Will your credit card become unreadable if it’s exposed to magnets? In a previous story, we said yes, but many of you begged to differ. Seeing that, we took the challenge of clearing things up once and for all.
The result: With the help of a junkyard magnet, a garden–variety refrigerator magnet and a professor with [...]

Two of the oldest people in the world have died on the same day.
Mary Josephine Ray, who was certified as the oldest person living in the United States, died Sunday at age 114 years, 294 days. She died at a nursing home in Westmoreland but was active until about two weeks before her death, her [...]

Medical researchers have gained a significant insight into how the virus that causes AIDS hides in the body as it dodges medicines that are designed to kill it off. Scientists at the University of Michigan have found that a reservoir of dormant cells in bone marrow serves as a holding cell, from which the virus [...]

The terrifying moments on board the Louis Majesty, a cruise ship hit by 26-foot waves off northeast Spain, may be prompting second thoughts among travelers considering a vacation at sea. Two passengers were killed and 14 people were injured when water violently crashed through the windows of some of the ship’s public areas this week.
Experts said [...]

25 things you didn’t know about Ellen DeGeneres. Straight from the horse’s mouth :
1. I lived in my car for a short time. 
2. The only reason I am not a professional ice skater is that I am not a good ice skater.
3. I want to live without regrets.
4. I am always early.
5. [...]

Greek debt crisis could raise problems for U.S. and other countries

March 5, 2010

Greece’s economy is about the same size as that of Massachusetts. The Mediterranean nation ranks 63rd among buyers of U.S. exports. Athens is 5,139 miles from Washington.
But despite this literal and figurative distance, the Greek debt crisis has created a new set of risks for the U.S. economy — remote risks, perhaps, but real nonetheless.
Economic [...]

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Huge Film, Small Film: Big Stakes

March 4, 2010

VERY soon now, whatever suspense remains in this Oscar season will be over. Bullock or Streep? “Avatar” or “Hurt Locker”? All will be revealed. Will you be watching?
That question is the one that most preoccupies the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, which administers the awards, and ABC, which broadcasts them. No effort has [...]

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Study Finds Stents Effective in Preventing Strokes

February 26, 2010

Surgery on blocked neck arteries has long been considered the best procedure for preventing a stroke. Now a large North American study has found that a less invasive approach may be just as safe and effective, but other researchers are not so sure.
The new findings, released Friday at a medical meeting in San Antonio, have the [...]

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EU cautions Google over Street View photos

February 26, 2010

Google is in hot water in Europe once again over Street View map photos.
In a letter sent to the search giant this week, the European Union’s privacy watchdog told Google that it should warn towns and cities before it snaps photos for its online Street View maps. The EU also told the company that it [...]

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School Accused of Secretly Spying on Students Through Laptop Webcams

February 19, 2010

File under: “Extremely Creepy” — BoingBoing reports that a recent case filing in Robbins vs. Lower Merion School District, a Pennsylvania school, is a class action suit on behalf of students with school-issued laptops whose webcams have been used to watch the students and their families at home.
It was discovered that the laptops issued by [...]

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E. Coli Meat Recall Expanded to 4.9 Million Pounds of Beef and Veal Products

February 15, 2010

A ground beef recall first issued by a California meat company last month, has been expanded to include five times more meat after federal investigators determined that approximately 4.9 million pounds of beef and veal products were produced in unsanitary conditions that could have caused E. coli contamination.
The expansion of the Huntington Meat Packing Inc. [...]

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