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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Football: Benteke rampant as Aston Villa curb Liverpool's revival

LIVERPOOL, United Kingdom: Christian Benteke scored twice and made another goal as Aston Villa checked Liverpool's recent resurgence with a 3-1 win at Anfield in the Premier League on Saturday.Liverpool were bidding for a fourth consecutive win in all competitions but failed to convert a string of first-half chances and were punished when goals from Benteke and Andreas Weimann put Villa...

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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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Conn. Shooter Adam Lanza: Quiet, Bright, Troubled

Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old who killed 20 kids and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school Friday, was very bright, say neighbors and former classmates, but he was also socially awkward and deeply troubled."[Adam] was not connected with the other kids," said family friend Barbara Frey. A relative told ABC News that Adam was "obviously not well."READ full ABC News coverage...

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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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I'll answer crime questions in neutral country: McAfee

MIAMI: Anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee said in a TV interview Friday that he was willing to answer questions about the murder of his neighbor in Belize in a neutral country.McAfee, who insists he is innocent, also admitted that he was worth "less than" US$5 million -- a day after saying he was broke -- though it was unclear how he would access that money."I've said in any neutral...

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Google Maps rides to iOS users' rescue (week in review)

Apple's Aussie adventure led to this disclaimer.(Credit:Victoria Police)Google Maps returned to the iOS platform this week, but that was not enough to rescue Apple's map app rep.Banished from Apple's iOS earlier this fall, Google Maps returned to the mobile platform in the form of a standalone app. The official Google Maps app returned to Apple's App store Thursday evening with turn-by-turn navigation,...

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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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More Than 20, 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 at a Connecticut school this morning, prompting the town of Newtown to lock down all of its schools and draw SWAT teams to the school, authorities said today.State Police...

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Violent beauty at the end of an Alaskan glacier

Flora Graham, deputy editor, newscientist.com(Image: Jon Cornforth/Caters)You can almost hear the crash of ice on water in this image of an ice sheet shearing off the Chenega glacier in Prince William Sound, Alaska. But when photographer Jon Cornforth pressed the shutter, it was eerily silent."I saw the birds erupt in flight before I even saw the ice falling," says Cornforth. "I heard the actual...

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Golf: US 2014 Ryder Cup captain Watson wants Tiger on team

NEW YORK: Eight-time major golf champion Tom Watson, named on Thursday to be captain of the 2014 US Ryder Cup squad by the PGA of America, said that he sees Tiger Woods being on that team.Citing the 14-time major champion's hunger for victory, Watson said a healthy Woods would be a certainty on the 12-man US lineup by virtue of a captain's selection even if he is unable to qualify on points."I...

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Nook HD tablets now available at Walmart

Consumers looking for a Nooktablet can now pick one up at Walmart.The retail outlet is selling the Barnes & Noble tablets at their usual prices. So the Nook HD tablet will run you $199 for the 8GB version and $229 for the 16GB model. The Nook HD+ will cost you $269 for the 16GB edition and $299 for the 32GB model.All four versions and their related accessories are available through Walmart's online...

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Hubble Discovers Oldest Known Galaxy

The Hubble space telescope has discovered seven primitive galaxies formed in the earliest days of the cosmos, including one believed to be the oldest ever detected.The discovery, announced Wednesday, is part of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field campaign to determine how and when galaxies first assembled following the Big Bang."This 'cosmic dawn' was not a single, dramatic event," said astrophysicist...

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Fiscal Cliff Talks' Latest Victim? Sandy Relief

President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner just can't seem to break through an impasse in their "fiscal cliff" talks, increasing pessimism about a deal by Christmas and now threatening to sidetrack billions in federal aid for victims of superstorm Sandy.After weeks of public posturing and private negotiations, both sides remain firmly dug in with their opposing positions...

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Another year wasted by climate negotiators

INTERNATIONAL climate change talks turned 18 earlier this month, but there was little sign that their wasted youth is over. The 18th annual climate change summit in Doha, Qatar, might have ended with an apparent victory for developing nations, but in reality the world is barely any nearer to facing up to its responsibilities. ...

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UN court sentences Srebrenica commander to life for genocide

THE HAGUE: The UN's Yugoslav war crimes court found Bosnian Serb general Zdravko Tolimir guilty of genocide for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, Europe's worst atrocity since World War II, and sentenced him to life in jail."The majority of the court finds you guilty" of crimes including genocide, judge Christoph Flugge told the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the...

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Samsung knocks Apple maps in Sydney marketing stunt

Samsung is apparently not keen on letting Apple's recent maps mishap in Australia go unnoticed, and is poking fun of its rival in downtown Sydney today.CNET Australia has snapped pics of a little guerrilla marketing by Samsung featuring a muddied up vehicle with a tent and other camping supplies. Next to it is a sign that says "Oops, should have gotten a Samsung Galaxy S III. Get navigation you can...

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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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Oregon Mall Shooting Hero Gets Customer to Safety

A store employee at the Clackamas Town Center mall used his knowledge of the shopping complex to hustle a customer out of the building during Tuesday's shooting rampage and then twice went back inside to guide other shoppers to exits and safety.Allan Fonseca, who works at Lancome counter in Macy's and was waiting on Jocelyn Lay when they heard shots fired about 3:30 p.m. Thinking...

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Out-of-season's greetings from the Arctic frost flowers

Joanna Carver, reporter(Image: Matthias Wietz/IGERT/NSF)Season's regards from an icy meadow in the Arctic, but it's no winter wonderland and please don't dash out into it. These frost flowers generally form in spring, and only on thin ice, so you'd quickly find yourself in freezing water in a sparsely populated area.Frost flowers form in calm conditions when the atmosphere is much colder than the...

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Mass protest as Michigan curbs union rights

CHICAGO: Thousands of protesters descended on Michigan's state capitol Tuesday as lawmakers prepared to pass union-curbing "right-to-work" legislation in a state seen as the heart of the labor movement.The measure would weaken unions by allowing workers who get the same wages and benefits as union members to decline to pay any union dues.Democratic lawmakers begged their Republican colleagues...

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Sony launches new entertainment app for Xperia users

Sony is launching an app aimed at Xperia smartphone users that grants access to additional music, film, and sports content. Sony Mobile Communications, a subsidiary of Japanese electronics maker Sony, announced today that a new app, called the Xperia Lounge, has been released in beta. Available on Google'sAndroid operating system, Xperia Lounge contains "backstage" content based around music, film,...

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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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Football: Police hunt for Ferdinand coin throw culprit

LONDON: Police said on Monday that they were working to track down the person responsible for throwing a coin at Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand during Sunday's Manchester derby.Ferdinand was left with blood streaming down his face from a cut above his eye after being struck by a coin as he celebrated Robin van Persie's injury-time winner in United's 3-2 victory at Manchester City.Greater...

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