Frankenstein ants created by scientists

The monster ants, which use their size to protect the entrance to their nests, are a throwback to their ancestors that lived millions of years ago. Supersoldier ants can be born naturally but are rare. They breed in the deserts of American and Mexico where they have evolved to protect their colony from invading ants. But the man-made specimens were created from ordinary Pheidole morrisi ants, which contain the genetic tools necessary to develop into supersoldier ants. Scientists in Canada used a special hormone on the larvae of ordinary worker...

Global economy could endure disaster for a week - report

(Reuters) - The global economy could withstand widespread disruption from a major natural disaster or attack by militants for only a week, a report by UK-based think-tank Chatham House said on Friday. The frequency of natural disasters, such as extreme weather events, appears to be increasing and globalisation has increased their impact, the report found. Events such as the 2010 volcanic ash cloud, which grounded flights in Europe, Japan's earthquake and tsunami and Thailand's floods last year, showed that key sectors and businesses can...

Did the Maya predict the world would end in 2012?

For true believers, the ancient Maya calendar is a prime source for the prophecy that something very big is going to happen this year, 2012. Perhaps even the end of the world, or a transformation into a new age.

To backup the apprehension over 2012, some will also point to the I Ching and Nostradamus as predictors of note. Though it may also be worth observing that only a few days into this new year, the Rapture Index is just one point below its all-time high.

The index, a feature on Rapture Ready, an evangelical Christian website, tracks natural and political events that may portend how close we are to the apocalypse and the Second Coming of Christ.

The website doesn't have a date for the big day but quotes the Bible on why such a date cannot be known in advance.

That is not the case for other doomsdayers, however, who predict Dec. 21, 2012 is when time, or the world, will end. (Rapture Ready advises that it could happen before December.)

Still, it is the Maya, a civilization in southern Mexico and northern Central America for about 2,500 years, that seems to be taking centre stage these days, perhaps particularly in Canada where they are the subject of a special exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum as well as a documentary tonight (Thursday, 9 ET) on CBC TV's Doc Zone.

Um, might the doomsayers be right?
'Complete nonsense'

Military Warning To Iran Over Strait Closure

The UK would respond militarily if Iran carries out its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, the Defence Secretary has warned. Philip Hammond used a speech in Washington DC to warn Iran that any attempt to close the key Gulf trade route would be "unsuccessful" and could be stopped in part by the Royal Navy. "Any attempt by Iran to do this would be illegal and unsuccessful," he said in a speech at the Atlantic Council. "Our joint naval presence in the Arabian Gulf, something our regional partners appreciate, is key to keeping the Strait of...

Iran’s Quds Force expanding in Europe, S. America

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, responsible for operations overseas, is believed to be in the midst of expanding its activities and operations in Europe and South America, senior defense officials said this week. The bolstering of the Quds Force’s presence in Europe is understood within Israel and the US as part of an Iranian effort to deter the Western world from taking stronger action against its continued development of a nuclear weapon. “By establishing this infrastructure, the Iranians are making clear that their...

6,757 aftershocks felt in Japan from March 11 until Dec 31

TOKYO — The Meteorological Agency said Thursday that 6,757 aftershocks were felt in Japan after the March 11 disaster through Dec 31. Of those, there were 14 with a magnitude over 5, 30 with a magnitude of 5, 174 with a magnitude of 4, 707 (magnitude 3), 1,904 (magnitude 2) and 3,928 (magnitude 1), the agency said on its website. For the whole year, the agency said there were 9,723 earthquakes and aftershocks, seven times the number in 2010. An agency official said that although the number of aftershocks has been decreasing, it will be many...

Obama to share U.S. Nuclear warfare secrets with Russia

President Obama signaled Congress this week that he is prepared to share U.S. missile defense secrets with Russia. In the president’s signing statement issued Saturday in passing into law the fiscal 2012 defense authorization bill, Mr. Obama said restrictions aimed at protecting top-secret technical data on U.S. Standard Missile-3 velocity burnout parameters might impinge on his constitutional foreign policy authority. As first disclosed in this space several weeks ago, U.S. officials are planning to provide Moscow with the SM-3 data, despite reservations from security officials who say that doing so could compromise the effectiveness of the system by allowing Russian weapons technicians to counter the missile. The weapons are considered some of the most effective high-speed interceptors in the U.S. missile...

