The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated the first bits of tsunami debris will make landfall soon on small atolls northwest of the main Hawaiian Islands. Other pieces were expected to reach the coasts of Oregon, Washington state, Alaska and Canada between March 2013 and March 2014.

NOAA's tsunami marine debris coordinator, Ruth Yender, told an online news conference Tuesday that agency workers were boarding Coast Guard flights that patrol the Hawaiian archipelago. NOAA also asked scientists stationed at Midway and other atolls to look for the debris.

Debris initially collected in a thick mass in the ocean after tsunamis dragged homes, boats, cars and other parts of daily life from coastal towns out to sea. Most likely sank not far from Japan's eastern coast.

In September, a Russian training ship spotted a refrigerator, a television set and other appliances west of Hawaii. By now, the debris has likely drifted so far apart that only one object can be seen at a time, said Nikolai Maximenko, a University of Hawaii researcher and ocean currents expert. CLICK HERE READ FULL STORY

Poonam Pandey's controversial nude picture with cricketer Sachin Tendulkar not only miffed the sleaze queen but also shocked the legendary Tendulkar.

Sachin got the shock of his life when he learnt that some morphed nude pictures of him and Poonam Pandey were doing the rounds on the internet. A nude image of Poonam Pandey holding Sachin Tendulkar's portrait – the morphed image of the cricketer in Lord Vishnu's avatar - has grabbed the attention of her fans.

On the other hand, a miffed and upset Poonam expressed her disappointment on this issue through Twitter. "TweetHrts & all my Fans round d World i do appreciate ur Love towards me but such edited pix really hurt me as for me Cricket is a RELIGION(sic)," she tweeted.
Poonam Pandey has been hitting the headlines with her bold stripping acts since the time of the cricket world cup. Later, she again came into limelight with her bikini poses and half nude pictures that she daringly posted on twitter. Her clothes shedding act made it evident that the young model is an attention starved girl, who somewhat follows an agenda that might read, "Attention ke liye saala kuch bhi karega"

Aspiring model Poonam Pandey has again gone topless for her fans. In the past, she posted nude picture of her on twitter which got awesome response on net and following which she become most searched person on net. On her last birthday, Poonam posted a bedroom picture and bathroom picture which created sensational on net.

The video shows the model started a countdown on Twitter asking her fans if they would like to see “Poonam Padey Without Bikini” and on public demand she posted a topless picture of hers’.

Sharing the picture with her fans, Poonam tweeted, “Finally on Public demand Sharing a pic #PoonamPandeyWithoutBikini Tweethearts!! Thanx for Loving me so Much .. Luv u all .. lot more to come in future its just a Trailor "Picture Abhi Baaki hey Mere Tweethearts"(sic).”
She also warned people below the age of 18 not to take a look at the pic: "Warning18 and under should not try looking up the pic. I do not take responsibility for anyone under age."

Poonam Pandey grabbed headlines when she said that she would pose naked if Indian wins the world cup. Though, Poonam could not keep her promise she became very popular when she posted many nude picture of her on the social networking site.

A sports anchor in San Diego will have some extra time to think about his next story after being suspended one week for comments made on the air about NASCAR driver Danica Patrick.

anchor Ross Shimabuku landed in hot water with station executives after saying he would describe the female racing star with a word that "starts with a B and it's not beautiful."

The comment came last week as the anchor discussed a clip of Patrick talking to reporters ahead of the Daytona 500.

"Danica Patrick is such a pretty girl, and she makes a lot of money in sponsorships because of it. But what's not attractive is that she's sexy and she knows it," Shimabuku said.

The station then aired footage of a Patrick interview, in which she asked, "I don't quite understand why, when you're referring to a girl — a female athlete in particular — that you have to use the word 'sexy.' Is there any other word you can use to describe me?"

For pregnant women, miscarriage is a dreaded event. But if you happen to be a certain species of monkey, losing your baby may be the best alternative if a new guy shows up.

University of Michigan researchers spent five years observing wild gelada monkeys, a.k.a. gelada baboons, in Semien Mountains National Park in Ethiopia. Typically, the monkeys (Theropithecus gelada) live in small groups consisting of several related females and one dominant male. Every three years or so, the male is ousted by a rival who is seeking sex--or "reproductive access." And the researchers found that when new males did come along, eight out of 10 pregnant females had miscarriages.

This bizarre phenomenon - which has been dubbed the "Bruce effect" - is well known in captive rodents. But the new research, published online in the journal Science Express, marks the first time the Bruce effect has been observed on wild animals.

