Earth may be crashing through dark matter walls

Earth is constantly crashing through huge walls of dark matter, and we already have the tools to detect them. That's the conclusion of physicists who say the universe may be filled with a patchwork quilt of force fields created shortly after the big bang. ...

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Badminton: Lee Chong Wei reaches Malaysia Open finals

KUALA LUMPUR: World number one Lee Chong Wei dropped his first game of the tournament Saturday as he overcame Denmark's Jan O Jorgensen to secure a place in the finals of the Malaysia Badminton Open.The home favourite, bidding for record ninth Malaysia Open title, dropped the second game to the determined and energetic 26-year-old emerging Dane, but eventually won through 21-13, 17-21,...

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Recalibrate your expectations of how good an in-ear headphone can sound

I've been listening to Jerry Harvey's custom-molded in-ear headphones for years. The very first one, the UE10, was a game changer; in 2006 it was the best sounding in-ear headphone I'd heard. Now with his new Freqphase JH13 and JH16 in-ears, Harvey's done it again. The performance gains in clarity, detail, resolution, and stereo imaging are huge -- the adrenaline-pumping sound of the music you love...

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Attack at Algeria Gas Plant Heralds New Risks for Energy Development

The siege by Islamic militants at a remote Sahara desert natural gas plant in Algeria this week signaled heightened dangers in the region for international oil companies, at a time when they have been expanding operations in Africa as one of the world's last energy frontiers. (See related story: "Pictures: Four New Offshore Drilling Frontiers.")As BP, Norway's Statoil, Italy's Eni, and...

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Inauguration to Cost Millions But Total Price Unclear

How much will all the inaugural events cost? It's hard to say.While most events that occur in the capital have a hard-and-fast budget, the inauguration's many moving parts, safety concerns and large geographic reach make it hard to quantify – especially before the main event.In 2009, ABC reported the total cost of Obama's first inauguration was $170 million. While incumbent...

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Megaballoon launches big bang telescope in Antarctica

Flora Graham, deputy editor, newscientist.com(Images: Asad Aboobaker/EBEX/Columbia University)A 2.7-tonne telescope dangles on an almost invisible tether overthe Antarctic ice. Above it, a helium balloon the size of a football stadiumstretches towards the sky. This is the launch of EBEX, which aims to photographthe weak light left by the big bang during its high-altitude flight.EBEX's creators hope...

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Ukraine's Tymoshenko accused of organising 1996 murder

KIEV: Ukrainian prosecutors on Friday accused jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko of organising the 1996 murder of a lawmaker, saying she could face life imprisonment if found guilty.Tymoshenko, serving a seven-year jail term for abuse of power, has been informed by prosecutors she is now a formal suspect in the murder of Yevgen Shcherban, Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka told...

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Facebook unveils new search tool (week in review)

He who controls the graph, controls the world.(Credit:James Martin/CNET)Facebook unveiled a new tool this week it touts as helping find people, photos, places, and interests that are most relevant to Facebook users.Graph Search is the social network's newest way for users to make sense of its massive base of 1 billion users, 240 billion photos, and 1 trillion connections. The tool is meant to provide...

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First Human Contact With Large Emperor Penguin Colony

One of the largest emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica was discovered last month by a team from the International Polar Foundation's Princess Elisabeth station.The penguin colony had previously been identified through satellite imagery by researchers from the British Antarctic Survey. The penguins themselves didn't show up very clearly, but their excrement stains on the ice did.Expedition...

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Algeria Terrorists Want to Trade US Hostages for Blind Sheikh

The al Qaeda-linked terrorists holding Americans and other Westerners hostage at a gas plant in Algeria have now demanded the release of two convicted terrorists held in U.S. prisons, including the "blind sheikh" who helped plan the first attack on New York's World Trade Center, in exchange for the freedom of two American hostages, according to an African news service.The terror...

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Young stars emerge from the Scorpion's smoke

Victoria Jaggard, physical sciences news editor(Image: F. Comeron/ESO)Hot young stars really know how to clear a room. This brilliant stellar cluster was born deep inside a cloud of dust and gas, which looks like dark smoke in this picture. As they have grown, the stars have sent out powerful ultraviolet radiation and fierce winds of charged particles that have blown away the surrounding debris....

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Football: Rodgers slams Suarez over diving admission

LONDON: Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers on Thursday said that his controversial striker Luis Suarez could face punishment from the club after admitting that he dived to try to win a penalty in a league game with Stoke City.In an interview with Fox Sports Argentina, Suarez admitted "falling" during October's 0-0 draw between the clubs at Anfield, prompting Rodgers, who had defended him...

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Apple job posting wants to 'refresh and refine' Siri

It's no secret Apple's still in the process of fine-tuning its virtual voice assistant Siri, and a recent job posting confirms there's still much work to be done.The company is looking for someone to "refresh and refine existing Siri dialog," as well as expand what the software can do. "Siri's known for 'her' wit, cultural knowledge, and zeal to explain things in engaging, funny, and practical ways,"...

