Icebergs head from Antarctica for New Zealand
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - A flotilla of hundreds of icebergs that split off Antarctic ice shelves is drifting toward New Zealand and could pose a risk to ships in the south Pacific Ocean, officials said Tuesday. The nearest one, measuring about 30 yards (meters) tall, was 160 miles (260 kilometers) southeast of New Zealand's Stewart Island, Australian glaciologist Neal Young said. He couldn't say how many icebergs in total were roaming the Pacific, but he counted 130 in one satellite image alone and 100 in another. More »
Big Bang atom smasher starts speeding proton beams
GENEVA (AP) - The world's largest atom smasher used its accelerator Tuesday to speed up proton beams for the first time as scientists moved ahead in efforts to learn more about the universe. The $10 billion Large Hadron Collider showed it could raise the energy of the proton beams whizzing around the massive machine by an initial 20 percent. More »
Comatose for 23 years, Belgian feels reborn
BRUSSELS (AP) - Helped by a therapist, Rom Houben's outstretched finger tapped with surprising speed on a computer touchscreen, spelling out how he felt ``alone, lonely, frustrated'' in the 23 years he was trapped inside a paralyzed body. After a doctor found he was wrongly diagnosed as being in a vegetative state, and worked out a way for him to communicate, Houben said he now feels reborn. More »
Grand Canyon to change 'unfair' permit system
FLAGSTAFF, 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. More »
Rare Charles Darwin book found on toilet bookshelf
LONDON (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. More »