In his final months, while millions of people world-wide were watching his inspirational last lecture, Randy Pausch was cocooned at home in Virginia with his wife and three young children. "Every time I'm with the kids now, there's this total sense of urgency that I try not to let them pick up on," he told me. "I can't say things and reinforce them in four years. My time is now." The computer-science professor from Carnegie Mellon University, honored as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world, died at home Friday morning at age 47 of pancreatic cancer.

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X-rays reveal Van Gogh portrait
A new X-ray technique has revealed a previously unknown portrait of a woman by Vincent van Gogh, which was painted over by the artist.

The peasant woman's face was hidden behind the work Patch of Grass, completed by Van Gogh in Paris in 1887.

Interesting and different: Brian May, Queen guitar player attains Ph.D. in astrophysics and has been appointed chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.

http://www.space.com/entertainment/ap-071120-brianmay-rockstar.html

Huge statue of Roman ruler found

Parts of a giant, exquisitely-carved marble sculpture depicting the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius have been found at an archaeological site in Turkey.

How to swat a fly and know that it will die

The enduring mystery of why it is so difficult to swat a fly has been solved by scientists who believe they can now offer technical advice on how to hit a fly before it has a chance to escape.