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Space shuttle Atlantis stands at the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, nearly ready to begin its 32nd journey into space. That trip, slated to begin May 14, will also be Atlantis 's final planned mission, as the shuttle program winds down with just two more launches, of sibling orbiters Discovery and Endeavour, booked for later this year . Weather and equipment permitting, Atlantis will lift off for the International Space Station at 2:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time. [More]

Twelve men have walked on the moon. And now you can, too. Virtually, that is. Because planetary researchers are enlisting everyday citizens in scientific exploration of the surface of the moon.

At the Web site moonzoo.org , you can check out new high-resolution images taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter Camera. And the team at Citizen Science Alliance, based at Oxford University, says you’ll then be one of the first to see the moon’s surface in what they call unprecedented detail.

At Dartmouth College's fourth annual Formula Hybrid International Competition last week, graduate and undergraduate electrical, mechanical and computer engineering students showed off high-performance plug-in hybrid vehicles they had designed and built. This year's race pitted 24 teams from the U.S. and abroad--including those from Italy, Russia and Canada--against one another in the areas of presentation, engineering design, acceleration, maneuverability and endurance. [More]

Editor's Note: William Gilly , a professor of cell and developmental biology and marine and organismal biology at Stanford University, is traveling with a group of students on board the Don José in the Sea of Cortez. They will monitor and track Humboldt squid and sperm whales in their watery habitats. This is the group's fourth blog post. [More]

The Horse Boy PBS, May 11 at 10 p.m. EST [More]

Dear EarthTalk: I know that purchasing organic crib sheets, mattresses and baby clothes is better for the environment--but do they make any difference in terms of the baby’s health? --B. B., Fairfield, Conn.

By Jeff Tollefson

Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) released their much anticipated global warming bill on Wednesday, setting the stage for one last attempt to get climate legislation through the U.S. [More]

By Daniel Cressey

Since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank in April, vast quantities of dispersant chemicals have been sprayed onto the resulting slick. [More]