Jerry Skene, right, of Chantilly Robotics mentors a group from Anacostia High School participating in the FIRST Robotics Competition. (Jahi Chikwendiu - Washington Post) 
From Scientific American:
Endeavour, part of the retiring shuttle fleet, rolls to the launch pad in Florida. NASA will also launch crafts to aid the study of sea salinity, the sun and aerosols. (Matt Stroshane / Getty Images / January 6, 2010)
An adult entertainer dances at the 2010 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, Nev., Friday Dec. 8, 2010. It's no accident that each year as the Consumer Electronics Show winds down in Las Vegas, the Adult Entertainment Expo heats up. (Zuma Press/Newscom)
Hiding behind water (Image: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty)
Photo: Steve Ballmer shows off a slate PC during his opening keynote at CES 2010. (Credit: James Martin/CNET)
Virtual 3D reconstruction of four deciduous and one permanent teeth assessed for linear, surface, and volumetric tissue proportions. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Bristol)
White areas show where snow covers the ground completely as of Jan. 5, 2010. Credit: NOAA
From Scientific American:
An AR. Drone helicoptor at the International Consumer Electronics Show
Engineer-inventor Douglas Hines adjusts the head of his
Televisions at Samsung’s booth at the Consumer Electronics Show.
Image: Nicholas Sarkozy, president of France has a strong link to the creative community. His wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, is a well-known singer and songwriter. (Credit: Screenshot by Greg Sandoval/CNET)
Writing in a comment on a post at The Oil Drum Gregor Macdonald very succinctly sums up an energy future where China, India, and other rapidly developing countries gradually displace OECD countries as oil purchasers.
Read more ....High oil prices are more painful to the OECD/Developed world user than the Developing world user. In the Developing world coal accounts for the largest chunk of BTU consumption, and the marginal utility to the new user of oil is high. In other words, the OECD user is embedded in a system where the historical consumption pattern has been to use much more oil per capita. But in the developing world, just a small amount of oil to the new user of oil is transformational. It will be the developing world therefore that will take oil to much, much higher prices in the next decade. They will use small amounts per capita, but the aggregate demand will be scary high. After all, the developing world's systems are not leveraged to oil. They are new users of oil--and unlike us, aren't married to a system that breaks from high oil prices.
Image of what would be a "compound genome". Different molecules (in various colours) join the globule or corpuscle, which divides once it reaches a critical size. (Credit: Image provided by Doron Lancet)