WRAL.com - AP Science News

Nearly 1 in 20 US adults over 50 have fake knees

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:45:24 -0500

Nearly 1 in 20 Americans older than 50 have artificial knees, or more than 4 million people, according to the first national estimate showing how common these replacement joints have become in an aging population.

Mexican experts excited to find ancient home ruins

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:42:38 -0500

The ruins aren't particularly impressive, just some stone and clay footings for houses that probably supported walls of wood or clay wattle. And it's that very ordinariness that has experts excited.

Researchers probe 200-year-old shipwreck off RI

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:38:42 -0500

For two centuries it rested a mile from shore, shrouded by a treacherous reef from the pleasure boaters and beachgoers who haunt New England's southern coast.

Life in Antarctic lake? It's everywhere else

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:36:58 -0500

If scientists find microbes in a frigid lake two miles beneath the thick ice of Antarctica, it will illustrate once again that somehow life finds a way to survive in the strangest and harshest places.

La Nina going away, but too late for Texas drought

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:07:42 -0500

Federal weather forecasters say the La Nina weather phenomenon that contributed to the southwestern U.S. drought is winding down.

Judge tosses case seeking rights for orcas

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:38:53 -0500

An effort to free whales from SeaWorld by claiming they were enslaved made a splash in the news but flopped in court Wednesday.

Putin hails Antarctic lake discovery

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:35:21 -0500

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday praised the Russian scientists who have reached a gigantic freshwater lake in Antarctica hidden under more than two miles (3.2 kilometers) of ice, a pristine body of water that may hold life from the distant past.

Unplanned 9/11 analysis links noise, whale stress

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:56:20 -0500

An ocean experiment that was accidentally conducted amid the shipping silence after Sept. 11 has shown the first link between underwater noise and stress in whales, researchers reported Wednesday.

Romanian accused of hacking NASA-JPL computers

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:24:17 -0500

A federal grand jury has indicted a Romanian citizen on charges he hacked into 25 climate-research computers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

New Obama plan to help math, science teacher prep

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:31:08 -0500

President Barack Obama called on Tuesday for millions of dollars in new funding to improve math and science education, an effort he said would be crucial to the nation's long-term success.