The Eagle Nebula is a dazzling stellar nursery located 7000 light-years away near the constellation of Serpens - the Snake.  In the Eagle Nebula, a region of gas and dust where young stars are currently being formed, a cluster of massive, hot stars named NGC 6611 has just been born.

The powerful light and strong winds from these massive new arrivals are shaping light-year long pillars, seen in the image partly silhouetted against the bright background of the nebula. The nebula itself has a shape vaguely reminiscent of an eagle, with the central pillars being the "talons".

As part of  their series about the cultural response toward an H1N1 flu outbreak, the Harvard Opinion Research Program is releasing a national poll that focuses on Americans' views and concerns about the potential for a more severe outbreak of Influenza A H1N1 (Swine Flu) in the fall or winter. The polling was done June 22-28, 2009.

Approximately six in ten Americans (59%) believe it is very or somewhat likely that there will be widespread cases of Influenza A (H1N1) with people getting very sick this coming fall or winter. Parents are more likely than people without children to believe this will occur, with roughly two thirds of parents (65%) saying it is very or somewhat likely compared to 56% of people without children.

In the early days of global warming concern, prior to 1994, there was doubt because some researchers used data that skewed results during predictable events,  like El Niño, from locations in the tropical Pacific Ocean and that lack of scientific impartiality made it more difficult to convince people going forward despite more rigorous methods.

The worst thing that can happen to the American economy is a tax on current carbon-using businesses that then subsidizes flaky alternatives that already don't work, like current ethanol and solar panels.

It may be too late but Richard Hess from the Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls in the US and his team issued a new report in Cellulose laying out some ways to keep biofuels in the hunt, even ethanol.

We can learn a lot about extinct giant South American mammals from 30-40 million years ago thanks the random process of fossilization.    Even their ancient 'mega-dung' has a tale to tell scientists and we can thank the unheralded dung beetle.

The dung beetle has fallen on hard times. Though once worshipped by the Ancient Egyptians its status has now slipped to being the butt of scatological jokes.

Speciation, where different populations of the same species split into separate species, is central to understanding evolution.

As would be expected in a complex process like evolution, it's difficult to observe in action.  A new study in American Naturalist says they have captured two populations of monarch flycatcher birds just as they arrive at that 'evolutionary crossroads' of speciation - and it involves a change in a single gene.