FDA Says Clones Are Safe To Eat

FDA Says Clones Are Safe To Eat

    Taking a long-awaited stand in an emotionally fraught food fight, the Food and Drug Administration yesterday released a 678-page analysis concluding that milk and meat from cloned animals pose no unique risks to consumers.

Center proposes changing tsunami alerts (AP)

Center proposes changing tsunami alerts
(AP)


   AP - Scientists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center want to loosen the requirements for issuing tsunami warnings when earthquakes hit near the Hawaiian Islands.

SCIENCE

SCIENCE

    A hormone associated with the onset of puberty in humans appears to play an important role in telling rodents whether it is the proper season to reproduce. The recently discovered hormone, called kisspeptin, is different in people and in hamsters but seems to serve a related reproductive function.

Cancer Patients’ Wait Times Cost Billions

Cancer Patients’ Wait Times Cost Billions

   A new study says that $2.3 billion worth of time is spent in waiting rooms, doctors’ offices, hospitals and transportation in the first year after cancer is diagnosed.

FINDINGS

FINDINGS

    A study of male veterans of World War II and Korea suggests that vets with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder are at greater risk of heart attacks as they age. Chinese scientists reportedly have identified a molecule that may hold the key to developing a pill that would treat Type 2......

When the Brain Stalls at Disjunction Junction

When the Brain Stalls at Disjunction Junction

    Should the United States pull out of Iraq, or increase the number of troops on the ground? Should you break up with that person you've been dating for eight years -- or propose marriage? Should you sell that old house, or hold on to it?

Scientists Announce Mad Cow Breakthrough

Scientists Announce Mad Cow Breakthrough

    Scientists said yesterday that they have used genetic engineering techniques to produce the first cattle that may be biologically incapable of getting mad cow disease.

7 indicted New Orleans cops surrender (AP)

7 indicted New Orleans cops surrender
(AP)


   

AP - Seven policemen charged in a deadly shooting in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina turned themselves in Tuesday at the city jail, where more than 200 supporters greeted them in a show of solidarity.

The Energy Challenge: Wal-Mart Puts Some Muscle Behind Power-Sipping Bulbs

The Energy Challenge: Wal-Mart Puts Some Muscle Behind Power-Sipping Bulbs

   The retailer is determined to push energy-saving light bulbs with the help of some unlikely partners.

Poll shows support for Democrats' goals (AP)

Poll shows support for Democrats' goals
(AP)


   

AP - Two of the Democrats' top goals — a higher minimum wage and federal funding of embryonic stem cell research — enjoy broad public support as the party takes control of Congress for the first time in a dozen years.

Arizona tests wildlife 'crosswalk' (AP)

Arizona tests wildlife 'crosswalk'
(AP)


   AP - A experimental electronic "crosswalk" designed to keep Arizona's animals and drivers safe will begin operating east of Payson for the first time this month.

Stars must 'check science facts'

Stars must 'check science facts'

   Celebrities must check their facts before supporting campaigns or run the risk of misleading people, a charity says.

Stormy Northwest (weather.com)

Stormy Northwest
(weather.com)


   weather.com -

Oryx species to help revive dying breed (AP)

Oryx species to help revive dying breed
(AP)


   AP - A pair of scimitar-horned oryxes from the Kansas City Zoo are among six from North America and four from Europe that are being reintroduced in Tunisia, the animals' native scrubland where they have been wiped out.

Missouri man reels in ancient fishhook (AP)

Missouri man reels in ancient fishhook
(AP)


   AP - A man hunting for American Indian artifacts with his sons along a gravel bar on the Missouri River has uncovered an ancient fishhook that is making collectors envious.

Ancient latrine fuels debate at Qumran (AP)

Ancient latrine fuels debate at Qumran
(AP)


   

AP - The discovery of a 2,000-year-old toilet at one of the world's most important archaeological sites is focusing renewed interest on a question that has preoccupied scholars for more than half a century: Who lived at Qumran?

A Toxic Leak Haunts the Shuttle Crew

A Toxic Leak Haunts the Shuttle Crew

   As he leads his third spacewalk Saturday during the shuttle Discovery’s mission to the International Space Station, one word is likely to be on Capt. Robert L. Curbeam Jr.’s mind: ammonia.

Genetic mutation alters response to heart failure drugs

Genetic mutation alters response to heart failure drugs

   Drugs known as beta blockers help reduce the heart's workload during heart failure via their action on beta-adrenergic receptors in cardiac cells. However, doctors remain puzzled by the variable responses to beta blockers among patients. Researchers now show that the key to this variation lies in a single amino acid change in the beta1-adrenergic receptor, that may differ from person to person, which alters the receptor's conformation and the receptor's response to certain beta blockers.

JCI table of contents: January 2, 2007

JCI table of contents: January 2, 2007

   This release contains summaries, links to PDFs and contact information for the following newsworthy papers to be published January 2, 2007, in the JCI, including: Genetic mutation alters response to heart failure drugs; Glucose levels trigger compensation for type 2 diabetics; Cell relocation fixes damage to the gut lining; BCL2 reins in BIM, preventing leukemic cell death; and Complex macrophage and monocyte interactions at work in atherosclerosis.

Stormy day for Northwest, northern California (weather.com)

Stormy day for Northwest, northern California
(weather.com)


   weather.com -

Study to examine beach erosion on island (AP)

Study to examine beach erosion on island
(AP)


   AP - A federal study beginning this month will examine how much the Savannah River's bustling shipping channel contributes to beach erosion on Tybee Island.