Big Brother malls trigger privacy row after installing equipment to spy on shoppers via their mobiles

Shopping centres have triggered a Big Brother row after installing equipment that allows them to track customers using their mobile phone signals. The technology has raised privacy concerns after it emerged that major shopping centre owner Land Securities has installed it at ten of Britain’s biggest malls. These include the giant Cabot Circus, Bristol; Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth; Princesshay, Exeter; Buchanan Galleries, Glasgow; Bon Accord & St Nicholas, Aberdeen; and The Centre, Livingston. Malls using the FootPath system in the London...

Experts: Nuclear fuel test won't hasten Iran bomb

Iran's latest claim of a breakthrough in its nuclear program seems unlikely to bring it any closer to having atomic bombs soon, but serves rather as another defiant message to the West. This week's announcement that Iran has successfully made and tested fuel rods for use in nuclear power plants appeared designed to show that sanctions are failing to halt its technical advances and to strengthen its hand in any renewed negotiations with the major powers. Spent fuel can be reprocessed to make plutonium, potential bomb material, but Western worries...

Animal-Related Diseases Concern Scientists

Health researchers and wildlife biologists say the number of infectious diseases that have jumped the boundary from animals to humans and between animal species is on the rise. Scientists believe the increase may be a result of more frequent contact between humans and wild animals, as well as the growing trade in wild animals, both legal and illegal. Towards the end of the 1990s, several Asian countries lived one of their worst health nightmares. A new, highly pathogenic, strain of Avian Influenza known as H5N1 killed hundreds of people...

Swine flu virus may be spreading between people

A new strain of the swine flu virus called A(H3N2) may now be spreading through person-to-person contact, the Public Health Agency of Canada says. The announcement comes after a number of warnings concerning the H3N2 virus by U.S. authorities in recent months. The virus is a variant of the swine flu virus H3N2. Though it usually infects pigs, the A(H3N2) virus has infected 12 people in the U.S. since July 2011, according to the U.S. Centre of Disease Control and Prevention. Most cases have been mild respiratory illnesses, though three people..

Pentagon Scientists Use ‘Time Hole’ to Make Events Disappear

Soldiers could one day conduct covert operations in complete secrecy, now that Pentagon-backed physicists have figured out how to mask entire events by distorting light. A team at Cornell University, with support from Darpa, the Pentagon’s out-there research arm, managed to hide an event for 40 picoseconds (those are trillionths of seconds, if you’re counting). They’ve published their groundbreaking research in this week’s edition of the journal Nature. This is the first time that scientists have succeeded in masking an event, though research teams have in recent years made remarkable strides in cloaking objects. Researchers at the University of Texas, Dallas, last year harnessed the mirage effect to make objects vanish. And in 2010, physicists at the University of St. Andrews made leaps towards using...

Colorado Christian University Sues Federal Government Over Health Care

Colorado Christian University Sues Federal Government Over Health Care
LAKEWOOD, Colo. (CBS4) – Colorado Christian University in Lakewood is taking the federal government to court. The school says it’s being coerced into violating its deeply-held religious beliefs. The beliefs involve strong opposition to abortion. There are some 4,000 students and 500 +...

There's a New Volcano to Worry About, and This Time It's in the USA

As you know we’re still in the first week of the new year, but there’s already a brand new volcano—complete with ash-cloud potential—getting ready to wreak havoc on air travel. Unlike the volcanoes over in Europe or down in South America, this one’s a little closer to home, and it’s a heck of a lot easier to pronounce. Mount Cleveland—just rolls off the tongue—is located within the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska, and scientists believe that it’s getting ready to celebrate 2012 by starting to shake, rattle, and roll. Just over a week ago there...

GPS Shoes Help Alzheimer's Patients, Caretakers

For the estimated 5.3 million Americans who suffer from Alzheimer's disease, wandering off is a common symptom. GPS tracking technology is working to assist caretakers in keeping tabs on their clients or family members. GPS shoe Shoes loaded with GPS technology are literal life-savers, easing the burden often placed on primary care-takers. GPS Shoe It's very common for people who have dementia to wander off on their own. When that happens, frantic family members have to search for them, and call the police if they can't find them.

iPad passport scan gets man across U.S. border

A Montreal man who crossed the U.S. border using a scan of his passport saved on his iPad says he hopes the practice will become commonplace in the near future. But federal critics say border officers failed their duty by allowing Martin Reisch into the United States with only digital proof of identity. Reisch drove to Vermont to visit friends for the holidays and realized as he approached the border that he forgot his passport. He had a scan of it saved on his iPad and showed it to the border officer. "There was a slight hesitation, he didn't really seem like...

