ROCKET SCIENCE: NASA launched a test flight of its next-generation Ares I-X rocket on Wednesday, marking the first time in 28 years anything but a space shuttle took off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. The tall, thin rocket — which is 327 feet from nose to tail, but only 12 feet wide at points — barreled eastward over the Atlantic Ocean around 11:30 Wednesday morning, taking advantage of a brief break in cloud cover to rip through an open blue sky. The $445 million flight was a vindication of sorts for NASA engineers, who have faced criticism that their Ares I-X rocket is too costly and technically flawed. While it's intended to eventually ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, some critics say NASA should focus on heavy-cargo flights, leaving astronaut transport to private companies. "[To] all the naysayers, that was just one of the most beautiful rocket launches I've ever seen," space center director Robert Cabana said in the control room afterward. The test flight saw both of the rocket's two stages ultimately crash into the ocean, which was intentional; the final version's second stage will have an engine and four-person crew capsule that continues into space. That flight is scheduled for March 2015. (Sources: New York Times, Toronto Star, Associated Press)

 

SNOW JOKE: Winter arrived early in parts of the Rocky Mountains and Western Plains this week, where a slow-moving snowstorm has already dumped as much as 28 inches and could produce up to 4 feet before shipping out later today, weather forecasters say. Colorado received some of the heaviest snowfall, with more than 2 feet in the state's eastern foothills and up to 15 inches in Denver, but an area stretching from Utah's Wasatch Front to the Nebraska-South Dakota border is draped in the unseasonably deep snow. It's Denver's biggest October snowstorm since 1997, and has led to school closures, flight cancellations, road blockages and other inconveniences, although no traffic deaths have been reported. "The plows are out, but the roads are kind of icy and snowpacked," a Colorado Department of Transportation official tells the AP. "Be patient and take your time." (Sources: AP, Denver Post)

 

SQUASHING GERMS: Jack-o-Lanterns may be more symbolic than scary for most humans at Halloween, but they could turn out to be truly terrifying for some dangerous microbes, including a fungus that infects millions of Americans every year. That's according to a new study published this week in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, which found that proteins in pumpkin rinds inhibit the growth of some micro-organisms, including Candida albicans, a fungus responsible for yeast infections, diaper rash and other health problems. The proteins seem nontoxic to people — suggesting pumpkin skin could be developed into a safe and natural antibiotic — and also block the growth of several fungi that attack key agricultural crops. (Source: e! Science News)

 

SNAKE SMUGGLER: When Norwegian customs agents recently noticed a man getting off a ferry in the port town of Kristiansand with a shirtful of squirming lumps, they knew what was up. The agents detained the 22-year-old and lifted his shirt, revealing 14 royal pythons bundled in stockings and duct-taped to his abdomen. "Customs officers quickly realized the man was smuggling animals, because his whole body was in constant motion," one of the agents told a local newspaper. Further inspection turned up 10 albino leopard geckos in bins taped to his thighs, as well as a tarantula in his luggage. While none of the animals are endangered, Norway outlaws many reptile species as pets — fearing imported diseases and invasive species, like the pythons, boa constrictors and anacondas that have invaded the Florida Everglades in recent years. The smuggled animals were confiscated in this case, and the man was released after paying a $2,256 fine. (Source: AP)

 

CURRY KILLS CANCER: A chemical in the sweet and tangy spice that gives curry dishes their kick may also kick out cancer cells, according to new findings by the U.K. Cork Cancer Research Center. Curcumin — an extract from the bright yellow curry spice turmeric — has long been ascribed healing powers, and is already undergoing tests for treating ailments ranging from arthritis to dementia. But when let loose on a tumor, curcumin started killing cancer cells within 24 hours, the researchers found, and even triggered death signals within the cells, causing them to begin digesting themselves, too. "Scientists have known for a long time that natural compounds have the potential to treat faulty cells that have become cancerous," one of the study's authors tells the BBC, "and we suspected that curcumin might have therapeutic value." (Source: BBC News)

 

HUMAN FLU: OK, it's not actually flu, or even a virus, but it is the first proof of a human disease jumping to animals, according to a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Pathogens usually jump the other direction, evidenced by human outbreaks of bird flu and swine flu, plus a wide range of other illnesses believed to have first evolved in animals. But researchers from the University of Edinburgh have discovered that a form of the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus — which includes the human-infecting subtype MRSA — has jumped from people to chickens. It's the first clear sign of such a leap, although it seems to have originally happened 40 years ago, when intensive poultry-farming practices were becoming more mainstream. The original human form of the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria was isolated to a single geographic region, but the chicken version has spread into multiple continents during the four decades since. (Source: ScienceDaily)

 

— Russell McLendon