Scientist works to predict space weather (AP)

Scientist works to predict space weather
(AP)


   AP - While most weather forecasters focus on the six or seven miles of earth's atmosphere where clouds drift and storms form, Jonathan Makela's sights are set much higher.

Stubborn Solar Panel Resists Repair Attempt by Astronauts

Stubborn Solar Panel Resists Repair Attempt by Astronauts

   A pair of spacewalkers shaking a solar array on the International Space Station managed to free some stuck grommets, but they could not get the array to fold into a box properly.

Spacewalk Is Added for Repair of Solar Array

Spacewalk Is Added for Repair of Solar Array

   The space shuttle Discovery’s seven astronauts prepared Sunday for an unplanned fourth spacewalk to force a stubborn, half-retracted solar array to fold up.

Astronauts on Spacewalk Succeed in Folding Solar Panels

Astronauts on Spacewalk Succeed in Folding Solar Panels

   Two astronauts used jury-rigged tools, ingenuity and muscle to coax balky solar panels to fold up into their containers on the International Space Station.

Above-average temps abound (weather.com)

Above-average temps abound
(weather.com)


   weather.com -

Shuttle Has Final Exam

Shuttle Has Final Exam

   Astronauts on the space shuttle Discovery swept across the ship’s exterior with remote-controlled cameras searching for damage that could jeopardize their return to Earth.

Space Shuttle Touches Down in Florida

Space Shuttle Touches Down in Florida

   The shuttle’s mission was complex as astronauts rewired the International Space Station so it could draw power from a new array of solar panels.

UN lifts embargo on caviar trade

UN lifts embargo on caviar trade

   The United Nations eases restrictions on the sale of caviar, the treasured delicacy that is in serious decline.

Norway to offset flight emissions

Norway to offset flight emissions

   Norway hopes others will copy its plans to offset emissions produced by flights taken by state employees.

Cases: Cookie Conundrum in the Doctor-Patient Drama

Cases: Cookie Conundrum in the Doctor-Patient Drama

   Should analysts analyze, or accept, even the smallest gift at the office?

Weather around the U.S.A. (AP)

Weather around the U.S.A.
(AP)


   AP - Weather around the U.S.A.

A Young Mechanic Improves After Life-Saving Brain Surgery

A Young Mechanic Improves After Life-Saving Brain Surgery

   Chris Ratuszny went home 16 days after an operation to treat a distended artery in his brain that was in danger of bursting and killing him.

Vienna records warmest New Year's day for 155 years (AFP)

Vienna records warmest New Year's day for 155 years
(AFP)


   

AFP - Vienna recorded its mildest New Year's day in 155 years on 1 January with thermometers topping 13.9 Celsius (57.02 Fahrenheit), the Austrian Meteorological service has said.

Union to support New Orleans officers (AP)

Union to support New Orleans officers
(AP)


   

AP - The city's police union urged its members to support seven fellow police officers charged in deadly shootings on a bridge during the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Seal pups suffer in winter gales

Seal pups suffer in winter gales

   Stormy weather causes difficulties for young seal pups and sanctuaries are struggling to cope with demand.

Active Northwest; Passive elsewhere (weather.com)

Active Northwest; Passive elsewhere
(weather.com)


   weather.com -

Drink lowers blood pressure risks

Drink lowers blood pressure risks

   Men with high blood pressure can reduce their risk of a heart attack by having a drink or two a day, a study suggests.

Scan shows how brains plot future

Scan shows how brains plot future

   Brain scans have given US scientists a clue about how we create a mental image of our future.

A Conversation With Robert D. Hall: The Fine Art of Watching a Bug’s Life to Explain a Death

A Conversation With Robert D. Hall: The Fine Art of Watching a Bug’s Life to Explain a Death

   Robert D. Hall is a sort of Sherlock Holmes with a fly swatter and tweezers.

In Atlanta, Medical Sleuths of Last Resort

In Atlanta, Medical Sleuths of Last Resort

   A program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tries to identify killer pathogens, when all else has failed.

Free Will: Now You Have It, Now You Don’t

Free Will: Now You Have It, Now You Don’t

   Experiments suggest that the conscious choice is an illusion, but some philosophers and physicists choose to disagree.

I Heard It Through the Diet Grapevine

I Heard It Through the Diet Grapevine

   While popular diets and fasts come and go, “master cleanse” remains a perennial favorite.

Taiwan researchers retract report in global journal

Taiwan researchers retract report in global journal

   TAIPEI (Reuters) - A Taiwan research team has formally retracted its microbiology article published in a leading global journal on biological research because of inflated figures, an official from the university in charge said on Tuesday.

Endangered Idaho snail losing habitat (AP)

Endangered Idaho snail losing habitat
(AP)


   

AP - After clambering down a canyon wall, ducking poison ivy vines and wading chest-deep across a lukewarm stream, Cary Myler spied some flecks that look like pepper sprinkled on a wet rock and announced, "Found some."

In City’s Trans Fat Ban, a Challenge Fit for a Chef

In City’s Trans Fat Ban, a Challenge Fit for a Chef

   Many in the restaurant industry say they fear that they will not be able to replicate dishes that now exceed the limit on trans fats.

Knowing the Ingredients Can Change the Taste

Knowing the Ingredients Can Change the Taste

   A new experiment demonstrates that knowing about a secret ingredient actually changes the experience of taste itself.