Greeks, Italians burying cash as crisis fears grow

ATHENS/MILAN – Greeks and Italians are taking their money and running, moving it abroad or even burying it underground for fear the eurozone crisis will topple banks and wipe out what remains of their savings. Bankers in Greece say worries about the resilience of local banks, coupled with a rise in burglaries, has helped trigger a surge in demand for safe deposit boxes for those who have yet to set up accounts outside in the country. Some are even building their own. “There has been a big increase in rentals of safe deposit boxes, about fivefold...

Russia says Iran has no long-range missiles

Iran has no long-range missiles, a Russian defence official said Tuesday in Moscow's first response to a series of tests conducted by Tehran near the vital Strait of Hormuz oil supply route. "Iran does not have the technology to create intermediate or long-range inter-continental ballistic missiles," defence ministry spokesman Vadim Koval told the Interfax news agency. "And it will not get such missiles any time soon," he added. Iran reported testing three missiles close to the Gulf oil-transit waterway on Monday amid preparations by Western powers

Iran-U.S. tensions reach 20-year high over Strait of Hormuz warning

Tensions between the United States and Iran reached their highest level in two decades Tuesday when Iran wrapped up 10 days of naval war games with a warning to Washington not to attempt to return the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier the USS John C. Stennis to the Persian Gulf. After Iran’s navy test-fired cruise missiles designed to sink ships in the narrow Straits of Hormuz on Monday, the head of Iran’s armed forces, Major General Ataollah Salehi, threatened to take action against the U.S. aircraft carrier if it should try to transit the Straits and...

Charlton Library Sends Police To Collect Overdue Books From 5-Year-Old

Charlton Library Sends Police To Collect Overdue Books From 5-Year-Old
CHARLTON (CBS) – A Charlton mom says her local library crossed the line when they sent police to collect her daughter’s overdue library books. Her mom says the 5-year-old girl was so afraid that she burst into tears. Charlton Police Sergeant Dan Dowd stopped by the home of Shannon Benoit to let her know that her daughter had two books several months overdue which needed to be returned or paid for.

Pastor accused of injuring, causing man's death

A trial date of April 16 has been set in the civil suit against a former Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) pastor accused of injuring a 71-year-old man and causing his eventual death, according to court documents. Documents filed by an attorney for David Rhodes claim that Stephen Eugene Galiher in April 2009 was drinking with TBN's president and founder at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach, where Galiher was doing work for the Costa Mesa-based network. TBN's president allegedly watched an intoxicated Galiher drive away to a...

Is a super-volcano just 390 miles from London about to erupt?

A sleeping super-volcano in Germany is showing worrying signs of waking up. It's lurking just 390 miles away underneath the tranquil Laacher See lake near Bonn and is capable of ejecting billions of tons of magma. This monster erupts every 10 to 12,000 years and last went off 12,900 years ago, so it could blow at any time. It covered 620 square miles of land with ash and rocks and several small earthquakes in the region last year indicate that it could be awakening from its deep sleep. Experts believe that if it did go off, it could lead to widespread...

A fabric 'stronger than steel': Scientists crack how to 'farm' spider's webs by making silkworms do the work

Scientists have genetically engineered silkworms to make artificial spider silk. It is hoped the breakthrough could lead to the development of stronger fibres for textiles, bandages for burn victims and bullet-proof vests. The GM silkworms spin tough fibres containing spider silk proteins that are more elastic and extensible, making it more suitable for use in a range of medical applications. Territorialism and cannibalism among spiders pose challenges to spider farming as a viable means of manufacturing silk. Dr Donald Jarvis, of the University...

Saudi hackers leak personal information of thousands of Israelis

Saudi hackers who identified themselves as members of the online Anonymous network claimed on Monday to have leaked files containing personal information, including credit card numbers and expiration dates, belonging to more than 400,000 Israelis. They called on surfers to use the details in order to purchase goods online. "It will be so fun to see 400,000 Israelis stand in line outside banks and offices of credit card companies to complain that their cards had been stolen. To see banks shred 400,000 cards and reissue them.

IDF predicts missile attacks on J'lem in future war

The army recently updated threat scenarios for every major city in Israel – and for the first time predicted that missiles might hit Jerusalem, even in a relatively minor conflict. The threat scenarios – as they are called in the IDF – are compiled by the Home Front Command and are based on intelligence collected regarding the enemy’s intentions, as well as its capabilities. The municipalities and local councils are then provided an estimated number of missiles they can expect to face in a conflict and are advised on how they should prepare.

Israel to shut down Dimona nuclear reactor should war break out

Nuclear activity at the reactors at Dimona and Nahal Sorek will desist should missiles attack Israel's home front. The aim of such nuclear stoppage would be to prevent damage to the reactors' outlying area, should missiles penetrate the facilities' defense shields. A decision for such a stoppage was reached by the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, in coordination with the IDF Home Front Command. The working assumption shared by the Home Front Command and the IAEC management officials responsible for the two reactors is that the multilayered...

