Crocodile
Mammals and many species of birds and fish are among evolution’s “winners,” while crocodiles, alligators and a reptile cousin of snakes known as the tuatara are among the losers, according to new research by UCLA scientists and colleagues.
 

‘Herbivore’ men shun sex, work
Hotel worker Roshinante has no interest in actively pursuing women, is nonchalant about a career and finds cars a bore — and he is not alone in opting for a quiet, uncompetitive lifestyle.
 

Organic vegetables are shown at a Whole Foods Market
Organic food has no nutritional or health benefits over ordinary food, according to a major study published Wednesday.  Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said consumers were paying higher prices for organic food because of its perceived health benefits, creating a global organic [...]

Man’s best friend — so the saying goes, but a German study tells women that dogs make them more attractive to both sexes.  (Pics)

Hey sex offenders, there is an app for you
Offender Locator alerts iPod touch and iPhone owners in the United States to nearby sex offenders.

The world definately needs another 562 hp car
This is it. The Ferrari 458 Italia, the 562 HP replacement for the F430 and the latest prancing pony to make you ache with automotive lust.

Well at least Starbucks will cash in since no one will want to buy books when they can use the Internet to read
Barnes & Noble and AT&T already went ahead and offered free WiFi to iPhone users (and everyone else, albeit inadvertently) last year, and it’s now finally gone and given up on those pesky [...]

Another terminator style weapon is soon coming but no Shawn Conner to save us from its wrath
Leave it to the military to dream big. In its recently released “Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Plan 2009-2047″ report, the US Air Force details a drone that could fly over a target and then make the decision whether or [...]

 
Slow Cow
Out to help those looking for a quick relaxation fix, a new drink from Canada offers ‘an acupuncture session’ in every can. An antidote to energy drinks like Red Bull, Slow Cow was developed to help people de-stress.
 

Bill Tomlinson. associate informatics professor, used a computer game to test how U.S. patent law affects innovation
A new study challenges the traditional view that patents foster innovation, suggesting instead that they may hinder technological progress, economic activity and societal wealth. These results could have important policy implications, because many countries count on patent systems to [...]

X-ray image shows a barium enema in a patient with cancer of the bowel
A cancer vaccine with a twist is making headway in clinical trials at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Rather than targeting a cancer-related virus–the way Gardasil targets human papillomavirus to prevent some cervical cancers–the new vaccine triggers the immune system [...]

It is an ingredient more likely to raise suspicions among the parents of sweet-toothed children.  But the colouring in a blue M&M could harbour secret benefits.
 

People who get divorced are more likely to suffer health problems including heart disease and cancer, even if they go on to remarry, a study has shown.
 

How long do you think it will take before it makes it to Ebay
On July 23, a lengthy FBI probe into corruption in New Jersey ended in the arrests of 44 people, including two mayors, a prominent real-estate developer and several rabbis. But amid the bribery and money-laundering allegations, the element of the sweeping sting [...]

Come on its just a rock
How many planets are in the solar system? The official answer is eight – unless you happen to live in Illinois. Earlier this year, defiant Illinois state governors declared that Pluto had been unfairly demoted by the International Astronomical Union, the authority that sets the rules on all matters planetary.

The Green Peas stuck out because of their small size and green color compared to the more common galaxies
A team of astronomers has discovered a group of rare galaxies called the “Green Peas” with the help of citizen scientists working through an online project called Galaxy Zoo. The finding could lend unique insights into how [...]

At one time or another, we’ve all found ourselves lying in a grassy field somewhere, looking up at the clouds and thinking, “Wow, that really looks like a bear.” (Pics)

Two bumblebees. Declining bumblebee populations are at greater risk of inbreeding, which can trigger a downward spiral of further decline.
Declining bumblebee populations are at greater risk of inbreeding, which can trigger a downward spiral of further decline. Researchers have provided the first proof that inbreeding reduces colony fitness under natural conditions by increasing the [...]

Surgical thread can be embedded with a patient’s own adult stem cells to promote healing.
Johns Hopkins biomedical engineering students have demonstrated a practical way to embed a patient’s own adult stem cells in the surgical thread that doctors use to repair serious orthopedic injuries such as ruptured tendons. The goal, the students said, is to [...]

Potamopyrgus antipodarum is a snail that lives in the muds of New Zealand’s lakes, rivers and estuaries
The coevolutionary struggle between a New Zealand snail and its worm parasite makes sex advantageous for the snail, whose females favor asexual reproduction in the absence of parasites, say Indiana University Bloomington and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology biologists [...]

Ants are more rational collective decision makers than humans.
In a study released online on July 22 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, researchers at Arizona State University and Princeton University show that ants can accomplish a task more rationally than our – multimodal, egg-headed, tool-using, bipedal, opposing-thumbed – selves.

Caption: The structure of jewel beetle cells results in striking colors as light hits them from angles.
“Jewel beetles” are widely known for their glossy external skeletons that appear to change colors as the angle of view changes. Now they may be known for something else–providing a blueprint for materials that reflect light rather than [...]

Competitive begging. Researchers have found the first signs of vocal learning in the food begging calls of male chipping sparrows, which learn to vary their cries from an early age.
Only a handful of social animals — songbirds, some marine mammals, some bats and humans — learn to actively style their vocal communications. Babies, for instance, [...]

New expanding spot on the giant planet Jupiter. (Credit: NASA, ESA, and H. Hammel (Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.), and the Jupiter Comet Impact Team.)
The checkout and calibration of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has been interrupted to aim the recently refurbished observatory at a new expanding spot on the giant planet Jupiter. The spot, [...]

Experimental set-up at the FLASH laser used to discover the new state of matter
Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminium by bombarding the metal with the world’s most powerful soft X-ray laser. ‘Transparent aluminium’ previously only existed in science fiction, featuring in the movie Star Trek IV, but the real material is an [...]