The anomalously long lull in solar flares and sunspots during 2008 and 2009 may have been caused by a drop in gas flows at the sun's surface, related weak magnetic fields. The finding may point to a way to better predict solar activity.

Efforts to save the endangered Virginia big-eared bat from White Nose Syndrome by starting a captive colony appear to be failing.

Cliqset has produced this nifty web app that aggregates status updates and check-ins sent from people in and around Austin to all of the different major location-sharing services — Gowalla, Foursquare, Twitter, Brightkite and of course Cliqset.

Now that Apple has fulfilled its goal of achieving quantity in its App Store, the company is making a hard push for quality. But where do you draw the line between raising quality standards and censorship?

The firebrand stand-up comic's story is told in this documentary, which makes its North American premiere at South by Southwest this week. Get a taste of Hicks' brutally funny take on drugs, religion and modern life in this trailer for the movie.