Iran: Ahmadinejad says sanctions will be met with 'force'

Tehran, 2 Jan. (AKI) - The Iranian Central Bank will respond to new sanctions imposed by the United States "with force, "Iranian president Ahmadinejad told an annual meeting of senior central bank officials on Monday, according to state media. US president Barack Obama on Saturday signed into law a defense bill that included sanctions on the Iranian central bank in response to Iran's refusal to curb its nuclear program which the West believes is for the purpose of developing nuclear weapons. Iran denies it has a nuclear arms program...

Israel can cease to exist if Iran attacked'

A former CIA analyst says the notion that stirring up hostilities towards Iran will make Israel more secure will prove to be “the big mistake of the century.” “If this rhetoric spins out of control, if there are incidents in the Persian Gulf or the Strait of Hormuz that lead to wider hostilities, as night follows the day, this could spin not only into a regional war but even farther; and... of Israel, I fear, may cease to exist,” Ray McGovern told Press TV US Desk. Iran's First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi warned on December 27 that imposing...

Persian Gulf tensions mount as U.S. engages Israel on Iran

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The Obama administration is engaged in a full-court press to persuade Israel that Iran’s nuclear threat can be contained short of war. The U.S. lobbying has received a mixed reception from Israel, where the Netanyahu government has not ruled out a unilateral strike on Iran. Iran, meanwhile, is taking an aggressive stance in response to mounting sanctions. Last week the Iranian naval chief, Adm. Habibollah Sayyari, threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if Western sanctions intensified. The threat to close the strait -

'Mind control' scientists can make mice forget bad memories - and the technique could work in humans

Neuroscientists at MIT have found a chemical way to make mice forget bad memories. By deactivating a 'memory gene' - Npas 4 - they found that mice would 'forget' their fear of a chamber where they had previously been given electric shocks. The scientists believe they could be 'closing in' on the areas of the brain where long-term memories are stored - and a technique for controlling these memories. The researchers think that the gene could be crucial for all types of memory. The knowledge would be a breakthrough in our understanding...

Dream of Universal Currency Just Won’t Die

The euro zone maelstrom refuses to end. Thanks to the debt crisis, some Greek officials are contemplating dumping the common currency for the drachma. Meanwhile, Italy and Spain teeter. A decade after the shared currency was heralded as a 21st-century tool for peace and prosperity, it turns out that currency unions aren’t such a hot idea. Not so fast, though. This is undeniably a period of epic turmoil, and many economists will tell you that sovereign states need sovereign currencies—full stop. But this notion ignores a fundamental truth: Countries with their own currency may have monetary independence, but in reality—as gun battles in Libya, CDOs in the US, and tsunamis in Japan have taught us—we are only becoming more economically intertwined, regardless of what our coins look like.

Scientists find sea floor 'bridges' across the Mariana trench - the deepest place on earth

Marine geophysicists from the University of New Hampshire have found huge 'bridges' across the Mariana trench, which cross the trench about a mile above the bottom. The bridges are created when mountains on the sea floor are pulled into the earth's crust by enormous geological forces. The mountains, sticking up from the Pacific ocean plate, form 'bridges' as the the Pacific plate disappears into the earth's crust under the neighbouring Philippine plate. 'It wasn't common knowledge these bridges occurred at all,' said James Gardner,..

Goodbye US Constitution! Obama signs law permitting military to arrest and detain American citizens

Goodbye US Constitution! Obama signs law permitting military to arrest and detain American citizens
HONOLULU: After objecting to provisions of a military spending bill that would have forced him to try terrorism suspects in military courts and impose strict sanctions on Iran's oil exports, the US President, Barack Obama, has signed it. He said although he did not support all of it, changes made by Congress after negotiations with the White house...

UMaine using hand scanners at dining halls to deter sharing of ID cards

ORONO, Maine — Hand scanners are now commonly used for students to gain entry to University of Maine dining halls as a way to foil the costly sharing of student identification cards. The hand scanners, installed in Hilltop, Wells and York dining commons last semester, are mandatory for all students with an unlimited meal plan. Within the next few years the university plans to require their use by all students who eat at the dining halls. The scanners were installed to keep costs down and eliminate the sharing of MaineCards, a practice that...

