Rep. Tim Scott becomes South Carolina's first black senator

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Tim Scott, a freshman tea party Republican, will become South Carolina's first black senator, Gov. Nikki...

Read More..

Mystery of the Indiana Jones Journal Solved: It Came From the Internet. And Guam

Like all good things, the mysterious journal addressed to Indiana Jones that arrived at the University of Chicago last week came from the internet – eBay to be exact. And how it found its way to the university is a tale that ought to be told with a cinema map and an animated moving read line.The university had received a package (above) that was addressed to “Henry Walton Jones, Jr.” Inside...

Read More..

TV network aimed at millennials set for summer

NEW YORK (AP) — Participant Media plans to launch a cable network aimed at viewers 18 to 34 years old with programming it describes as inspiring and thought-provoking.The as-yet-unnamed network is set to start next summer with an initial reach of 40 million subscribers, the company announced Monday.Targeting so-called millennials, Participant is developing a program slate with such producers as Brian...

Read More..

Doctor and Patient: Tackling the Problem of Medical Student Debt

Thursday’s announcement from the University of California, Los Angeles, of a $100 million medical student scholarship fund should inspire all of us to question the fact that medical education in the United States is paid for largely by student debt.The new merit-based scholarships, established by entertainment executive David Geffen, will cover all educational, living and even some travel expenses...

Read More..

Is Google Abusing Its Market Power? Former Legal Allies Disagree

Left: Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images; Right: Peter DaSilva for The New York TimesSusan Creighton is now in Google's corner while Gary Reback represents several companies that  have complained to the government about Google. In the digital economy, 14 years is an eternity. Fast-shifting technology means that companies, once feared and seemingly invincible, fade, while new powers...

Read More..

Speculation over autism, but shooter's 'why' has no easy answer

Among the details to emerge in the aftermath of the Connecticut elementary school massacre was the possibility that the gunman...

Read More..

Wired Science Space Photo of the Day: Painted Swan Nebula

Astronomers using data from ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), at the Paranal Observatory in Chile, have made an impressive composite of the nebula Messier 17, also known as the Omega Nebula or the Swan Nebula. The painting-like image shows vast clouds of gas and dust illuminated by the intense radiation from young stars.The image shows a central region about 15 light-years...

Read More..

“Hobbit” film sets December record in U.S., Canada debut

(Reuters) – “The Hobbit” brought home a big box office treasure over the weekend, setting a December movie record with $ 84.77 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales as legions of fans turned out for the long-awaited big-screen return to Middle Earth.“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” also rung up sales of $ 138.2 million in international markets. Global receipts for the prequel to the smash “Lord...

Read More..

Dr. William F. House, Inventor of Cochlear Implant, Dies

Dr. William F. House, a medical researcher who braved skepticism to invent the cochlear implant, an electronic device considered to be the first to restore a human sense, died on Dec. 7 at his home in Aurora, Ore. He was 89. The cause was metastatic melanoma, his daughter, Karen House, said. Dr. House pushed against conventional thinking throughout his career. Over the objections of...

Read More..

The Media Equation: Buffeted by the Web, but Now Riding It

When the consumer Web exploded in the mid-1990s, part of the promise was that it would transform careers and the concept of work. Remember the signs on telephone poles and banners all over the Internet? “Work at home and turn your computer into a cash register! Ask me how.” The next generation of Americans would be able to work on their own terms. It didn’t turn out that way. If anything,...

Read More..