Science editor Alan Boyle’s Weblog: Mobile devices such as Apple’s iPad are providing new platforms for enjoying the crown jewels of space imagery. Check out some of the brightest gems.

Supercomputing has helped astrophysicists create massive models of the universe, but such simulations remain out of reach for many in the United States and around the world.

Decaying corpses are usually the domain of forensic scientists, but palaeontologists have discovered that studying rotting fish sheds new light on our earliest ancestry.

(AP) — Getting to space is about to be outsourced. The Obama administration on Monday will propose in its new budget spending billions of dollars to encourage private companies to build, launch and operate spacecraft for NASA and others. Uncle Sam would buy its astronauts a ride into space just like hopping in a taxi.

Gloria Correa has tried all the standard weapons in her war against cancer: chemotherapy, radiation, and finally surgery.

(PhysOrg.com) — After more than five decades of research, a major milestone toward the harnessing of fusion power is expected within the next year or two. This milestone, known as “fusion ignition,” should take place at an experimental facility built for that purpose in California. Known as the National Ignition Facility, or NIF, it started initial experiments last fall.

Turning hijacked computers into cash is hard work for most computer criminals. It’s much easier to just demand cash directly from infected users — a crime that’s the Internet’s equivalent of kidnapping.В 

Some were surprised to hear that Apple’s newest product, the iPad, will run on AT&T’s network, which has drawn complaints from Apple iPhone users.В  But the iPad’s impact on the network В is not estimated to be what it was for the iPhone.

Seiko Epson Corporation today announced it has developed and begun shipping samples of the S1C33L26, an application processor ideal for product applications requiring high-resolution liquid crystal displays (LCDs), such as control panels for office and factory automation equipment, and high-performance remote controls.

(PhysOrg.com) — Apple’s announcement on their new iPad left some disappointed in its capabilities and lack of. The iPad is sleek and thin at .53 inches and weighs only 1.4 pounds. According to Apple the iPad will run iPhone apps without any modification. There are however some features that will have consumers thinking twice before considering to buy the iPad.

OpenID is a decentralized authentication protocol that makes it easier for users to access resources in your Java Web applications. In this first half of a two-part article, you'll learn about the OpenID Authentication Specification and walk through the steps of incorporating it into a sample Java application. Rather than implement the OpenID Authentication specification by hand, author J. Steven Perry uses the openid4java library and a popular OpenID provider, myOpenID, to create a safe and reliable registration process for a Java application written in Wicket.

A 6.1 magnitude quake hit the Philippines region early Thursday, US scientists said, but no tsunami warning was immediately issued.

Apple Wednesday announced a touchscreen tablet computer, the “iPad.” Pricing starts at $499, and it should be available in 60 to 90 days.

(AP) — The online business rating site Yelp has raised $25 million from the private equity firm Elevation Partners.

The expectations — and hype — were wildly high for Apple’s “iPad” tablet device, which had been rumored for months. The reality, say some analysts, is still pretty impressive.