• Bad blood flows between the Medici family as plans progress to exhume their illustrious ancestors.
• When trees go bad - scientists find evidence of chemicals leading to toxic ozone production.
• But you can always rely on those goody-two-shoes cabbages and sprouts, with their chemical which fights cancer.
• Zookeeper says Ohio 'lion tracks' are probably actually those of a dog.
• Mathematicians study strange prime number obsession of cicadas.
• Searching for other Earths.
• Nancy Reagan tells Bush Administration to support stem cell research. Just say yes.
• The fairy circles of Africa baffle scientists. Set up a few fairy traps, you're bound to bag one of the little blighters soon enough.
• Possibly the first photo of an extrasolar planet taken.
• Drug zaps fat cells...at least in those little obese mice anyhow.
• Europe's space shuttle passes early test. Nice to see they've named a spacecraft after my little boy.
• Record number of entries for popular science book prize.
• Ghosthunters get shut out of UK historical site.
• Russian space agency chief backs plan for manned mission to Mars within a decade.
• As if the snakes, spiders, jellyfish and crocodiles aren't enough, researchers say Australia once had its fair share of large mammalian carnivores.
• Historic castle to go to highest bidder. Ghosts thrown in for free.
• The Milky Way gets another arm.
• A group of virgins and an evangelist from the US to tour the UK urging teenagers to remain celibate.

• Jade bear-dragons corroborate 5,000 year-old Yellow Emperor legend in China.
• Unmasking China's Sanxingdui Ruins.
• Maya culture 'ahead of its time'.
• Newest room of discoveries from the Pyramid of the Moon at Teotihuacan to be unveiled on Wednesday.
• Carthage, a lost empire.
• The final resting place of the Holy Grail is shrouded in mystery - or is it?
• Group says dinosaurs are in the Bible.
• New fast, hot breed of planets found.
• Scientists confront 'weird life' on other worlds.
• Formaldehyde, ammonia and benzene molecules on Mars? Would probably mean life.
• Saturn's mysterious moon Titan, lifting veil on Xanadu.
• Swirling dust near black hole too thick for theory.
• NASA funds sci-fi technology.
• Mars and the teachable moment for pseudoscientific claims.
• National science panel warns of US scientist shortage.
• Health freedom rights: a call to act now before your right to choose is gone.
• Parasitic invasion credited with evolution of sex.
• It is possible, even common nature, to see without observing.
• Despite implausible plot, scientists warm up to climate flick.
• Scientists discover what could be the instruction manual of life genetics.

Quote of the Day:

There is truth in the high opinion that in so far as a man conforms, he ceases to exist.

Max Eastman

• Arthropod animals were molting to make room for growth more than 500-million years ago.
• The tomb of a Mayan queen has been found in the rain forest of Guatemala.
• Zahi Hawass, the man in charge of Egypt's antiquities and the greatest archaeologist of all time, is leading the hunt for to recover ill-gotten artifacts. Classic pic of Zahi and the Sphinx.
• The Mudslingers protect an ancient ruin.
• It took ancient peoples in Great Britain a millennium or more to create Stonehenge, but the New Zealand version will be built in a little more than a year. Kiwihenge.
• A rising tide of micro-plastics is plaguing the seas. Where did you think those 2-liter bottles went?
• Here's a follow-up on that lion in Ohio that Greg told you about yesterday.
• In Wassaw Sound off Savannah, Georgia there's an 11-foot-long bullet with a snub nose and four stubby fins, an aluminum cylinder with No. 47782 written on it lying in the silt. Enclosed in its metal skin is 400-pounds of conventional explosives and a quantity of bomb-grade uranium. Take a guess what No. 47782 is.
• Ex-Nazi corporal says Germany attempted to kidnap Ike. If I told you more you would swear I made it up. Just read it.
• Monsters like Godzilla may be scary, but they could be a parent's best friend.
• Man is not a useless speck lost in the Universe.
• You're invited to participate in the Massive Medicine Wheel Ceremony set for tomorrow. One Heart, One Mind, One Circle.
• The James E. Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to take a few baby pictures in 2011.
• Join the quest to unlock universe's missing link.
• Our map of the Milky Way will have to be redrawn after Australian astronomers made the astonishing discovery that our spiral galaxy has a huge, out-flung arm.

• Space.com's image of the day: the astronomer's dilemma...when you look so far back in time that the stars haven't formed yet, what do you look for?
• Five designer babies created for stem cells. Make mine a Gucci thanks.
• Obesity and high-blood pressure are becoming endemic.
• Ancient map confirmed by satellite images.
• NASA must transform to put men on Mars. I'm sure they meant to say humans. Or perhaps men are to Mars, women are to Venus?
• A day in the life of the Spirit rover. What do they tell the little fella when he asks when he's coming home?
• Tuna and sharks a prime example of convergent evolution. If you believe in that sort of freaky stuff, personally I'll take my chances with God creating the Earth a few thousand years ago (n.b. before starting those emails...that was a joke).
• Dr Richard Leakey suggests fencing in the Great Apes to save them from extinction.
• Comet NEAT debuts in the Northern Hemisphere. That's for sky-watchers, not an impact prediction...
• Uber-physicist Brian Greene tell you all about the Fabric of the Cosmos. If the article is interesting, make sure you check out his books THE FABRIC OF THE COSMOS (Amazon US and UK) and THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE (Amazon US and UK). There are not enough hours in the day to read everything cool out there...
• Giant 'masks' suggest ancient Maya flourished.
• Ghost hunters encounter some spirits at local pub. Insert punchline here.
• African lion roaming central Ohio? See also links in Heck's blog and Sonicreducer's blog. Thanks guys.
• Giant squid isn't picky, and will mate blind, not caring if other squid is male or female. So bit like humans and nightclub closing time then.
• Builder survives nail gun incident. Trust me, check this one out...new meaning to 'a pain in the neck'.