In Tennessee a new species is found

In Tennessee a new species is found which crawled out from under a rock, proving that large new species of animals can be found in highly populated and well-explored places.

Monday night's lunar eclipse

A total eclipse of the moon Monday night will coincide with winter solstice, which means the moon will appear high in the sky and be visible throughout all of North and Central America, including Seattle — weather permitting. Starting around 10:33 p.m. PST, the full moon, normally illuminated by the sun, will pass through the shadow, or umbra, created by Earth blocking the sun's light. Some indirect sunlight still will manage to pierce through and give the moon a ghostly color — brown or maybe deep red rather than the usual orange-yellow tinge, thanks to recent volcanic eruptions that have dumped tons of dust into the atmosphere. The sky will darken as the shadow progresses across the moon, and more stars will appear in the sky as sunlight reflected from the moon fades. The forecast for the Seattle area is for mostly cloudy skies, with showers. Unlike a total solar eclipse, when the sun is blotted out, a lunar eclipse rarely turns the moon totally black. Because of sunrises and sunsets that scatter and refract light from the sun around the world, the moon generally appears bright and coppery orange, or sometimes brown or dark red-black, depending on how much pollution is in the atmosphere. The most recent total eclipse of the moon was on the night of Feb. 20-21, 2008. Totality will last a generous 72 minutes, and the process then will reverse, with the moon completely emerging from the umbra at 2:01 a.m. Tuesday. "It's perfectly placed so that all of North America can see it," said eclipse expert Fred Espenak of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Also unlike a solar eclipse, which generally can be seen only from selected places on Earth, a lunar eclipse can be seen from anywhere on the side of the planet facing the moon. The next lunar eclipse will be on June 15, but North America will miss out because the continent will be facing the wrong way. Another eclipse will occur Dec. 10 but will be interrupted by moonset and sunrise. The next total lunar eclipse for the entire continent won't occur until April 14-15, 2014, an unusually long wait.

Charity turns cane toad pest into princely footwear

SYDNEY: The warty and toxic cane toad may be the most reviled animal in Australia, but a charity has devised a way to make good use of the invasive pests -- fashioning them into sneakers fit for a prince.

Twitter valued in billions as popularity climbs

SAN FRANCISCO: A fresh infusion of investment cash pushed Twitter's market value up to 3.7 billion dollars on Wednesday with the number of people using the microblogging service climbing to 175 million.

Scientists say on way to solving anti-matter mystery

GENEVA: European scientists reported the creation and capture of anti-hydrogen atoms in a novel magnetic trap and said it put them on track to solving one of the great cosmic mysteries -- the make-up of anti-matter.

Anti-matter is of intense interest outside the global scientific community because it has often been cited as a potential source of boundless and almost cost-free energy.

The announcement from CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, came just three weeks after another of the three teams working separately on the problem at the particle research centre near Geneva said they had briefly made and caught the elusive atoms for the first time.

"With these alternative methods of producing and eventually studying anti-hydrogen, anti-matter will not be able to hide its properties from us for much longer," said Yasunori Yamazaki of the team that scored the latest breakthrough.

Anti, or neutral, matter is believed to have been created in the same quantities as conventional matter -- the substance of everything visible in the universe including life on earth -- at the moment of the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago.

A theme of much science fiction, it was only discovered by U.S. physicist David Anderson in 1932.

As the latest breakthrough was reported, CERN engineers were closing down the centre's showpiece Large Hadron Collider or LHC for a two-month break after eight months of scientific success in research into how the universe began.

CERN's Director-General Rolf Heuer said that new discoveries were rolling in so fast that it was likely the initial phase of LHC operations would be stretched to the end of 2012, a year longer than planned.

His deputy Sergio Bertolucci said the LHC was moving rapidly into totally new territories of scientific knowledge and the coming months could bring real insight into the "dark matter" that makes up 25 percent of the universe.

Physicists and cosmologists speculate that "dark matter" -- so called because it reflects no light and cannot be seen -- could account for at least some of the missing anti-matter, particles which were first spotted at CERN in 2002.

Some suggest it may have also some relation to the "dark energy" that constitutes about 70 percent of the universe leaving only 5 percent for the visible parts -- galaxies, stars and planets -- that can be observed from earth or nearby.

Monday's announcement said the "ASACUSA" experiment, in a CERN storage ring known as the Antiproton Decelerator or AD, captured "significant numbers" of anti-hydrogen atoms in flight in a particle trap called CUSP.

Last month the parallel, and complementary, ALPHA experiment at the AD captured 38 anti-hydrogen atoms in flight and held them fleetingly, making possible initial observations of their properties and behaviour.

New equipment developed by ASACUSA, ALPHA and a third experiment, ATRAP, has overcome the problem that prevented close study of anti-particles until now -- the fact that when they meet other matter they self-destruct.

Red lips grab men's attention: Study

LONDON: Spend just five seconds in front of a mirror and you should grab men's attention, new research suggests. Men are most drawn to a woman's lips over any other facial features, the Daily Mail reported.

Baby named by Facebook users

TORONTO: We know that Facebook is a big deal nowadays and it can be influential, but amazingly a soon to be mother is giving Facebook users the chance to vote for the name she calls her baby.

Peru’s lost tribe found in jungle

LIMA: Bare to the waist and sporting rings in their upper lips, these are the extraordinary first pictures of a tribe lost in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.

