The fictional world of Harry Potter has inspired everything from film adaptations to criticisms of promotion of the occult but it may have sparked the imaginations of scientists who are working on a practical 'invisibility cloak,' like the one the characters use to sneak through the halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Images of coal-filled mine carts and glowing headlamps atop soot-covered faces emerging from a mine tunnel scream Americana. There are many former coal mining sites now operating as museums dedicated to this relic of American heritage, recalling an industrious and dirty-handed past, but scientists, senators and some others are working hard to make clean coal a fuel of the future.

President Barack Obama arrived in the Oval Office last Tuesday with a beaker full of issues before him. Researchers have been excited for the new direction in which President Obama vows to take science policy since he was Candidate Obama. With the the president urging transportation officials to improve greenhouse emissions for automobiles on Mondays, the administration is already making science a focus in their first week on the job.

Even with one foot out the door, President George W. Bush assured the American people that he is still a man who acts from his heart. 'I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right,' he said in his farewell address last Thursday. 'You may not agree with some of the tough decisions I have made, but I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions.'

Like laughter, happiness might also be contagious. Your happiness depends on more than just you, it depends on your friends, their friends and their friends, according to a recent study. In the study, researchers from Harvard Medical School and the University of California, San Diego, found that happiness depends largely on a person's social network. By observing the happiness of almost 5,000 people over a 20-year period, scientists concluded that happiness seems to be contagious, but only up to three degrees of separation.

If you've ever wished that you were impervious to death, your dream may soon come true. According to a recent study published in the November issue of Cell, researchers may have found one of the causes of aging.

To many people, looking for the best in others can seem difficult, but for psychopaths, looking for the best in others seems impossible. A recent study performed by Dalhousie University researchers and published in the Journal of Research in Personality suggests that psychopaths are more highly aware of vulnerable people than of strong people.

Experts often attribute overeating to stress, sadness or the need to find pleasure in food. But according to the results of a recent study of rats published in the Journal of Neurophysiology, obesity may result from different taste perceptions in overweight individuals.

In a recent study published in the Open Atmospheric Science Journal, 10 scientists from the United States, the United Kingdom and France reported that the world's carbon dioxide (CO2) level may have already reached a danger zone' '-'-' a level that could destroy life on Earth.

The center of our galaxy recently ripped up matter, according to a recent sighting made by scientists.

Have you ever wanted to be in a Harry Potter movie? Have you ever wanted to replace a picture of your ex in a home video with a picture of your current love? According to Ashutosh Saxena, a graduate student at Stanford University, this might now be possible.

For some, red is passion. For others, red is anger. And for men, red is hot, according to a recent study. Two University of Rochester psychologists conducted a study that proves men are more attracted to women who are wearing red. They published the study in the Oct. 28 edition of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.