Love the sea? This new cemetery gives sea lovers the chance to spend their afterlife underwater. It kinda gives a new meaning to the phrase "sleeping with the fishes." More in the full article.

Music and mathematics have a very intimate relationship - otherwise, it'll just be noise. Well, scientists have figured out a way to actually give music a visual mathematical representation in geometric shapes. It gives a new definition to saying that music is beautiful. Check out one of these geometric musical patterns in the full article.

Physicists at Florida State University, with the help of The REsonator SOLenoid with Upscale Transmission (RESOLUT), are creating supernovas in an attempt to further their understanding of the universe. Their latest experiment had RESOLUT creating certain types of radioactive materials which are also present in Type 1a supernovas.

This type of supernova is what happens when a white dwarf (a type of star) hits critical mass and starts an explosive chain-reaction from its carbon fusion core. This event lasts about one second and leaves nothing in its wake.

Since Type 1a supernovas have a constant energy signature, the variations in its light signature is only changed due to its distance Earth. Thus, these experiments have already yielded us a method for measuring the distance from the dying star. Physicist Ingo Wiedenhover, explained this:

It is what astrophysicists call a "standard candle" for mapping out distances. At the same time they look at the observed redshift [describing a supernova's velocity away from Earth] and measure the expansion of the universe.

Not all Type 1a supernovae have exactly the same brightness. Our effort is to make a model of brightness differences. To do this we need to understand the physics of the explosions.

A few of the more recent supernovas have shown that our universe might be growing at a faster rate than scientists have predicted. If this is confirmed, then Edwin Hubble's steady-expansionist theory will be disproved. Quite a few of the conjectures based on this theory may have to be scrapped. Regardless, it brings us a step closer to understanding the mystery that is our universe.

Caryn Chomsky, a woman from Florida, had no chance of bearing a baby. After being diagnosed with cervical cancer when she was 25 back in 2005, hysterectomy and radiation made it impossible for her and her husband to have kids. Caryn's eggs were harvested, but she couldn't support pregnancy anymore.

Her 59 year-old mother, Ann Stolper, decided to carry whatever Caryn's eggs and husband Ayal's sperm would produce. What came out were lovely twins, Itai and Maya Chomsky.

The couple was happy that Ann volunteered when they were at the stage of recovering from the tremor of cancer and considering having kids. "I made the suggestion. How about if I carry a child or children?" said Caryn's mother two years ago.

It's not often that women above 55 can undergo embryo implant, but they were fortunate enough that Ann was very healthy. The twins came out December 1, six weeks earlier than expected, but safe and kicking.

This new uber-telescope, called the Great Canary Telescope (Gran Telescopio Canarias or GTC), was built on the peak of a mountain in La Palma in the Canary Islands to take advantage of the unusually clear weather in the area.

The mountain is 2,400 meters (7,900 feet) high which helps setting the telescope's sights to heaven. Unfortunately it didn't help any in constructing the monster telescope. Construction took seven years and more than 1,000 people to build. The mirror used in the telescope is made of 36 hexagonal mirror segments and measures 10.4 meters (34.1 feet) in diameter.

Based at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, the telescope was funded by Spain's Education and Science Ministry, the regional government of the Canary Islands and several overseas partners, including astronomical institutes in Mexico and the University of Florida. Lead guitarist of Queen, Brian May, is to grace the opening of the telescope, who studied Astrophysics as part of his doctorate at the Canary Island Institute. He is currently organizing the musical score to be played at the inauguration next summer.

What sets it apart from the other uber-telescopes is the advantage of having the largest optical infrared mirror. With this, scientists will be able to characterize planet atmospheres instead of just speculating, and be able to "reach the weakest and most distant celestial objects of the universe."

"We'll actually be able to take a much better look at them. We'll be able to throw back the curtains that shroud the early Universe, revealing many of its mysteries," said project director Pedro Alvarez.

Last year, three much much smaller telescopes have worked together to find a planet 500 light years away. We can be sure to expect a lot from a super telescope on top of a mountain. One of the hopes of the observatory is to find a planet much like ours.

Pet-related death is always sad news to report, and this is no exception: a young girl, only three weeks old, died after catching salmonella from her pet turtle last March 1 - her death joining the 22 other cases of infection from reptiles across the United States since September. This report comes directly from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Febrile and going into septic shock, the infant was taken quickly to a Florida hospital, where she received immediate treatment in the form of antibiotics. Unfortunately, it was far too late.

Cultures of cerebrospinal fluid and blood samples taken afterward revealed a strain of salmonella identical to the one carried by girl's pet turtle, the reptile a gift bought from a flea market.

While certainly shocking news, cases like these involving small turtles doesn't seem at all new - in fact, a law that dates back to 1975 bans the sale of turtles with carapaces no bigger than 10 centimetres, or four inches. The pet turtle in this case only measured about 3.2 centimetres, which is really under the 10 cm limit.

Why the ban? Is there a larger chance of getting infected when turtles are still as small as they are? You'd be surprised to know that not only that is enough reason for the ban, but the fact that they look so much like toys - and can be mishandled by children as such - is reason for the law. Infants do have that tendency of chewing on their toys, and a small squirming turtle would look pretty inviting. Plus, with infants and small children not having fully-developed immune systems at their age, salmonella could prove fatal.

