If a 160-square-mile ice shelf collapsing isn't a sure sign of global warming, then we sure as heck don't know anymore what is. Last month, a huge chunk of the Wilkins ice shelf in Antarctica broke away from its main body, and the remaining bulk of it is about to give way any time soon. Scientists are not as disturbed, though. Read on to the full article to know why.

Researchers from the Carnegie Mellon University has given Harry Potter a run for its money as they successfully created an invisibility cloak. While we can't wear them yet, colloidal particles are having their fun with it. Read on to find out more about this amazing discovery.

Humanity is one more step closer to finding the cure against HIV, and as it turns out, it's been inside of us all along. Literally. Researchers at the University of Alberta has discovered a gene that actually blocks HIV, thereby stunting its spread from the onset. Read up on this wonder gene by clicking on full article.

If you find yourself succumbing to the call and lure of the mall every time you're feeling a bit down, you just might have been hit by the loneliness bug. But never fear, because the mall just has the right therapy for you: retail therapy.

Researchers got interested enough and conducted a study to show the link between feeling bad and compulsive shopping. To know about what the researchers found out, go to our full article.

Ever wished for a falling star specifically around late February or early March? Well, we don't know if you might get it, but will a disabled spy satellite do instead?

U.S. government officials are now looking into the possibility of a satellite crash-landing here on Earth. It won't be carrying Kryptonite, but it does carry some pretty toxic stuff all the same. Read on for more.

New findings have revealed that the memory-losing disease, Alzheimer's, is actually a form of diabetes. Northwestern University scientists have discovered that the toxic protein "amyloid ß-derived diffusible ligand" - or ADDL - takes away the insulin receptors from the nerve cells, thereby making them insulin resistant.

Hampering insulin and its receptors to the brain results to memory loss as the two are key components in memory formation. Now having determined that Alzheimer's may be caused in part by this insulin resistance, thanks to the attack of ADDL, the next question to confront then would be how this attack is triggered.

Weinberg College's William L. Klein, leader of the research, explains:

We think this is a major factor in the memory deficiencies caused by ADDLs in Alzheimer's brains. We're dealing with a fundamental new connection between two fields, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease, and the implication is for therapeutics. We want to find ways to make those insulin receptors themselves resistant to the impact of ADDLs. And that might not be so difficult.

The discovery is published online by the FASEB Journal.

The series of images you see above are that of Venus taken by VIRTIS aboard the Venus Express in February of this year. The mission has so far orbited the planet for 500 days, and has even more exciting surprises up its sleeves.

Quite a number of interesting data have been found, such as that the Earth's twin planet's atmosphere "seems extremely fickle." Hmmm... maybe there really is basis for affiliating the planet with women. That image above appears to corroborate that statement as various cloud activities can be seen in a matter of 10 consecutive Earth days taken in eight orbits.

Thanks to the Venus Express, about 1 Terabits (one million million bits) worth of data have been sent back to Earth, and we can definitely expect more. It has been reported that the Venus Express is doing much better than its twin spacecraft, the Mars Express, despite the challenging environment it is on.

2029, April: Apophis will fly past Earth. This could potentially be dangerous to us. Measuring in at 300 meters in width (980 feet), the asteroid is said to be invading our territorial bubble at a distance closer then many communication satellites. Not good. Definitely not good. But fortunately, we have about a little more than two decades until that happens.

And we better make good use of that time lest we become just another sprinkle of dust in the universe. UK space scientists fully understand this, that's why they have thought of a way to get to know the enemy better. Through the Apex (Apophis Explorer), we earthlings could have a better understanding of the makeup of the asteroid: size, shape, color, spin, composition, and temperature.

Although doomsday speculations have already been refuted regarding Apophis, it still would do us well not to be complacent and take any chances. The prediction that the Apophis asteroid will zoom past Earth only at 36,000 km at most is devoid of certainty, and as such must be closely looked into. The Apex could be just the key to the asteroid's mystery. With the remote-sensing aircraft able to get close enough to the asteroid, data could be picked up, sent back to Earth and then analyzed. From there, we can then have the homecourt advantage.

