Drivers Take Rover For Cool Spin on Mars – 9/10 KQED Science News Roundup

Drivers take rover for cool spin on MarsMatt Heverly, 36, started a recent workday as any young father might: up at 5:30, gulping coffee, fixing a bottle for the baby. Heverly leads a team of 16 drivers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Equipped with futuristic tools like a laser that can vaporize rock, the 2,000-pound robot arrived on Mars on Aug.

More private schools fall below threshold for immunizations - San Jose Mercury NewsParents who send their children to private schools in California are much more likely to opt out of immunizations than their public school counterparts, an Associated Press analysis has found, and not even the recent re-emergence of whooping cough has halted the downward trajectory of vaccinations among these students.

India launches satellites in 100th space missionNEW DELHI, India (AP) â India's national space organization has marked its 100th mission by launching French and Japanese satellites. The Indian Space Research Organization said Sunday's launch of a French observation satellite and a Japanese microsatellite was a success.

U.S. to auction state shale for drillingThe land, which spans Monterey, San Benito and Fresno counties, rests on a large chunk of the Monterey Shale, a formation of underground minerals long eyed by the energy industry for its potential to yield billions of barrels of oil.

Will California coast clean-up volunteers find debris from tsunami? - San Jose Mercury NewsMore than a year after a tsunami struck Japan's east coast, California beachcombers are preparing for a wave of debris expected to hit the U.S. Pacific Coast in coming months. "It's going to be a growing issue over the coming year as more debris starts to arrive in California," says Eben Schwartz, California Coastal Commission outreach manager.

Pot use in teen years linked to higher risk of testicular cancerSmoking pot as a teenager can double a man's risk of getting testicular cancer. But cocaine use can reduce the risk by half. These are just some of the conclusions a team of researchers at the University of Southern California came to after interviewing more than 350 men, 163 of whom had been diagnosed with testicular cancer, about recreational drug use.