OFFBEAT

What's that smell? It's the odor of a new fuel source if you ask Melody Kelemu, an NYU student that wants to convert dog poop into fuel. The 21-year-old student is applying for an NYU grant to have machines placed nearby dog parks that would turn canine waste into energy that would power park lamps.

Rats are the grinches of this holiday season at one midtown Manhattan post office. They didn't quite steal Christmas, but they've eaten their way through a number of care packages, according to the New York Times.

Jerome Isaac brutally killed a 73-year-old woman by setting her on fire in an elevator. What drove him to the point of madness?

Winter Solstice is approaching this Dec 21st-early Dec. 22. the shortest day of the year. As usual there's the pressure of too much to do during the holiday season and too little time to do it. But this year, I've started to think about next year already--It's supposed to be the end of the world in 2012 on the next solstice. I'm jammed with deadlines already. What about my bucket list?

The woman who wore a cat mask while robbing SoHo boutiques is awaiting a jury deliberation to determine her prison sentence.

The Higgs boson news caused cheers from me, too. Because I have been searching high and low for the Higgs right here in New York. That is, I have been searching tirelessly for that thing that gives substance to the insubstantial. And I would like to report that I have found it, too, all over the place.

The Higgs boson news caused cheers from me, too. Because I have been searching high and low for the Higgs right here in New York. That is, I have been searching tirelessly for that thing that gives substance to the insubstantial. And I would like to report that I have found it, too, all over the place.

New Jersey Nets owner and Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov is planning a presidential run-against Vladimir Putin in the March 2012 Russian Presidential election. For the first time the United States now faces a frightening billionaire gap.

Former New York FBI agent was taken in Iran nearly four years ago without any leads or suspects. How do kidnapping victims cope with such as these traumatic events?

Just a token bet for Romney. He probably couldn't conceive of betting less. Doesn't that say it all? Do you make friendly bets of 10 grand with your friends? I was not amused. I don't have $10,000 to squander like that. That's about what I pay for health insurance every year.

After the death of a female high-school basketball star, it appears that there is an upward trend for women to join street gangs in the city.

The long shadow of Occupy Wall Street fell across the New York Legislature Tuesday, when its leaders and Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed to changes to New York State's income tax, which will cut rates for many in the middle class, while adding a new bracket for those making over $2 million a year. And we, the middle class, owe that rag-tag group of small-d democrats our gratitude.

The long shadow of Occupy Wall Street fell across the New York Legislature Tuesday, when its leaders and Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed to changes to New York State's income tax, which will cut rates for many in the middle class, while adding a new bracket for those making over $2 million a year. And we, the middle class, owe that rag-tag group of small-d democrats our gratitude.

Every New Yorker trapped in a tiny, cramped apartment--since Mr. Blandings--has dreamed of a new world...a new life--and driven by enough extreme urban chaos--even a new planet. Now NASA has found one.

Every New Yorker trapped in a tiny, cramped apartment--since Mr. Blandings--has dreamed of a new world...a new life--and driven by enough extreme urban chaos--even a new planet. Now NASA has found one.

?Voters in Los Angeles, home to the U.S. porn industry, could soon be asked to decide whether condoms should be required in adult films to reduce sexually transmitted diseases.

Experts can only attempt to understand what went through the mind of Damel Burton, 34, the morning of December 2. In about 15 minutes, Burton murdered two people, wounded another, and sent terrified passengers on a Queens bus running in terror and in fear of their lives.

The annual Kennedy Center Gala this year bestowed its recognition on Diamond, actress Meryl Streep, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, singer Barbara Cook and saxophonist Sonny Rollins. It's also a weekend that saw the comeback victory of Tiger Woods, the personally troubled golf great, who finally won a tournament after a two-plus-year drought, the Chevron Challenge and Sherman Oaks, held Sunday in Los Angeles. Why do we hold up athletes as role models so much more often than we do artists?

Occupy Wall Street is the sharp tip of the spear, the Seal Team 6, that has driven the first hole in the unbroken line of Grover Norquist's famed anti-tax, pro-elite movement--and its so-called pledge. OWS has already done its work, already changed the public debate.

Occupy Wall Street is the sharp tip of the spear, the Seal Team 6, that has driven the first hole in the unbroken line of Grover Norquist's famed anti-tax, pro-elite movement--and its so-called pledge. OWS has already done its work, already changed the public debate.

Senator Charles Schumer wants to protect you from being stalked at the mall. By tracking your movements via your cell-phone, that is.

I had just been chatting, over a ridiculously expensive turkey sandwich that Monday (right before Thanksgiving, what was I thinking?), about the declining fortunes of the once-great American Empire. But enough, for the moment, about me, first let's see what Columbia's Herbert J. Gans, emeritus professor of sociology, had to say about superfluous jobs in his recent New York Times Op-Ed piece--and whether what he astutely observed could lead, within the century, to the breakup of th...

Appliances, computers, electronics, cameras, clothes, watches, ribbons or bows, you name it and it's for sale on Black Friday, the most important retail day of the year.

Pictures of a one-eyed shark met with skepticism but was proved by scientists to be genuine.

Prognosticators who predicted the end of the world and got it wrong, scientists who built a wasabi fire alarm, and researchers who studied how the urge to urinate affects decision-making were among the winners of spoof Ig Nobel prizes on Thursday.

Student Republicans at the University of California at Berkeley have stirred up the famously left-wing campus with plans for a sale of baked goods priced according to the race and gender of buyers.

FThe man credited with creating Doritos will be buried along with some of his beloved snack chips, his family told Reuters on Tuesday.

Now many rare diseases can be treated. Rabies, for example, are very treatable. But this month, a soldier died from this disease, becoming the only one this year in the United States who died from thea treatable disease.

A 21-foot (6.4 meter) long crocodile was captured by staff of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Division (PAWD) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of Philippines.