Climate scientists say they have solved riddle of rising sea

Massive extraction of groundwater can resolve a puzzle over a rise in sea levels in past decades, scientists in Japan said on Sunday.

Facebook stock limps into Monday

Facebook resumes trading on Wall Street on Monday with shares being closely watched to see how well they stand on their own after stumbling out of the gate in a historic but lackluster debut.

Pakistan blocks Twitter over contentious tweets

(AP) -- Pakistan blocked the social networking website Twitter for much of Sunday because it refused to remove tweets considered offensive to Islam, said one of the country's top telecommunications officials.

Reports: Yahoo nears deal to sell stake in Alibaba

(AP) -- Yahoo Inc. may finally be nearing a deal to sell a part of its prized stake in the major Chinese e-commerce provider Alibaba.

Nanomedicine: Quantum dots appear safe in pioneering study on primates

A pioneering study to gauge the toxicity of quantum dots in primates has found the tiny crystals to be safe over a one-year period, a hopeful outcome for doctors and scientists seeking new ways to battle diseases like cancer through nanomedicine.

If the market decides what stockbrokers earn, why are women on Wall Street earning less?

The recent excesses of Wall Street may be big news but behind the headlines there's another story: When it comes to men and women stockbrokers, someone is taking home a bigger paycheck.

Scotland passes turbine test to harness tidal power

(Phys.org) -- An underwater turbine being used for harnessing tidal power to generate electricity for homes and businesses has successfully completed its testing period in the island of Eday, one of Orkney’s northern isles. The machine marks the first to be used in Scotland’s ambitious tidal power project, with more turbines at more sites planned. Scottish Power Renewables (SPR) says that the completion of the test period is an encouraging step up in Scotland’s tidal power initiative. The turbine was lowered into position during winter storms as a test device to prove that the technology can operate efficiently in Scotland’s fast-flowing tides.

Australian authorities race to drifting ship

Australian authorities were racing to secure a cargo ship drifting off the Great Barrier Reef, with one expert saying it was "sheer luck" it had not hit a reef near the World Heritage-listed site.

Day after historic IPO, Facebook's Zuckerberg weds

(AP) -- For Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, it was quite a week - from birthday, to IPO, to I DO.

Google patent sends ring signals to Project Glass

(Phys.org) -- Google's September 2011 patent that was filed for a wearable display device was granted this week, which suggests that its envisioned heads-up display device can be controlled by infrared markers in the form of devices worn on the hands, such as fake fingernails or rings. The patent says, “A wearable marker may take the form of a ring, a bracelet, an artificial fingernail configured to be affixed to a fingernail, a decal configured to be affixed to a fingernail, or a glove, among other possible wearable items."

Malaysia scientist says found new Borneo frog

A Malaysian researcher known for finding new amphibian species said Friday his team had discovered at least one new species of frog in studies he said highlight Borneo's rich biodiversity.

Troubled freighter drifts toward Great Barrier Reef

A broken-down cargo ship was drifting towards the fringes of Australia's Great Barrier Reef Saturday, with fears of major damage if it were to run aground at the World Heritage-listed site.

America expands once again -- digitally, this time

(AP) -- The metaphor is an easy one, overused and perhaps even a bit overwrought. We are forging forward into a digital frontier, leaving convention behind, traveling without guides into an uncharted virtual land where progress and profits are forever around the next bend.

App scans faces of bar-goers to guess age, gender

(AP) -- A watchful eye has arrived on San Francisco's bar scene, but not to keep you in check. It just wants to check you out.

Google gets China OK for Motorola deal

(AP) -- Authorities in China have approved Google Inc.'s bid to buy phone maker Motorola Mobility, clearing the way for the $12.5 billion deal to close early next week.

Is it ripe? Carbon nanotube-based ethylene sensor establishes fruit ripeness

(Phys.org) -- The term ethylene (ethene) generally brings to mind polyethylene plastics, not fruit. However, ethylene is more than just a feedstock for chemical industry, it is also the smallest plant hormone, and it controls physiological processes, such as the ripening of fruit, seed germination, and the blooming and wilting of blossoms. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, American researchers have now introduced a highly sensitive ethylene sensor that could be used to determine the ripeness of fruit.

