Most Emailed Technology News

A child's never-ending "why's" aren't meant to exasperate parents, scientists say. Rather, the kiddy queries are genuine attempts at getting at the truth, and tots respond better to some answers than others.

GENEVA - The world's largest atom smasher made another leap forward Monday by circulating beams of protons in opposite directions at the same time and causing the first particle collisions in the $10 billion machine after more than a year of repairs, organizers said.

NEW ORLEANS - The creatures living in the depths of the ocean are as weird and outlandish as the creations in a Dr. Seuss book: tentacled transparent sea cucumbers, primitive "dumbos" that flap ear-like fins, and tubeworms that feed on oil deposits.

WASHINGTON - A lot more Americans are feeling stressed out by debt this holiday season, raising the glum likelihood they'll behave like Scrooge rather than Santa.

WASHINGTON - More than 2.1 million drop-side cribs by Stork Craft Manufacturing are being recalled, the biggest crib recall in U.S history, following reports of four infant suffocations.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The federal government said Monday that it has found a "strong association" between problematic imported Chinese drywall and corrosion of pipes and wires, a conclusion that supports complaints by thousands of homeowners over the last year.

WASHINGTON - First-time buyers taking advantage of a special tax credit gave sales of existing homes in October their biggest surge in a decade, raising hopes for a turnaround in the housing market and pleasing Wall Street.

WASHINGTON - Failure is not an option on health care, a leading Democratic senator said Monday, even as Republicans turned up the heat on moderates who hold the fate of the legislation in their hands.

If you experience impotence, instead of a little blue pill maybe you want to apply shockwaves to your privates instead.

LAREDO, Texas - A U.S. program that offers trusted trucking companies speedy passage across American borders has begun attracting just the sort of customers who place a premium on avoiding inspections: Mexican drug smugglers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose in October at a faster-than-expected pace to the highest in more than 2-1/2 years as buyers rushed to take advantage of a popular tax credit, a survey showed on Monday.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A pair of astronauts zipped through the third and final spacewalk of their mission Monday, helping to install a 1,200-pound oxygen tank at the International Space Station and accomplishing everything else on their list.

Economists expect the joblessness that has weighed down the nation's economic recovery will start to slowly abate in 2010, but they predict consumers will continue to keep a tight rein on spending, according to a new survey.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Radioactive dust unexpectedly blew out of a pipe being cut by workers during weekend maintenance at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, and officials on Monday were trying to determine exactly how and why it happened.

BERLIN - McDonald's is going green — swapping its traditional red backdrop for a deep hunter green — to promote a more eco-friendly image in Europe.

GENEVA (AFP) - Flooding in the world's major port cities caused by melting icecaps could cause up to 28 trillion dollars (18 trillion euros) in damage in 2050, environmental group WWF said in a report Monday.

WASHINGTON - Home sales surged for the second month in a row in October, climbing to the highest level in 2 1/2 years as first-time buyers rushed to take advantage of an expiring tax credit.

WASHINGTON - Since the 1997 international accord to fight global warming, climate change has worsened and accelerated — beyond some of the grimmest of warnings made back then.

LONDON - Computer hackers have broken into a server at a well-respected climate change research center in Britain and posted hundreds of private e-mails and documents online — stoking debate over whether some scientists have overstated the case for man-made climate change.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Villagers in the highlands of Papua New Guinea who ritualistically ate human brains but did not die of a brain disease called kuru have a genetic mutation that protects them, researchers said Wednesday.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co tripled the size of its share repurchase program to $12 billion as China sales and better profit margins on its services boosted quarterly earnings.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New fossils unearthed in what is now the Sahara desert reveal a once-swampy world

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales of previously owned U.S. homes jumped last month to their highest level in more than 2-1/2 years, but a fall in an economic gauge was a reminder that recovery from recession would be patchy.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks snapped a three-day losing streak on Monday as stronger-than-expected home sales data fueled optimism while a weaker dollar boosted commodity-linked stocks.

OXFORD, England (Reuters) - Twitter, the social internet firm that tracks trends through individuals' updates of events around them, may eventually go to the stock market for funding if necessary, its co-founder Biz Stone said.

From the marbled corridors of Congress to the tony salons of Georgetown, liberal lawmakers are abuzz with ideas on how to rein in U.S. corporations. Yet over in the courts, two conservative lawyers are mounting a serious challenge to a law, enacted earlier in the decade, that imposed tough restrictions on American businesses. A ruling in their favor could deal a serious blow to the pro-regulatory movement in Washington.

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Leading Indian outsourcers such as Tata Consultancy , Infosys and Wipro stand to gain contracts worth about $1 billion in the next one or two years as U.S. banks emerge from the troubled asset relief program, the Economic Times reported on Monday.

Texting long messages can be a pain in the neck - literally.

HEGANG, China - The coal mine that exploded in northern China, killing 104, had too many workers underground in an effort to increase output, a government official said Monday, exposing the risks often taken to meet the country's insatiable energy demands.

WASHINGTON - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Monday that the world must press Pakistan to stop supporting terrorists who continue to target India.