New Mission to Red Planet Gets Green Light – 8/21 KQED Science News Roundup

New mission to Red Planet gets green lightTwo weeks after landing the Curiosity rover on Mars without a hitch, scientists and engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory learned that their InSight mission to study the Martian interior had received the go-ahead from NASA.

Fast Lane for California Wind Energy - But for How Long?Fast Lane for California Wind Energy - But for How Long? Federal incentives can hasten development-or slow it down By Nate Seltenrich Last year brought a fresh breeze for wind energy, and projections indicate that 2012 will be even better.

Clues to Fighting Cancer Are Found in the Genes of YeastPeople have been searching for new medicines for thousands of years, and yet we have barely explored the universe of possibilities. Recently chemists at the University of Bern in Switzerland tried to estimate how many promising molecules have yet to be tested. In June they published their best guess: over a million billion billion billion billion billion billion.

Rape Assertions Are Dismissed by Health ExpertsRepresentative Todd Akin's assertion that women who are victims of "legitimate rape" rarely get pregnant provoked outrage across the political spectrum, but the views he articulated are far from new in anti-abortion circles.

Spacewalkers prepare station for new Russian labCAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Mon Aug 20, 2012 10:06pm EDT CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Two veteran cosmonauts sailed through a six-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Monday to prepare the orbital outpost for a new module and better shield its living quarters against small meteorite and debris impacts, officials said.