♦ Barbadians slam discovery, naming of tiny snake

The world's tiniest snake is shown curled up on a U.S. quarter. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A small snake has sparked a big debate in Barbados. Residents of the wealthy Caribbean nation have been heating up blogs and clogging radio airwaves to vent their anger at a U.S. scientist, who earlier this week announced his "discovery" of the world's smallest snake and named it "Leptotyphlops carlae...	1 vote

♦ Sat's Amazing

By MARK JEFFERIES THESE incredible images never seen by the public show that UK looks ace... from space. Pictures taken from satellites, planes and helicopters then processed by the latest computer generated imagery reveal flight paths, roads and shipping lanes at work.	1 vote

♦ Jason 2 Begins Mapping Oceans

Image 1: OSTM/Jason 2 map of sea-level anomalies from July 4 to July 14, 2008 (left). Compare to the same 10-day period of data from Jason 1 (right).Image 2: OSTM/Jason 2 map of wind speeds from July 4 to July 14, 2008 (left). Compare to the same 10-day period of data from Jason 1 (left).	1 vote

♦ Blood still carries protection against killer 1918 flu

WASHINGTON — Nearly a century after history's most lethal flu faded away, survivors' bloodstreams still carry super-potent protection against the 1918 virus, demonstrating the remarkable durability of the human immune system.	1 vote

♦ Military paying scientists to develop mind-reading tech

LOS ANGELES — Here's a mind-bending idea: The U.S. military is paying scientists to study ways to read people's thoughts. The hope is that the research could someday lead to a gadget capable of translating the thoughts of soldiers who suffered brain injuries in combat or even stroke patients in hospitals.	1 vote

♦ Virgin Galactic shows off mothership aircraft

British billionaire Sir Richard Branson and American aerospace designer Burt Rutan trotted out their mothership July 28, which is designed to air launch a passenger-toting spaceship out of the atmosphere. MOJAVE, Calif. — British billionaire Sir Richard Branson showed off a key piece of his fledgling commercial space program Monday...	1 vote

♦ Wild chili peppers fought fungus with chemical warfare

Two hemipteran bugs attack the ripened fruit of a chili plant, and scars from previous attacks are visible. Such attacks leave the fruit open to a fungal infestation that can kill the plant's seeds. WASHINGTON Chiliheads who savor the kick of hot peppers are sampling one of the earliest examples of chemical warfare. In this case...	1 vote

♦ Watch this week's hard-to-see solar eclipse on Internet

A view of the full solar eclipse seen in March 2006 in Antalya, Turkey. Total solar eclipses occur when the moon comes between the Earth and the sun, completely obscuring the solar disk for a few minutes. A hard-to-see solar eclipse can be seen on the Internet this week. WASHINGTON — A total solar eclipse will darken some of Earth's skies on Friday, but geography, weather...	1 vote

♦ People with rare DNA deletions have higher risk of schizophrenia

NEW YORK — Two huge international studies show that people who lack certain chunks of DNA run a dramatically higher risk of getting schizophrenia, a finding that could help open new doors to understanding and diagnosing the disease. These deletions are rare, each found in less than 1% of schizophrenia patients. But each one boosts the risk of disease by as much as 15-fold, by one estimate.	1 vote

♦ Barred Spiral Galaxies Are Latecomers to the Universe

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's 2008 General Aviation Technology Challenge will include the first Green Prize for aviation. The annual event will be held Aug. 4-10 at the Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, Calif.	1 vote

♦ City Eyes Private Parking Space

By Andrew Picken Roads deal to bring new developments into controlled zone THEY are already planning to target gas-guzzling cars, now city council officials may take control of Edinburgh's private parking spaces.	1 vote

♦ NASA's Johnson Space Center to Reopen Wednesday

To: SCIENCE EDITORS Contact: Michael Curie, Headquarters, Washington, +1-202-3584715, michael.curie@nasa.gov, or John Ira Petty, Johnson Space Center, Houston, +1-281-483-5111, john.i.petty@nasa.gov, both of NASA HOUSTON, Aug.	1 vote

♦ Solar Eclipse On The Morning Of August 1st

Total solar eclipses take place when the Earth, Moon and Sun are aligned and the shadow of the Moon touches the surface of the Earth. At mid-eclipse, observers within the lunar shadow briefly see totality, where the silhouette of the Moon completely covers the Sun, revealing the beautiful outer solar atmosphere or corona. At its broadest...	1 vote

♦ 'iShoe' uses NASA tech to help prevent elderly falls

BOSTON — Scientists working to help astronauts regain balance after extended flights in zero gravity say they've found a way to use the research to help elderly people avoid catastrophic falls. An "iShoe" insole contains sensors that read how well a person is balancing. The point is to gather information for doctors and to get people to a specialist — before they fall. Erez Lieberman...	1 vote

♦ S. Korea team delivers first commercial dog clone

Five cloned pitbull puppies lie with their mom in Seoul after scientists cloned them from an American woman's late dog. SEOUL (AP) — Booger is back. An American woman received five puppies Tuesday that were cloned from her beloved late pit bull, becoming the inaugural customer of a South Korean company that says it is the world's first successful commercial canine cloning service.	1 vote

♦ Democrats and War

Democrats and war While it is true that Democratic presidents have been more generous with social programs than Republican presidents, those social programs have often come at the highest price war.	1 vote

♦ NASA Awards Contracts for Concepts of Lunar Surface Systems

Image Caption: NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander collected a soil sample and attempted to deliver some of it to a laboratory oven on the deck during the mission's 62nd Martian day, or sol, (July 28, 2008).	1 vote

♦ SpaceX finds cause of failed private rocket launch

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A privately held rocket company on Wednesday blamed a design error for its latest failure to reach orbit, which caused the loss of three government satellites and human ashes. The two-stage Falcon 1 rocket, which blasted off from a central Pacific atoll Saturday night, separated as planned on its way to space...	1 vote

♦ Bulgarian archaeologists discover 1,900-year-old chariot

An archaeologist carefully works around the chariot at an ancient Thracian tomb near the village of Borisovo. SOFIA, Bulgaria — Archaeologists have unearthed a 1,900-year-old well-preserved chariot at an ancient Thracian tomb in southeastern Bulgaria, the head of the excavation said Thursday.	1 vote

♦ New study has a bone to pick about dinosaur soft tissue

New research is challenging claims made three years ago that scientists had discovered soft tissue remnants in the thigh bone of a Tyrannosaurus fossil.	1 vote