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The Associated Press
AP Top Science News At 8:06 a.m. EST

Milky Way _ the galaxy _ not snack-sized anymore

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Take that, Andromeda! For decades, astronomers thought when it came to the major galaxies in Earth's cosmic neighborhood, our Milky Way was a weak sister to the larger Andromeda. Not anymore....

Bush to establish 3 marine monuments in Pacific

AP Photo
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The home of a giant land crab, a sunken island ringed by pink-colored coral, and equatorial waters teeming with sharks and other predators are being designated national marine monuments by President George W. Bush in the largest marine conservation effort in history....

Mars rover mission reaches 5th anniversary

AP Photo
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- Five years after the NASA rover Spirit landed on Mars, the six-wheel robotic geologist and its twin Opportunity are still on the job....




More small quakes rattle Yellowstone National Park
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) -- More earthquakes are rattling Yellowstone National Park....

Exploiting nature to cut mosquitoes' life short
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Old mosquitoes usually spread disease, so Australian researchers figured out a way to make the pests die younger - naturally, not poisoned....

Study: Hawaii's pygmy killer whales stay close
HONOLULU (AP) -- A new study of pygmy killer whales - one of the least understood marine mammal species - shows that those living off Hawaii tend to stay close to the islands and don't swim out to the open ocean....

NASA chief's wife to Obama: Don't fire my husband
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Late on Christmas Eve, one last wish was sent, by e-mail: Please let NASA Administrator Michael Griffin keep his job. It was from his wife. Rebecca Griffin, who works in marketing, sent her message with the subject line "Campaign for Mike" to friends and family. It asked them to sign an online petition to President-elect Barack Obama "to consider keeping Mike Griffin on as NASA Administrator."...

Treasury provides $15B from bailout pot to 7 banks
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government said Monday it had supplied another $15 billion to seven banks in the latest round of payments from the $700 billion rescue fund....

Just a second, 2009 _ the Earth needs to catch up
AT THE GREENWICH PRIME MERIDIAN, England (AP) -- Just a second, 2009. It's going to take a little longer to say goodbye to the worst economic year since the Great Depression, but all for good cause. The custodians of time will ring in the New Year by tacking a "leap second" onto the clock Wednesday to account for the minute slowing of the Earth's rotation. The leap second has been used sporadically at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich since 1972, an adjustment that has kept Greenwich Mean Time the internationally agreed time standard....

Ancient ship found buried near Argentine river
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Workers digging to lay the foundation of a luxury apartment complex in Argentina uncovered a Spanish ship believed to be from the 18th century....