Why would a female gelada monkey do such a thing?

When a new male comes along, he's likely to kill babies that were fathered by other males. In fact, the researchers found that new males killed nearly 44 percent of the infants in the group within months of joining. Killing the babies in the group seems to boost a male's chances of reproducing, as females aren't fertile when their offspring are still young. Biologists believe that miscarriages enable females to cut their losses by not wasting energy caring for an infant that is unlikely to survive.

"The unweaned infants don't stand a chance against an adult male - even with their mother's protection," Jacinta Beehner, an assistant professor of psychology and anthropology at the university, said in a written statement. "[So] natural selection should favor females that retain the ability to lose their pregnancies prior to a hefty investment in gestation and lactation."

But researchers are still scratching their heads over the physiology that underlies the Bruce effect.

"The million-dollar question, of course, is how do these females miscarry?" Beehner said. "Are their bodies responding to a social cue? A chemical one? A combination of the two?"

Red dresses muddle men's minds, just ask The Matrix's Neo. In a scene from the 1999 sci-fi film, the hero is famously ambushed after becoming distracted by a woman on the street wearing a slinky red outfit. Now, a new study shows how such duds attain their sway. Men rate women wearing red clothing as being more interested in sex, hinting that humans may be conditioned to associate the color with fertility.

The pull of red is nothing new. Women have donned pinkish blush and bright lipstick for nearly 12,000 years. And, if you're lucky enough to get a Valentine's Day card, it will probably come decorated in tiny red hearts. It's an effect that likely stems from biology, says Adam Pazda, a psychologist at the University of Rochester in New York state and an author of the new study. When many primate females—from chimpanzees to types of baboons called mandrills—become fertile, their estrogen levels peak, opening up their blood vessels and turning their faces bright red. This flushed complexion seems to give males the signal that it's time to make their move.

The same could be true for humans, Pazda says. In a previous study, scientists showed that men seem to be more attracted to women clothed in red rather than in a blah color such as white. That's regardless of the cut, he adds. "It doesn't have to be a red dress or a sexy outfit," he says. "It can be a red T-shirt."

To understand why, Pazda and his colleagues conducted a simple experiment. They showed 25 men a photo of a single woman doctored to look, in different cases, like she was wearing either a red or white T-shirt. The researchers then asked the volunteers to gauge, on a scale from 1 to 9, how keen the model seemed to be on romance. In other words, the men answered the question: "Is she interested in sex?"

The 5,300-year-old ice mummy dubbed Ötzi, discovered in the Eastern Alps about 20 years ago, appears to have had the oldest known case of Lyme disease, new genetic analysis has revealed.

As part of work on the Iceman's genome — his complete genetic blueprint — scientists found genetic material from the bacterium responsible for the disease, which is spread by ticks and causes a rash and flulike symptoms and can lead to joint, heart and nervous system problems.

The new analysis also indicates the Iceman was lactose intolerant, predisposed to cardiovascular disease, and most likely had brown eyes and blood type O.

To sequence the Iceman's genome, researchers took a sample from his hip bone. In it, they looked for not only human DNA — the chemical code that makes up genes — but also for that of other organisms. While they found evidence of other microbes, the Lyme disease bacterium, called Borrelia burgdorferi, was the only one known to cause disease, said Albert Zink, a study researcher and head of the European Institute for Mummies and the Iceman at the European Academy of Bozen/Bolzano (EURAC) in Italy.

"Our data point to the earliest documented case of a B. burg­dorferi infection in mankind. To our knowledge, no other case report about borreliosis [Lyme disease] is available for ancient or historic specimens," Zink and colleagues write in an article published on Tuesday (Feb. 28) in the journal Nature Communications.

Discovering evidence of Borrelia is an "intriguing investigative lead," said Dr. Steven Schutzer, an immunologist at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School.

Schutzer is a lead investigator on a National Institutes of Health-funded project that has sequenced at least 17 strains of the modern bacterium, and has published 13 of those so far.

The discovery of the traces of Borrelia within the sample taken from the Iceman still needs to be confirmed, he said. "Now we know what we want to look for, now that we know there is a possibility of that being here, we can do a very targeted approach that looks for Borrelia," Schutzer said.

Lyme disease is transmitted by ticks in North America and Eurasia. It was first found in the United States in Connecticut in the mid-1970s; a similar disorder had been identified in Europe earlier in the 20th century.

Schutzer said he is discussing follow-up studies with Zink.

