Apple looks to double its N.C. biogas fuel cell farm

Apple's Maiden, N.C., data center could have up to 50 fuel cells running on renewable biogas.(Credit:Apple)Ten megawatts of electricity is enough energy to power more than 6,000 homes. It is also the same amount of electricity that Apple is looking to produce with its biogas fuel cell project at its North Carolina data center. The tech giant has filed a request with the N.C. Utilities Commission to...

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Scientific Results From Challenger Deep

Jane J. Lee The spotlight is shining once again on the deepest ecosystems in the ocean—Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench (map) and the New Britain Trench near Papua New Guinea. At a presentation today at the American Geophysical Union's conference in San Francisco, attendees got a glimpse into these mysterious ecosystems nearly 7 miles (11 kilometers) down, the former visited by filmmaker...

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Tasting DNA-Altered Salmon That May Hit US Plates

Deep in the rain forests of Panama, in a secret location behind padlocked gates, barbed-wire fences and over a rickety wooden bridge, grows what could be the most debated food product of our time.It may look like the 1993 hit movie "Jurassic Park," but at this real-life freshwater farm scientists are altering the genes not of dinosaurs -- but of fish.They are growing a new DNA-altered...

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Heavy hydrogen excess hints at Martian vapour loss

Gravity means most things are lighter on Mars but it seems the Red Planet likes its hydrogen heavy. In its first chemical analysis of the Martian soil, the Curiosity rover has discovered an unusually high proportion of heavy hydrogen, also known as deuterium. Combined with future results, the finding may help pin down when and how Mars lost most...

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British press 'delighted' but anxious over royal baby

LONDON: Britain's press on Tuesday celebrated the "delightful" news that Prince William and his wife Catherine are to have a baby, but the expectant mother's bout of morning sickness tempered spirits.The couple announced on Monday they are expecting their first child, ending fevered speculation about a baby destined to become Britain's monarch whether it is a boy or a girl.But the former...

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Facebook wins preliminary OK of 'Sponsored Stories' settlement

Facebook has won preliminary approval of a proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit filed over the social network's use of members' names and images in advertising.Under the settlement's terms, Facebook agreed to pay $10 to each user who objected to being included in the social network's "Sponsored Stories" advertisements, as well initiate user controls that allow users to be excluded from the...

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Mars Rover Detects Simple Organic Compounds

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has detected several simple carbon-based organic compounds on Mars, but it remains unclear whether they were formed via Earthly contamination or whether they contain only elements indigenous to the planet.Speaking at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco, Curiosity mission leaders also said that the compound perchlorate—identified...

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Suspect Allegedly Told Cops He Traveled to Kill

A man charged in the death of a teenage barista in Alaska told police that he traveled the country with the sole purpose to kill strangers because he "liked to do it," prosecutors said today.Vermont and federal prosecutors detailed the meticulous and cold-blooded murder of Bill and Lorraine Currier in Essex, Vt., last year and said the information came from Israel Keyes before...

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Tiny tug of war in cells underpins life

TUG of war could well be the oldest game in the world. Cells use it for division, and now researchers have measured the forces involved when an amoeba plays the game. Hirokazu Tanimoto and Masaki Sano at the University of Tokyo,...

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SMRT bus driver pleads guilty to starting strike

SINGAPORE: A SMRT bus driver from China has pleaded guilty to starting an illegal strike on 26 November.Bao Feng Shan, 38, admitted that he committed the offence, shortly after he was charged on Monday with starting the strike between 6am and 7am on 26 November at Woodlands Dormitory.He also apologised to SMRT, the government of Singapore and his family.He is the first of five SMRT drivers...

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