CBS Corporation (NYSE: - ) shares traded in the range of $47.61 to $48.96 Friday before settling to close at $48.03, a decrease of 1.66 percent, on volume of over 10.0 million shares traded. The stock appears to be facing resistance at $48.99 with some support at $47.91. The company is scheduled to release results for the second quarter of 2013 after market close on Wednesday, July 31st. Shares of CBS Corp. have gained over 26.0 percent so far in 2013.

More information on CBS Corp. and access to the free equity report can be found at:

Equinix Inc. (NASDAQ: - ) shares traded in the range of $187.83 to $194.85 Friday before settling to close at $192.57, a decrease of 5.54 percent, on volume of over 8.0 million shares traded. The stock appears to be facing some resistance at $199.39. The company recently announced that it has opened the first phase of its fifth data center in Zrich. Shares of Equinix are down approximately 13.2 percent in the past month.

More information on Equinix and access to the free equity report can be found at: Iron Mountain Inc. (NYSE: - ) shares traded in the range of $27.72 to $29.35 Friday before settling to close at $28.95, a decrease of 15.84 percent, on volume of 16.61 million shares traded. The stock appears to be facing some resistance at $31.35. The companys Board of Directors have declared a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, payable on July 15, 2013 to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 25, 2013. Shares of Iron Mountain have fallen approximately 26.6 percent in the past month.

More information on Iron Mountain and access to the free equity report can be found at:

Lamar Advertising Co. (NASDAQ: - ) shares traded in the range of $41.99 to $44.78 Friday before settling to close at $43.62, a decrease of 4.22 percent, on volume of 7.70 million shares traded. The stock appears to be facing some resistance at $44.80 with some support at $43.11. The company reported net revenues were $283.5 million for the first quarter of 2013, an increase of 6.5 percent when compared the year ago quarter. Shares of Lamar Advertising are up approximately 12.5 percent so far in 2013.More information on Lamar Advertising and access to the free equity report can be found at:

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Activate your always free membership by signing up attoday.Disclaimer:Information, opinions and analysis contained herein are based on sources believed to be reliable, but no representation, expressed or implied, is made as to its accuracy, completeness or correctness. The opinions contained herein reflect our current judgment and are subject to change without notice. We accept no liability for any losses arising from an investor's reliance on or use of this report. This report is for information purposes only, and is neither a solicitation to buy nor an offer to sell securities. Certain information included herein is forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements concerning manufacturing, marketing, growth, and expansion. Such forward-looking information involves important risks and uncertainties that could affect actual results and cause them to differ materially from expectations expressed herein. Wall Street Fundamentals has no financial relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this release.

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Owned by conglomerate Associated British Foods, Primark has bucked the retail gloom thanks to its focus on low prices at a time when many retailers find the going tough as consumers fret over job security and a squeeze on incomes.

The chain has 257 brick-and-mortar stores across eight countries including Britain, Ireland and Spain, but currently no online retailing presence.

"Primark is undertaking a very limited trial of online sales with ASOS. This trial relates to a small number of fashion items and will give the company some insight into online retailing," a Primark spokesman said via email.

Tarlok Teji, a retail analyst at Manchester Business School, said it made sense for Primark to tie up with ASOS for its first foray into online retailing.

"The details of the deal are unclear but I expect it will increase throughput for ASOS and give Primark customers a 'digital shopping channel'," Teji said in emailed comments. "We should expect both parties to do well from this venture."

(Reporting by James Davey in London and Abhishek Takle in Bangalore; Editing by Dale Hudson)

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 65 points to 14,895 as of 1:30 p.m., a drop of 0.4 percent. Chevron led the Dow lower, losing $2.29, or 2 percent, to $119.27.

Wall Street followed European markets lower after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi disappointed investors by signaling that the bank wouldn't take more steps to shore up Europe's ailing economy.

Prices for U.S. government bonds and gold rose sharply as traders shifted money away from stocks and into lower-risk assets.

The next big focus for traders is Friday's government report on U.S. employment.

The U.S. stock market moved between small gains and losses in the morning, then headed lower at midday following a decline in European markets.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell seven points to 1,600, down 0.4 percent. The Nasdaq composite fell 15 points, or 0.5 percent, to 3,385.

Financial markets have turned volatile over the past two weeks as traders parse comments from Federal Reserve officials for hints about when the bank will cut back on its support for the economy.

The Dow is coming off two days of losses. The 30-stock average has managed to go without a three-day losing streak since December 28, a record 108 trading days, according to Schaeffer's Investment Research.

