science and technology

SALT LAKE CITY -- One of the most recognizable characters on kids' television is a marine creature that works in the Krusty Krab diner and is buddies with a squid, a crab, a starfish and a psychotic plankton. SpongeBob's real-life counterparts occupy the lowest animal rung on the Linnaean ladder, lacking nerves, muscles, internal organs and any appendage capable of flipping burgers.

Unmanned airplanes flying over Greenland's ice sheet this month are expected to help scientists monitor melting.

I already have my plans booked for the coming weekend. No, I am not going to take my kids to the park for some summer fun or check out "Hancock" at the theaters like I had planned.

PITTSBURGH -- A $10 million federal grant will enable cognitive researchers to test strategies for helping the pubescent brain better grasp science.

The work will include the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania, and researchers hope to conduct trials at 180 schools in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Having spent the past few years burning brush, clearing trees and hacking through overgrown weeds in northern Durham, Rob Evans is declaring victory in his battle to preserve a rare, goofy-looking flower.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Pacific Coast is becoming saturated with carbon dioxide -- the major greenhouse gas -- making ocean waters more acidic and threatening a wide variety of marine organisms from Canada to Mexico, government scientists report.

The columnist log for today is full:

- Here's a prediction ... Microsoft is going to keep selling Windows XP.

I know, XP is supposed to die a slow, horrible death on June 30 but as I am writing this I just can't make sense of why Microsoft is going to make a whole lot of consumers mad by forcing Windows Vista on them when Vista, in many cases, is chock full of junk.

A team of Illinois scientists looking for fossils of big dinosaurs in Utah's Morrison limestone formation struck pay dirt last month, opening the possibility of a major dinosaur quarry outside nearby Hanksville, Utah.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Medical researchers have made strides in the technology to rebuild damaged bone tissue using stem cells, doctors at the University of North Carolina announced this week.

Researchers derived the stem cells from bone marrow samples, using them to repair broken bones in mice. Now the work is poised to move to humans.

Apple's "Time Machine," a way-cool device designed to be a simple backup device for your gleaming new Apple computer, is appropriately named in my experience.