The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is widely expected to approve on Thursday a construction and operating license for new nuclear power reactors for the first time since 1978, giving Southern Co. the green light to build two new units at its existing Vogtle site in Georgia. Read full article > >

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NRC expected to give Georgia nuclear reactors the green light

The new eastern span of the Bay Bridge in San Francisco is designed to go with the flow if a major earthquake strikes.

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To Survive a Quake, New Bay Bridge Span Will Offer Least Resistance

In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth, including a form of igneous rock called granite, a mass composed mostly of silica and aluminum that makes up a large part of the continental crust, and comes in all the colors of the rainbow and signifies majesty and serenity. On the kajillionth day, or thereabouts, we mined that granite and we made countertops. Read full article > >

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Granite: Why every homeowner wants a piece of the rock

“We are the only people on the earth that put our hand over our heart during the playing of the national anthem. It was FDR who asked us to do that, in honor of the blood that was being shed by our sons and daughters in far-off places.” Read full article > >

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Mitt Romney’s misfire on the national anthem

An 11m-wide asteroid will pass within 60,000km of Earth on Friday – one of the 20 closest recorded approaches to our planet, but one that poses no danger.

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Asteroid to make near-miss fly-by

The chance of a big earthquake hitting Japan’s capital in the next few years is much greater than official predictions suggest, researchers say.

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Big Tokyo quake is ‘likely soon’

A huge sunspot unleashed a blob of charged plasma Thursday that space weather watchers predict will blast past the Earth on Sunday. Satellite operators and power companies are keeping a close eye on the incoming cloud, which could distort the Earth’s magnetic field and disrupt radio communications, especially at higher latitudes. Read full article > >

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Sun shoots a fastball at Earth, but minimal impact expected

The new European-led NEOShield project will assess the threat posed by asteroids or comets and look for solutions to protect Earth from an impact.

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NEOShield to assess Earth defence

The police officials were among 13 who stood trial for a prison massacre that occurred a week after the 2010 earthquake.

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8 Haitian Policemen Convicted in 2010 Prison Killings

The Washington Monument will probably remain closed until well into next year as workers repair earthquake damage, officials said Thursday. The repairs on the shuttered monument are unlikely to start until late summer at the earliest, the National Park Service said. Read full article > >

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Washington Monument to remain closed until next year

David M. Rubenstein, the billionaire Bethesda philanthropist, will donate $7.5 million to help fix the shuttered, earthquake-damaged Washington Monument , government officials plan to announce Thursday. Read full article > >

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Billionaire philanthropist Rubenstein to give millions to help fix Washington Monument

The attempt by Newt Gingrich to cover his tracks on climate change has been one of the shabbier little episodes of the 2012 presidential campaign. His forthcoming sequel to “A Contract with the Earth” was to feature a chapter by Katharine Hayhoe, a young professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas Tech University. Hayhoe is a scientist, an evangelical Christian and a moderate voice warning of climate disruption. Read full article > >

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Climate and the culture war

Russia’s failed Mars probe, Phobos-Grunt, is likely to fall back to Earth this Sunday, to be torn apart high in the atmosphere.

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Russian space probe heading down

What went up is going to come down — and soon. A failed Russian Mars probe stranded above the Earth since November will plunge to its doom this weekend, likely on Sunday. Experts expect the 11 tons of fuel on board to explode high in the atmosphere as friction eats through the craft’s aluminum tanks. Read full article > >

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Incoming space junk: Failed Russian Mars probe expected to crash this weekend

ROCK HILL, S.C. — Newt Gingrich touched down in South Carolina overnight with much of the Republican Party wondering how badly he plans to scorch the earth here. Gingrich, who placed a distant fourth in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, has trained his sights on South Carolina as the final frontier for conservative voters who hope to halt Mitt Romney’s quickening march toward the Republican presidential nomination. Read full article > >

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GOP prepares for a bruising South Carolina primary campaign