World's oldest pills treated sore eyes

In ancient Rome, physicians treated sore eyes with the same active ingredients as today. So suggests an analysis of pills found on the Relitto del Pozzino, a cargo ship wrecked off the Italian coast in around 140 BC. "To our knowledge,...

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"17 billion" Earth-sized planets in Milky Way: study

WASHINGTON: The Milky Way contains at least 17 billion planets the size of Earth, and likely many more, according to a study out Monday that raises the chances of discovering a sister planet to ours.Astronomers using NASA's Kepler spacecraft found that about 17 per cent of stars in our galaxy have a planet about the size of Earth in a close orbit.The Milky Way is known to host about 100...

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Congressman: Google FTC probe results were leaked illegally

Google settled a major win last week when the Federal Trade Commission announced that after a nearly two-year investigation into the Web giant's business practices the company was absolved of making major changes to its search product. However, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, seems to believe there was something fishy about the announcement....

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Primitive and Peculiar Mammal May Be Hiding Out in Australia

It’d be hard to think of a mammal that’s weirder than the long-beaked, egg-laying echidna. Or harder to find.Scientists long thought the animal, which has a spine-covered body, a four-headed penis, and a single hole for reproducing, laying eggs, and excreting waste, lived only in New Guinea. The population of about 10,000 is critically endangered. Now there is tantalizing evidence that...

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Colo. Suspect Bought Ticket 12 Days Before Shooting

Accused Aurora movie theater gunman James Holmes bought his movie ticket 12 days before the shooting, it was revealed in court today during the emotional first day of a preliminary hearing.Aurora Police Department homicide detective Matthew Ingui testified that there is no video surveillance of the actual shooting, but there are several photos of Holmes checking into the theater...

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Silent Skype calls can hide secret messages

Got a secret message to send? Say it with silence. A new technique can embed secret data during a phone call on Skype. "There are concerns that Skype calls can be intercepted and analysed," says Wojciech Mazurczyk at the Institute of Telecommunications in Warsaw, Poland. So his team's SkypeHide system lets users...

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British tourist plunges to death off Australia waterfall

SYDNEY: Police on Monday were attempting to retrieve the body of a British tourist who slipped over the edge of a waterfall in Australia's Blue Mountains and plunged to his death.The 20-year-old man was walking with friends at Wentworth Falls, west of Sydney, on Sunday afternoon when he lost his footing and fell some 80 metres (260 feet).Police said a friend summoned help and while paramedics...

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Dexim's Music Talking Stylus marries talk with touch

Lucia Lu shows off the Dexim Talking Music Stylus.(Credit:Casey Newton/CNET)LAS VEGAS--For years now, people who rely on capacitive styluses to get their work done have had one major complaint: they can't use them to take phone calls. At least, that's what Dexim says. The Chinese manufacturer hit CES Unveiled today with a funky hybrid device that turns a regular capacitive stylus into a Bluetooth...

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Best Pictures: 2012 Nat Geo Photo Contest Winners

Winner: PlacesPhotograph by Nenad SaljicA full moon illuminates the Matterhorn peak near Zermatt, Switzerland, in the winning image...

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Hagel to Be Obama's Defense Secretary Nominee

Jan 6, 2013 4:52pm (Junko Kimura/Getty Images)WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Obama will nominate former senator Chuck Hagel to be his next Secretary of Defense tomorrow.Senior officials within the administration and Capitol Hill confirmed the pick to ABC News today after the Nebraska Republican had emerged as a frontrunner among potential candidates several weeks ago.Hagel,...

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