A batch of weak economic reports sent the stock market plunging to its lowest level in a month on Wednesday. The Dow had its biggest one-day loss in seven weeks and closed below 15,000 for the first time since May 6.

Long-term interest rates are expected to rise as the economy improves and the Fed scales down its monthly purchases of $85 billion in bonds. Rates remain near historically low levels.

"As interest rates come back to more normal levels, it's probably going to cause volatility," said Tim Speiss, chairman of the personal wealth advisers practice at EisnerAmper. "But that should be viewed as healthy."

In the market for U.S. government bonds, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note sank as demand rose for U.S. government debt. The yield fell to 2.03 percent, a big drop from 2.09 percent late Wednesday.

In Europe, government bond yields rose and stock indexes fell after the European Bank chief said the bank wouldn't take more action to prop up the region's economy.

The yield on Spain's 10-year government bond spiked to 4.65 percent from 4.41 percent as demand for the bonds plunged.

Stock markets fell 2.6 percent in Italy, 1.2 percent in Germany, 1 percent in France.

Gold jumped $16 to $1,414 an ounce. The price of crude oil crossed above $95 per barrel following a report from the Energy Department that the country's oil supply shrank last week.

Early Thursday, the Labor Department said that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell by 11,000 last week to 346,000, a level that's consistent with steady job growth.

Speiss called the drop in claims a "good sign." The figures tend to fluctuate sharply week to week. Speiss said it's far from certain that the government's monthly employment survey will give investors anything to cheer on Friday. Economists predict that employers added 170,000 jobs last month. A report that's much better or worse than expected can drive trading for weeks afterward.

The market is off to a rough start in June. After just three full days of trading, the S&P 500 has lost 1.7 percent. The Dow has lost 1.5 percent.

Among other stocks making big moves:

L Brands, the owner of Victoria's Secret and Bath and Body Works, fell $1.16, or 2.2 percent, to $50.50. The company reported sales growth in May that came in below financial analysts' estimates.

VeriFone Systems plunged 18 percent. After the market closed Wednesday, the provider of terminals for credit-card payments reported quarterly results that fell short of financial analysts' estimates. The lower results were a result of a charge for legal fees and sliding sales. VeriFone also forecast earnings of 20 cents in the current quarter, half of what analysts had forecast. The company's stock sank $4.02 to $17.95.

PARIS (Reuters) - Roger Federer calls Jo-Wilfried Tsonga a "great friend" but received no mercy from the Frenchman who swept him aside in devastating fashion on Tuesday to boost hopes of a first home men's winner at Roland Garros since 1983.

An inspired Tsonga played like a man on a mission and Federer simply could not live with him, slumping to a chastening 7-5 6-3 6-3 French Open quarter-final defeat in front of a spellbound crowd on a sun-drenched Philippe Chatrier court.

Serena Williams has been on a mission ever since taking to the park courts in Compton and the 31-year-old moved a step closer to a 16th major singles title, which would be one behind Federer, as she beat Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1 3-6 6-3.

The American top seed, who snapped a run of four successive quarter-final defeats here since she won the title in 2002, will face diminutive Italian Sara Errani in the semi-finals.

Fifth seed Errani continued to prove that last year's final appearance in Paris was no flash in the pan as she edged past Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4 7-6 (6) in what was her first career win against a player ranked in the top four.

In Tuesday's other men's quarter-final, Tommy Robredo ran out of escape routes as he was overwhelmed by fourth seed David Ferrer 6-2 6-1 6-1 in an all-Spanish affair.

Tsonga has been part of the pack chasing the elite top-four of men's tennis ever since bursting through to reach the 2008 Australian Open final where he lost to Novak Djokovic. But he had never gone beyond the last eight in Paris.

When Federer wafted a backhand long on match point, the crowd erupted and Tsonga set off on his trademark celebratory leap, the tantalising prospect of the 28-year-old going on to emulate Yannick Noah became the talk of the town.

Federer has suffered at the hands of Tsonga before, notably at Wimbledon in 2011 when the Frenchman, who has a passing resemblance to boxing great Muhammad Ali, bounced off the ropes to beat the Swiss great from two sets down.

That had been a real toe-to-toe contest but this time Federer trudged off well-beaten, waving to the crowd and knowing his last chance of a second French Open title may have gone.

SAD FEDERER

"I'm pretty sad about the match and the way I played," Federer, one of four players aged 30 or over to reach the last eight here this year, told reporters.

