Science

TORONTO — Researchers have produced lung cells in the lab using stem cells grown from the skin of patients with cystic fibrosis — a tool they believe can be used to test drugs that might overcome the debilitating, life-shortening condition.

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — Grab your camera and binoculars: There’s rarely been a better time to go whale-watching off the California coast.
Tourists from around the world have been flocking to Monterey Bay to catch a glimpse of the massive marine mammals, including impressive numbers of blue whales, the largest animals on earth.

WESTERLY, R.I. — Think of a lifeguard and you might conjure up images of sunburned teenagers working a summer job. A new and relatively inexpensive lifesaving device could change that.

LOS ANGELES — An unmanned experimental U.S. aircraft failed during an attempt to fly at six times the speed of sound in the latest setback for hypersonic flight.

VANCOUVER — The B.C. timber industry is at stake and the provincial government and forestry companies are going to have to make changes to stave off a dramatic drop that will come sooner or later, says a new government report released Wednesday.

SEATTLE — These aren’t your typical loos. One uses microwave energy to transform human waste into electricity. Another captures urine and uses it for flushing. And still another turns excrement into charcoal.
They are part of a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation competition to reinvent the toilet for the 2.5 billion people around the world who don’t have access to modern sanitation.

BRYAN, Texas — Researchers at Texas A&M University are sailing into uncharted waters as they seek to reconstruct a 17th century ship with help from a gigantic freeze-dryer.
The ship — La Belle — was a supply vessel used by French explorer La Salle. It was built in 1684 and sank in the Gulf of Mexico two years later, taking with it France’s hopes of colonizing modern-day Texas.

NEW DELHI — India plans to send a spacecraft to Mars next year in a giant leap forward for science and technology in the country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Wednesday.
Singh said the unmanned spacecraft will enter orbit around the planet and collect scientific information.

DETROIT — Most midsize luxury cars — including the Mercedes-Benz C-Class — performed poorly in a new frontal crash test developed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

PASADENA, Calif. — Fascinated by NASA’s latest Mars mission and planning to tune in?
Well, good luck understanding the space agency’s everyday lingo, which resembles a sort of Martian alphabet soup.