New lawsuit takes aim at Facebook privacy

A new lawsuit consolidating several complaints about Facebook's privacy policies was filed Friday in California, seeking damages for US users of the social network for improper tracking.

Wrinkle-traveling Clothbot makes its IEEE debut (w/ Video)

(Phys.org) -- As any gathering of scientists working with robots will suggest, attempts toward perfecting techniques and outcomes of grasping and maneuvering are key issues for researchers working on climbing robots. At this week’s IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the robotics community got to see what a Chinese team has achieved in its presentation of Clothbot. This is a climbing robot that easily climbs up your pants or shirt. The Clothbot is small and lightweight, which did not deter from bloggers’ reactions that the device was “creepy.” System and Design of Clothbot: a Robot for Flexible Clothes Climbing, by Yuanyuan Liu, Xinyu Wu, Huihuan Qian, Duan Zheng, Jianquan Sun and Yangsheng Xu from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, was presented Tuesday at the IEEE event.

SpaceX rocket launch aborted in last half-second (Update)

Engineers aborted the launch of a privately built spacecraft on a landmark mission to the International Space Station at the last second Saturday due to a rocket engine problem.

SpaceX rocket set to blast off, open new space era

A private company is on the verge of making history by launching a spacecraft to the International Space Station.

After flat debut Facebook awaits market verdict

Facebook stumbled on its first trading day as shares ended barely above the starting price, raising questions about what will happen to the share price when the Nasdaq reopens on Monday.

Motorola Mobility smartphones face US import ban

A US commission sided with Microsoft by moving to ban the import of Android-powered Motorola smartphones based on patent infringement complaints by the software colossus.

Sudden wealth part of Silicon Valley's everyday

(AP) -- In Silicon Valley, where sudden wealth is hardly something new and CEOs favor hoodies over bespoke blazers, Facebook's IPO on Friday didn't bring everyday life to a halt.

Nasdaq glitch confuses investors of Facebook IPO

(AP) -- Some investors who thought they had bought Facebook shares at the opening of trading were left without knowing for hours whether they had received the shares.

Japan readies for 'ring' solar eclipse

Special darkened glasses were selling out in Japan on Friday as anticipation built ahead of a "ring" solar eclipse above one of the most densely populated parts of the planet.

Pollution teams with thunderclouds to warm atmosphere

Pollution is warming the atmosphere through summer thunderstorm clouds, according to a computational study published May 10 in Geophysical Research Letters. How much the warming effect of these clouds offsets the cooling that other clouds provide is not yet clear. To find out, researchers need to incorporate this new-found warming into global climate models.

Open, Ring! Highly electrophilic cationic complexes as catalysts in immortal ring-opening polymerization of lactide

(Phys.org) -- Certain complexes of large alkaline earth elements such as calcium, strontium, and barium are efficient catalysts for various organic reactions. However, the stability of these heteroleptic complexes in solution is compromised by ligand scrambling. The β-diketiminato ligand has proven especially useful in stabilizing reactive heteroleptic complexes of calcium, but to a lesser extent those of larger alkaline earth elements.

Synthetic scent hounds: Nanostructured sensor for detection of very low concentrations of explosive

To prevent terrorist attacks at airports, it would be helpful to detect extremely low concentrations of explosives easily and reliably. Despite the development of various sensor technologies, dogs continue to be the most efficient detectors. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a German and French team has now described a type of micromechanical sensor with a structure derived from the sense organs of butterflies.

SpaceX readies ambitious ISS launch

California-based company SpaceX was poised to launch its Dragon capsule to the International Space Station Saturday in what may be a historic mission for private spaceflight.

Yahoo! stock climbs on report of Alibaba sale

Yahoo! stock price climbed Friday on renewed rumors that it was close to a multibillion-dollar deal to sell half of its stake in Alibaba.com back to the Chinese online shopping portal.