WASHINGTON – Masses of dust floating around a distant binary star system suggest that two Earth-like planets obliterated each other in a violent collision, U.S. researchers reported on Friday. “It's as if Earth and Venus collided with each other,” Benjamin Zuckerman, an astronomer at the University of California Los Angeles, who worked on the study, said in a statement.

Back-up Hubble mission shuttle moved to launch pad

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – A space shuttle that would be launched to rescue a stranded Hubble Space Telescope servicing crew in case of an emergency was rolled out to a spare launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center on Friday. The space shuttle Endeavour, which is scheduled for an International Space Station construction mission in November, will be readied as a backup throughout next month's Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission by its sister ship Atlantis.

Satellite images show ethnic cleanout in Iraq

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Satellite images taken at night show heavily Sunni Arab neighborhoods of Baghdad began emptying before a U.S. troop surge in 2007, graphic evidence of ethnic cleansing that preceded a drop in violence, according to a report published on Friday. The images support the view of international refugee organizations and Iraq experts that a major population shift was a key factor in the decline in sectarian violence, particularly in the Iraqi capital, the epicenter of the bloodletting in which hundreds of thousands were killed.

FDA issues rules for genetically modified animals

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Genetically engineered animals moved closer to the dinner table on Thursday as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made the process it will use to review new proposals public. The FDA published proposed detailed guidelines that producers of genetically engineered animals would have to follow to determine whether there are any risks to humans, the environment and the animals themselves.

Stressed plants release aspirin-like chemical

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Plants stressed by drought or unseasonable temperatures squirt out an aspirin-like chemical, researchers reported on Thursday in a finding that may some day help farmers watch for trouble. The chemical, methyl salicylate, may help plants resist the damage and may help them signal danger to one another, the team at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado said.

Scientists name 100 new shark and ray species

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Scientists using DNA have catalogued and described 100 new species of sharks and rays in Australian waters, which they said on Thursday would help conservation of the marine animals and aid in climate change monitoring. More than 90 of the newly named species were identified by scientists in a 1994 book “Sharks and Rays of Australia” but remained scientifically undescribed.

U.S., China urged to work out space security regime

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – China's demonstrated anti-satellite capability makes it critical for Washington to work with Beijing to avoid an arms race in space, a leading U.S. think tank said on Thursday. The Council on Foreign Relations report, ”China, Space Weapons, and U.S. Security,” urges the next U.S. administration to update policy for “an era where space is a potentially far