Yulia Nelyubina is an internationally recognized chemist at the Russian Academy of Sciences. An overhaul of the academy pushed through by President Vladimir Putin may leave her homeless and further damage the country’s already bruised science establishment.The changes mean the academy will lose control of billions of dollars worth of real estate, which may cost Nelyubina her one-bedroom, rent-free apartment in a Moscow suburb. The perk, a vestige of the Soviet era, allows her and her scientist h

NEW DELHI (AP) ― India is scrambling to protect its beleaguered tiger population after several big cats tested positive for a deadly virus, experts said. In the last year, canine distemper virus, common among dogs, has killed at least four tigers and several other animals across northern and eastern India, according to Dr. Rajesh Gopal of the government’s National Tiger Conservation Authority. The revelation is bad news for wild tigers ― already endangered by rampant poaching and shrinking habit

STOCKHOLM (AP) ― Nine women in Sweden have successfully received transplanted wombs donated from relatives and will soon try to become pregnant, the doctor in charge of the pioneering project has revealed.The women were born without a uterus or had it removed because of cervical cancer. Most are in their 30s and are part of the first major experiment to test whether it’s possible to transplant wombs into women so they can give birth to their own children.Life-saving transplants of organs such as

HONG KONG (AFP) ― The new year has revived old problems for Hong Kong as a murky smog blankets the usually glittering skyline, fueling complaints from locals and visitors alike, and raising pressure on the government to act.Tourists expecting to take holiday snaps from the famous Victoria Harbor waterfront have found it hard to distinguish Hong Kong’s trademark skyscrapers and mountainous backdrop, while residents are becoming increasingly worried for their own health.“It’s scary,” said Julie Cr

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Ten years after NASA landed two rovers on Mars for a 90-day mission, one is still exploring, and the project has generated hundreds of thousands of images from the planet’s surface.Now the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum is presenting more than 50 of the best photographs from the two rovers known as Spirit and Opportunity in an art exhibit curated by the scientists who have led the mission.“Spirit and Opportunity: 10 Years Roving Across Mars” opens Thursday and incl

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The Hubble Space Telescope has peered back to a chaotic time 13.2 billion years ago when never-before-seen galaxies were tiny, bright blue and full of stars bursting to life all over the place.Thanks to some complex physics tricks, NASA’s aging telescope is just starting to see the universe at its infancy in living color and detail.Images released by NASA on Tuesday show galaxies that are 20 times fainter than those pictured before. They are from a new campaign to have the 23-y

PARIS (AFP) ― A comfortable, middle-class Parisian life may be the envy of many people, but Florence Porcel would give it all up to be among the first Earthlings to settle on Mars ― even with no option of return.“I have always felt a bit cramped on Earth,” the self-confessed space junkie told AFP, delighted to be shortlisted with some 1,000 other aspiring voyagers for Mars One ― a private project to colonize the Red Planet from 2024.“I have always dreamt of exploring other worlds,” the 30-year-o

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Astronomers call them super-Earths, and they are abundant outside our solar system. But the more experts learn about them, the weirder our own planet seems in comparison.Planets the size of Earth and up to four times larger are believed to make up about three-quarters of the planet candidates discovered by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft.Astronomers have eagerly catalogued some 3,000 of these planets in the hopes that they may point to the existence of life elsewhere in the galaxy.Bu

TEHRAN (AP) ― Iran said Saturday it has successfully sent a monkey into space for a second time, part of an ambitious program aimed at manned space flight.Iran’s state TV said that the launch of the rocket dubbed Pajohesh, or Research in Farsi, was Iran’s first use of liquid fuel. It reached a height of 120 kilometers. It said the monkey, named Fargam or Auspicious, was returned to Earth safely. TV footage showed the rocket blasting off and then showed the monkey, strapped snugly into a seat. Th