Science News

Toyota says there were design problems with the antilock brake system in the new Prius, which went on sale last year.

But it was still investigating how to inform people who had bought them earlier.

Toyota Motor Corp. spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi said Thursday that Toyota found out there were design problems and corrected the design for Prius models sold since late January.

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Toyota Motor scrambled Thursday to address jitters about the brakes on its best-selling Prius hybrid car as the US government and Congress clamoured for answers over a global safety recall.

Toyota is already recalling almost eight million vehicles worldwide — roughly its entire global sales figure last year — to fix problems with accelerator pedals that are slow to spring back or that stick to floor mats.

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NASAs Cassini Saturn probe has been granted new life around the ringed planet thanks to an extension of its mission through 2017.

This is the second mission extension for Cassini, which was originally scheduled to end its mission in 2008, but then received a 27-month lifeline. The spacecraft has studied Saturn and its moons diligently for nearly six years, sending back more than 210,000 images so far.

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Genes in the mother and the fetus play a role in the risk of preterm labor, a leading cause of infant death and disability, U.S. government researchers said on Thursday.

A preterm baby has a 120 times greater risk of death than a baby born full term, and survivors are at risk of breathing difficulties, bleeding into the brain, and having a significant neurological handicap such as cerebral palsy.

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Complaints in the U.S. and Japan about brake problems in Toyota’s popular Prius hybrid have swelled to about 180, adding to the string of quality troubles for the world’s biggest automaker.

The latest 77 complaints in Japan involve the new Prius model, which went on sale in Japan and the United States in May 2009, Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi said.

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Leading space entrepreneurs said they are ready, willing and able to fill the U.S. spaceflight gap after NASA retires its space shuttles this year.

The space industry executives hailed the Obama administrations proposal to devote $6 billion over the next five years toward commercial spaceflight. It opens the door for potential trips to the moon on commercial vehicles, they added.

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It was the day the families of this rural farm community had long awaited.

Jared Blumenfeld, newly appointed regional director of the EPA’s Pacific Southwest division, sat as mothers of modest means hugged sons born with cleft palates.

After nearly two years of pleading for someone to listen to their concerns about an abnormally high number of birth defects, families bonded by the suffering of their children got one of the biggest ears in the West on Wednesday.

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Wet weather was expected to continue in the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday, while another low pressure system was forecast to move into the Southwest from Mexico.

Widespread scattered rain showers were expected over most of the Southwest. The heaviest rain was likely to fall over the Texas-Mexico border, with the possibility of scattered thunderstorms.

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Hey, Couch Coach, heres your Fantasy Football draft challenge: Pick the perfect HDTV to bring home to watch Super Bowl XLIV this Sunday. Heres what you should look for and what can you expect to pay.

You wont be alone. Over half of the fans who tune in to Super Bowl will watch it on an HDTV, according to Megan Pollock from the Consumer Electronics Association .

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Americans should park their recalled Toyotas unless driving to dealers for accelerator repairs, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood warned Wednesday - then quickly took it back - as skepticism of company fixes grew and the government’s probe expanded to other models in the U.S. and Japan. Questions now are being raised about the brakes on Toyota’s marquee Prius hybrid.

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