Today on New Scientist: 28 November 2012

Out-of-proportion black hole is a rare cosmic fossil A fairly small galaxy is host to a strangely enormous black hole, which could be a remnant of a quasar from the dawn of timeFlowing lithium atoms form accidental transistor A transistor that controls the flow of atoms, rather than electrons, could be used as a model to probe the mysterious electrical property of superconductivityEurope in...

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Kai Kai, Jia Jia thrill visitors on Giant Panda Forest opening day

SINGAPORE: The two pandas from China, Kai Kai and Jia Jia, thrilled hordes of visitors on the opening day of the Giant Panda Forest on Thursday.They were active, moving playfully around their enclosure, as visitors snapped photographs and filmed every action of the pandas.Some visitors were at the Singapore Zoo, where the Panda Forest is located, before 8am - one hour before the panda's...

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PeopleBrowsr wins temporary injunction against Twitter

PeopleBrowsr, the social media analytics service behind Kred, has won a temporary restraining order against Twitter that allows it continued access to the microblogging site's firehose of data.PeopleBrowsr sued Twitter in San Francisco Superior Court today, alleging that Twitter was restricting its access to the tweets and data that is key to providing real-time statistical analysis sought by its...

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Caterpillar Fungus Has Anti-Inflammatory Properties

In the Tibetan mountains, a fungus attaches itself to a moth larva burrowed in the soil. It infects and slowly consumes its host from within, taking over its brain and making the young caterpillar move to a position from which the fungus can grow and spore again. Sounds like something out of science fiction, right? But for ailing Chinese consumers and nomadic Tibetan harvesters, the parasite...

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Powerball Numbers Drawn for Nearly $580M Jackpot

5-23-16-22-29-Powerball 6: Those are the winning numbers for an estimated $579 million Powerball jackpot -- the biggest in history.After a feverish day that saw hopeful players buying tickets at the rate of 131,000 every minute, lottery officials in Orlando, Fla., drew the winning sequence shortly after 11 p.m.The results likely will be announced sometime after 2 a.m. Thursday...

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Gas explosion in Springfield points to ageing pipes

Human error and corroded pipes were a catastrophic combination on 23 November when a natural gas explosion in Springfield, Massachusetts, injured 21 people and damaged more than 40 buildings. Gas company officials attributed the...

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Hilton chef charged with corruption

SINGAPORE: A senior chef of Hilton Singapore Hotel was charged with two counts of corruption on Wednesday.Go Choon Heng, 41, allegedly accepted a total of about S$4,500 in bribes, in exchange for furthering the business interests of a seafood supplier, Tay Ee Tiong.He's alleged to have committed the offences on 13 March 2009 and 18 June 2009.In exchange, Go allegedly ensured that Hilton...

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Apple hit with patent lawsuit over iPhone's use of headphones

Apple has been handed a lawsuit over its use of headphones on the iPhone.(Credit:Josh Long/CNET)An apparent shell company has filed a $3 million patent-infringement lawsuit against Apple for including headphones with its iPhones.A company called Intelligent Smart Phones Concepts sued Apple last week in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that Apple infringed on U.S....

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Pictures: Falcon Massacre Uncovered in India

Photograph courtesy Conservation IndiaA young boy can sell bundles of fresh Amur falcons (pictured) for less than five dollars. Still, when multiplied by the thousands of falcons hunters can catch in a day, the practice can be a considerable financial boon to these groups.Since discovering the extent of Amur hunting in Nagaland this fall, Conservation India has taken the issue to the local Indian...

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Petraeus Scandal: Socialite Jill Kelley Fighting Back

Tampa socialite Jill Kelley is fighting back. Today, sources close to the woman who was caught in the media crossfire during the David Petraeus sex scandal have released new letters aimed at reclaiming her reputation.In a letter released to reporters by Jill Kelley's spokesperson, Kelley's attorney goes after a New York businessman who claimed Kelley was using her connections...

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