India is on the search for aliens, and not illegal aliens, real aliens, having just launched their first craft into space.

Move over NASA and the Orion Program, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and it's Chandrayaan 1 (the Sanskrit word for "moon craft") spacecraft was launched and has successfully moved into the race to the colonize space.

The unmanned Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft blasted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, an island off the coast of Andhra Pradesh, at about 6:20 AM local time today from a launch pad in southern Andhra Pradesh to embark on a two-year mission of exploration, dramatically expanding the country's space ambitions. These include a manned moon mission by 2015, a robotic Mars visit by 2012 and even a moon colony as a...

Permanent hearing loss is just five years down the road for young people who listen to portable music players at too high a volume for more than five hours a week, European scientists warn. The study was requested by the European Union’s (EU) executive arm, the European Commission and its report was released this week.

Commission experts estimate that 50 to 100 million Europeans listen to portable music players on a daily basis. Listening for only five hours a week at more than 89 decibels would already exceed EU limits for noise allowed in the workplace. The scientists calculate that five to 10 percent of listeners are attached to their players for even longer periods and risk permanent hearing loss in just five years.

The study attacked the concept of “leisure noise,” and argued that children...

Throughout the presidential election campaign much talk has centered around the sometimes divisive issues of healthcare and the war on terror. At the Egyptian Field Hospital at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, these issues don't just intersect; they collide.

Bagram lies about 27 miles north of the Afghan capital of Kabul. In the past, the base has been known as one of the United States Military's main staging areas in the Middle East, and as the home of one of the more controversial military prisons in the region. More recently, the base has begun to garner a reputation for being the location of one of the busiest and most successful field hospitals in Afghanistan, where distrust towards American occupiers runs deep. The benefits, both practical and diplomatic, of a world class medical...

The Spanish government is planning to introduce a new law that offers women and doctors greater legal protection for carrying out abortions, AFP reports .

Why should you care? For one, Spain isn't too far away. Americans determined to have the procedure could conceivably hop a flight there if Roe v. Wade was ever overturned, and if their Spanglish was good enough to get them around.

More importantly, keeping an eye on the policy debates and changes in a country like Spain, whose culture is similar to ours, provides insight into potential policy directions the U.S. could go as well as the debates that may arise along the campaign trail in the coming months.

Last night, in his acceptance speech, John McCain referred to his goal of promoting a "culture of life." The rhetoric...

In an effort to demonstrate that rhetoric over the current climate crises is not empty, members of the United Nations have decided to crank up the heat to combat global warming.

Yesterday, the organization announced that it will increase the interior temperature of their 39-story office headquarters in New York City by 5 degrees Fahrenheit. What better way to make sure 4,500 people of varying cultural and political backgrounds work cohesively and without conflict than to cram them all into a building and crank up the heat!

The increased temperature is meant to decrease the electricity demand for air-conditioning, and thereby reduce the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere by the fossil fuel power plant predominately used to power the AC. But no one seems to be worrying whether the...

The Dutch government has passed a new law under which Iranians will be banned from access to courses and facilities related to nuclear technology in the Netherlands.

According to a report in the Nature News, under the new law, passed on July 4, Iranians, including those holding dual citizenship in the Netherlands, will be unable to enroll in graduate-level courses involving nuclear and rocket technologies.

Looking for a vacation spot? Need to add some more happiness to your life? Take a trip to Denmark! It may not have warm sandy beaches but it should make you smile.

According to the National Science Foundation-funded World Values Survey , Denmark is the happiest place on earth. The research, conducted regularly by a global network of social scientists, flies in the face of Muslims still angry about the Danish cartoons of their prophet Mohammed.

Democracy, social equality and a peaceful atmosphere are the key components to the country's high rating. While not the richest country, Denmark is prosperous. Criteria such as good healthcare and access to higher education were also factors taken into account.

The world-wide survey also asked people how happy they considered themselves. One...

OK, so we're all feeling the burn at the pumps these days and hope that it's only temporary. But our pain is shared by many countries. In fact, to a number of countries, US gas costs are actually cheap!

Don't believe it? Review the chart we put together below to end your disbelief. In it, you will see worldwide gas costs per gallon of gas for 2004 (green bars) and for the present, 2008 (white bars).





As the chart depicts, gas is twice as expensive in Europe and Israel, and 50% more expensive in Japan as well as in Brazil, where ethanol for sugar cane has emerged as a viable, widely-used alternative to gasoline. But in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, two of the largest oil-exporting countries in the world, gas in cheap.

So why do gas prices vary so much between countries when...

A high court in South Africa ruled on Wednesday that Chinese-South Africans will be reclassified as “black,” a term that includes black Africans, Indians and others who were subject to discrimination under apartheid. As a result of this ruling, ethnically Chinese citizens will be able to benefit from government affirmative action policies aimed at undoing the effects of apartheid.

The Independent, a British newspaper, published the following article about Britain's attempts to curtail immigration. The articles discusses the most recent attempt to limit the influx of immigrants to only those considered skilled workers (think H-1B visas). Like the U.S., the British government is requiring businesses to prove they are unable to find and hire U.S. workers to do the jobs they are seeking immigrants for.

As Britain continues to create new legislation to handle increasing rates of immigration, we should continue to monitor their progress in handling the situation. They might just come up with a new approach we haven't yet thought about.

"New immigration controls detailed today would have prevented 20,000 foreign workers taking jobs in Britain last year, the...