Previous work had examined genetic material within the Iceman's mitochondria — the energy-producing centers in cells. His mitochondrial DNA,which is inherited through the maternal line, did not reveal any living relatives.

A disabled cruise ship arrived in port in the island nation of the Seychelles on Thursday morning after three days at sea without power as dozens of officials flocked to the port to help distressed passengers.

The Seychelles Red Cross set up several tents to assist any passengers needing help and officials from the British High Commission and the French and Italian embassies were at the port to receive their citizens. Tour operators lined up dozens of buses ready to take passengers to either the airport or a Seychelles resort. The process was expected to take several hours and the weather is hot and humid.

The Costa Allegra has been at sea with more than 1,000 people onboard and without electricity since a fire in the generator room on Monday. There are no working toilets, showers, lights or air conditioning. The cause of the fire is unknown. A French fishing vessel has been towing the cruise ship to safety.

Travel agents flocked to the port, waiting to help passengers ashore.

"The focus of the operation is to get them a warm meal and a shower," said Guillaume Albert, head of Creole Travel Service. "I think the happy ending is the people coming off the boat."

The average age of passengers onboard the ship is 55 years, he said, and the heat and lack of hygiene could be uncomfortable for some of the older travelers.

"I know it was bad luck for these guys (from the cruise ship company) but they are doing the best they can," he said. "They have a lot of image building to do right now but I've seen a very professional team."

The fire came only six weeks after the Costa Concordia, owned by the same company, hit a reef and capsized off Italy, killing 25 people and leaving seven missing and presumed dead. No one was injured in the fire Monday.........GET MORE CLICK HERE

Most astronomy neophytes might say the best time is when the moon is at full phase, but that's probably the worst time. When the moon is full, it tends to be dazzlingly bright as well as flat and one-dimensional in appearance.

In contrast, the interval when the moon is at or just past first quarter phase, or at or just before last quarter phase, is when we get the best views of the lunar landscape right along the sunrise-sunset line, or terminator. (The terminator can also be defined as that variable line between the illuminated portion and the part of the moon in shadow.)

Along with the fact that a half moon offers more viewing comfort to the eye than a full moon does, using a telescope with just small optical power (magnifications of 20- to 40-power) or even good binoculars allows us to see a wealth of detail on the surface. Around those times when the moon is half-lit or in its gibbous phase, those features lying close to the terminator stand out in sharp, clear relief. [Photos: Full Moon Captivates Skywatchers in February 2012]

Next chance

The moon next arrives at first quarter phase on Leap Day: Wednesday (Feb. 29) at 8:21 p.m. EST. That will be the moment when its disk is exactly 50 percent illuminated. Lunar mountains will be visible as the sun lights them from the right.

How does the moon's brightness compare now with full phase? Most would probably think it's half as bright, but in reality astronomers tell us that the first quarter moon is only one-eleventh as bright as full. This is due to the fact that a half moon is heavily shadowed, even on its illuminated half. And believe it or not, it isn't until just 2.4 days before full that the moon actually becomes half as bright as full.

In contrast to a half moon, a full moon is almost completely illuminated, especially right around its center, where the sun shines straight down into all the microscopic crevices. Except for perhaps around the moon's immediate edges, you will find no shadows at all.

It looks like there might be one more "Jersey Shore" family member on the way. The hit MTV show's petite star, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi is pregnant, a source confirms to both the New York Post and E!'s Marc Malkin.

"Snooki lied -- she's preggers," screams the Post's headline, hoping to end the "is she or isn't she?" rumors that have been following Snooki for weeks.

"Yes, it's true. SNOOKI IS PREGNANT!!! mazel tov!!! Source just confirmed the ny post story with me," Malkin tweeted Wednesday morning, backing up the Post's claims.

According to Malkin, Snooki is "three to four months along."

If in fact the reality star, 24, is expecting, it will be the first child for both her and her boyfriend of over a year, Jionni LaValle -- and the first "Jersey Shore" baby.

Though Snooki and her rep have not commented on this round of pregnancy rumors, Snooki denied she was expecting earlier this month.

"I'm not pregnant," she told The Insider in early February, responding to the onslaught of pregnancy rumors. "Does this mean I'm getting fat again? Where did this come from," she joked.

She also addressed the rumors while appearing on "Live! With Kelly" with her fellow "Jersey Shore" cast mate, Jenni "JWoww" Farley.

"It was crazy yesterday, everyone thought I was pregnant," she said, adding, "I definitely want kids, but I'm not pregnant."

With a rumored baby on the way, we wonder how her new reality show with JWoww is going to play out.