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The Metallic Snow-Capped Mountains of Venus Jun 10, 2013 03:13 PM ET // by Markus Hammonds Some of Earth’s most majestic features are its towering snowcapped mountains, reaching high enough that they can sculpt our world’s weather systems. But the mountains on Earth are by no means unique, and neither is the snow. Mountains on Venus are also capped with snow. Except that Venusian snow is mostly made from heavy metals.As you might expect from a planet with such an alien atmosphere, the snow which caps the Venusian mountains is seemingly no less exotic. With the high temperatures on the...

An Interior Department report to be released Tuesday says more than two-thirds of offshore oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico are sitting idle. According to the report, obtained by The Associated Press, those inactive swaths of the Gulf could potentially hold more than 11 billion barrels of oil and 50 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The report also shows that 45 percent of all onshore oil and gas leases are inactive.

An Interior Department report to be released Tuesday says more than two-thirds of offshore oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico are sitting idle. According to the report, obtained by The Associated Press, those inactive swaths of the Gulf could potentially hold more than 11 billion barrels of oil and 50 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The report also shows that 45 percent of all onshore oil and gas leases are inactive.

I must confess a temptation to complacent laughter at the frustration of all ''The Sopranos'' fans at the conclusion of the series. It was the most important television project ever, comparable to Don Quixote, Shakespeare, maybe even St. John's Gospel. Why did it end not with a bang but a whimper? It was also a powerful critique of corrupt capitalist American culture. Academics and intellectuals -- and pseudo-academics and intellectuals -- had searched the weekly bloodshed and vulgarity for wisdom hidden from the ages. How could the series stop without ending? Ordinary viewers, satisfied with the violent whacking of "Uncle...

Petitioners want gas tax to be capped 1/4/2006 9:09 PM By: Associated Press More than 22,000 people have signed a petition to repeal the gas tax increase. RALEIGH, N.C. -- On the eve of a legislative committee meeting, the head of a conservative group asked legislators to roll back the gasoline tax increase that took effect last weekend and find a better way to generate road-building money. Bill Graham, a Salisbury attorney who represents North Carolina Conservatives United, showed binders containing the names of more than 22,000 people who want eliminated the nearly 3-cent-per-gallon increase in the gas tax that...