Looking at the case, however, it may not be all the turtle's fault. Proper hygiene and good parenting would have prevented this sort of thing from happening easily, with Mum or Dad washing the kid's hands after every playtime with the turtle. And whatever happened to the hard and fast rule of not giving kids toys small enough for them to put into their mouths? Certainly not a good way to instill good habits to your kids.

So remember, children. Wash your hands after handling your pets.

If you've ever heard or used the expression "out of the blue", you know that it means something abrupt, sudden, and completely unexpected. It's certainly one way to describe the lightning bolt that struck self-employed landscaper David Canales dead, underneath a clear blue sky completely devoid of clouds.

Scared? You probably should be. Experts say that Canales, 41, was killed by a phenomenon called dry lightning - the name because of its tendency to strike in perfectly-good weather - or weather about to turn nasty. For Canales, it was the latter, as meteorological reports show a storm brewing at the time he was hit, but nowhere near the area the landscaper was in.

It's also to note that this incident happened in Florida - the state that's been given the dubious honor of the country's lightning capital. To better understand how a dry lightning bolt differs from its regular, in-storm cousin, here's a short comparison:

• Wet lightning comes from the base of the thunderstorm, while dry lightning can come from a thunderstorm that's still several miles away from the impact area.
• Wet lightning has a positive charge. Dry lightning, on the other hand, has a negative charge that carries a current ten times stronger than wet lightning - not to mention hotter and lasts longer.
• Dry lightning reaches farther than wet lightning - travelling horizontally before arcing downward. 

It's certainly spine-chilling when you realize that there's really no way to protect yourself against something that's clearly unexpected. There are ways, however, of decreasing risk, especially if you're in Florida - and that's to get indoors at the slightest hint of bad weather. Keeping up with weather forecasts should also be made a habit. As Dan Dixon, a meteorologist with the Miami Weather Service says - if you're close enough to hear thunder, you're close enough to be struck by lightning.

Scary stuff indeed.

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. (ACT) has announced that according to research that they conducted along with their collaborators, hemangioblast precursor cells derived from human embryonic stem (hES) cells can be used to achieve vascular repair.

"The ability to repair vascular damage using these cells could have a profound impact on a large number of diseases that are major human afflictions," said Robert Lanza, M.D., Vice President of Research & Scientific Development at ACT, and senior author of the study.

"Our results suggest the possibility of using nature's early cellular developmental components to restore vascularization and function in patients with vascular disease. An injection of these cells may be able to prevent a patient from having a leg amputated or from dying after a heart attack."

Researchers have also found that when injected into animals that had damaged retinas due to diabetes or lack of adequate blood flow, the cells homed to the injury and showed "robust reparative function" of the entire damaged vasculature within 24 to 48 hours.

Maria Grant, M.D., Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Florida, said that the cells were able to "generate functional blood vessels in the presence of severe tissue injury, as well as in chronic disease states."

While the cells in the study were tested on animals, researchers believe that the potential benefits for people who have vascular disease is huge.

Just off the coast of Costa Rica, some 8,500 feet below the water surface, a "new undersea mineral chimney" was discovered by an expedition led by U.S. researchers. Aboard the WHOI research vessel Atlantis, the team found that this vent emitted hot, iron-darkened water that attracted "unusual" marine life.

The Medusa hydrothermal vent, as the expedition members called it, had bell-shaped pink jellyfish swimming near it. The team described the jellyfish as "really unusual."

Karen Von Damm, an earth sciences professor from the University of New Hampshire, said, "The ones we found may be of a different species because nobody has seen types of this color before." The species has yet to be expertly identified.

The discovery, however, was likened to that of "the serpent-haired Medusa of Greek myth" because of the image that the numerous spiky tubeworm casings around the vent gave. The expedition is a collection of experts from Duke University and the Universities of New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.

There are no pictures as of this report to illustrate the discovery or the supposedly new species of jellyfish. The expedition is currently being funded by the National Science Foundation.

Two decades ago, Americans were much inclined to believe in alien abductions, horoscopes and Bigfoot. Now, they still dream wistfully of being sucked in by a flying saucer or having a quick conversation with the Sasquatch himself, but not too much - really.

Researchers say that this progress in the American way of scientific thinking could be largely credited to the requirement that all college students attend at least a few science classes. Jon D. Miller, a Michigan State University Professor said that in 1988, only about 10 percent of people in the US knew enough about science to understand reports in major newspapers. In 2005, the figure grew to 28 percent. He presented these findings at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, but we weren't told if somebody actually questioned the professor himself about his belief on whether or not we are alone in the universe...

Carol Susan Losh, an associate professor at Florida State University, however, thinks that the decline in belief on horoscopes and lucky numbers is actually bad. She believes that astrology could explain the meaning of life in a way that science could not. For most women, Losh said, having a good life depends on whom they marry, and astrology speaks to love relationships.

This was probably one of the reasons why Professor Miller named "female" as a leading negative factor in science literacy. Women tended to believe in horoscopes a lot. They also tended  to take fewer college courses.

The second negative factor to science literacy, according to Miller, was religious fundamentalism and aging. This finding speaks of the fact that there has been a drop of people who believe on evolutionism and an increase of people who believe that mankind was created 10,000 years ago.

Miller said that the best way to become scientifically educated is to take science courses in college, inform yourself through the media, and have kids at home. Is it because kids are more scientifically educated, or that they never really grew up on Bigfoot news and Star Trek?