Free Republic

WASHINGTON — U.S. high-tech industry executives met earlier this week with Vice President Dick Cheney to lobby for more U.S. support for basic science research, sources said Friday (Dec. 16). The meeting came as two U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation this week designed to boost U.S. innovation. The National Innovation Act of 2005 introduced Wednesday by Sens. John Ensign (R-Nev.) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) seeks to increase investment in basic research, improve science and technology talent and develop a robust innovation infrastructure. The proposal would also create a President's Council on Innovation to "develop a comprehensive agenda to promote innovation in...

LONDON -- A survey of deaths in Iraqi households estimates that as many as 100,000 more people may have died throughout the country in the 18 months after the U.S. invasion than would be expected based on the death rate before the war. There is no official figure for the number of Iraqis killed since the conflict began, but some non-governmental estimates range from 10,000 to 30,000. As of Wednesday, 1,081 U.S. servicemen had been killed, according to the U.S. Defense Department. The scientists who wrote the report concede that the data they based their projections on were of "limited...

Snows of Kilimanjaro gone by 2020? Researchers trace past and future of famed African ice fields The picture on the left shows Mount Kilimanjaro as seen from the space shuttle in November 1990. The picture on the right was taken by a shuttle crew in December 2000. The pictures show the retreat of glaciers over the course of a decade. ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 — The snow cap of Mount Kilimanjaro, famed in literature and beloved by tourists, first formed some 11,000 years ago but will be gone in two decades, according to researchers who say the ice fields...