If you're having a baby scan, rest assured there's nothing to worry about here, this piece of research is about high-energy ultrasound. The difference is like comparing a research laser beam to the light from a cheap flashlight... Anyway, according to Ken Suslick, when high-intensity ultrasound passes through a liquid, the expansion wave of the sound can create isolated bubbles, which can be driven into implosive collapse. Under the right conditions, the collapse of the bubble is so extreme that light is emitted in a ... Read on and comment...

Mosquito bites can be itchy, ugly, and annoying. They can also be fatal to both animals and humans because of the diseases they harbor. We may not think about it much because the diseases mosquitoes carry seem to only affect faraway people and countries. But when British singer Cheryl Cole contracted malaria during a visit to Tanzania, it served as a reminder that serious mosquito-borne diseases are still a danger today. Since falling ill, Cole (soon to revert to her unmarried name of Tweedy) has been ... Read on and comment...

Inspired by the recent news that astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope had discovered the all-carbon fullerene molecules floating in the cosmic dust between stars, SciScoop reader Nicole Anderson (PinkGlassWing) sent us a wonderful piece of scientifically inspired artwork to celebrate the discovery (Click image for large version): You can find out more about the discovery of buckyballs in space via the NASA website and in a forthcoming issue of SpectroscopyNOW.com

Yachting enthusiast Tony Hayward who allegedly headed BP in his spare time has been nudged out of his job with a golden handshake amounting to lots and lots of money and a mighty pension. He should've received a golden shower if you ask me, or better still been tarred and feathered like so many birds in the Gulf of Mexico. Hayward will be replaced by American Bob Dudley, the BBC reports. Meanwhile, vessels returned to the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of a tropical storm to ... Read on and comment...