A new survey from the American Lung Association has revealed the most polluted cities in America. Which cities topped the list? Pittsburgh ranked the highest in short-term pollution, but Los Angeles proved to be the most polluted on a year-round basis, as well as in terms of smog or ozone. Time to whip out the gas mask? If you want to know whether your city made the list, follow the "read more" link below.

It's around 200 light years from the nearest McDonald's restaurant, but it might be our best bet to find an alien civilization out there in the cosmos. Called HIP 56948, this distant star is most similar to our own sun in size, mass, temperature, and chemical makeup as reported by astronomers at the McDonald Observatory in Texas.

Despite the fact that other stars have been observed being similar to our sun, the major difference with this one is the identical levels of lithium between the two stars. This is important because less lithium means less activity from the stars which may cause solar flares that can bathe planets in deadly radiation.

Margaret Turnbull of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland has help draw up an existing list of about 17,000 possible targets for the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project called the HabCat. While it may not be a sure thing, the study of stars similar to our sun might still be the best bet to search for alien life. Peter Backus has included the new star in the HabCat list and explains the upcoming search they will be heading using the new Allen Telescope Array:

It's on the list, but I don't think it will be given any special treatment. It's still a matter of speculation on just what range of stars could host habitable planets. We will eventually get around to observing all of the stars [on the list].

What makes the scientists hopeful is the fact that HP 56948 is around one billion years older than our own sun. This gives possible alien life time to mature and produce advanced civilization compared to our own. Observations will begin in November and concentrate more on a wider scale than individually focusing on each star in the HabCat list.

People frown upon stuff that are genetically modified because they are deemed unnatural. But would you mind having genetically modified mosquitoes around if in the end they would be able to eradicate malaria?

This is the impending question underlying the fact that GM mosquitoes have been produced to be resistant to the malaria parasite, which has been known to kill three million people annually. The initial impression is that GM mosquitoes are naturally weaker than the hardcore wild ones. But all that's about to be debunked now as the National Academy of Sciences has garnered sufficient proof to show that the GM mosquito can actually go head to head, and even outrun them natural bloodsuckers.

The team, with Dr. Marcelo Jacobs-Lorena of the John Hopkins University in Baltimore, tweaked with the insects so that they will be able to create a protein which will block the malaria parasite from getting into the mosquito's system after drinking blood from its victim. With this, they will no longer be carriers of malaria.

Now the only thing left for them to do is to breed some more of them genetically modified mosquitoes. Hmmm... I wonder if they can also make one that doesn't bite.

The Hubble Space Telescope, Earth's Super Eye in the Sky, has lost the use of its Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).  The main cam has been offline since June 19 and managers are scrambling to turn to its other cameras and keep its operations going.

Engineers have not yet identified what caused the ACS to go into a sleep state but they aren't that worried. "We're very optimistic that the camera will be fixed", said Ed Ruitberg, associate program manager for Hubble at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

While this is not the first time the ACS has gone into safe mode the current problem could be more serious requiring more than a standard software reboot. "We're still investigating the problem and working on all sorts of contingencies," said Max Mutchler at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. "We're hoping for the best but preparing for other contingencies."

Various solutions have been planned but they can't be implemented until the core problem is known. "Right now we don't know what the core problem is," Mutchler said. Ruitberg thinks the most likely problem is a low-voltage power supply interface. If this is the case, he said it can be easily remedied using redundant electronics to bypass the problem area by June 30.