New Scientist 2012 holiday quiz

Continue reading page |1 |2 THIS was the year we held our breath in almost unbearable anticipation while we waited to see whether physicists at the Large Hadron Collider would finally get a clear view of the Higgs boson, so tantalisingly hinted at last December. Going a bit blue, we held on through March when one of the...

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Up to 27 feared dead in Kazakh plane crash

ALMATY, Kazakhstan: A military aircraft carrying 27 people including top members of the Kazakhstan border guard service crashed Tuesday in the south of the country with all those on board feared dead, officials said.The KNB security service said the An-72 military transport was carrying seven crew and 20 servicemen, including the acting head of the Kazakh border service Turganbek Stambekov.The...

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Netflix outage mars Christmas Eve

Netflix's video streaming service suffered a Christmas Eve outage for an undetermined number of customers, the company reported via Twitter.The company first started responding to tweets about disrupted service before 1 p.m. Pacific time. About three hours later, Netflix offered an apology on its main account."We're sorry for the Christmas Eve outage. Terrible timing! Engineers are working on it now,"...

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Photos: Humboldt Squid Have a Bad Day at the Beach

Photograph by Chris Elmenhurst, Surf the Spot Photography“Strandings have been taking place with increased frequency along the west coast over the past ten years,” noted NOAA’s Field, “as this population of squid seems to be expanding its range—likely a consequence of climate change—and can be very abundant at times.” (Learn about other jumbo squid strandings.)Humboldt squid are typically found in...

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Gunman Killed Firemen With Bushmaster, Left Note

An convicted killer, who shot dead two firefighters with a Bushmaster assault rifle after leading them into an ambush when they responded to a house fire he set in Western New York, left behind a typewritten note saying he wanted to "do what I like doing best, killing people," police said.William Spengler, 62, set his home and a car on fire early Monday morning with the intention...

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New Scientist 2012 holiday quiz

Continue reading page |1 |2 THIS was the year we held our breath in almost unbearable anticipation while we waited to see whether physicists at the Large Hadron Collider would finally get a clear view of the Higgs boson, so tantalisingly hinted at last December. Going a bit blue, we held on through March when one of the...

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Two firefighters shot dead in New York state: police

NEW YORK: Two firefighters were shot dead and two others were wounded in New York state on Monday when a gunman opened fire as the emergency personnel responded to a Christmas Eve blaze, police said.The incident -- which comes as debate rages in the United States about gun control following the Newtown school massacre -- happened shortly before 6:00 am (1100 GMT) in Webster, a suburb of...

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Microsoft's strategy chief limits role, will retire in 2014

Microsoft's Craig Mundie.(Credit:Jay Greene/CNET)Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, Craig Mundie, said he will step down from his role as he prepares for his retirement in 2014. Mundie has taken on the position of "senior adviser to the CEO," according to his biography on Microsoft's Web site. His responsibilities, which include overseeing Microsoft Research and other technical strategy...

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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,"...

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4 Firefighters Shot, 2 Killed in NY 'Trap'

Two firefighters were shot and killed and two others hospitalized after a gunman targeted them as they responded to a fire he is believed to have set to a home and a car in Webster, N.Y., police said."It does appear that it was a trap that was set for first responders," Police Chief Gerald L. Pickering said.SWAT team officers used an armored personnel carrier to evacuate 33...

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