IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. stocks plunged on Monday, racking up their biggest losses in almost three years as investors fled to the safety of gold and bonds after the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating by Standard & Poor's stoked fears the country is powerless to stop another recession.

An international team of researchers has found the strongest evidence yet that parts of North America and Antarctica were connected 1.1 billion years ago, long before the supercontinent Pangaea formed.

Credit ratings for some of the main arteries of the U.S. financial system -- from clearing houses to government mortgage agencies -- were cut one notch to AA-plus by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Monday.

Oil plunged 5 percent on Monday, crashing below technical support levels as the reduction of the top-tier U.S. credit rating hammered markets and stoked concerns of an economic slowdown.

The space agency has dished out $100,000 to 30 companies for one year studies on advanced space technology concepts.

The latest market rout might serve as a warning to investors who have euphorically poured money into high-flying technology stocks.

Reality star Kate Gosselin, mother of eight children, who famously split from ex-husband Jon Gosselin in 2009, is ready to date again. "I've said a lot of times that I'm ready to start dating," Kate Gosselin said.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's, still under fire for downgrading the United States late last week, Monday restated the reasons for its decision while rival Moody's set itself apart, saying America still has the characteristics of a AAA-rated country.

Municipal water managers in Texas, where the drought has reached a painful point, have decided to recycle sewage water. "We're taking treated effluent (wastewater), normally discharged into a creek, and blending it with (traditionally supplied potable) water,"

U.S. stocks plunged on Monday, taking the S&P 500 down more than 6 percent on growing fears of a recession, exacerbated by the loss of the country's pristine triple-A credit rating.

Shares of Verizon Communications were down 2.1 percent in early trading on Monday, a day after nearly half of its wireline business employees went on strike.

Revelers dressed in fur and face paint came out to re-enact Viking battles, remember the Viking influences on Spain, and drink lots of wine out of large horns!

Stink bugs did not get their names for no reason - they emit an unbearable smell similar to that of rotting garbage when squashed. And now these stink bugs, which caused $37 million worth of damage last year, are returning with a mission to invade, after waking up from hibernation.

Rapper Kanye West compares his reception to Adolf Hitler's.

Stocks plunged on Monday, with the S&P down more than 6 percent for its largest drop in nearly three years on rising fears of a recession exacerbated by the United States' loss of its triple-A credit rating.

U.S. stocks plunged on Monday and investors fled to the safety of gold and bonds after the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating by Standard & Poor's stoked fears the United States is slipping into recession.

The latest in a series of patent lawsuit against Apple has to do with the speed booting method of Mac OS X.Two weeks ago, Operating Systems Solutions, a company whose identity remains unknown, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the tech giant for Mac OS X startup process.

The American people just love their cell phones. According to a new survey from Telenav, a mobile applications company, one-third of Americans would rather do without sex than without their cell phone.

Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis believed Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was behind the assassination of her husband, according to tapes recorded by the former first lady just months after President John F. Kennedy's death, the Daily Mail reported.

The manufacturers set aside their differences and work together on 3D glasses for the good of the industry.

The growth of Google+ since its launch a month ago has been breathtaking. Swallowing up 20 million users in 3 weeks from the launch, Google's new social media site has now reportedly reached 2 5 million.

Wall Street underestimated the effect of cuts in government spending on the networking industry and may have to curtail its expectations again with growing fears of a global economic slowdown.

According to tapes recorded by Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis, she believed Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was behind the assassination of her husband, President John F. Kennedy.

Raymond Johnson, 26, was diagnosed with breast cancer about a month ago, after pain from a lump in his chest sent him to the emergency room, and then denied treatment. However, Johnson's job of laying tile down does not make enough to pay for treatment, amounting in $10,000 of medical costs.

Standard & Poor's cut its ratings outlook on Warren Buffett's conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway to negative from stable on Monday, part of a broad action on 10 insurers linked to last Friday's downgrade of the United States credit rating.

Investors are looking to a meeting of the Federal Reserve on Tuesday for signs of further support for reeling financial markets and the economy after the European Central Bank stepped in to buy Italian and Spanish government bonds in the latest attempt to deal with the euro zone debt crisis.

Oil plunged 6 percent on Monday, crashing below technical support levels as the reduction of the United States's top-tier credit rating hammered markets and stoked concerns of an economic slowdown.

Experts in food science at the University of Texas in Austin conducted tests of food temperature in more than 700 packed lunches of children ages three to five who attended day care. In 98 percent of the lunches, the food was not at the desired temperature for safe eating. These results appear in the current issue of the journal of Pediatrics.

U.S. airlines have begun rolling back fare increases initiated last month when a partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration halted the collection of certain ticket taxes and allowed carriers to raise base fares without increasing prices paid for tickets.