"Jo-Willy played great today. He was better than me in all areas today. He returned better than I did, served better than I did. I struggled to find my rhythm."

Tsonga, despite his dazzling brilliance on Tuesday, will have to reach a similar level against Ferrer to become the first Frenchman to reach the final here since Henri Leconte in 1988.

Ferrer showed why he is second in command in Spain's claycourt army behind Rafa Nadal by thrashing iron-man Robredo who had recovered two-set deficits in his previous three rounds.

The 31-year-old Ferrer, seeded four this year, has marched through the draw without dropping a set, although neither has Tsonga so something will have to give on Thursday.

"He beat Roger playing beautiful tennis," Ferrer, who has a 0-14 career record against Federer but leads Tsonga 2-1, said.

"Winning in three sets against Federer is something which is usually very difficult to do."

Federer beat Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Gilles Simon in rounds three and four and when he jumped into a 4-2 lead on Tuesday he looked like making it a hat-trick.

However, Tsonga had something up his sleeve, telling reporters afterwards that his coach Roger Rasheed had instructed him to go out and play like Nadal.

"I had a long discussion with Roger, and before the match we tried to see how Roger Federer plays on the clay," Tsonga said.

"Also the way Rafa is always able to make him play the wrong way. Then I tried to do the same. Today it worked."

LOW POINT

Federer's day reached a low point in the seventh game of the third set when he made a hash of a routine smash and was then struck on the back as Tsonga claimed a decisive break of serve.

Despite a below-par performance from the 2009 champion, Federer was full of praise for Tsonga.

"I had a good preparation and I have been playing good tennis here, so give some credit to the old Jo-Willy Tsonga, please, " he said. "For (the fans) I hope he can do it."

Williams, yet another of the 30s brigade in quarter-final action here, proved she is fallible with a mid-match crisis against Kuznetsova, but she underlined her rapacious appetite for grand slam silverware with a storming finish.

She had dropped only 10 games to reach the last eight and had been 100 percent reliable on serve but when Kuznetsova broke twice to take the second set and again to lead 2-0 in the third the American was heading for a fifth consecutive defeat in the quarter-finals since her sole title here in 2002.

"Definitely, I just got tired of losing in the quarters. It's enough," said Williams, who lost to Kuznetsova in 2009 when the Russian won the title. "I really, really, really, really wanted it more than anyone."

The old survival instincts kicked in when she saved three "double break" points in a strung-out third set and that proved crucial as world number one Williams switched on the after burners and surged away to a 29th consecutive victory.

Errani, beaten by Maria Sharapova in last year's final, is one of the WTA Tour's workaholics having taken her season's total of singles and doubles matches to 82 on Tuesday.

She faces a busy schedule over the coming days as she is also partnering Roberta Vinci in the doubles.

With a 0-5 losing record against Williams to overcome, keeping her mind occupied might not be such a bad idea.

The remaining quarter-finals are on Wednesday when men's top seed Djokovic faces Tommy Haas and Rafa Nadal meets Stanislas Wawrinka, while women's number two seed Maria Sharapova tackles Jelena Jankovic and Victoria Azarenka plays Maria Kirilenko.

AIG and GM will rejoin the S&P 500 after the stock market closes on Thursday, the S&P Dow Jones Indices said on Monday.

The move represents a symbolic victory for AIG and GM, which have taken steps to overhaul their operations and return to viability since their near-collapse about five years ago.

Companies in this index are considered leaders in their industry, the S&P said on its website. Returning to the index will help boost shares, particularly important in the case of GM, which is still partially owned by the U.S. government.

AIG received $182 billion in U.S. funds, while GM took $50 billion during the economic recession in 2008 and 2009. The bailouts were highly controversial, but government officials said they were necessary to stabilize the weak U.S. economy.

In December, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it was selling its remaining stake in AIG. Taxpayers made a profit on the AIG bailout, a once unthinkable outcome.

Later that month, the U.S. Treasury said it would exit GM by early 2014. But unlike AIG's case, the U.S. government is likely to lose billions of dollars on GM.

GM will replace H. J. Heinz Co, while AIG will replace Baker Hughes Inc, the S&P said.

(Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; Editing by Stephen Coates)

New research shows that a bright dwarf galaxy in a cluster near the Milky Way is losing its gas, creating a tail of fireballs expelled from the innards of the galaxy. The galaxy, called IC 3418, appears to be moving from one phase of galactic evolution into another.

