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Creatures Of The Sun

Credit NASA

By editor

Originally published on Wed March 21, 2012 11:24 am

Maybe it's the amazingly warm week we are having here in northern New England, but it's hard not to think about the sun these days. Even as we soak up its warmth, we also hear of fearsome solar storms flinging billions of tons of plasma into space, some of it toward us.

These coronal mass ejections tend to peak around the so-called solar maximum, a time of increased solar activity with a period of approximately 11 years. We are entering one.

3:34 pm

Wed March 21, 2012

'Million Hoodie March' Planned In New York To Protest Killing Of Trayvon Martin

Credit RM Lopez / via Facebook

One of the many pictures posted to the Million Hoodie March Facebook page.

By editor

Originally published on Thu March 22, 2012 5:43 am

At 6 p.m. ET., a "Million Hoodie March" is set to begin winding through the streets of New York City, from Union Square to the United Nations.

One of the organizers, Daniel Maree, told News One that the march was intended to protest "the absurdity of Trayvon [Martin's] murder."

3:09 pm

Wed March 21, 2012

Messenger Probe Sends Back New Data From Mercury

Credit NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

The Messenger spacecraft is depicted over the Calvino Crater on Mercury in this enhanced-color image of the planet's surface.

By Joe Palca

Originally published on Wed December 12, 2012 4:40 pm

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There's a small spacecraft called Messenger that's been orbiting the planet Mercury for a year. Today, at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, astronomers revealed what they've learned about the innermost planet in our solar system, and some of the new knowledge is puzzling.

Maria Zuber, a planetary scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studied a large crater 900 miles across called Caloris.

3:02 pm

Wed March 21, 2012

High Court Throws Out 'Bad Lawyer' Convictions

Credit Evan Vucci / AP

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, shown on Capitol Hill in April 2011, wrote the court's ruling Wednesday that for the most part, plea bargaining determines "who goes to jail and for how long. It is not some adjunct to the criminal justice system. It is the criminal justice system."

By Nina Totenberg

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For the first time, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that defendants have a constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel in plea bargains. In a 5-4 decision Wednesday, the court went further, declaring that when a lawyer acts unethically or gives clearly wrong advice, the defendant may be entitled to a second chance at accepting a plea offer.

3:00 pm

Wed March 21, 2012

As Illegal Immigrants Increase, Israel Plans To Act

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Credit Yehuda Raizner / AFP/Getty Images

Israel says it will begin taking tougher action against illegal immigrants, many of whom are from Africa. Here, African immigrants demand the right to stay in Israel during a protest in Tel Aviv on Aug. 1, 2009.

Credit Ahmad Gharabli / AFP/Getty Images

A worker builds part of Israel's border fence near the Red Sea resort town of Eilat in February. Many illegal immigrants to Israel slip across the country's border with Egypt.

By editor

Originally published on Sun March 25, 2012 7:08 am

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The place is Tel Aviv, but it doesn't look at all like Israel: Dozens of African men are sitting on broken stools and plastic at a makeshift restaurant.

Sudanese fare is on the menu. The men scoop up the stews and salads that remind them of home.

Abdullah Mohammad Mustafa started this restaurant with a couple of other African men who arrived in Israel five years ago from Sudan's troubled Darfur region. They are among some 40,000 Africans who have come to Israel illegally, and many have congregated in neighborhoods in Tel Aviv.

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13.7: Cosmos And Culture

3:46 pm

Wed March 21, 2012