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A pioneering experiment at CERN with potential future application in cancer therapy has produced its first results. Started in 2003, ACE (Antiproton Cell Experiment) is the first investigation of the biological effects of antiprotons. “We have taken the first step towards a novel treatment for cancer. The results show that antiprotons are four times more effective than protons at terminating live cells. Although it still has to be compared with other existing methods, it is a breakthrough in this area of investigation.”

A research center newly created by the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) aims to put light-sensitive switches in the body’s cells that can be flipped on and off as easily as a remote control operates a TV. Optical switches like these could trigger a chemical reaction, initiate a muscle contraction, activate a drug or stimulate a nerve cell – all at the flash of a light.

Illness caused by Salmonella isn’t usually fatal, but it can be very unpleasant. This intestinal pathogen, usually transmitted by raw or undercooked foods, can cause fever, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about 40,000 cases of Salmonella infection, or salmonellosis, are reported in the United States each year. But many milder cases are not diagnosed or reported, so the actual number may be up to 30 times greater.

Microwaving your French fries before you fry them reduces the levels of a cancer-causing substance, reveals findings published today in the SCI’s Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. The discovery of acrylamide – a possible carcinogenic in humans – has led to much research being done to investigate the benefits of alternative cooking methods. Acrylamide forms during processes such as frying, baking and roasting where high-temperature and low-moisture conditions exist.

Washington, D.C. – If you’re Happy and you know it, pat your head. That, in a peanut shell, is how a 34-year-old female Asian elephant in the Bronx Zoo showed researchers that pachyderms can recognize themselves in a mirror – complex behavior observed in only a few other species.

By combining four proteins of Staphylococcus aureus that individually generated the strongest immune response in mice, scientists have created a vaccine that significantly protects the animals from diverse strains of the bacterium that cause disease in humans. A report describing the University of Chicago study, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health, appears online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Glossolalia, otherwise referred to as “speaking in tongues,” has been around for thousands of years, and references to it can be found in the Old and New Testament. Speaking in tongues is an unusual mental state associated with specific religious traditions. The individual appears to be speaking in an incomprehensible language, yet perceives it to have great personal meaning. Now, in a first of its kind study, scientists are shining the light on this mysterious practice — attempting to explain what actually happens physiologically to the brain of someone while speaking in tongues.

The first thing most of us reading this page do when we are confronted with a serious question about the health of ourselves or loved ones is turn to the Internet for answers.

Hydrogen, wind, steam and electricty. All from water? That’s right

Mayo Clinic Cancer Center has opened a new clinical study using a vaccine strain of the measles virus to attack recurrent glioblastoma multiforme, a largely untreatable brain tumor. This is the second of several pending molecular medicine studies in patients using measles to kill cancer.

This is the first article to analyze a large sample of terrorist groups in terms of their policy effectiveness. It includes every foreign terrorist organization (FTO) designated by the U.S. Department of State since 2001. The key variable for FTO success is a tactical one: target selection.

Something scary appears to be slithering across the plane of our Milky Way galaxy in this new Halloween image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. The snake-like object is actually the core of a thick, sooty cloud large enough to swallow dozens of solar systems. In fact, astronomers say its “belly” may be harboring beastly stars in the process of forming.

Diabetes is a growing health problem. Giving antioxidants is recognised as one way of helping people with diabetes to control their blood sugar levels. The herbal medicine extracted from seeds of the Milk Thistle, Silybum marianum (silymarin) is known to have antioxidant properties and research published this week in Phytotherapy Research shows that this extract can help people significantly lower the amount of sugar bound to haemoglobin in blood, as well as reducing fasting blood sugar levels.

Analysing over 2,500 English Premiership matches, researchers discovered that referees were statistically more likely to award yellow and red cards against the away team – even when home advantage, game importance and crowd size were taken into account. They also found clear evidence of inconsistency between referees – with some referees significantly more likely to punish players than others.

“A curious teenager in Argentina has discovered the fossil skull of the biggest bird ever found – a swift, flightless predator 10 feet tall (‘gulp’) that pursued its prey across the steppes of Patagonia 15 million years ago”

The Norwegian curriculum requires that all 14-year-olds learn about homosexuality. Assisting with this education, the Natural History Museum at the University of Oslo has just opened an exhibition of gay animals. [Links provided]

Some of us remember with pleasure the smell of burning leaves in autumn. Some remember the breezes flowing through our hair as we rode bikes all summer. In later years there might have been memories of that first cigarette announcing our arrival into the state of “cool.”

Scientists have discovered a bacterial “switch gene” in two groups of microscopic plankton common in the oceans. The gene helps determine whether certain marine plankton convert a sulfur compound to one that rises into the atmosphere, where it can affect the earth’s temperature, or remain in the sea, where it can be used as a nutrient.

Scientists have identified the oldest known bee (Melittosphex burmensis), a 100 million-year-old specimen preserved in amber.

…The ancient insect, trapped in tree sap, is at least 35-45 million years older than any other known bee fossil.

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have demonstrated that they can cheaply, quickly and accurately identify even subnanogram amounts of weapon-grade plutonium and uranium. Their work was presented in September at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society.