But the Apex is nothing but a mere concept as of yet. And you can say it is one heck of a brilliant idea it is - with a price tag of £ 25,000 (US$ 50,000). You can only imagine how much more it'll cost once the mission gets the green light. Then again, I guess we shouldn't mind shelling out millions of dollars if it means saving ourselves, right?

Thanks to G.C for the tip!

What would I give if I could live out of these waters? What would I pay to spend a day warm on the sand? Bet'cha on land they understand, bet they don't reprimand their daughters. Bright young women, sick of swimmin', read to stand.

So pines away Ariel in Disney's "The Little Mermaid". Well boohoo for the red-headed, finned underwater princess for not being content in her waterdom. You'd think her fishy highness would have better appreciation of the deep, but no! Some folks would even go to great lengths just to survive out there. Like them water spiders. Yeah, maybe Ariel could learn a thing or two from the perseverance of these arachnids.

It has been recently found that these water spiders have to use a kind of external lung just so they could bask in the blue of King Triton's embrace. And they make it themselves, too. The water spider's air bell, also dubbed as their "scuba tank", serves a variety of uses. For one, it is a home - a place to keep safe from predators, and a nursery of sorts to house the eggs and the spiderlings. Apart from this, it is also a kitchen for those unfortunate preys.

The "scuba tanks" are created from trapped air bubbles from under the water's surface, which are then  carried back by the spiders on their abdomen and leg hairs. There is then a specially designed underwater reservoir made of silk that is filled with air to "take on a bell shape and a silvery sheen." They sure aren't scrimping up on this one.

What makes the study - conducted by the scientists at the University of Bern, Switzerland - significant, however, is the discovery that these arachnids actually also use these air bells to help them breathe. They do, after all, spend their entire lifetime underwater, usually in ponds throughout northern and central Europe. The findings were made after a series of experiments were made involving water spiders and different variables of gases put in the air bell (pure oxygen and pure carbon dioxide).

Those put in the carbon dioxide air bell group had to surface more frequently and persevered more with building the air bell. What this suggests is that the water spiders monitor the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air bells, and if there is an increase in concentration, then there isn't enough support from the silk structure for the air bell. It was thereby concluded that they "depend on the bubbles for underwater respiration."

See? Some folks would do just about anything to be under the sea. But Princess Ariel? Pfft...

And so mankind forges on ahead with playing God. Even with stem cell research yet to gain acceptance from various sectors of society, here comes yet another surefire controversial scientific conquest: artificial life. It has been approximated by experts that in three to ten years' time, "wet artificial life" would have been made possible.

But before you go raising that moral eyebrow, scientists are quick to point out that this would ultimately benefit man (who else) especially in finding potential solutions for all those problems hounding us, be it environmental (ie. containing greenhouse gases, getting rid of toxic waste) or conquering fatal diseases. However, it is to be expected that there will be major hurdles to overcome before the endeavor can prove to be a success:

• A container, or membrane, for the cell to keep bad molecules out, allow good ones, and the ability to multiply.
• A genetic system that controls the functions of the cell, enabling it to reproduce and mutate in response to environmental changes.
• A metabolism that extracts raw materials from the environment as food and then changes it into energy.

Says Mark Bedau, Protolife of Venice, Italy's CEO, "We're talking about a technology that could change our world in pretty fundamental ways -- in fact, in ways that are impossible to predict." Synthetic lifeforms would have to be made from the basic DNA chemicals. "Creating protocells has the potential to shed new life on our place in the universe. This will remove one of the fundamental mysteries about creation in the universe and our role."

Things are still quite vague on the matter, and a lot of questions are only starting to form about it. But we are betting that this will spark another intriguing debate that could very well just outlast as all into the centuries and beyond.