"We think we're witnessing a critical stage in the transformation of a gas-rich dwarf irregular galaxy into a gas-poor dwarf elliptical galaxy the depletion of its lifeblood," the principal investigator of the study, Jeffrey Kenney of Yale University, said in a statement. "Until now, there has been no clear example of this transformation happening." []

IC 3418 is located in the Virgo Cluster a group of about 1,000 galaxies and the cluster closest to the Milky Way's Local Group of galaxies.

Scientists think that IC 3418 stopped making newabout 200 to 300 million years ago, rendering the galaxy effectively infertile, the researchers said. "Stars, planets, and life can form only if a galaxy has gas to make them," Kenney said.

The galaxy's fireball tail, however, does show signs of new star formation. The gas within IC 3418 is forced outside of the galaxy by pressure given off by other galaxies in the cluster.

"If you hold popcorn and unpopped kernels of corn in your hand and stick it out the car window as you drive, the wind caused by the cars motion through the air will blow away the popcorn but leave the denser unpopped kernels in your hand," Kenney said. "This is like the gas clouds in galaxies being blown out of the galaxy by the wind of cluster gas, while the denser stars remain behind."

By observing this dwarf a subspecies of the most common type of galaxy in the universe it could give astronomers a better sense of how they evolve.

"Its gratifying to find a clear example of an important process in galaxy evolution," Kenney said. "I enjoy digging through evidence to assemble a story about what happens to galaxies. Ive come to think of myself as an intergalactic forensic pathologist someone who studies the bodies of galaxies seeking evidence of traumatic events responsible for the present state of the galaxy."

Kennedy presented his findings today (June 3) here at the .

Follow Miriam Kramerand. Follow us,and. Original article on.

The baby was released from a hospital to his maternal grandparents late Wednesday, while his 22-year-old mother remains under medical care, the state-run Jinhua Evening News reported, in an account confirmed Thursday by a local police official who declined to give his name.

The baby's stunning, two-hour rescue from a pipe underneath a squat toilet in Zhejiang province's Pujiang county captivated the world, prompting both horror and an outpouring of charity on his behalf.

The mother initially raised the alarm about the baby when he got stuck Saturday in a pipe just below a squat toilet in a public restroom of a residential building, but she had cleaned the room of signs of a fresh birth and did not immediately come forward as the mother, officials have been quoted as saying.

She admitted she was the mother two days later when confronted by police who found baby toys and blood-stained tissues in her apartment, the reports said.

Police later concluded that the incident was an accident and that the woman did not initially come forward because she was frightened, but that she later started telling the truth, the Jinhua Evening News and a Pujiang county propaganda official said. The police initially treated the case as a possible attempted homicide, but now are unlikely to file criminal charges, the newspaper and the official said.

A man tracked down by police who is believed to be the baby's father has requested a paternity test and if the baby is his is willing to help support the child, said the Pujiang official, who declined to give his name, as is customary among Chinese officials.

Officials have not publicly released the names of anyone connected with the case, which has raised discussion over China's lack of proper education about sex, birthing and contraception in many schools. Unwanted pregnancies have been on the rise because of an increasingly lax attitude toward premarital sex.

Duan Wanjin, a criminal lawyer based in Xi'an, said local police erred in not prosecuting the mother. He said she could be charged with attempted homicide for not immediately calling for help after the newborn became stuck.

"The local police may have considered the woman was still young and did not have any malice, and have come to the decision from the human perspective, but it sends a terrible signal to the public," Duan said.

Sociologist Li Yinhe said the only mistake by the woman was not to immediately admit the baby was hers. "I don't think that's a big deal. After all, the child is safe, and it has a happy ending," Li said. "The Chinese people still lean heavily on the human considerations. Let it be bygones if there's no serious crime."

The woman told police she got pregnant after a brief affair with the man, hid her pregnancy from family and neighbors, and secretly delivered the child Saturday in a rental building's restroom. She said the infant accidentally slipped into the squat toilet and after cleaning up the scene raised the alarm.

Firefighters who arrived at the rental building found the infant trapped in an L-shaped section of sewage pipe just below the squat toilet in one of the building's shared restrooms.

In video footage, officials were shown removing the pipe from a ceiling that apparently was just below the restroom and then, at the hospital, using pliers and saws to gently pull apart the pipe, which was about 10 centimeters (3 inches) in diameter.

The baby, who weighed 2.8 kilograms (6 pounds, 3 ounces), had a low heart rate and some minor abrasions on his head and limbs, but was mostly uninjured, according to local reports. The placenta was still attached.

