Science

The Centers for Disease Control has added SARS to the list of select agents in the United States, a move designed to try to ensure the virus stays within the confines of highly regulated laboratories.
The addition, which the CDC first proposed over two years ago, was given legal status this week when the revised select agent list was published in the U.S. Federal Registry.

MOSCOW — The Russian space program’s Mission Control Center says it will move the International Space Station into a different orbit to avoid possible collision with a fragment of debris.
Mission Control Center spokeswoman Nadyezhda Zavyalova said the Russian Zvevda module will fire booster rockets to carry out the operation Thursday at 07:22 a.m. Moscow time (0322 GMT).

MINEOLA, N.Y. — A six-week Internet crowdfunding effort has raised $1.3 million to restore a New York laboratory once used by visionary scientist Nikola Tesla.
The rival of Thomas Edison imagined a world of free electricity and conducted experiments in the early 20th century at his Wardenclyffe laboratory in Shoreham, about 65 miles east of New York City.

WASHINGTON—NASA’s future plans to explore Mars may end up using astronauts as space messengers.
The new idea surfaced as a special team looking for a new Mars robotic exploration plan released a preliminary report Tuesday.
One of the option calls for a Martian robotic rover to collect rocks on the red planet.

WASHINGTON — NASA’s future plans to explore Mars may end up using astronauts as space messengers.
The new idea surfaced as a special team looking for a new Mars robotic exploration plan released a preliminary report Tuesday.

KINSHASA, Congo — The plight of two infant gorillas, rescued after being kidnapped from their wild families, highlights the dangers confronting the endangered Grauer’s gorillas that have become victims of ongoing violence and a new rebellion in eastern Congo.
A decision to allow oil exploration in a national park there may put the gorillas at greater risk.

CHATHAM, Mass. — The scientists and fishermen on board the Ocearch, a repurposed crabbing vessel, received word that their scouting boat had hooked a great white shark, sparking a flurry of activity.
They were about to get up close and personal with the animal, more than 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms) and nearly 15 feet (5 metres) long.

MOSCOW — Scientists have discovered well-preserved frozen woolly mammoth fragments deep in Siberia that may contain living cells, edging a tad closer to the “Jurassic Park” possibility of cloning a prehistoric animal, the mission’s organizer said Tuesday.

CALGARY — A spate of small earthquakes in B.C.’s remote northeastern corner were caused by a controversial technique used to extract natural gas from shale rock, says a report by the province’s energy regulator.

NEW YORK — A colossal international effort has yielded the first comprehensive look at how our DNA works, an encyclopedia of information that will rewrite the textbooks and offer new insights into the biology of disease.
For one thing, it may help explain why some people are more prone to common ailments such as high blood pressure and heart disease.