Invasive fire ants have been a thorn in the sides of Southerners for years. But another invasive species, the so-called "crazy" ant which many describe as being worse has arrived and is displacing fire ants in several places."When you talk to folks who live in the invaded areas, they tell you they want their fire antsback," said Edward LeBrun, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin...

Sat, 18 May 2013 20:48:37 GMT

The H1N1 virus strain that caused a 2009 swine flu outbreak in humans was detected in northern elephant seals off the coast of central California.Scientists say this is the first time marine mammals have been found to carry the H1N1 flu strain, which originated in pigs. The seals seem to have picked up the virus while at sea, but it's unclear how this happened."We thought we might find influenza v...

Sat, 18 May 2013 20:32:16 GMT

Scientists think they've created the smallest drops of liquid ever the size of only three to five protons.The droplets were made inside the world's largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, where particles are sped up to near light speed and then smashed together. When researchers collided protons with lead nuclei, they were surprised to find that the result was tee...

Sat, 18 May 2013 19:48:32 GMT

WASHINGTON Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says pessimists forecasting that the economy will not reap sizable benefits from the computer revolution are likely to be proven wrong.Bernanke told a college graduating class Saturday that the long-range practical consequences of innovations such as faster computers and the Internet are hard to predict. But he said inventors have only scratc...

Sat, 18 May 2013 18:47:54 GMT

Waiting hours for a cellphone to charge may become a thing of the past, thanks to an 18-year-old high-school student's invention. She won a $50,000 prize Friday at an international science fair for creating an energy storage device that can be fully juiced in 20 to 30 seconds.The fast-charging device is a so-called supercapacitor, a gizmo that can pack a lot of energy into a tiny space, charges qu...

Sat, 18 May 2013 18:03:34 GMT

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:25:13 GMT

Are gadgets making us dumber? Two new studies suggest they might be. One found that people who are interrupted by technology score 20 percent lower on a standard cognition test. A second demonstrated that some students, even when on their best behavior, can't concentrate on homework for more than two minutes without distracting themselves by using social media or writing an email.Interruptions are...

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:25:12 GMT

NASA is getting plenty of advice and sympathy as it assesses whether its Kepler planet-hunting telescope can be revived after the failure of its reaction-control system. The reactions from scientists and engineers range from repair tips to an Audenesque elegy. Here's a sampling:How to fix KeplerThe reason why the $600 million Kepler spacecraft can no longer search for planetary transits is tha...

Sat, 18 May 2013 04:40:49 GMT

There's been a groundswell of 17-year cicadas in Virginia and other southern states, as revealed by a fresh wave of photos and eyewitness reports. In some areas, the outbreak has been accompanied by the insects' loud chorus call. And that's music to the ears of University of Connecticut entomologist John Cooley."That's where I'm heading," Cooley told NBC News. The weather is still too cool in New ...

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:34:04 GMT

Imagine peering into a microscope and finding yourself in a garden.That's the case at Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, where researchers have found a way to shape microscopic crystals into complex and often beautiful structures.Inspired by coral reefs, seashells and other naturally occurring complex mineral structures, postdoctoral fellow Wim L. Noorduin and Harvard colleague...

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:34:03 GMT

By Mike WallSpace.comA big asteroid will cruise by Earth at the end of the month, making its closest approach to our planet for at least the next two centuries.The May 31 flyby of asteroid 1998 QE2, which is about 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) long, poses no threat to Earth. The space rock will come within 3.6 million miles (5.8 million km) of our planet about 15 times the distance separating Earth...

Sat, 18 May 2013 00:28:08 GMT

YouTube has always proved fertile ground for the entrepreneurial and tech savvy. But gamers may soon be getting the short end of the stick.That's if Nintendo has anything to do with it. The Japanese gaming giant revealed this week that YouTube clips featuring gameplay from Nintendo titles will now display advertising, meaning that any resulting ad revenue will go back to Nintendo rather than the u...

Sat, 18 May 2013 00:06:16 GMT

A "direct threat" against a U.S. congresswoman posted on a military-oriented Facebook page that graphically belittled her and her efforts to stem sexual misconduct within the branches has been referred to U.S. Capitol Police for investigation.The threat was made last week against Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., and her husband shortly after Speier sent a letter May 8 to Defense Secretary Chuck ...

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:38:53 GMT

During the Google I/O developers conference this week, the tech giant unveiled a slew of new photo-related features now available on Google+. Could those features which work their magic without any user intervention be what lures some away from the billion-user mammoth that is Facebook and into Google's 190-million-user "ghost town" over time?"I remember, about nine months ago, we were doing s...

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:33:20 GMT

An ongoing robotics project at MIT aiming to recreate the gait of a cheetah is sharing a new video showing off the latest progress. There's a long way to go before anyone would call it catlike, but it's impressive nevertheless.The Biomimetic Robotics Lab at MIT is attempting to create things much like those being made by the more well-known Boston Dynamics, whose creepily realistic robots frequent...

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:05:40 GMT