AP Top Science News At 2 p.m. EDT

Russia still blue over moon landing 40 years later

By JIM HEINTZ — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:01:48 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) -- When Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon, it was a first for the Soviet Union - the first time the U.S. had beaten the U.S.S.R in the space race. Forty years later, the memory of that loss of primacy still seems to sting the Russian soul. When state TV channel Rossiya reported last week on the restoration of video footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the account gave a lot of attention to dubious conspiracy theories that the landing was faked....

Astronauts deal with flooded toilet in orbit

By MARCIA DUNN — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:13:35 GMT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- The bathroom lines at the already crowded space shuttle and space station complex got a lot longer Sunday because of a flooded toilet. One of two commodes aboard the international space station malfunctioned, right in the middle of complicated robotic work being conducted by the two crews. The pump separator apparently flooded....

40 years later, moon still giant leap for mankind

BY SETH BORENSTEIN — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:02:15 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The measure of what humanity can accomplish is a size 9 1/2 bootprint. It belongs to Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. It will stay on the moon for millions of years with nothing to wipe it away, serving as an almost eternal testament to a can-do mankind....

Where were you when Apollo 11 landed? Not born yet

By SETH BORENSTEIN — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:57:41 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Most Americans have never known a world where man hasn't been to the moon. It used to be a given that people knew where they were when man first walked on the moon on July 20, 1969, watching the black-and-white images on television. But now most Americans don't know where they were because the majority of Americans hadn't been born yet....

Apollo 11 crew: Aldrin likes spotlight, 2 shun it

By MARCIA DUNN — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:56:11 GMT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- In the 40 years since Apollo 11, some of the key players, most notably Neil Armstrong, have steered clear of the increasingly bright glare of the moonlight cast by the historic lunar landing. Others have embraced it. Almost all have written books detailing not only themselves but the glory days of space....

Famous lost word: The 'a' in 'one small step' line

By SETH BORENSTEIN — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:21:51 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- When Neil Armstrong first spoke from the moon, he said one thing and people on Earth heard another. What the world heard was grammatically flubbed: "That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind." Armstrong insists he said: "That's one small step for 'a' man." It's just that people just didn't hear it....

Scientists zoom in on carbon dioxide in NYC

By JENNIFER PELTZ — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:39:16 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wade McGillis peered up at the structure propped like a high-tech stick figure - minus the head - on an elementary school roof. Then he examined the electronics attached to its spindly metal frame, looking out over the Harlem brownstones nearby and the skyscrapers farther away....

South Korea deploys cloned drug-sniffing dogs

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:23:00 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea has put cloned dogs on patrol to sniff out drugs at customs. Six genetic duplicates of a single Labrador retriever have been working at the country's main Incheon international airport and three other customs checkpoints to deter drug smuggling after completing 16 months of training, the Korea Customs Service said in a statement Sunday....

India stands firm against binding emissions limits

By ROBERT BURNS — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:20:56 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) -- India stood firm Sunday against Western demands to accept binding limits on carbon emissions even as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed optimism about an eventual climate change deal to India's benefit....

Invasive mussels imperil western water system

By FELICIA FONSECA — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 14:18:55 GMT

LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, Nev. (AP) -- Two years after an invasive mussel was first discovered at Lake Mead, the population has firmly established itself and gone on a breeding binge, with numbers soaring into the trillions....