Dallas

More minorities using Internet

The digital divide may be narrowing.

Minorities are logging on in greater numbers, making cyberspace a more ethnically diverse place, according to a new study. And blacks and Hispanics increasingly are surfing the Web for their news.

Four years ago, the percentage of minorities online lagged behind whites. But a study issued last week by the Pew Research Center found that the gap has shrunk. Now, nearly two-thirds of whites and Hispanics and 61 percent of blacks use the Internet.

The study also found that nearly one-third of Hispanics log on for news — a larger percentage than whites or blacks.

Carroll Doherty, editor for the Pew Research Center, said more people are looking online for their political news.

“It’s right up there behind weather,” he said of the types of information that Internet users are seeking.

Los Angeles

Photos support theories about Saturn moon

High-resolution pictures taken by the Cassini spacecraft during a flyby of Saturn’s largest outer moon suggest the banged-up rock hails from the outer reaches of the solar system, a mission scientist said Sunday.

Photographs released Sunday show shiny patches, probably ice, on the battered moon Phoebe, which is dotted with overlapping craters. The ice probably was excavated from under the moon’s surface as objects struck Phoebe over the eons.

“My suspicion so far from what we’ve seen is that it’s a body from the outer solar system,” said Carolyn Porco, leader of the Cassini imaging team.

The internationally built Cassini spacecraft, which cost $3.3 billion to build, came within about 1,300 miles of the dark moon Friday as it prepared to enter a four-year orbit to study Saturn, its rings and 31 known moons.