What Would Happen If You Fell Into a Volcano?

In this weekly series, Life's Little Mysteries provides expert answers to challenging questions.

What would happen if you leaned a bit too far over the rim of avolcano and fell in? You would die, of course — but how?

The question has garnered more scientific investigation than you might expect. As reported in December, lava's high density and resistance to flow suggest a person would smack onto the surface of a lava pit rather than sinking into it.

Nicotine Vaccine Could Help Smokers Quit

An anti-nicotine vaccine could give smokers a leg up on quitting, new research suggests. The study on mice indicates that the vaccine can deliver a gene that stops nicotine before it reaches the brain, protecting the mice from the nicotine "high" for their entire lives with just one dose.

Nicotine is a highly addictive drug found in cigarettes and other tobacco products, which also cause cancer. Smoking rates are falling every year, but about 20 percent of adults still smoke, despite high taxes and disturbing warning labels.

SKorea claims East Asia's oldest farming site

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's archaeological agency says it has unearthed evidence of East Asia's oldest known farmingsite.

Archaeologist Cho Mi-soon said Wednesday that the agency has found the remains of a farming field from the Neolithic period on South Korea's east coast. The site may be up to 5,600 years old. That's more than 2,000 years older than what is now the second-oldest known site, which also is in South Korea.

Infinity Blade for iOS tops console titles as most profitable Epic Games franchise ever

On Wednesday during the Game Developers Conference in Taipei, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney revealed that the company’s iOS franchise Infinity Blade is more profitable than even its biggest console game. “The most profitable game we’ve ever made, in terms of man years invested versus revenue, is actually InfinityBlade,” Sweeney said. “It’s more profitable than Gears of War.” This of course relates to profit versus investment and not the total profit Epic has earned from Infinity Blade.

A look at BlackBerry maker Research in Motion

On Thursday, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. will offer an update on upcoming layoffs and possibly say more about its upcoming BlackBerry 10 devices. It will release financial results for the latest quarter after the market closes.

RIM faces the most difficult period in its history. RIM, which fathered the ground-breaking BlackBerry in 1999, has hired a team of bankers to help it weigh its options. Those options include partnering with other companies, licensing software and overhauling its business.

Huawei Ascend D Quad delayed until August

Production of Huawei’s flagship Ascend D Quad smartphone has been delayed due to issues surrounding the handset’s processor. According to the company’s Consumer Business Group boss Yu Chengdong, Huawei’s in-house quad-core chipset “has encountered some technical problems which caused the delays in production.” The Chinese manufacturer is “working hard to overcome them,” however, and it expects mass production of the smartphone to begin some time in August.

Google sells small tablet, challenges Kindle Fire

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google unveiled its attempt to catch up to Apple and Amazon in the growing market for tablet computers. It also provided a titillating glimpse at its vision of a digital future through the mind-boggling lens of Internet-connected glasses.

The debut of a long-anticipated tablet computer bearing Google's brand and equipped with its latest operating software kicked off an annual conference for about 6,000 computer programmers.

Faster search, better photo sharing in new Android

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Faster ways to search content on the Internet and share photos between two phones are promised in the next version of Google's Android operating system for mobile devices.

Android 4.1 is nicknamed Jelly Bean, following Google Inc.'s tradition of likening its updates to a delectable treat. Google previewed it Wednesday at a conference in San Francisco for computer programmers.

Google's futuristic glasses move closer to reality

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google helped create a world brimming with digital distractions for people spending more of their lives tethered to the Internet. It's a phenomenon that seems unlikely to change so Google is working on a way to search for information, read text messages, watch online video and post photos on social networks without having to fumble around with a hand-held device.

The breakthrough is a wearable computer — a pair of Internet-connected glasses that Google Inc. began secretly building more than two years ago. The technology progressed far enough for Google to announce "Project Glass" in April. Now the futuristic experiment is moving closer to becoming a mass-market product.

Facebook slides as underwriters give mixed ratings

NEW YORK (AP) — The Wall Street analysts who know Facebookbest are giving the company's stock a mixed review. Think: like, not love.

A flood of analyst reports from 33 banks gave Facebook's stock a mix of "Neutral" and "Buy" ratings on Wednesday. And there was at least one review that equated to a "Sell" rating.

It marked the end of the 40-day quiet period following Facebook'sinitial public offering. Analysts at banks that led the IPO were finally allowed to give public opinions on the stock, offering the first glimpse of what the IPO's underwriters really think about Facebook.

Spain tops Portugal in shootout to make Euro final

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Still not pretty to watch, still just as effective.

Spain again failed to dazzle at the European Championship yet still advanced to its third straight major championship final, beatingPortugal 4-2 in a penalty shootout Wednesday following a scoreless draw after extra time.

"We're playing better in defense than what the characteristics of our players would suggest," Spain coach Vicente del Bosque said. "That's what earns victories."

Round 2 goes to Phelps; Franklin denies Coughlin

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Back and forth they went, Michael Phelpsand Ryan Lochte turning the U.S. Olympic trials into nothing more than a match race between the world's two greatest swimmers.

They might as well have been the only guys in the pool, their arms whirling furiously, the two of them never more than a few inches apart. Then, at the wall, they thrust out their right arms.

Phelps touched first.

Michael Jackson's tiger dies of lung cancer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Thriller, a tiger that belonged to Michael Jackson when the entertainer lived at his Neverland ranch, has died of lung cancer at actress-activist Tippi Hedren's wildlife preserve in California.

The 13-year-old, 375-pound tiger died June 11, Hedren said Wednesday. A necropsy was performed and the tiger was cremated. Staff workers will hold a private service when the ashes are buried in a section of the preserve set aside for animals that die there.

Microsoft attack puts spotlight on Greek tensions

ATHENS (Reuters) - Gunmen driving a van packed with gas canisters firebombed the Athens headquarters of Microsoft on Wednesday, underscoring the threat of instability as Greece asks for more time and less hardship in cutting its crippling debt.

Fire gutted the ground floor of the blue four-storey HQ of the U.S. software giant, blackening its walls with flames, on the eve of yet another European summit seeking a solution to a regional debt crisis first unleashed by Greece.

President Obama to tour Colorado wildfires

FDA OKs first obesity drug in 13 years

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators approved the first new weight-loss drug in 13 years, allowing Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc to bring its Belviq pill to market as public health advocates push for new solutions to the nation's growing obesity epidemic.

The Food and Drug Administration, knowing that millions of Americans would be tempted to take weight-loss pills, had set an unusually high bar for approvals because of safety problems and even deaths seen with past medicines.