Researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) have demonstrated how a new virus evolves, shedding light on how easy it can be for diseases to gain dangerous mutations. The findings appear in the current issue of the journal Science.

The scientists showed for the first time how the virus called "Lambda" evolved to find a new way to attack host cells, an innovation that took four mutations to accomplish. This virus infects bacteria, in particular the common E. coli bacterium. Lambda isn't dangerous to humans, but this research demonstrated how viruses evolve complex and potentially deadly new traits, noted Justin Meyer, MSU graduate student, who co-authored the paper with Richard Lenski, MSU Hannah Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.  [sciday]

A small asteroid the size of a city bus zoomed between Earth and the moon's orbit Friday (Jan. 27) just days after its discovery, but it never posed a threat to our planet, NASA says.

The asteroid 2012 BX34 passed within 36,750 miles (59,044 kilometers) of Earth when it made its closest approach at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT). The space rock is about 37 feet (11 meters) wide and would have broke apart in Earth's atmosphere long before it reached the ground, if it had reached the planet at all, NASA scientists said.

Once upon a time inside Death Valley, an ancient volcano exploded in a deadly mixture of steam and rock that sent a towering mushroom cloud aloft and left a crater a half-mile wide and nearly 800 feet deep.

That same volcano, named Ubehebe, could explode again at any time, say scientists who have used new techniques to determine just when that first huge blast sent the region shuddering.

Geologists exploring the crater in the past had found a trove of Indian artifacts amid the volcanic rubble. By dating those relics they estimated that the volcano blew its top about 6,000 years ago - which would have meant there would be no more underground water left to fuel the hot volcanic rocks for another explosion. [sfgate]

Sunspot AR1402, the source of this week's powerful M9-class solar flare, is acting up again. On Jan. 26th between 0100 UT and 0600 UT, a sequence of C-class magnetic eruptions around the active region hurled a bright coronal mass ejection over the sun's north pole, shown here in a coronagraph image from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory:

The cloud is not heading toward Earth, at least not directly. This and future eruptions from AR1402 are unlikely to be geoeffective as the sunspot is turning away from our planet. By week's end it will be on the far side of the sun, blasting its CMEs toward planets on the opposite side of the solar system.  [spaceweather]

If this week's raging solar storm was any indication, the sun is ramping up its activity — and scientists will be ready for it. By meticulously studying our planet's star, they are able to predict these potentially dangerous space weather events better than ever before.

A huge solar flare erupted Monday, triggering the strongest radiation storm in nearly a decade. A wave of charged particles, called a coronal mass ejection (CME), bombarded Earth Tuesday. The bombardment is over now, but some minor disruptions to spacecraft and power grids were reported.

Scientists' forecast for the arrival of the disruptive wave was off by only 13 minutes, far more accurate than in the past. And with much of the world's networks interconnected and populations increasingly reliant on technology, the ability to predict and track potentially harmful space weather events will become ever more crucial. [msnbc]

A Wisconsin virology team that created a more contagious form of bird flu did not produce a highly lethal superflu, as a Dutch team famously and controversially did last year, according to the leader of the Wisconsin team.

Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Tokyo said in a commentary published online by Nature magazine that his team’s virus had infected ferrets through the air, but that it did not kill any of them. Ferrets catch flu just as humans do. Also, he said, “Current vaccines and antiviral compounds are effective against it.”  [nytimes]

One in five Americans experienced some sort of mental illness in 2010, according to a new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. About 5 percent of Americans have suffered from such severe mental illness that it interfered with day-to-day school, work or family.

Women were more likely to be diagnosed with mental illness than men (23 percent of women versus 16.9 percent of men), and the rate of mental illness was more than twice as likely in young adults (18 to 25) than people older than 50.

About 11.4 million adult Americans suffered from severe mental illness in the past year and 8.7 million adults contemplated serious thoughts of suicide. Among them, more than 2 million made suicide plans and about 1 million attempted suicide. [yahoo]

Frenetic star-forming activity in the early Universe is linked to the most massive galaxies in today's cosmos, new research suggests.

This "starbursting" activity when the Universe was just a few billion years old appears to have been clamped off by the growth of supermassive black holes.

An international team gathered hints of the mysterious "dark matter" in early galaxies to confirm the link. The findings appear in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Being able to see objects at great distances in the cosmos allows astronomers to look into the past, at light that departed when the Universe was young. [bbc]

In an unusual move, an international coalition of flu researchers agreed last week to a hiatus on work surrounding a highly contagious, mammal-adapted version of the avian influenza virus . Research on transmissible H5N1 flu will halt, and two manuscripts describing how to modify the virus won’t be published, at least not yet.

