Today on New Scientist: 11 December 2012

Out-of-season's greetings from the Arctic frost flowers Season's regards from an icy meadow in the Arctic, but it's no winter wonderland and please don't dash out into itHow hacking a mosquito's heart could eradicate malaria Watch how a double-pronged trick helps mosquitoes remain healthy while carrying disease, a process that could be exploited to eliminate malariaNew drug lifts hard-to-treat...

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US stocks finish solidly higher

NEW YORK: US stocks finished solidly higher Tuesday, with gains in Apple, Google and Intel boosting the tech-rich Nasdaq.Also helping were gains in Europe's markets on the back of a surge in German investor sentiment, to a seven-month high, and a successful Spanish debt auction that saw borrowing costs drop sharply.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 78.56 points (0.60 percent) to 13,248.44,...

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Remains found at Rivera crash site

STORY HIGHLIGHTSRemains have been found at the site where Jenni Rivera's plane is believed to have crashedInvestigators cannot say whose remains they are yet and wouldn't describe their conditionDNA tests are under way; results could take from a day to weeks, official says(CNN) -- Investigators have found human remains at the site of a crash in northern Mexico believed to have killed Mexican-American...

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Right-to-work poised to become law in Michigan

Against a backdrop of raucous protests in the Michigan capitol, Republican Gov. Rick Snyder is poised to sign controversial right-to-work legislation after it neared final passage in the GOP-led state legislature. Play VideoTens of thousands protest right-to-work in Mich. The Michigan house passed two right-to-work laws today - one focused on public sector workers, and one focused on private-sector...

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Video of Columbus Circle Killer Released

The hunt for New York's Columbus Circle killer took on a new impetus today as police released surveillance video showing the killer moments before he calmly walked up to Brandon Lincoln Woodard and put one bullet from a silver colored handgun into the back of the Los Angeles man's head in full view of holiday shoppers.The video confirms the details of the hit man's calculated...

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Doha summit launches climate damage aid

The latest summit to stop climate change, held in Doha, Qatar, over the past two weeks has been roundly slammed. Little was agreed to curb greenhouse gas emissions and the latest modelling, carried out by the Climate Action Tracker consortium shows global averages temperatures are still set to rise by at least...

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US stocks edge up amid hopes for 'cliff' deal

NEW YORK: US stocks ended slightly higher Monday amid hopes that a political deal over the looming fiscal cliff was in the works.Markets showed little effect from the fresh turmoil in the eurozone, after Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said he would resign in the coming days and Silvio Berlusconi threatened a comeback on an anti-austerity platform.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose...

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Life sentence closes oldest cold case

Maria Ridulph of Sycamore, Illinois in a photo possibly taken at age 5.STORY HIGHLIGHTSMan sentenced to life in 1957 kidnapping and murder of 7-year-old girlCase is believed to be the oldest cold case to go to trial and result in a convictionJack Daniel McCullough, now 73, continues to assert his innocenceVictim's brother: "This has been a nightmare" Sycamore, Illinois (CNN) -- Fifty-five years after...

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Pot officially legal in Colorado

Marijuana is now legal to use and possess for those over 21-years old in Colorado after Gov. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., signed an executive order today formalizing the legal, casual use of pot into the state's constitution. Voters approved the measure on Election Day by a margin of 55 to 45 percent. After the vote, Hickenlooper, who opposed the legalization, expressed caution, indicating that it...

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Iran: We Stole All Secrets From US Drone

An Iranian military commander claimed Monday that the country has stolen all the secrets held by a high-tech American surveillance drone that crashed in Iran last year, according to Iranian news reports."All the intelligence in this drone has been completely decoded and extracted and we know each and every step it has taken," said Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, Commander of the...

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