User Friendly: Why I like the Internet (today)

Linda almost stepped on one, one was already dead, but two were moving slightly, and she spotted them. She buzzed me around 4 p.m. using the intercom in the horse barn and in a tearful voice asked me to come down right away. I had just made myself a bowl of vegan vanilla pudding and strawberries from Wilder Brook Farm, and was sitting down to log in to my favorite chess site. I put my spoon down, and slipped into my Muckmaster rubbers and headed out.

Satellite gives researchers new tool to track weather

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A sophisticated new weather satellite rocketed into orbit Saturday, giving forecasters another powerful tool for tracking hurricanes and tornadoes.

User Friendly: Losing the edge

Don't flip out and wonder if I'm some kind of weirdo, OK? I like a sharp knife. Now before you grab your kids off the sidewalk or wonder if I have movie posters on my wall from gore-fests, let me clarify: To me, a knife is a tool, plain and simple.

Eureka!: Researcher bites at issue of dog's bark

IF you know dogs, you know the following:

If you knock on a door, they'll bark.

If a car drives by, they'll bark.

Approach a stranger, you've got more barking.

A strong gust of wind? They let fly with the woofs.

But why?

Study: Saturn moon has liquid water below surface

NEW YORK - Scientists have found new evidence that one of Saturn's moons has an ocean beneath its surface. That's important because liquid water is a key ingredient for life.

The moon is an icy body called Enceladus (en-SELL-uh-duss.) It gives off huge plumes of water vapor and ice grains, and scientists used the Cassini spacecraft to sample material from those jets.

NASA's new moon probe sends back moon shots

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - NASA's new lunar probe launched less than a week ago has already sent back some shots of the moon.

The satellite swung by the moon Tuesday and took pictures for an hour, passing within 2,000 miles. Now, it's well past the moon in an elongated orbit around Earth. In October, it will slam into a crater at the moon's south pole.

Telescope finds space blobs are pubescent galaxies

WASHINGTON - Mysterious space blobs aren't infant galaxies as astronomers once thought. Scientists say they mostly consist of galaxies going through puberty, all hot and bothered.