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AP Science NewsBrief at 6:01 a.m. EST(Associated Press Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Big Bang atom smasher starts speeding proton beamsGENEVA (AP) _ Scientists running the world's largest atom smasher used the $10 billion machine's accelerator to speed up proton beams for the first time Tuesday, in a step toward experiments about the makeup of the universe. "It was just a preliminary test," said James Gillies, spokesman for the European Organization for Nuclear Research. But the machine showed it could raise the energy of the proton beams whizzing around the massive machine by an initial 10 percent. Astronauts rest up after 3 spacewalksCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) _ The astronauts aboard the orbiting shuttle-station complex are resting after their three successful spacewalks. The 12 space travelers will get a few hours off Tuesday morning. Then in the afternoon, the two crews will part company and close the hatches between them. CO2 curve ticks upward as key climate talks loomMAUNA LOA OBSERVATORY, Hawaii (AP) _ The readings at this 2-mile-high station show a troubling upward curve as the world counts down to crucial climate talks: Global warming gases are building in the atmosphere at record levels from emissions that match scientists' worst-case scenarios. Carbon dioxide concentrations this fall are hovering at around 385 parts per million, on their way to a near-certain record high above 390 in the first half of next year, at the annual peak. Belgian says he was alert but mute for 23 yearsBRUSSELS (AP) _ For 23 torturous years, Rom Houben says he lay trapped in his paralyzed body, aware of what was going on around him but unable to tell anyone or even cry out. The car-crash victim had been diagnosed as being in a vegetative state but appears to have been conscious the whole time. An expert using a specialized type of brain scan that was not available in the 1980s finally realized it, and unlocked Houben's mind again. Grand Canyon to change 'unfair' permit systemFLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) _ Getting one of the roughly 11,500 permits granted each year to backpack overnight in the Grand Canyon has become so competitive and "unfair" that managers at the national park have decided to change the system. Now those who want the coveted permits either show up in person or try their luck with mail or fax machines on the day the permits become available. Warming's impacts sped up, worsened since KyotoWASHINGTON (AP) _ Since the 1997 international accord to fight global warming, climate change has worsened and accelerated _ beyond some of the grimmest of warnings made back then. As the world has talked for a dozen years about what to do next, new ship passages opened through the once frozen summer sea ice of the Arctic. In Greenland and Antarctica, ice sheets have lost trillions of tons of ice. Mountain glaciers in Europe, South America, Asia and Africa are shrinking faster than before. EU: climate deal hinges on US, ChinaSTRASBOURG, France (AP) _ Global warming cannot be reversed unless the United States and China commit to meaningful cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions, the EU said Tuesday. With two weeks to go before a global climate conference, the EU urged Washington and Beijing to come to the Copenhagen event with meaningful bids to slash carbon dioxide emissions. Rare Charles Darwin book found on toilet bookshelfLONDON (AP) _ An auction house says it is selling a rare first edition of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" found in a family's guest lavatory in southern England. Christie's auction house said Sunday the book _ one of around 1,250 copies first printed in 1859 _ had been on a toilet bookshelf at a family's home in Oxford. Ukraine's `hot air' bedevils global climate dealKONSTANTINOVKA, Ukraine (AP) _ Vladimir Gapor is a plumber by trade, but now he's a scavenger, prying bits of scrap steel from the ruins of his old factory and selling them for a pittance. For others beyond this manufacturing graveyard, however, Ukraine's economic collapse has produced a potential multibillion-dollar bonanza. In an era of climate change regulation and carbon trading, Ukraine, ironically, is profiting from the smokeless smokestacks of its industrial shutdown. Researcher: Faint writing seen on Shroud of TurinROME (AP) _ A Vatican researcher has rekindled the age-old debate over the Shroud of Turin, saying that faint writing on the linen proves it was the burial cloth of Jesus. Experts say the historian may be reading too much into the markings, and they stand by carbon-dating that points to the shroud being a medieval forgery. Barbara Frale, a researcher at the Vatican archives, says in a new book that she used computer-enhanced images of the shroud to decipher faintly written words in Greek, Latin and Aramaic scattered across the cloth. (c) 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |