Scientists have discovered a new and tiny species of human that lived in Indonesia at the same time our own ancestors were colonising the world.

The new species - dubbed "the Hobbit" due to its small size - lived on Flores island until at least 12,000 years ago.

'Hobbit' joins human family tree

] DeMarse experimental "brain" interacts with an F-22
] fighter jet flight simulator through a specially designed
] plate called a multi-electrode array and a common desktop
] computer.
]
] "It's essentially a dish with 60 electrodes arranged in a
] grid at the bottom," DeMarse said. "Over that we put the
] living cortical neurons from rats, which rapidly begin to
] reconnect themselves, forming a living neural network
] - a brain."
]
] The brain and the simulator establish a two-way
] connection, similar to how neurons receive and interpret
] signals from each other to control our bodies.

Rat Brain cells in a silicon matrix can fly an airplane simulator. Seriously. What is the line between man and machine. What is the difference between a robot, a work animal, and a slave. These questions may eventually move out of the realm of science fiction.

'Brain' In A Dish Acts As Autopilot, Living Computer

] Spacecraft propulsion is used to change the velocity of
] spacecraft and artificial satellites, or more accurately,
] to provide delta-v. There are many different methods.

Wikipedia has great coverage of Spacecraft propulsion theories.

Spacecraft propulsion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

] A new means of propelling spacecraft being developed at
] the University of Washington could dramatically cut the
] time needed for astronauts to travel to and from Mars and
] could make humans a permanent fixture in space.
]
] In fact, with magnetized-beam plasma propulsion, or
] mag-beam, quick trips to distant parts of the solar
] system could become routine, said Robert Winglee, a UW
] Earth and space sciences professor who is leading the
] project.

Awesome!

Newswise: Plasma Beam would get people in Mars in 90 days

] A global map of nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere has
] revealed the most precise view yet of pollution hotspots
] around the world.
]
] The map, based on 18 months%u2019 worth of satellite
] data, shows very high levels of NO2 above major European
] and North American cities and across much of north-east
] China. South-east Asia and Africa also have raised
] concentrations of the gas due to their burning of
] vegetation.

Article: World's pollution hotspots revealed from space�| New Scientist

Today's Astonomy Picture of the Day that shows plane
contrails like scars across the SouthEast. NASA is running
a count the contrails program for kids over the next two
days.

Boing Boing: airplane exhaust scars

] You can hear sferics, tweeks, whistlers and other VLF
] radio sounds at any time of the day, but the hours
] around dawn and dusk are generally best. Nighttime is
] also better than daytime. In Huntsville, AL, where
] our online receiver is located, dawn happens at about
] 1200 UT and dusk is ten hours later at 2200 UT.

NASA online VLF receiver

] The rocket plane SpaceShipOne has shot to an altitude of
] more than 100km for the second time inside a week to
] claim the $10m Ansari X-Prize.
]
] More than two dozen teams around the world are involved
] in the competition. Many of these teams, realising that
] SpaceShipOne would in all probability take the X-Prize
] on Monday, are already setting their sights on orbital
] flight.
]
] The founder of the Virgin Group of companies plans to
] offer flights into space for $205,000 (£115,000).

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | SpaceShipOne rockets to success

Not quite a live stream, but it does have images that are updated every 5 minutes. According to the webpage, this USGS cam is the closest-operating camera to the volcano, which means about 4 miles away. There was a closer one at the Johnston Ridge Observatory, but since the Level III alert went out earlier today, that facility has been evacuated.

Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam

Terror attacks in Israel produce a temporary lull in light accidents followed by a 35% spike in fatal accidents on Israeli roads 3 days after the attack. Our results are based on time-series analysis of Israeli traffic flows, accidents, and terror attacks from January 2001 through June 2002. Whereas prior studies have focused on subjective reports of posttraumatic stress, our study shows a population-level behavioral response to violent terror attacks.

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Terror attacks influence driving behavior in Israel