Bird Flu death man 'caught virus after jogging in park' in China

The 39-year-old Chinese man, identified only by his family name, Chen, died of multiple organ failure on Saturday – a week after being admitted to hospital with pneumonia in the southern industrial city of Shenzhen, located just across the boarder from Hong Kong. "We discovered he had taken five days' leave before he fell sick. He went jogging every morning in an area where there are many migratory birds," said Chinese Health Ministry official He Jianfeng. The medical team are now probing whether Mr Chen, a bus driver, contracted the deadly...

Japan shaken by 7.0 offshore quake

A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck under the sea south of Japan on Sunday, shaking buildings in the capital but causing no apparent damage or tsunami. The quake struck near the uninhabited island of Torishima in the Pacific Ocean, about 600 kilometres south of Tokyo, and its epicentre was about 370 kilometres below the sea, the Meterological Agency said. It did not generate a tsunami. Buildings in the Tokyo area shook, but no damage or injuries were reported. Express trains in northern and central Japan were suspended temporarily...

One of the earliest drawings of the Tower of Babel found on ancient stone tablet

A carving of the Tower of Babel has been found on a stone tablet dating back over 2,500 years. It comes from the newly published book Cuneiform Royal Inscriptions And Related Texts In The Schøyen Collection. The collection is owned by Norwegian businessman Martin Schøyen, who has amassed over 13,000 ancient manuscripts and tablets. One of the images shows King Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled Babylon 2,500 years ago, standing next to a huge ziggurat – a pyramidlike structure dedicated to the god Marduk that some scholars...

Will the year 2012 be an apocalyptic game-changer?

There are years that are remembered for changing the course of human history:1492. 1776. 1945. Then there are years that were predicted to change the course of history. 1844, when Judgment Day didn't materialize. 1910, when Halley's Comet didn't wipe out humanity. And remember Y2K? But rarely does a year arrive with such a mixture of anticipation and dread as 2012. We speak not of the presidential campaign but of the Maya calendar, and the projection that it — or, more accurately, a cycle within it — will end on Dec. 21, 2012. That date...

NATO forces to attend drill in Israel

NATO forces are scheduled to participate, for the first time, in a home front drill that will be held in Israel next October. In recent years, the IDF took part in several exercises held by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization abroad, but has never hosted its members in Israel. The drill, dubbed "Turning Point 6," will simulate a massive earthquake leading to wide-scale destruction and large amounts of casualties. NATO Search and rescue units, as well as supporting units will arrive in Israel to take part in the drill, which will also include Israel's emergency...

'Iran to deny Hormuz oil to war engines'

A senior Iranian lawmaker says the country will not allow any oil to reach the “war engines of Iran's enemies” through the Strait of Hormuz if its oil is subjected to sanctions. “Iran will never allow the Strait [of Hormuz] to be used against it and for the benefit of its enemies,” Head of Majlis Internal Security Committee Parviz Sorouri said on Sunday. Sorouri added that Iran considers the strategic waterway as a “Strait of Peace,” but would undertake any “fundamental measures” to ensure the security of itself and the entire region. He went on to say that the US is currently pursuing the project of “Iranophobia,” as the recent developments in the Middle East have led to the “divergence of regional counties from the US and a convergence with the Islamic Republic.” Last Wednesday, Michael Mann, the spokesman for EU's Foreign...

Dead blackbirds fall again in Arkansas town

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Thousands of dead blackbirds rained down on a town in central Arkansas last New Year's Eve after revelers set off fireworks that spooked them from their roost, and officials were reporting a similar occurrence Saturday as 2012 approached.

Police in Beebe said dozens of blackbirds had fallen dead, prompting officers to ban residents from shooting fireworks Saturday night. It wasn't immediately clear if fireworks were again to blame, but authorities weren't taking a chance.

Officer John Weeks said the first reports of "birds on the streets" came around 7 p.m. as residents celebrated the year's end with fireworks in their neighborhoods.

"We started shutting down fireworks," he said. "We're working on cleaning up the birds now."

He said police were working with animal control workers and others to remove the birds and determine a death count.

"We're not sure if they're going to continue to fall throughout the night. I can't tell you," Weeks said.

Scientists say the loud cracks and booms from celebratory fireworks likely sent the birds into such a tizzy that they crashed into homes, cars and each other before plummeting to their deaths last New Year's Eve. The birds landed on roofs, sidewalks, streets and fields. One struck a woman walking her dog. Another hit a police cruiser.

The blackbird die-off, coupled with tens of thousands of dead drum fish that washed up on the shores of the Arkansas River, flung the state into the national headlines and drew conspiracy theorists and filmmakers to the town about 30 miles northeast of Little Rock that shares Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe's last name.

Some people speculated that the birds had been poisoned; others said their deaths marked the beginning of the apocalypse.