CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The lone American in orbit will end up voting for president from the International Space Station, if her homecoming is delayed. NASA astronaut Kate Rubins said Thursday that she doesn’t know yet whether she’ll return to Earth in late October as planned. The Russians have delayed the next crew launch … Continue reading
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — In Virginia and in states across the country, drugmakers that produce opioids and allied advocacy groups are spending heavily as they work to influence state and federal policies. A joint investigation by The Associated Press and the Center for Public Integrity found that drug companies and allied groups spent more than … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans on Thursday called for an independent review of allegations that the National Football League sought to improperly influence a government study into the link between football and brain disease. In a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general, GOP leaders of the Energy and Commerce Committee … Continue reading
SEATTLE (AP) — More than two years after Washington state launched legal marijuana sales, it’s planning to test pot for banned pesticides more regularly. The state’s Liquor and Cannabis Board said Thursday it’s paying the Washington Department of Agriculture more than $1 million to buy new equipment and hire two full-time workers to conduct the … Continue reading
LONDON (AP) — Scientists trying to predict the future path of Zika say that 2.6 billion people living in parts of Asia and Africa could be at risk of infection, based on a new analysis of travel, climate and mosquito patterns in those regions. Some of the most vulnerable countries include India, China, the Philippines, … Continue reading
LONDON (AP) — An independent commission investigating Italian stem cell scientist Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, whose work was once considered revolutionary, says there were numerous problems in how he treated patients and that the scientific basis for his work was “inadequate.” Macchiarini was part of the team that conducted the world’s first transplant using a windpipe … Continue reading
RICHMOND, Va. — The percentage of students achieving at the proficient or advanced level on Standards of Learning assessments in reading, mathematics and science increased by one-point statewide during 2015-2016, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) reported today. Eighty percent of students achieved proficient or advanced scores in reading, and the same percentage passed tests … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — Get a charge out of chocolate? New research suggests candy companies may be able to make lower fat versions of the tasty treat with a little electrical trick. By running liquid chocolate through an electric field, researchers were able to make it flow more easily. And that means it doesn’t need … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — Ashton Kutcher as a television morning show host? Aaron Paul as an advertising spokesman for hybrid automobiles? Those are two of the ideas suggested by a new analytics tool unveiled by the Nielsen company Wednesday, one that it believes can provide scientific rigor to decisions on how to deploy talent. Nielsen … Continue reading
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A NASA spacecraft is bound for a Fourth of July encounter with Jupiter in the latest quest to study how the largest planet in the solar system formed and evolved. As Juno approaches Jupiter’s harsh radiation environment, it will fire its main engine to slow down and then slip into orbit … Continue reading
HWASEONG, South Korea (AP) — Lee T.B. fled North Korea not because he suffered from dire poverty or persecution at home, as many other defectors have. He did it for mushrooms, and to fulfill his wife’s dying wish. He has studied the fungi for decades and has created products with them that he believes may … Continue reading
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — When you’re trying to fathom a mangled relic of very old hi-tech, it helps to have the manufacturer’s instructions. For over a century since its discovery in an ancient shipwreck, the exact function of the Antikythera Mechanism — named after the southern Greek island off which it was found — was … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — Up to 1 in 5 people may be dying unnecessarily from car crashes, gunshots or other injuries, a stark conclusion from government advisers who say where you live shouldn’t determine if you survive. The findings take on new urgency amid the increasing threat of mass casualties like the massacre in Orlando. The … Continue reading
MOSCOW (AP) — An International Space Station crew including an American, a Briton and a Russian landed safely Saturday in the sun-drenched steppes of Kazakhstan. The Soyuz TMA-19M capsule carrying NASA’s Tim Kopra, Tim Peake of the European Space Agency and the Russian agency Roscosmos’ Yuri Malenchenko touched down as scheduled at 3:15 p.m. local … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — A powerful new technology holds the promise of rapidly altering genes to make malaria-proof mosquitoes, eliminate their Zika-carrying cousins or wipe out an invasive species, but a report Wednesday says these “gene drives” aren’t ready to let loose in the wild just yet. Advisers to the government say lots more research is … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 