Science News

South Korean scientists said they have cloned a piglet whose organs were genetically modified to make them more suitable for human transplants.

He said his government-sponsored team, involving scientists from four universities and two research institutes, used stem cells of smaller-than-normal pigs to clone “mini-pigs” with modified genes.

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Japan launched a whaling mission Wednesday with the target of killing 60 minke whales for what the government calls research, drawing immediate protests from environmentalists.

Japan hunts whales using a loophole in a 1986 international moratorium on commercial whaling that allows “lethal research” on the giant mammals, and it makes no secret of the fact that the animals meat is then sold as food.

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Top members of President Barack Obama’s energy and environmental team are weighing in on a bill that would curb the emissions blamed for global warming and transform how the nation produces and uses energy.

On Friday, the EPA declared that six greenhouse gases pose dangers to human health and the environment.

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Japan is mulling an early warning satellite that can detect missile launches, a government official said Wednesday, amid worries about North Koreas missile power.

Asked whether Japan is considering an early warning satellite after North Koreas rocket launch, Kei Oguro, an official at the governments Strategic Headquarters for Space Policy, said: “I think there certainly are views like that.

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Japan launched another whaling mission, aiming to catch up to 60 minke whales off its northeastern coast for what it calls research, the government said.

The ships are to hunt minke whales within 80 kilometres (50 miles) off the coast in the Pacific until late May, the official said.

Four whaling ships and one designated research vessel set sail from Ayukawa port in northern Miyagi prefecture following a departure ceremony, a fisheries agency official said.

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One of the endearing qualities of Batman is that, unlike all other mainstream superheroes, he possesses no supernatural powers.

An implicit theme in the Batman chronicles, dating back to the earliest appearance of “Bat-Man” in a 1939 comic strip, is that any human could become the Dark Knight with enough physical training and a penchant for wearing tights.

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If you have dark eyes, dark hair and tan easily, you might think you dont have to worry much about melanoma.

Having a variant of the melanocortin-1 receptor gene (MCIR) puts people who have dark hair, dark eyes and who tan easily at more than twice the risk of getting melanoma as those with similar complexions who dont have the variant.

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In the search for Earth-like planets, astronomers zeroed in Tuesday on two places that look awfully familiar to home. One is close to the right size. The other is in the right place. European researchers said they not only found the smallest exoplanet ever, called Gliese 581 e, but realized that a neighboring planet discovered earlier, Gliese 581 d, was in the prime habitable zone for potential life.

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Scientists in New York have touted an experimental plan to lock carbon dioxide gasses underground and prevent big polluters like China and the United States from wrecking the worlds climate.

The technology exists, but is little tested and a group of energy companies, academics and state officials hope to make New York one of the fields trail blazers.

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The Obama administration proposed sharp reductions Tuesday in airborne pollution from America’s 99 cement plants, including first-ever limits on mercury from older kilns.

EPA proposed the regulations under court order after environmental groups and nine states sued, accusing the agency of shirking its duty under the Clean Air Act to regulate the cement industry’s emissions.

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