Free Republic

MADISON – Aaron Rodgers has faced some of the most ferocious defensive linemen the National Football League has ever unleashed on professional football fields. The Green Bay Packers quarterback has passed his way to the top of his game, becoming among the most accurate, respected and highest paid players in NFL history. Now, Rodgers is taking on a much more brutal enemy: The murderous warlords of the Democratic Republic of Congo in command of a civil conflict that has claimed more than 3 million lives. Green Bay’s QB has signed up as a celebrity front man for Raise Hope for...

The World Trade Organization on Wednesday confirmed that China had lost a case on rare-earth metals, the latest setback for Beijing in a dispute marked by price spikes and widespread concern among technology firms and defense-related users of the critical materials. The Geneva-based trade body and the office of the U.S. trade representative, which brought the original case two years ago, confirmed China's policies were found in violation of global trade rules. The public announcement comes almost five months after Chinese officials said they had lost the case, and four months after the deadline for the WTO to inform the...

It might not just be men who are from Mars, claims a new study which suggests that all life on Earth actually began on the red planet. An element believed to be crucial to the origin of life would only have been available on the surface of Mars, it is claimed. Geochemist Professor Steven Benner argues that the 'seeds' of life probably arrived on Earth in meteorites blasted off Mars by impacts or volcanic eruptions. Professor Steven Benner will tell geochemists gathering today at the annual Goldschmidt conference that an oxidised mineral form of the element molybdenum, which may have...

A research team at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland has announced they have come upon a new catalyst for electrolysis to split hydrogen out of water. In a serendipitous moment the team led by Xile Hu made this discovery during an electrochemical experiment. Hu said, “It’s a perfect illustration of the famous serendipity principle in fundamental research. Thanks to this unexpected result, we’ve revealed a unique phenomenon.” Being alert has rewards when lightning strikes, thanks to Professor Hu and his group the new hydrogen catalyst has been found. Splitting hydrogen is an energy expensive process. For industrial...

<p>KAMPALA, Uganda— Iran's president is in Africa this week to build alliances to evade stronger U.N. sanctions for his country's nuclear program, ease its international isolation and strengthen its economy.</p> <p>Both Zimbabwe and Uganda, the two countries President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is visiting, have something to offer.</p>