Lawmaker's death a reminder of surgery risks

Gallbladder surgery is usually a very safe operation, but a powerful congressman's death is a reminder of the known risks.

Mass. mom guilty of murder in girl's fatal OD

A Massachusetts woman was convicted of second-degree murder Tuesday in the fatal prescription drug overdose of her 4-year-old daughter.

Space shuttle on course for midnight rendezvous

Endeavour zoomed toward a midnight rendezvous with the International Space Station late Tuesday, and NASA grew ever more optimistic that the shuttle is free of any launch damage.

Debate in US over blood from newborn safety tests

A critical safety net for babies - that heelprick of blood taken from every newborn in the U.S. - is facing an ethics attack.

Ethics debate over blood from newborn safety tests

A critical safety net for babies - that heelprick of blood taken from every newborn - is facing an ethics attack.

UK's Brown vows more cancer care as race heats up

You know an election is coming when British politicians suddenly promise sweeping improvements to the National Health Service, a simultaneous source of national pride and worry.

New federal climate change agency forming

The Obama administration on Monday proposed a new agency to study and report on the changing climate.

NOAA

Autism risks detailed in children of older mothers

A woman's chance of having a child with autism increase substantially as she ages, but the risk may be less for older dads than previously suggested, a new study analyzing more than 5 million births found.

Government autism information

Bad malaria pills in Africa raise resistance fears

High rates of the most effective type of malaria-fighting drugs sold in three African countries are poor quality - including nearly half the pills sampled in Senegal - raising fears of increased drug resistance that could wipe out the last weapon left to battle a disease that kills 1 million people each year, according to a U.S. report released Monday.

http://www.usp.org/

5 men, 1 woman aboard shuttle Endeavour

The crew aboard space shuttle Endeavour includes an accomplished musician whose latest exploits are with the cello and steel guitar, an engineer who helped launch shuttles and a second-generation space program worker.

NASA

Space shuttle blasts off on last night flight

Endeavour and six astronauts rocketed into orbit Monday on what's likely the last nighttime launch for the shuttle program, hauling a new room and observation deck for the International Space Station.

Even if you're careful, drugs can end up in water

The federal government advises throwing most unused or expired medications into the trash instead of down the drain, but they can end up in the water anyway, a study from Maine suggests.

300 people diagnosed with mumps in suburban NY

More than 300 people have been diagnosed with the mumps in suburban New York as the nation's largest outbreak of the disease in years spreads.

http://www.thejournalnews.com

Clouds force space shuttle delay, next try Monday

Clouds prevented space shuttle Endeavour from blasting off Sunday on the last planned nighttime shuttle launch, delaying its trip with a final few building blocks for the International Space Station.

NASA

Feds: Status of pika will still need watching

The American pika isn't heading for the endangered species list, but federal scientists said there's no question it bears watching as the West warms in the coming decades.

Is the US swine flu epidemic over?

If the U.S. swine flu epidemic isn't over, it certainly looks as if it's on its last legs. While federal health officials are not ready to declare the threat has passed and the outbreak has run its course, they did report Friday that for the fourth week in a row, no states had widespread flu activity. U.S. cases have been declining since late October.

Russian cargo ship arrives at space station

A Russian cargo ship has sucessfully docked at the International Space Station, delivering supplies for its crew of five.

Much higher tritium levels found at nuclear plant

A radioactive substance recently found in groundwater monitoring wells at a Vermont nuclear plant has turned up again at levels more than nine times those previously reported and more than 37 times higher than a federal safe drinking water limit, officials said Thursday.

Top Vermont Yankee official 'relieved of duties'

2 stores pull necklaces on toxic cadmium concern

The teen fashion chain Aeropostale and outlet stores of upscale Saks Fifth Avenue have pulled from shelves necklaces that an environmental group's tests showed have high levels of the toxic metal cadmium.

Hubble sees Pluto changing color, ice sheet cover

Spurned Pluto is changing its looks, donning more rouge in its complexion and altering its iceball surface here and there.

Hubble Space Telescope

Ancient dinosaur had stripes, researchers say

Some dinosaurs had russet-colored feathers, and one jazzy specimen had a Mohawk crest and stripes, researchers say in the first reports to confidently assign colors to dinosaurs.

Science

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/02/100204-dinosaurs-color-feathers-science-3-d-picture/