Experts: Warming may harm Tuscan wines (AP)

   

AP - Imagine a world where Scandinavia produces wines to rival Italy's fabled Chianti region. It could come to just that by the end of the century, experts in Italy warn, if global warming continues unchecked.

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Car company collapse hits science

   UK science becomes an unexpected victim of the Rover collapse as funds used to soften the impact of the failure are clawed back from research.
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Britain to OK eggs donated for research (AP)

   AP - The British government on Wednesday approved plans to allow women to donate eggs for stem cell and cloning research — and said they will also be entitled to compensation for costs incurred.
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Experts: Warming may change Tuscan wines (AP)

   

AP - Imagine a world where Scandinavia produces wines to rival Italy's fabled Chianti region. It could come to just that by the end of the century, experts in Italy warn, if global warming continues unchecked.

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Rainy, snowy northern California (weather.com)

   weather.com -
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Aborigines fight tests on remains

   Australian aboriginal leaders are to argue in the High Court that British tests on their ancestral remains should be stopped.
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Waterless planets surprise astronomers (AP)

   AP - Scientists taking their first "sniffs of air" from planets outside our solar system are a bit baffled by what they didn't find: water.
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MPs urged to back space tourism

   Space company Virgin Galactic urges the government to allow it to launch passenger flights from the UK.
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Japan may resume whaling voyage

   The fire on Japan's ship Nisshin Maru may not have ended its Antarctic whaling operations for this season.
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Probe to look for Martian rings

   Europe's Rosetta probe will try to establish this weekend whether there is a thin ring of debris around the planet Mars.
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First astrophysical results with AMBER/VLTI

   The AMBER instrument installed at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) combines the light from three 8.2 meter telescopes, making the VLT the world's largest optical telescope, with a total mirror surface larger than 150 m2 and a maximum telescope separation greater than 130 m. Two years after installation, the first astrophysical results are blossoming. They are being published this week as a special feature in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
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Under pressure, vanadium won't turn down the volume

   Scientists at Carnegie's Geophysical Laboratory have discovered a new type of phase transition -- a change from one form to another -- in vanadium, a metal that is commonly added to steel to make it harder and more durable. Under extremely high pressures, pure vanadium crystals change their shape but do not take up less space as a result, unlike most other elements that undergo phase transitions.
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European ministers uphold Hungary's right to ban GMO crop (AFP)

   

AFP - European environment ministers have upheld Hungary's right to ban a genetically modified product (GMOs), dealing a policy defeat to the EU's executive arm which wanted the measure to be lifted.

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Climate campaign targets offsets

   Climate campaigners occupy one of Britain's leading carbon managment companies in a protest about offsetting.
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New Orleans celebrates Fat Tuesday (AP)

   

AP - Thousands of hurricane-weary residents joined with rowdy visitors for Fat Tuesday, taking a break from rebuilding New Orleans to put on wild costumes and celebrate the second Mardi Gras since Hurricane Katrina.

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Hong Kong warns on rodents in pigs' clothing (AFP)

   

AFP - Animal carers in Hong Kong said Wednesday pet lovers who had bought piglets in hopes of some Year of the Pig luck may have been conned by shop owners who actually sold them rodents instead.

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Premature baby stays for checks

   Doctors delay releasing the world's most-premature baby, saying she will stay in hospital for checks.
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Qatar, ExxonMobil shelve big gas project (AFP)

   

AFP - State-run Qatar Petroleum and US energy giant ExxonMobil Corp. announced they had shelved plans for a vast, multi-billion-dollar gas project in Qatar.

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Rare loon deaths in New Hampshire faze scientists (Reuters)

   

Reuters - Scientists are struggling to explain the rare death of 17 loons in New Hampshire, saying warm weather may have confused the threatened species of bird which typically heads to the ocean for winter.

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