Today on New Scientist: 6 February 2013

Open Richard III DNA evidence for peer review A good case has been made that a skeleton unearthed from a car park is that of the last Plantagenet king of England - it's time to share the dataUniversal bug sensor takes guesswork out of diagnosis A machine that can identify all bacteria, viruses and fungi known to cause disease in humans should speed up diagnosis and help to reduce antibiotic...

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China bans ads on gift-giving to officials: media

BEIJING: China has banned ads that encourage giving luxury gifts to authorities, state media said on Thursday, the latest push against official extravagance since new leaders took charge vowing better governance.The ban came ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday on Sunday, as part of a high-profile campaign against government waste and corruption launched after Xi Jinping and others took...

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Shoes hurled at Iranian president during Egypt visit

From Adam Makary, for CNN updated 7:06 PM EST, Wed February 6, 2013STORY HIGHLIGHTSThis is the first visit to Egypt by an Iranian president in more than 30 years Prosecutor's office: Four men are out on bail after allegedly throwing the shoes Officials say the men are Salafis, who have accused Iran of financing ShiitesCairo (CNN) -- During a historic trip to Egypt, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad...

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Celebrities call on Congress to back gun control measures

Tony Bennett, Chris Rock, Adam Scott, Amanda Peet and other celebrities today joined joined a coalition of elected officials, law enforcement officers, physicians and others on Capitol Hill in support of President Obama's plan to reduce gun violence. Play VideoCelebrities team up for gun control action"I still haven't gotten over Connecticut," Bennett said, referring to the mass shooting at Sandy...

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Armstrong May Testify Under Oath on Doping

Facing a federal criminal investigation and a deadline that originally was tonight to tell all under oath to anti-doping authorities or lose his last chance at reducing his lifetime sporting ban, Lance Armstrong now may cooperate.His apparent 11th-hour about-face, according to the U.S. Anti Doping Agency (USADA), suggests he might testify under oath and give full details to...

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Today on New Scientist: 5 February 2013

Engineering light: Pull an image from nowhere A new generation of lenses could bring us better lighting, anti-forgery technology and novel movie projectors Baby boomers' health worse than their parents Americans who were born in the wake of the second world war have poorer health than the previous generation at the same ageNew 17-million-digit monster is largest known prime A distributed computing...

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Basketball: Bryant scores 21 to lead Lakers over Net

NEW YORK: Kobe Bryant scored 21 points to help the Los Angeles Lakers overcome the absence of Dwight Howard and Metta World Peace, and a late injury to Pau Gasol, in a 92-83 NBA victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday.Howard missed the game as he continues to recover from a torn labrum in his right shoulder while World Peace was suspended by the NBA for the game after an incident in...

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Tsunami detected after quake strikes near Solomon Islands

The center of the quake was located some 360 miles east-southeast of Honiara, capital of the Solomon Islands.STORY HIGHLIGHTSA tsunami alert is issued for various islands in the South PacificNo immediate reports of damage or injuriesEvacuations are ordered for some coastal residents of New Caledonia, Loyalty Islands(CNN) -- An 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific...

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Sandy storm victims react to proposed home buyout

(CBS News) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - One hundred days ago, the Northeast was hit by a left hook from superstorm Sandy. This week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed spending $400 million to buy up and demolish thousands of those homes, so the property can be turned back into wetlands. Homeowners have mixed feelings about the proposal. For 11 years, Joe Monte worked two jobs and spent weekends renovating...

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Lance Armstrong Under Criminal Investigation

Federal investigators are in the midst of an active criminal investigation of disgraced former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, ABC News has learned.The revelation comes in stark contrast to statements made by the U.S. Attorney for Southern California, Andre Birotte, who addressed his own criminal inquiry of Armstrong for the first time publicly on Tuesday. Birotte's...

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