Today on New Scientist: 21 December 2012

Cadaver stem cells offer new hope of life after death Stem cells can be extracted from bone marrow five days after death to be used in life-saving treatmentsApple's patents under fire at US patent office The tech firm is skating on thin ice with some of the patents that won it a $1 billion settlement against SamsungHimalayan dam-building threatens endemic species The world's highest mountains...

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Euro survives 2012, further tests in store

BRUSSELS: The battered euro, written off as a dud many times during a crisis-wracked year, appears to have survived 2012, but 2013 could prove just as difficult if the economy continues to struggle.It finished the year strongly after the 17 eurozone nations earlier this month nailed down a deal to supply long-delayed bailout funds to Greece to keep the country afloat, and the bloc intact.Athens...

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Rape protesters hit with water cannon

India rape protestIndia rape protestIndia rape protestIndia rape protestIndia rape protestIndia rape protestIndia rape protestIndia rape protestIndia rape protestIndia rape protestSTORY HIGHLIGHTSDozens of people are hurt in protests in New Delhi's government districtPolice blast anti-rape protesters with water cannon, fire tear gasDemonstrators wave banners, chant "We want justice"Police say a 23-year-old...

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Newtown swamped by charity for victims, families

NEWTOWN, Conn. Peter Leone was busy making deli sandwiches and working the register at his Newtown General Store when he got a phone call from Alaska. It was a woman who wanted to give him her credit card number. "She said, 'I'm paying for the next $500 of food that goes out your door,'" Leone said. "About a half hour later another gentleman called, I think from the West Coast, and he did the same...

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Urban Advocates Say New Gun Control Talk Overdue

For years, voices have cried in the urban wilderness: We need to talk about gun control.Yet the guns blazed on.It took a small-town slaughter for gun control to become a political priority. Now, decades' worth of big-city arguments against easy access to guns are finally being heard, because an unstable young man invaded an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., with a military-style...

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Today on New Scientist: 21 December 2012

Cadaver stem cells offer new hope of life after death Stem cells can be extracted from bone marrow five days after death to be used in life-saving treatmentsApple's patents under fire at US patent office The tech firm is skating on thin ice with some of the patents that won it a $1 billion settlement against SamsungHimalayan dam-building threatens endemic species The world's highest mountains...

Read More..

Japan's incoming PM to send envoy to China: report

TOKYO: Japan's incoming prime minister will send a special envoy to China on a fence-mending trip, a report said Saturday, after he announced plans to dispatch an emissary on a similar mission to South Korea.Ties between Japan and China have become increasingly strained over a disputed island chain - the Tokyo-controlled Senkakus, which Beijing calls the Diaoyus -- with neither side willing...

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3 charged in deadly home explosion

By Logan Burruss, CNNupdated 6:11 PM EST, Fri December 21, 2012Bob Leonard Jr., left, Mark Leonard and Monserrate Shirley are accused in a deadly explosion.STORY HIGHLIGHTSTwo brothers among accused in explosion at that killed couple next door Explosion injured 12 other people and caused $4 million in damageInvestigators found abnormalities in gas line at suspect's home, affidavit says(CNN) -- Three...

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NRA: Guns in schools would protect students

Updated: 6:44 p.m. ETIn a press conference reflecting on last week's massacre in Newtown, Conn., the National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre today called on Congress to put armed law enforcement agents in every American school, insisting that guns in schools -- not tougher gun laws -- would most effectively protect children from school shootings. Play VideoA "good guy with a gun" in every school?...

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Critics Slam NRA's Call for Armed School Guards

Gun control advocates slammed the National Rifle Association today for its proposal to create a force of armed security guards at schools across the country as a response to the Connecticut school shooting."It is beyond belief that following the Newtown tragedy, the National Rifle Association's leaders want to fill our communities with guns and arm more Americans," Sen. Frank...

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Van-sized space rock is a cosmic oddball

The shattered remains of a high-profile space rock are oddly low in organic materials, the raw ingredients for life. The discovery adds a slight wrinkle to the theory that early Earth was seeded with organics by meteorite impacts. In April a...

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China ships in disputed waters, first since poll: Japan

TOKYO: Chinese state-owned ships entered territorial waters around disputed islands, Japan's coastguard said on Friday, in the first intrusion since a new government was elected in Tokyo."Three Chinese surveillance ships entered the territorial waters near Kubajima," said a Japanese coastguard official, referring to one of the islands in the Senkaku chain, known as Diaoyu in China.The...

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Mayans don't buy it

STORY HIGHLIGHTSSome believe a major calamity will occur Friday based on the Mayan calendarThe Mayans don't think that's true: "It's an era," a Mayan wood carver saysThe end of the winter solstice marks the end of a 394-year period on the calendarPredictions mention a deity but not the end of the world, an archeologist saysMerida, Mexico (CNN) -- There may be no one left on Earth to say TGIF this...

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It's already Dec. 21 in Europe, so where's doomsday?

MERIDA, Mexico Doomsday hour is here, at least in much of the world, and so still are we. According to legend, the ancient Mayans' long-count calendar ends at midnight Thursday, ushering in the end of the world. Didn't happen. "This is not the end of the world. This is the beginning of the new world," Star Johnsen-Moser, an American seer, said at a gathering of hundreds of spiritualists at a...

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Obama, Boehner Not Far Apart on 'Cliff'? Not Really

Dec 20, 2012 5:09pm Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo; Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP PhotoThere are some in Washington and around Capitol Hill who keep saying that House Speaker John Boehner and President Obama really aren’t that far apart on the “fiscal cliff” and there will be a deal despite Boehner’s proposal to hold a vote on his “Plan B.”Let’s deconstruct the two parts of...

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Human hands evolved so we could punch each other

Forget toolmaking, think fisticuffs. Did evolution shape our hands not for dexterity but to form fists so we could punch other people? That idea emerges from a new study, although it runs counter to conventional wisdom. About the same time as...

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More employers offering work-life arrangements

SINGAPORE: More employers in Singapore are offering work-life arrangements, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). In 2012, 41 per cent of establishments offered at least one form of work-life arrangement to their employees, up from 38 percent in 2011. Working part-time was the most common work-life arrangement offered by 33 per cent of establishments. At a...

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Obama: 'Take the deal'

STORY HIGHLIGHTSWhite House threatens to veto Boehner's "plan B"President Obama suggests Republicans are fixated on besting him personallySpeaker Boehner says the House will pass his fallback tax plan ThursdayWithout a deal, everyone's taxes go up in the new yearWashington (CNN) -- After progress earlier this week in fiscal cliff negotiations, President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner...

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