The voluntary pause came a few weeks after an American advisory panel recommended censoring the research in the name of security. So it raises an interesting question - is some research just too dangerous to pursue? Not just for the scientists conducting it, but for the public in a post-9/11 world? [popsci]

Our planet is being bombarded by high-energy particles unleashed by the strongest solar storm since 2005, scientists say. The charged particles are mostly a concern for satellites - which they can disrupt - and astronauts. But they can also cause communication problems for aircraft traveling near the poles.

The geomagnetic storm has been caused by a potent flare that erupted from the Sun at 0400 GMT on Monday. The effects are likely to be felt on Earth throughout Wednesday. [bbc] - [DELTA Reroutes Flights] - [Dropped calls on cellphones]

The world economy is slowing sharply, and the euro region is headed for recession this year, the International Monetary Fund predicted Tuesday in a bleak update of global conditions.

Overall, the world economy is expected to expand 3.25 percent in 2012 — down from the 4 percent projected by the IMF in the fall. That figure includes 8.2 percent growth in China, still the world’s most quickly expanding economy, and 7 percent in India. U.S. growth is forecast at 1.8 percent, the same as the fund projected in the fall.

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A wave of charged particles from an intense solar storm is raising alerts about airline flights and satellite operations - and raising the prospect of stunning auroral displays.

The storm began when a powerful solar flare erupted on the sun Monday , blasting a stream of charged particles toward our planet. This electromagnetic burst - called a coronal mass ejection, or CME - started hitting Earth somewhere around 10 a.m. ET Tuesday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center.

Experts at the center said that solar radiation levels were at their highest point since the Halloween storms of 2003. Earlier estimates ranked the storm as the strongest since 2005 in terms of solar radiation, but Terry Onsager, a physicist at the Space Weather Prediction Center, said that when the wave of charged particles arrived, "that took it from below the 2005 event to above the 2005 event."

On your 2012 calendar, be sure to put a big red circle around June 5.  On that day, a celestial occurrence that will not be seen by human eyes until well into the 22nd century - the year 2117 to be exact - will take place. The planet Venus will cross the face of the sun.

Through the balance of this winter season and well into the spring of 2012, Venus will gradually climb higher in the sky and grow progressively brighter, eventually becoming an "evening lantern" for those commuting home from work and school. [msnbc]

The Canadian Space Agency posted a geomagnetic storm warning on Tuesday after residents were also treated to a spectacular show in the night sky.

Ken Kennedy, director of the Aurora section of the British Astronomical Association, said that the lights, also known as the aurora borealis, may be visible for a few more days.

A powerful solar eruption is expected to blast a stream of charged particles toward Earth tomorrow (Jan. 24), as the strongest radiation storm since 2005 rages on the sun.

Early this morning (0359 GMT Jan. 23, which corresponds to late Sunday, Jan. 22 at 10:59 p.m. EST), NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory caught an extreme ultraviolet flash from a huge eruption on the sun , according to the skywatching website Spaceweather.com.

The solar flare spewed from sunspot 1402, a region of the sun that has become increasingly active lately. Several NASA satellites, including the Solar Dynamics Observatory, the Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), and the Stereo spacecraft observed the massive sun storm. [space ]

Severe storms and possible tornadoes pounded the South on Monday, injuring more than 100 people and killing at least two in Alabama, including a man who lived in an area devastated by a deadly twister outbreak in the spring.

Homes were flattened, windows were blown out of cars and roofs were peeled back in the middle of the night in the rural community of Oak Grove near Birmingham. As dawn broke, residents surveyed the damage and officials used chainsaws to clear fallen trees.

Oak Grove was hit hard in April when tornadoes ravaged Alabama, killing about 240 people, though officials said none of the same neighborhoods was struck again. Officials had to reschedule a meeting Monday to receive a study on Alabama's response to the spring tornadoes. [weather ]

A powerful solar eruption is expected to blast a stream of charged particles toward Earth Tuesday, Jan. 24, as the strongest radiation storm since 2005 rages on the sun.

Early this morning (0359 GMT Jan. 23, which corresponds to late Sunday, Jan. 22 at 10:59 p.m. EST), NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory caught an extreme ultraviolet flash from a huge eruption on the sun, according to the skywatching website Spaceweather.com.

The solar flare spewed from sunspot 1402, a region of the sun that has become increasingly active lately. Several NASA satellites, including the Solar Dynamics Observatory, the Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), and the Stereo spacecraft observed the massive sun storm. [fox]

Experts in Japan have cautioned that the chances of a powerful earthquake striking Tokyo in the next four years could be as high as 70%, a more alarming scenario for the city's 13 million people than predicted by the government.

The earthquake research institute at Tokyo University said that in the worst case, an earthquake of magnitude 7 would hit the southern part of metropolitan Tokyo by 2016, while the chances of a similar disaster occurring within 30 years are as high as 98%.The government, by contrast, estimates the possibility of an earthquake that size striking the capital at 70% in the next three decades.