Anyone living along the U.S. East Coast and around the lower Great Lakes may have seen a really cool sight if they looked up into the sky yesterday, as a brilliant rainbow-coloured halo encircled the Sun.

Called a 'Sun halo', 'icebow' or 'nimbus', or even a '22° halo', this incredible sight is caused by sunlight shining through thin clouds, called 'cirrus', that are 5 to 6 kilometres high in the sky.

[ Related: Trio of powerful ‘X-class’ solar flares erupt from the Sun ]

These wispy clouds are made entirely of tiny six-sided ice crystals, and light passing through the crystals is deflected (both reflected and refracted), and it separates out into colours, like when light passes through a prism. Because of the hexagon shape of these crystals, the strongest deflection is at an angle of 22° (thus the name), but the separated colours fan out to higher angles.

There's enough crystals in the cloud, all of them randomly oriented, that most of these deflections just cancel out, and we still see

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This February, Myles Nelson, 7, came up with a solution to gun violence: use chocolate bullets.

He told his classroom's reading specialist, Barbara Rankin, about his idea one lunch hour. She suggested he write to letters to President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Wisconsin Congresswoman Gwen Moore, sharing his brilliant idea.

With the help of Rankin, Myles did just that.

"Dear Vice President Biden, I have a great idea to help make our country safer, better and the best," Myles wrote. "I think guns should shoot out chocolate bullets. Then no one will get killed and no one will be sad."

This week, Biden responded with a handwritten letter:

"I am sorry it took me so very long to respond to your letter," Biden wrote in a letter that arrived at Nelson's school, Downtown Montessori Academy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Monday. "I really like your idea. If we had guns that shot chocolate, not only would our country be safer, it would be happier. People love chocolate. You are a good

Read More »from Joe Biden responds to boy’s sweet solution to gun violence

People look at the night sky using night vision goggles during a UFO tour (Reuters)The alien invasion has arrived at Earth's doorstep.

Canadian reports of UFO sightings more than doubled between 2011 and 2012, according to a report released this week by Ufology Research.

Sure, the skies have become more and more crowded with space junk and debris. And yes, it's possible that we're all getting just a little bit crazier.

However it's safest for everyone if we interpret the data as irrefutable evidence of an imminent attack from extra terrestrials that are swarming our skies in greater numbers than ever.

Canadians reported 1,981 UFO sightings in 2012, according to the report, which analyzed data of reported sightings from researchers and websites that monitor UFOs.

About 40 per cent of last year's reported sightings took place in Ontario.

Library and Archives Canada keeps a database of historical UFO sightings, including a case in 1969 when residents of Prince George, B.C. saw a round, glowing object ascending into the sky. An official RCMP investigation, detailed in a report

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A photo of a college graduate and her service dog at the Saturday convocation ceremony of the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, was recently posted to Reddit.

"The girl and the dog received the loudest applause hands down. Very adorable," Redditor tcjones54 wrote.

The young woman and her dog were dressed in matching caps and gowns.

The photo quickly went viral.

The woman in the photo, Redditor f3b14, then posted her own photo of graduation day.

"This is my service dog, Hero, after we graduated with our Master's degrees at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign," she wrote, adding that Hero loved the attention he received that day.

"He loved it! He loved all the attention too! When we were walking outside to reunite with my family, we were stopped every 10 feet for pictures by random people that loved his cap and gown! He was like a celebrity! I think he realized it was a special day!"

The proud graduate continued bragging about

Read More »from Graduate and her service dog wear matching caps, gowns at convocation ceremony

His smile is melting hearts everywhere.

A photo of a young boy, triumphantly cancer-free after years of chemotherapy, has been viewed more than 800,000 times since it was posted on imgur yesterday.

Posted by a proud family friend who confirmed the young cancer survivor has Down syndrome, the photo has inspired hundreds of supportive, celebratory comments.

"Well he's literally the toughest kid I know, dealt a hand in life that is difficult and is fighting back AND winning. All with a smile on his face... Damn. Makes me feel like a wimp. He must have the best parents in the world," redditor daybreakx wrote.

"Thank you so much for posting this, it really made my day. My son (~28 months old) has been battling leukemia for a little over a year and has a ways to go yet. He was diagnosed just before his first birthday," redditor KnuckleSangwich added. "I can't wait for him to take this same type of picture one day!"

"How awesome! Something to celebrate! Congrats to him! I wish him a long and happy

Read More »from Little boy with Down syndrome ‘kicked cancer’s butt’

Big news from Ontario’s growing gas plant scandal: Premier Kathleen Wynne has apologized. Eleven times. In one interview.

No word on whether the move set a speed record for a politicians going from zero to parody, in the vein of Spinal Tap, but it is certainly a change from her stance that she wasn’t responsible for the sins of her predecessor, Dalton McGuinty.

The National Post reports that Wynne apologized during a Tuesday interview on Ontario's TVO. A count of the word “sorry” came to 11.

“The people of Ontario need to hear that I’m sorry because I am, I am sorry,” Wynne told host Steve Paikin Tuesday evening, according to the Post.

On the spectrum of political apologies, Wynne's sudden outpouring lacks the historical gravitas of the residential school apology or the equivocation of that time Pierre Trudeau apologized for saying "fuddle duddle."

[ Related: Wynne apologizes for Ontario gas plant cancellations ]

In the history of Canadian political apologies, Wynne's moment will likely be

Read More »from Kathleen Wynne channels ‘Spinal Tap’, apologizes for gas plant debacle 11 times

Last year, we saw the unveiling of Google's new wearable computing technology, Google Glass. The year before, we were introduced to Chromebooks and Android 4.0 (also known as Ice Cream Sandwich).

According to The Associated Press, we could be in store for some more exciting product announcements from the company at this year's Google I/O conference in San Francisco, although there's little indication what they'll be talking about this morning -- with the exception of some leaked information about a completely redesigned Google Maps. Other topics of discussion we can likely expect include the future of the Android platform, and potentially an upgrade to the Nexus 7 tablet.

Watch and follow along with tech experts live, beginning at Noon EST as we see what Google has planned for us over the next year:

Read More »from Google I/O Keynote: Live coverage of Google’s conference in San Francisco

Those of us who followed the provincial election in British Columbia on Tuesday already know what a wild and crazy night it turned out to be.

For the rest, here is a quick synopsis: The pollsters got it dead wrong.

Every poll conducted in the lead up to Tuesday's vote had the NDP forming government, with Leader Adrian Dix becoming the new premier. Instead, the "floundering" Liberal government increased its power base and formed an even larger majority government.

As Yahoo! Canada's politics blogger Andy Radia points out, this follows on the heels of a complete muck-up in calling the Alberta provincial election as well. It makes you wonder what place polling has in politics today.

[Political Points: Liberals pull off surprise victory in B.C. election ]

One political scientist told Postmedia News that new forms of polling are part of the problem. Online polls and reaching respondents by cell phone, not only are they less reliable they are also easier to ignore. And even if those contacted do

Read More »from Does election polling still have a place in politics?