http://www.newser.com/2008 - Newseren-usNewser Feed GeneratorThu, 28 Aug 2008 7:39:54 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/35577/study-tell-bad-jokes-at-your-own-risk.html?refid=rss_all_defaultWhat did the researcher say to the reporter? Bad jokes are a good way to lose friends. A Washington State University linguist found lame humor tends to trigger serious hostility, the AP reports. The researcher had her students slip a bad joke into 207 conversations with friends, and 44% of the responses were considered, ahem, “impolite.”http://www.newser.com/story/35577/study-tell-bad-jokes-at-your-own-risk.html?refid=rss_all_defaultFri, 22 Aug 2008 15:15:04 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/35149/amateur-fusioneers-explore-energy-future.html?refid=rss_all_defaultFrank Sanns has an unusual hobby: He’s trying to prove nuclear fusion is a viable energy source. At the center of his search is a working, homemade nuclear reactor. “I’m a dreamer,” the Pittsburgh native tells the Wall Street Journal . Sanns is part of an exclusive cadre called the “Neutron Club”—in which all 42 members have built homemade reactors.http://www.newser.com/story/35149/amateur-fusioneers-explore-energy-future.html?refid=rss_all_defaultMon, 18 Aug 2008 10:02:52 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/35028/bigfoot-dna-actually-human-opossum.html?refid=rss_all_defaultDNA from an alleged Bigfoot carcass is actually part human, part opossum, a scientist said today. A University of Minnesota expert debunked the DNA at a Palo Alto, Calif. press conference before the two men who allegedly found the corpse—and who sell Bigfoot merchandise. The head of a group dedicated to finding Bigfoot said the samples may have been sullied and promised an autopsy.http://www.newser.com/story/35028/bigfoot-dna-actually-human-opossum.html?refid=rss_all_defaultFri, 15 Aug 2008 19:48:11 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/34935/octopus-has-how-many-legs-guess-again.html?refid=rss_all_defaultOctopuses may not be eight-legged creatures after all, new research suggests. They do indeed have eight limbs, but some function more like arms, AFP reports. It breaks down like this: the front two are the most nimble and armlike, and are used for exploration; the back two are used mostly for propulsion, like legs; and the others pull double-duty to varying degrees.http://www.newser.com/story/34935/octopus-has-how-many-legs-guess-again.html?refid=rss_all_defaultThu, 14 Aug 2008 16:58:24 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/34590/scientists-closer-to-invisibility-cloak.html?refid=rss_all_defaultSoon Harry Potter may not be the only one wearing an invisibility cloak. Researchers today announced a new material that bends light away from objects, causing "negative refraction" and "cloaking." The technology, which adds to earlier research veiling two-dimensional objects, will likely conceal military devices and improve medical techniques, LiveScience reports.http://www.newser.com/story/34590/scientists-closer-to-invisibility-cloak.html?refid=rss_all_defaultSun, 10 Aug 2008 15:15:06 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/34575/dutch-teacher-discovers-green-space-ghost.html?refid=rss_all_defaultA Dutch schoolteacher earned her moment in the sun by discovering a cosmic ball of gas some have labeled a space “ghost,” NPR reports. Hanny van Arkel, 25, was working as a volunteer with a galaxy-classifying website when she came upon what “looked like a regular galaxy but much bluer.” Experts say it consists of hot gas that is perhaps reflecting the light of a distant galaxy.http://www.newser.com/story/34575/dutch-teacher-discovers-green-space-ghost.html?refid=rss_all_defaultSun, 10 Aug 2008 7:53:07 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/33671/tiny-shrew-drinks-more-than-you.html?refid=rss_all_defaultThe Malaysian pentailed shrew drinks enough booze, weight for weight, to kill a human with a similar habit—prompting scientists to study the creature for clues to our own alcoholic thirst. Pentails, which share a common ancestor with primates, knock back the equivalent of nine glasses of wine every night unharmed, reports the Times UK . The shrews sip bertam palm nectar, which is about as strong as beer.http://www.newser.com/story/33671/tiny-shrew-drinks-more-than-you.html?refid=rss_all_defaultWed, 30 Jul 2008 10:30:12 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/33649/mysteries-of-glass-still-unbreakable.html?refid=rss_all_defaultAlthough it’s all around us, scientists have fairly little idea why, exactly, glass behaves the way it does, the New York Times reports in an examination of the ongoing debate over the curious properties of the commonplace substance. The mystery hinges on why the molecular arrangement of glass is similar to a liquid, despite obviously possessing properties of a solid.http://www.newser.com/story/33649/mysteries-of-glass-still-unbreakable.html?refid=rss_all_defaultTue, 29 Jul 2008 14:29:39 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/32594/how-to-become-batman.html?refid=rss_all_defaultWe all want to be Batman. But how do we make it happen? An interview with neuroscience professor and martial artist E. Paul Zehr in Scientific American provides some tips: Three to 5 years of strength and conditioning training, 10 to 12 years of learning self-defense skills, and up to 18 years of martial arts training to put it all together. A nocturnal body clock, 10% body fat, and a few billion dollars can't hurt, either. Oh, and skip the steroids.http://www.newser.com/story/32594/how-to-become-batman.html?refid=rss_all_defaultThu, 17 Jul 2008 16:01:57 CDT