Stinkbug Threat Has Farmers Worried

Part of our weekly "In Focus" series—stepping back, looking closer.Maryland farmer Nathan Milburn recalls his first encounter.It was before dawn one morning in summer 2010, and he was at a gas station near his farm, fueling up for the day. Glancing at the light above the pump, something caught his eye."Thousands of something," Milburn remembers.Though he'd never actually seen a brown marmorated...

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Sequester Begins But Govt. Shutdown Looks Unlikely

Mar 1, 2013 4:13pm Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty ImagIt may not be readily obvious from the blizzard of news out there today on the “sequester,” but a government shutdown became significantly less likely today, even as the automatic budget cuts barreled ahead toward reality.What happened? Both sides – Republicans and Democrats – basically seem to have agreed that...

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Mystery ring of radiation briefly encircled Earth

What were you doing last September? The charged particles that dance around Earth were busy. Unbeknown to most earthlings, a previously unseen ring of radiation encircled our planet for nearly the whole month – before being destroyed by a powerful interplanetary shock wave. ...

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Groupon CEO "fired" after losses, stock slump

NEW YORK: Groupon said Thursday it was replacing chief executive Andrew Mason, who said he was "fired," following the struggling daily deals firm's share price plunge of 24 percent after bad quarterly results.The company said executive chairman Eric Lefkofsky and vice chairman Ted Leonsis would take over the post of chief executive, effective immediately and that Groupon "will continue...

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Former Groupon CEO leaks outgoing memo: 'I was fired today'

Groupon CEO Andrew Mason (Credit:Dan Farber/CNET)Not waiting for a leak, newly ousted Groupon CEO Andrew Mason made his departing memo public this afternoon.In it, Mason claims responsibility for missing expectations and the company's stock price, and says that a "fresh CEO" earns the company a chance at a second chance. Mason also shows a geeky, youthful spirit, making the comparison of running the...

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Pictures: Saving Sumatra's Orangutans

Photograph by Paul HiltonA young boy shows off his illegally owned pet, a two-year-old orphaned orangutan that was later confiscated by SOCP and the local police, in April 2012.When the team first discovered the ape, he'd been tied up to the back of the house in a village located on the outskirts of the Tripa peat forest.A prompt health inspection by veterinarian Saraswati found that the young orphan...

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Obama Admin to Urge End to Gay Marriage Ban

Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, plans to file a brief today with the Supreme Court in favor of challengers of Prop. 8, according to an administration source.It would mark the first time that the Obama administration has come out in court against the California ballot initiative that defines marriage as between one man and one woman.As far back as 2008, the president said that...

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Quantum skyfall puts Einstein's gravity to the test

DIVIDING a falling cloud of frozen atoms sounds like an exotic weather experiment. In fact, it's the latest way to probe whether tiny objects obey Einstein's theory of general relativity, our leading explanation for gravity. General relativity is based...

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Brin sees Google glasses hitting market this year

LONG BEACH, California: Sergey Brin envisions Google's Internet glasses hitting the market this year with an eye toward freeing people from unsocial habits engendered by "emasculating" smartphones.Brin spoke of inspiration behind Google Glass eyewear during a brief appearance Wednesday on stage at a TED Conference known for an inspiring mix of influential big thinkers and "ideas worth...

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Apple gives more of Europe iTunes in the cloud features

Late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs announces iTunes in the Cloud at WWDC 2011.(Credit:Donald Bell/CNET)Nearly a dozen European countries now have access to a key iTunes feature that lets users re-download purchased video content.iTunes users in 11 countries, including France, Sweden and Belgium, can now view and re-download movies they bought from Apple. Previously, users in those countries would have...

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