[The Scientist]
What if humans were designed to last?

[Kokogiak]
Composite photograph of all known bodies in the solar system larger than 200 miles in diameter (88 objects total).

[BBC News]
The United States has lost its position as the world's primary engine of technology innovation, according to a report by the World Economic Forum. The US is now ranked seventh in the body's league table measuring the impact of technology on the development of nations.

[The New York Times]
A comprehensive study of molecular and fossil data on 4,510 of the 4,554 mammal species known to exist today has concluded that the mass extinction that wiped out dinosaurs and other life 65 million years ago apparently did not, contrary to conventional wisdom, immediately clear the way for the rise of today’s mammals. Instead, the ancestral branches of most mammals, including primates, rodents and hoofed animals, emerged long before the global extinction and survived it more or less intact and it was not until at least 10 million to 15 million years afterward that the lineages of living mammals began to flourish in number and diversity.

[Technovelgy.com]
The world's smallest and thinnest RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) tags have been introduced by Hitachi. These chips measure just 0.05 x 0.05 millimeters [pictures and implications].

[Technology Review]
Researchers are finding ways to use stem cells to regrow teeth—a potentially easier and healthier alternative to dentures and dental implants.

[The New York Times]
Does the brain have a genetically shaped mechanism for acquiring moral rules, similar to the neural machinery for learning language?

[BBC News]
Genetically-modified malaria-resistant supermosquito may someday help curb the incidence of the disease.

[Yahoo! News]
Exercise shown to boost brainpower by building new brain cells in a brain region linked with memory and memory loss.

[Nature]
Reseachers have removed a single, specific memory from the brains of rats, while leaving other recollections intact.

[Yahoo! News]
Researchers have discovered that cells in the mucosal lining of human genitalia produce a protein that "eats up" invading HIV—possibly keeping the spread of AIDS more contained than it might otherwise be. Even more important, enhancing the activity of this protein, called Langerin, could be a potent new way to curtail the transmission of the virus that causes AIDS.

[Guardian Unlimited]
A British diver and his German partner have discovered what they claim is the world's largest submerged cave system—effectively an underground river—beneath Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.

[BBC News]
Open access science publications receive a big push.