An 8.6 magnitude earthquake occurred 62 miles off the coast of Sumatra on April 11th, 2012. 

Along with being severe by any measure, in one way it was the largest earthquake in observed human history; it originated within the plate rather than at a plate boundary.

The quake originated under the Wharton Basin in the Indian Ocean, where hundreds of miles of rock were under crushing tension, causing the plate to deform at its base. This 'deforming zone' was also absorbing tension as two plates, the Indian and Australian plates, rotated toward each other. 

A new ATLAS search for supersymmetric signatures in 2011 LHC data has appeared last week in the arxiv. The result ? No hint of a signal, not even for ready money.

So if you are on a hurry, you can just have a glance at the graph below, which summarizes the measurement in terms of excluded regions of a slice of the complicated parameter space of SUSY theories.

Otherwise, if you want to know a bit more of what this is about, I can provide some detail.

Boston Scientific Corporation has received CE Mark approval for use of its PRECISION(TM) PLUS SPINAL CORD STIMULATOR (SCS) System in patients with the system and are in need for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) head-only scans. The PRECISION PLUS SCS System is the world's first rechargeable SCS device. This approval provides physicians with an additional diagnostic option for patients with chronic intractable pain. 

Remember The-Shadow-Scholar, the deeply disturbing confirmation of that academia generally selects for meaningless drivel while making critical information unheard; the story that especially academic media try to contain as a side issue about student writing although it is obviously symptomatic of the whole of academia and much of modern society?

Spend too much time on Facebook?  Can't get enough LOLcat videos?

You no longer need to be ashamed.  You may have a disease. Psychologists interviewed a total of 843 people about their Internet habits and an analysis of the questionnaires showed that 132 men and women in the group exhibit problematic behavior in how they handle being online; all their thoughts revolve around the Internet during the day, and they feel their wellbeing is severely impacted if they have to go without it.

I'm not much of a drinker, never have been. I have always assumed it was because I did competitive athletics until I was about 25, which means I was outside the age where you 'learn' to like the taste of alcohol, so I never picked it up.

Older now, I can drink a beer socially and I sometimes drink a glass of red wine because the consensus says it is good for you in moderation, but I am still not really a drinker.

New research on Pelargoniums ('Geraniums' and 'Storkbills'), which have been cultivated in Europe since the 17th century and are now one of the most popular garden and house plants around the world, shows targeting two bacterial genes can produce long-lived and pollen-free plants.

Pelargoniums have been selectively bred to produce a wide range of leaf shapes, flowers and scents, and have commercial traits such as early and continuous flowering, pest and disease resistance and consistent quality and now they are getting some modern science engineering to allow people to enjoy them with less medicine. 

Instead of unwinding into a flat ribbon when stretched, like an untwisted coil normally would, a cucumber’s tendrils actually coil further - which has led to discovery of a biological mechanism for coiling and an unusual type of spring that is soft when pulled gently and stiff when pulled strongly.

Understanding this counterintuitive behavior required a combination of head scratching, physical modeling, mathematical modeling, and cell biology—not to mention a large quantity of silicone. A new study describes the mechanism by which coiling occurs in the cucumber plant and suggests a new type of bio-inspired twistless spring.

Cutting carbon dioxide emissions is not easy; it requires a buy-in from developing nations who have coal and want a better life also, or a greater implementation of natural gas. One alternative idea is to transport materials into the stratosphere to reduce the amount of sunlight hitting Earth and therefore reduce the effects of global climate change.

A new paper says that the basic technology currently exists and could be assembled and implemented in a number of different forms for less than $5 billion a year - a tiny fraction of the amount that cutting emissions costs. Put into context, the cost of reducing carbon dioxide emissions is currently estimated to be between 0.2 and 2.5 per cent of GDP in the year 2030, which is equivalent to $200 billion to $2 trillion.