journal has had a reader app on the App Store since early 2010, but did not allow users to subscribe using their Apple ID and linked credit card account, something that gives Apple...

Read More..

The Healing Power of Dogs

One boy confided in the gentle-faced golden retriever about exactly what happened in his classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School that day—which his parents said was more than he'd been able to share with them. A little girl who hadn't spoken since the shootings finally started talking to her mother again after petting one of the "comfort dogs." Groups of teenagers began to open up and...

Read More..

Boehner's Take on Fiscal Cliff Deal: 'God Only Knows'

Dec 21, 2012 11:00am Speaker of the House John Boehner bluntly acknowledged Friday morning he did not have the votes to pass his “Plan B” and said the only real solution is a broad agreement to cut spending and reform the tax code. Then he added these words:“How we get there, God only knows.”That about sums up the whole “fiscal cliff” situation after a chaotic Thursday...

Read More..

Today on New Scientist: 20 December 2012

Spider builds giant decoy of itself A naturalist trekking in Peru has spotted a spider that builds a huge decoy doppelganger out of leaves and dead insects How to reduce the toll from US gun violence In the wake of last week's massacre at a school in Connecticut, it is time to look to the data for what works in reducing gun violence, says Peter Aldhous Laser cookery makes your food more fun...

Read More..

Spanish lawmakers pass 2013 crisis budget

MADRID: Spanish lawmakers passed 39 billion euros' ($52 billion) worth of unpopular spending cuts Thursday as angry demonstrators urged fresh street protests.The government says the tough cuts in the 2013 budget are needed to fix the public finances of the eurozone's fourth-biggest economy, stricken by the collapse of a construction boom in 2008.As the lower house Congress dominated by...

Read More..

Best of the best from this year in Crave

What's your favorite Crave story from the last year?(Credit:Image by Christopher MacManus)It's been an eventful year here at Crave, what with the discovery of Dungeons & Dragons dice from the Ptolemaic Period; the strange tail of the robotic butt; a ship that flips over on purpose, and cow lady-parts that text farmers when it's time for a booty call. Our retrospective gallery below gives you...

Read More..

Detecting Rabid Bats Before They Bite

A picture is worth a thousand words—or in the case of bats, a rabies diagnosis. A new study reveals that rabid bats have cooler faces compared to uninfected colony-mates. And researchers are hopeful that thermal scans of bat faces could improve rabies surveillance in wild colonies, preventing outbreaks that introduce infections into other animals—including humans.Bats are a major reservoir...

Read More..

Winter Weather Threatens Christmas Travel

A pre-Christmas blizzard that is battering at least eight states in the middle of the nation could trip up travelers headed home for Christmas in the coming days.Nearly 20 inches of snow have been reported in Colorado just west of Denver. Nebraska has reported 6-to-10 inches so far. Between 3 and 8 inches have accumulated in Iowa already and more is possible. Snow is falling...

Read More..

Today on New Scientist: 19 December 2012

Cassini captures spectacle in Saturn's shadow Saturn blocks out the sun to reveal its rings in all their splendour in this image from the Cassini spacecraftFabricated future: The sceptic's guide to 3D printing 3D printing is a revolutionary technology, but never mind the hype, says MacGregor Campbell - it will make its impact in unexpected waysBest videos of 2012: Soap bubbles create 3D display...

Read More..

Football: Wilshere, four others sign new Arsenal deals

LONDON: Arsenal were given a major fillip on Wednesday when they announced that English midfielder Jack Wilshere and four other players have agreed new long-term contracts with the club.Wilshere joins fellow England internationals Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kieran Gibbs and Carl Jenkinson and Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey in committing his future to the Emirates Stadium."We are delighted...

Read More..

New York A.G. removes 2,100 sex offenders from online games

New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman has been able to remove over 2,000 registered sex offenders from popular online games, his office announced today.Over 2,100 registered sex offenders have been kicked out of a host of games from developers Gaia Online, NCSoft, and THQ, among others, as part of the attorney general's Operation: Game Over, an initiative designed to remove registered sex offenders...

Read More..

Grabbing Water From Future Generations

This piece is part of Water Grabbers: A Global Rush on Freshwater, a special National Geographic Freshwater News series on how grabbing land—and water—from poor people, desperate governments, and future generations threatens global food security, environmental sustainability, and local cultures.Suresh Ponnusami sat back on his porch by the road south of the Indian textile town of...

Read More..

Inside One School's Extraordinary Security Measures

While schools across America reassess their security measures in the wake of the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., one school outside of Chicago takes safety to a whole new level.The security measures at Middleton Elementary School start the moment you set foot on campus, with a camera-equipped doorbell. When you ring the doorbell, school employees inside are...

Read More..

Today on New Scientist: 18 December 2012

Violent polar storms help control the world's weather Without the mini-hurricanes which form over the Arctic, the world could face massive weather disruptionAncient city of Troy rebranded itself after war Changing styles of pottery 3200 years ago show the Trojans were quick to align themselves with the region's new political powerCourt ruling will clarify end-of-life decisions Canada's supreme...

Read More..

Obama backs bill to ban assault weapons: White House

WASHINGTON: President Brack Obama on Tuesday threw his weight behind a bill to reintroduce a ban on civilians owning assault weapons, in the wake of a gun massacre in an elementary school that shocked the nation.White House spokesman Jay Carney said the president would support a law proposed by Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein to prohibit the arms, defined as certain types of semi-automatic...

Read More..

Apple releases iOS 6.0.2 to fix Wi-Fi issue

Apple today released another minor update toiOS 6 that promises to fix a Wi-Fi issue affecting its newest devices.The software, which went out this morning to theiPhone 5 andiPad Mini, says simply that it "fixes a bug that could impact Wi-Fi." No additional features or security fixes are part of the update, according to the company's release notes.The update comes just a day after Apple gave developers...

Read More..

Saudi Arabia Stakes a Claim on the Nile

This piece is part of Water Grabbers: A Global Rush on Freshwater, a special National Geographic Freshwater News series on how grabbing land—and water—from poor people, desperate governments, and future generations threatens global food security, environmental sustainability, and local cultures.The cows appear on the horizon like a mirage. Drive about a hundred miles (160 kilometers) through...

Read More..

Threat Closes Newtown Elementary School

Local officials closed a Newtown, Conn., elementary school following a threat on what would have been the first day of classes since a shooting rampage at nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School.Classes at Head O'Meadow Elementary School were scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET, but as parents and students arrived at the school they encountered police who turned them away.Principal...

Read More..

EU urges quick trade talks after Japan vote

BRUSSELS: European Union president Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso on Monday congratulated Japan's Shinzo Abe for his sweeping election win while urging the swift opening of trade talks."On behalf of the European Union please accept our congratulations on your success on the occasion of the recent parliamentary elections," the two said."We look forward to...

Read More..

DxO Labs tries making sense of camera lens sharpness

This chart shows the perceptive megapixel score for the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM mounted on the 21-megapixel Canon EOS 5D Mark II. At settings where the plot is green, the lens matches the camera's resolution. At f22 and smaller apertures, the lens-camera combination reduces the camera's effective performance to only about 4 megapixels or so.(Credit:screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)Aiming...

Read More..

The Bloody Truth About Serbia's Vampire

Garlic sales are up. Wooden crosses are a hot commodity. That can only mean one thing: Vampire on the loose!But this isn't part of a movie script or book. It's a real-life event in the Serbian town of Zarozje (map), where last month the local council issued a public health warning that the resident vampire, Sava Savanovic, may be on the prowl. (See "Pictures: Toothless 'Vampire' Skeleton...

Read More..