Q: Which phrase, more than any other, surged in utilzation in the news during the final months of the U.S. presidential campaign?

A: Obama's "lipstick on a pig" quip

For the first time, the Web has been used to track and attempt to measure the news cycle, the process by which information becomes news, competes for attention and fades, says the NY Times.

Nintendo is trying to sell you something so they will claim in marketing that Wii 'active' video games are good exercise for kids, but are they really?

Yes, says a new study in the journal Pediatrics, though only if they are the kind of kids who are otherwise sedentary and at high risk for obesity and diabetes.

Scientists at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center found that playing active video games like the Wii can be an effective substitute for moderate exercise.   No one is saying children should stop playing outside or doing real exercise but active video games can be a suitable alternative at times.  Basically, if an obese child is going to sit around and play video games instead of exercising, something is better than nothing.

A single evolutionary event appears to explain the short, curved legs that characterize all of today's dachshunds, corgis, basset hounds and at least 16 other breeds of dogs.

The research team led by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) scientist Elaine Ostrander, Ph.D., examined DNA samples from 835 dogs, including 95 with short legs. Their survey of more than 40,000 markers of DNA variation uncovered a genetic signature exclusive to short-legged breeds. Through follow-up DNA sequencing and computational analyses, the researchers determined the dogs' disproportionately short limbs can be traced to one mutational event in the canine genome - a DNA insertion - that occurred early in the evolution of domestic dogs. 

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".

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.

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.