Massachusetts positioned for steep global warming gas reductions
By Beth Daley, Globe StaffAs national legislation to reduce global warming emissions has stalled in Congress, Massachusetts is on target to reduce its own emissions...


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SCIENCE NEWS
Alex Beam: Space program is a stellar waste of money, so end it
While discussing his spending priorities, President Obama used an image we can all understand: the shrinking family budget. We have less money to spend, he explained, at home and on Capitol Hill. So good on him for ditching the manned (shouldn’t that be “personned’’?) space program. It is the unneeded and extravagant lawn service of the federal government.
Beyond on-off
Smart power grid promises efficiency, consumer options (By Gargi Chakrabarty, Boston Globe)
On financial decisions, older isn’t always wiser
Contrary to the popular notion that young people are reckless, while older people avoid risks, new research shows that in an investment task that involves balancing risk to make the most money, older people make more mistakes than their younger counterparts. (By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Boston Globe)
Leaks imperil nuclear industry
The nuclear industry, once an environmental pariah, is recasting itself as green as it attempts to extend the life of many power plants and build new ones. But a leak of radioactive water at Vermont Yankee, along with similar incidents at more than 20 other US nuclear plants in recent years, has kindled doubts about the reliability, durability, and maintenance of the nation’s aging nuclear installations. (By Beth Daley, Boston Globe)

LATEST SCIENCE NEWS
- Astronauts inspect shuttle on way to space station (AP, 1:21 a.m.)
- Endeavour blasts off on shuttle program’s final night launch (Boston Globe, 2/8/10)
- New federal climate change agency forming (AP, 2/8/10)
- 5 men, 1 woman aboard shuttle Endeavour (AP, 2/8/10)
- Astronauts inspect shuttle on way to space station (AP, 12 a.m.)
- Moon program is on the shelf, but new NASA budget still has scientists excited (Boston Globe, 2/7/10)
- Even if you're careful, drugs can end up in water (AP, 2/7/10)
- NASA fuels space shuttle 2nd time, weather iffy (AP, 2/8/10)
- As more states go green, concerns rise on costs, benefits (Boston Globe, 2/7/10)
- Drop in striper stocks puts recreational, commercial fishermen at odds (Boston Globe, 2/7/10)
- Shuttle begins fueling, aims for pre-dawn launch (AP, 2/6/10)
- Star Watch To questions that dogged astronomers, a Sirius solution (Boston Globe, 2/6/10)
- Mass. to meet gas reduction target (Boston Globe, 2/6/10)
- Feds: Status of pika will still need watching (AP, 2/5/10)
- Russian cargo ship arrives at space station (AP, 2/5/10)
- Things to do ‘Identity: An Exhibition of You’ at the Museum of Science (Boston Globe, 2/4/10)
- Ancient dinosaur had crests, stripes, researchers say (Boston Globe, 2/4/10)
- Hubble sees Pluto changing color, ice sheet cover (AP, 2/4/10)
- Ancient dinosaur had stripes, researchers say (AP, 2/4/10)
- First Internet, now bay window at space station (AP, 2/4/10)

Past features
Researchers find clues to evolution by studying genes of living people
Researchers at Harvard University have developed a powerful method for identifying genes that have been favored by evolution and have spread rapidly among the population because of natural selection, the process by which organisms with beneficial traits survive in greater numbers and pass on their genes to more offspring than others. (By Carolyn Y. Johnson , Boston Globe)
Sailing into antiquity
The archeological digs at Egypt’s Wadi Gawasis have yielded neither mummies nor grand monuments. But Boston University archeologist Kathryn Bard and her colleagues are uncovering the oldest remnants of seagoing ships and other relics linked to exotic trade with a mysterious Red Sea realm called Punt. (By Colin Nickerson, Boston Globe)



