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The world's top universities in 2011

British higher education consulting company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) today released its annual ranking of the world's top universities, one of the most influential university rankings worldwide.

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The New Economy
Greek default? It's already happening, debt deal or not.

Greek debt swap may not be a default technically speaking, but it's still a default. Holders of Greek debt and Greece's citizens are feeling its pinch.
Alien calendars would probably include leap year

Leap year: The time it takes the Earth to orbit the sun can't be precisely divided into days. Alien planets are likely to have the same difficulty in measuring time accurately.
Newfound alien planet 'best candidate to support liquid water'

A planet recently discovered orbiting a nearby star is located in the star's 'habitable zone,' meaning that it could support life as we know it.
NASA discovers 26 new alien planets in 11 solar systems

The findings nearly double the number of bona fide planets found outside our solar system by the Kepler space observatory.
Peace Corps Honduras: Why are all the US volunteers leaving?

Peace Corps Honduras: The 158 Peace Crops volunteers have been ordered out of Honduras. There's also a freeze on new Peace Corps volunteers going to Guatemala and El Salvador.
Smallest-ever exoplanets found, one step closer to Earth-twin

These planets, while roughly the size of our planet Earth, are circling very close to their star, giving them fiery temperatures that are most likely too hot to support life, researchers said.
What will happen after sun vaporizes Earth? Scorched planets hold clues.

Scientists say they've found two planets that survived being swallowed by a red-giant star. Earth won't be so fortunate when our sun becomes a red giant in 5 billion years, but the find shows what can happen to solar systems after such dramatic events.
Tatooine for real? Scientists confirm planet orbiting two suns.

Tatooine is the mythical home of Luke Skywalker. Now, scientists have identified a planet in a binary system 200 light-years away, although the planet is more like Saturn in mass and makeup.
The world's top universities in 2011

British higher education consulting company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) today released its annual ranking of the world's top universities, one of the most influential university rankings worldwide.
Did the Earth once have two moons?

A new study of the far side of the moon suggests that the Earth once had a tiny second moon, which collided with the bigger one.
Freelance jobs: Half of all new jobs in recovery?

Freelance jobs are up 52 percent at Elance. The number of entrepreneurs are at a 15-year high. But the growth in freelance jobs mean less security for the workforce.
Nuclear reactor crisis: Is radiation a threat to US?

Release of radioactivity from the nuclear-reactor equipment has been limited, so it does not constitute a dire threat to the US yet. But the meltdown situation could quickly change.
Oldest galaxy: Hubble telescope detects farthest, oldest galaxy yet

Oldest galaxy: Astronomers using the Hubble telescope have detected a galaxy that formed just 500 million years after the Big Bang, making it the most distant and oldest galaxy discovered so far.
Red dwarf star systems: Promising for life, but watch the apocalyptic flares

Red dwarf stars have several virtues that make them potential homes for Earth-like planets, but a new study suggests they also produce the largest solar flares ever seen.
Astronomers build on a Hubble find, report light from oldest galaxy

Astronomers, aiming a ground-based telescope at a target spotted by the Hubble in space, confirm the find as the oldest galaxy so far. Its light was emitted at a time when hydrogen and helium fog still filled the universe.
Gliese 581g, a new planet like Earth: Could humans live there?

Gliese 581g would be the first Earth-like planet found orbiting in a star's habitable zone. The new plant is located in a region where temperatures could sustain life and liquid water on its surface.
Beyond racism: lessons from the South on racial discrimination and prejudice

Seven lessons from the deep South on racism, racial discrimination, and prejudice.
Horrible fungus driving bug-loving brown bats to extinction

Tiny brown bats are in danger of going extinct in the Northeast, with a white nose fungus blamed for killing millions of the animals.
How a computer program became classical music's hot, new composer

'Emily Howell' is a computer program that composes classical music by following rules of music its programmer taught it.
Global News Blog
Snake decline likely in America, too, say biologists

The drastic snake decline seen across five countries in Europe and Africa is likely happening in America as well, says Dr. Rafe Brown of the University of Kansas.
Confederate History Month fight: Obama rebukes Virginia governor

President Obama said it was 'unacceptable' for the Virginia governor, Bob McDonnell, not to mention slavery when reinstating Confederate History Month.
California mountain range missing several (million) candles on its birthday cake

Scientists discover that the Sierra Nevada mountains in California reached their current height 50 million years ago, 30 million years earlier than previously thought.
Hubble telescope glimpses universe's earliest galaxies

New Hubble telescope images provide a look at the cosmos when it was just 600 to 800 million years old. Galaxies from this period might have helped transform the universe from dark to light.
WISE set to search for universe's hidden 'dark' objects

NASA is scheduled to launch its WISE space observatory Monday. It will map the whole sky in infrared wavelengths, potentially revealing objects many telescopes can't see.
Fee hikes bring student protests back to California universities

Steep fee hikes at California universities have triggered student protestsand sit-ins across campuses, on a scale reminiscent of the 1960s.