Scientists identify new parrot species

SYDNEY: A type of West Australian parrot has been found to be a distinct species from its eastern counterpart and needs special protection as one of the world's rarest birds, scientists say.

Only about 110 of the western ground parrots are known to survive in the wild.

Google Hotpot lets friends share hotspots

SAN FRANCISCO: Google launched a Hotpot recommendation engine that lets people tap into the tastes of trusted friends when it comes to local shops, restaurants, theaters and more.

Opera Mobile 10.1 Beta ready for Android

NEW YORK: It’s been but a few weeks since Opera’s announcement of Opera Mobile for Android at their Up North Web conference, and now the browser is out there navigating the maze of tubes that is the Internet. While they didn’t quite meet their "within the month (October)" promise, we can forgive them for wanting to polish things a little further.

When do babies start sleeping through the night?

NEW YORK: Sleep-deprived new moms and dads can't wait to have their baby sleep through the night. A new study suggests that about half of babies will be sleeping through the night after about two or three months.

Diamond studded pen sold for Rs2.3m

VISAKHAPATNAM: A pen studded with thousands of dazzling diamonds was sold for 2.3 million rupees at an ongoing jewellery exhibition here over the weekend.

The expensive pen is certified by the International Gemological Institute (IGI).

Facebook tightens grip on user ID data

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook took more steps to stop third-party applications from sharing identifying information about users with advertising and Internet tracking companies.

Mexico to build record-setting burrito

LA PAZ: More than 3,000 people will roll up a 2.7-kilometer (1.7-mile) burrito next month in Mexico, hoping to break the last Guinness World Records-setting mega-morsel by 700 meters (yards).

No worries of major quake in Midwest: scientist

CHICAGO: The New Madrid seismic zone will not produce a major earthquake in the U.S. Midwest for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, according to a geologist and author of a new book on the topic, "Disaster Deferred."

Moon crash kicks up ice, silver, mercury: NASA

WASHINGTON: A rocket sent crashing into the Moon last year kicked up several hundred pounds (kg) of water, silver, mercury and other surprising chemicals, scientists reported on Thursday.

Astronomers find oldest galaxy yet

WASHINGTON: Astronomers have spotted the oldest galaxy ever seen, one born just 600 million years after the Big Bang.

Nuke-proof bunker on sale in Britain

LONDON: When tensions between the West and Russia were at their peak and nuclear war seemed a real possibility, Mike Thomas bought his dream home. It had almost everything he wanted - four bedrooms, a big garden and sea views. But something was missing. So worried was Mr Thomas, 56, that a nuclear strike was imminent he decided to build an underground bunker capable of withstanding a blast 80 times bigger than the one that devastated Hiroshima. And now the house and bunker could be yours - Mr Thomas has put his £350,000 property on the market. The 300sq ft cavern is 20ft below his kitchen and has 32in thick concrete walls. Stored in the bunker is enough food and water to sustain his family for a month. It is the strongest privately-owned bomb shelter in Britain and can withstand a one megaton nuclear blast - much bigger than the 0.012 megaton 'Little Boy' dropped on Japan in 1945. Mr Thomas said: 'I built the shelter because I was concerned about the threat of a nuclear attack. 'Who knows what will happen in the future? It wouldn't surprise me if there occurs a terrorist nuclear attack within the next 15 years. 'The room is incredibly strong and has everything you need inside. If the worst did happened it is exactly where you would want to be.' The father-of-one, an electrical engineer, became obsessed with the nuclear threat when he served as a member of the Royal Observer Corps. So back in 1985, he decided to build the fall-out shelter to keep his family safe at their home in Lydenford, near Brixham in Devon. It took six months to complete with the help of a civilian engineer who built bunkers for the Ministry of Defence and cost £45,000 - or £200,000 at today's prices. The shelter - which did not require planning permission because it is underground - has two entrances, a shaft from the kitchen or through a fake wardrobe in the study. Each is protected by huge steel blast doors and there is also an emergency exit in case the main doors are welded shut by the blast. The bunker has six bunk beds, its own Swiss-made ventilation system and power supply with a diesel-powered generator. The concrete floors are covered with carpets and plywood sheets line the walls. The temperature inside remains at a constant 12C. The hideaway is lined with girders filled with hundreds of tons of concrete and steel reinforcing bars to create walls up to 32 inches thick. It features a 1,400-litre water tank, toilet, a small hand basin, and a phone line. The bunker is also stocked with enough tinned and dried food to feed Mr Thomas, his partner Mandy, 37, and son Daniel, 15, for a month. Other mod cons include a TV and DVD player, a microwave and a range of board games and books to pass the time. He designed the shelter to ensure it would withstand an atomic bomb attack on the nearest potential military target, the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth less than two miles away. But now Mr Thomas is selling up so he can downsize to a smaller property - and he no longer believes a nuclear attack is imminent. 'When I built the bunker I was a young man with my whole life ahead of me. I wanted to make absolutely sure my family was safe', he said. 'I'm now not as fearful of a nuclear attack as I once was. I hope it can now offer another family the same peace of mind it has given us. 'It's a good thing to have for any home. You can hide away inside and no radiation can penetrate it at all. 'The threat of nuclear attack is real and now we have got scientists warning that the Sun is going to explode. 'It could still be used as a panic room if someone came burgling the house. Or failing that it makes a great play room for kids.'

Pomegranate juice helps reduce tummy

LONDON: Studies earlier revealed that pomegranate can help prevent cancer, is good for your heart and can even boost your sex life.