Q. Is global warming to blame?

A. You can't blame a single weather event on global warming. In any case, scientists just don't know whether there will be more or fewer twisters as global warming increases. Tornadoes arise from very local conditions, and so they're not as influenced by climate change as much as larger weather systems like hurricanes and nor'easters. They're not easy to incorporate in the large computer simulations scientists use to gauge the impact of global warming.

And when scientists ponder the key weather ingredients that lead to twisters, there's still no clear answer about whether to expect more or fewer twisters. Some scientists theorize that the jet stream is changing because sea ice in the Arctic is shrinking. And the jet stream pattern drives weather in the Northern Hemisphere.

Q. How does this tornado season stack up against previous ones?

A. The season got off to a quiet start this year. Typically, there are more during spring, and the numbers dwindle in the worst heat of the summer. An unusually cool spring kept the funnel clouds at bay until mid-May this year. The last two seasons illustrate the extremes in tornado activity. In 2011, the United States saw its second-deadliest tornado season. Last year, it was busy in April but there were few twisters after that.

Q. What happened in Oklahoma?

A. The tornado destroyed two elementary schools and flattened neighborhoods with winds estimated between 200 and 210 mph. The National Weather Service on Tuesday gave the twister a top-of-the-scale ranking of EF5. The tornado at some points was 1.3 miles wide, and its path went on for 17 miles and 40 minutes.

Q. How did it form?

A. Like the most destructive and deadly tornadoes, this one came from a rotating thunderstorm. The thunderstorm developed in an area where warm moist air rose into cooler air. Winds in the area caused the storm to rotate, and that rotation promoted the development of a tornado.

The senator is Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, a moderate with serious energy-policy chops: He is the top Republican on the Senate panel that funds the Energy Department and represents a state that's home to a major Energy Department research lab, Oak Ridge.

The speech, which he'll deliver at the Oak Ridge facility, is in keeping with views Alexander has long espoused. But it's in stark contrast to the energy and climate positions taken by his party's leaders since 2010. After the tea party helped fuel the Republican takeover of the House, denying the science of climate change went from a fringe to a mainstream Republican view, and the House even passed a bill declaring that climate change was a hoax. Super PACs such as Americans for Prosperity, which has ties to the oil conglomerate Koch Industries, targeted Republicans who acknowledged climate change and supported renewable energy. During the 2012 presidential campaign, every Republican candidate but one, Jon Huntsman, questioned or denied the science concluding that carbon pollution causes global warming.

Alexander's speech highlights the widening schism on energy and climate change between moderates like himself and party leaders like Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, often named as a likely 2016 presidential candidate. At a speech in March, Rubio said, "The people who are actually closed-minded in American politics are the people who love to preach about the certainty of science with regards to our climate but ignore the absolute fact that science has proven that life begins at conception." Alexander himself has acknowledged the dividelast year, he stepped down after five years as the chairman of the Republican conference, criticizing the party's increasing ideological partisanship.

Republican strategists say they'll be paying close attention.

"Lamar is a pretty interesting guy. Given his swingy nature, lots of people are going to pay attention to what he is saying," said Mike McKenna, an energy lobbyist and strategist who helped craft House Republicans' energy messaging.

Since 2010, many formerly moderate Republicans have shifted far to the right on energy and climate positions, in part to avoid attacks from groups such as Americans for Prosperity ahead of reelection campaigns. But although Alexander is up for reelection next year, he is not backing down from his long-held energy positions. The former Tennessee governor is not facing a primary challenger and is expected to maintain a comfortable lead over Democratic challenger Larry Crim.

Five years ago, Alexander gave a similar energy speech at Oak Ridge, laying out seven "grand challenges" on energy, including finding ways to promote plug-in electric vehicles, capture and use carbon emissions, help solar become cost-competitive, safely manage nuclear waste, make biofuels competitive with gasoline, make new buildings green buildings, and create energy from fusion. At the time, those goals were well in line with the views of the GOP's presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Alexander's speech will provide a progress report on those goalsand propose a plan for a Republican energy future.

The speech will directly acknowledge climate change and the need to reduce carbon pollution. "While the United States has made more gains in reducing the use of carbon than any other industrial country, the National Academies of the U.S. and 12 other countries have warned that human activity has contributed significantly to climate change and global warming," Alexander will say, according to prepared remarks.

He'll then lay out "four grand principles" to "help the United States end an obsession with taxpayer subsidies and strategies for expensive energy and instead focus on doubling research and allowing marketplace solutions to create an abundance of clean, cheap, reliable energy."

