Calorie counters

With the low-fat craze having run its course, thanks to people realizing that fat makes things taste good, the snack industry has something new up its sleeve: “mid-calorie” ice cream and cookies that contain fewer calories but enough fat to be tasty. And nutrition experts say that’s a good thing, as even 30 fewer calories per serving can spell the difference between normal weight and obesity.

Now, if the food merchandisers can invent midnight binge-proof packaging, we’ll have this obesity thing solved.

Space souvenirs: President Barack Obama on Thursday signed into law a bill that confers full ownership of early NASA artifacts to the astronauts who took them as souvenirs, including the 70-page checklist that helped the Apollo 13 crew return home safely.

Oddly, no one wanted several unopened jars of Tang left over from the Gemini 11 mission in 1966.

Water, water, but not everywhere: NASA’s Curiosity rover has encountered an ancient stream bed on Mars where fast-moving water once flowed waist-deep.

It took countless million years for rivers to go dry on Mars. The developers of Las Vegas could have done it in 35 years.

— Mark Carlson, Herald staff