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6 Ways Climate Change Will Affect You

Photograph by AP Photo/Marcio Jose SanchezThe planet keeps getting hotter, new data showed this week. Especially in America, where 2012 was the warmest year ever recorded, by far. Every few years, the U.S. federal government engages hundreds of experts to assess the impacts of climate change, now and in the future. From agriculture (pictured) to infrastructure to how humans consume energy, the National...

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Football Star Manti Te'o Faces Tough Questions

Notre Dame's star linebackerManti Te'o faces a problem bigger than any running back he's had to bring down.As the elaborate hoax about his dead "girlfriend" unravels, many questions remain to be answered, chief among them whether he was complicit in promoting the dramatic story of his girlfriend's death from leukemia. Te'o may soon be forced to tackle those questions himself."A...

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Low-power laser may keep blindness at bay

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Elton John has second baby via surrogate

LONDON: British pop star Elton John and his partner David Furnish have become parents for a second time, they confirmed on Wednesday.The couple told Hello! magazine that they were "overwhelmed with happiness" at the birth of their son Elijah Joseph Daniel Furnish-John, who was born in Los Angeles on Friday to a surrogate mother."Both of us have longed to have children, but the reality...

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Developer allegedly outsources his whole job to China, fired

I imagine his work posture looked something like this.(Credit:HeWazARed/YouTube Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)Work is an overrated concept, created by those in power in order to subjugate those who are trusting or have several children.This might, at least, have been the thinking of a developer who believed he had found a magical ruse to prevent him from being subjugated.As The Next Web tells...

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Mars Rover Finds Intriguing New Evidence of Water

The first drill sample ever collected on Mars will come from a rockbed shot through with unexpected veins of what appears to be the mineral gypsum.Delighted members of the Curiosity science team announced Tuesday that the rover was now in a virtual "candy store" of scientific targets—the lowest point of Gale Crater, called Yellowknife Bay, is filled with many different materials that could...

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Obama Unveils Sweeping Plan to Curb Gun Violence

Flanked by four children from across the country, President Obama today unveiled a sweeping plan to curb gun violence in America through an extensive package of legislation and executive actions not seen since the 1960s.Obama is asking Congress to implement mandatory background checks for all gun purchases, including private sales; reinstate a ban on some assault-style weapons;...

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Record-breaking temperatures are now the norm

Interactive map: "Your warming world" Call it the new normal. Last year was the ninth warmest on record across the globe, according to NASA's annual analysis of surface temperatures. But by recent standards,...

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Football: LionsXII fall to PKNS

SINGAPORE - After two confidence-boosting wins from their first two Malaysian Super League matches, V. Sundramoorthy's high-flying LionsXII side were brought down to earth on Tuesday night at the Shah Alam Stadium when they fell to their first defeat.Ironically, PKNS Selangor, the team that defeated them on Tuesday, had entered the match in contrasting fashion - with two losses out of...

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Jack Ma to step down as Alibaba CEO, stay on as chairman

Alibaba founder Jack Ma.(Credit:Alibaba Group)Alibaba founder Jack Ma has announced that he will step down from his company's chief executive post.Ma sent an e-mail to employees today, saying that it was a "difficult decision," according to Reuters, which obtained a copy of the note. He noted that while he will be stepping down as CEO, he will stay on at Alibaba as chairman of the company's board...

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"Fantastic" New Flying Frog Found—Has Flappy Forearms

Scientists have stumbled across a new species of flying frog—on the ground.While hiking a lowland forest in 2009, not far from Ho Chi Minh City (map), Vietnam, "we came across a huge green frog, sitting on a log," said Jodi Rowley, an amphibian biologist at the Australian Museum in Sydney and lead author of a new study on the frog.Rowley later discovered that the 3.5-inch-long (9-centimeter-long)...

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Jodi Arias: The New Casey Anthony?

The murder trial of Jodi Arias is drawing comparisons to the trial of Casey Anthony, another woman who initially told elaborate lies and then claimed at trial that she was a victim.Arias, 32, eventually admitted that she killed her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander, but insists it was in self defense because he was an abusive and sexually deviant lover.Anthony, now 25, insisted...

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Activist's death sparks open-access tribute on Twitter

Hundreds of researchers have been sharing PDFs of their work on Twitter as a tribute to Aaron Swartz, the internet freedom activist who committed suicide on Friday. Swartz was facing hacking charges from the US government after accessing...

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Golf: McIlroy joins Nike in blockbuster golf deal

ABU DHABI: World No.1 Rory McIlroy on Monday confirmed he had signed on with sportswear and equipment giant Nike in a deal believed to be one the biggest sponsorship contracts in sport.With the Abu Dhabi Grand Mosque lit up in the background, McIlroy stepped onto a stage wearing the Nike swoosh and revealed the clubs he will take into competition starting at this week's Abu Dhabi HSBC...

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