His four principles are: cheaper, not more expensive energy; clean, not just renewable energy; research and development, not government mandates; and a free market, not government, picking winners and losers.

More specifically, he'll praise the U.S. boom in development of natural gas, a source of electricity that produces half the carbon pollution of coal. While he'll acknowledge the role renewable-energy sources such as solar play in the nation's energy mix, he'll also push for development of low-carbon electricity sources such as nuclear and hydropower. He'll praise the work done by the Energy Department lab ARPA-E, which researches high-risk, high-reward breakthrough clean-energy technologiesa move that comes on the heels of a GOP campaign railing against President Obama for the bankruptcy of the solar company Solyndra, which took $500 million in an Energy Department loan guarantee.

In addition, Alexander will call for an end to government subsidies on wind energy, a policy he's long opposed. The proposals hardly line up exactly with President Obama's green agenda, but with their clear focus on low-carbon energy, they are a far cry from the stance of many in the GOP.

"I've been fascinated with the progress we've made on the seven grand challenges I suggested five years ago," Alexander will say. "Perhaps by focusing on these four principles, we can capitalize on this progress toward cheap, clean, reliable energy."

Still, Republicans say that a voice like Alexander's will have serious heft as the GOP reckons with its energy and climate future.

"Lamar is a strong and credible voice for Republicans on energy issues," said Republican strategist Mark McKinnon. "He has standing to make the case."

(Logo: )

Teams will demonstrate a robot that can locate and collect geologic samples from a wide and varied terrain, operating without human control. The objective of this NASA-WPI Centennial Challenge is to encourage innovations in autonomous navigation and robotics technologies. Innovations stemming from the challenge could improve NASA's capability to explore a variety of destinations in space, as well as enhance the nation's robotic technology for use in industries and applications on Earth.

"Anticipation is high for a successful sample collection this year," said Sam Ortega, program manager of Centennial Challenges, which is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "Last year, teams were finding their footing and tweaking their designs. This year, we have several teams that know what they're up against, and they can't wait to get back on the field. We have a lot of new competitors signed up. Improving this technology will be a huge boon, not just to NASA and space exploration, but also for countless applications here on Earth."

There will be two levels of competition. For a robot to complete Level 1 successfully, it must leave from a starting platform in search of a sample that has been previously identified in the robot's onboard computer. The robot must then autonomously return one undamaged sample to its starting platform within a 30-minute time limit. Only teams that complete Level 1 will be allowed to compete in Level 2.

To complete Level 2 successfully, a robot must autonomously return at least two undamaged samples, including the pre-cached sample, to its starting platform within a two-hour time limit.

Samples are categorized as easy, intermediate and hard based on the complexity of their shape, size and design, with higher point values given for samples classified as hard. Samples range in shape and size from rectangular (like a shoe box) or round (like a tennis ball). Prize awards will range from $100,000 to $1.5 million depending on the amount of points scored.

This is the second Sample Robot Return competition. During last year's competition, also at WPI, 11 teams registered to compete and the field narrowed to six as the competition approached. After robot inspections, only one team met the contest's rigorous requirements. That robot competed in Level 1, but failed to collect the required samples in the allotted time, so no prize money was awarded.

The Centennial Challenges program does not award funds to competitors unless the challenge objectives have been met. This assures desired results are gained before government funds are paid.

Returning teams this year include SpacePRIDE of Graniteville, S.C.; Survey of Los Angeles; Wunderkammer of Topanga, Calif.; Intrepid of Lynnwood, Wash.; and the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. New teams entering the competition are Fetch of Alexandria, Va.; Middleman of Dunedin, Fla.; Mystic Late Robots of The Woodlands, Texas; Team AERO of Worcester, Mass.; the Autonomous Rover Team of the University of California at Santa Cruz; and Kuukuglur of Estonia.

The challenge begins on the WPI campus Wednesday, June 5, with awards expected on Saturday, June 8, if competition objectives are met. The awards ceremony will take place during the day-long TouchTomorrow technology festival hosted by WPI. The festival will showcase the teams and robots as well as NASA and WPI exhibits in science, robotics and space technology. The TouchTomorrow festival is open to the public.

Journalists who want to cover the sample return robot competition should contact Janet Anderson of NASA Communications at 256-544-0034 or by email atfor a schedule of activities and media credentials.

For more information about WPI and the TouchTomorrow festival, visit:

The Centennial Challenges program is part of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use in NASA's future missions. For more information, visit:

SOURCE NASA