Lab leaks and Breast enlargement

Physics Org

Sun's in the clear over global warming, says study - Scientists on Wednesday said that the rise in global temperatures that has been detected over the past two decades cannot be blamed on the Sun, a theory espoused by climate-change sceptics.

Happy, sad, angry or astonished? - How do people respond when they walk past an advertising poster? Do they stop and turn around to look at it with interest or march angrily past? A new system of detailed facial analysis can recognize a person’s mood in an instant.

New Scientist Tech - Weapons Technology

Plague of bioweapons accidents afflicts the US - Plague, anthrax, Rocky Mountain spotted fever - these are among the bioweapons some experts fear could be used in a germ warfare attack against the US. But the public has had near-misses with those diseases and others over the past five years, ironically because of accidents in labs that were working to defend against bioterrorists. Even worse, they may be only the tip of an iceberg.

Technology Review Feed - Biotech Top Stories

The Secrets to Living Past 100 - A new project to partially sequence the genomes of 100 people age 100 or older could shed light on the genetic variations that allow some people to stay healthy decades beyond the average life expectancy. Dubbed the Methuselah Project, the endeavor will serve as a test bed for a new approach to sequencing developed at the Rothberg Institute a non-profit research center in Guilford, CT. About 1 in 7,000 people live to be 100, many of them spry well into their 90s, but the reasons for their good health remain largely unknown.

BBC News | Science/Nature | World Edition

Fat 'can grow new breasts' - Fat from the tummy or bottom could be used to grow new breasts in a treatment which could be carried out in an hour - or a lunch break.

Antibiotic resistance blocked - US scientists believe they may have found a way to stop the growing problem of bacteria becoming resistant to current drug treatments.

ABC News: Technology

Sheeps Being Trained to Weed Vineyards - University researchers are training sheep to clean up vineyard weeds but stay off the grapes. Enthusiastic and unpicky eaters, sheep are already being used in some vineyards as a green alternative to tractors. They don't use gasoline and keep down weeds a necessary task to deter pests and keep vines healthy sans herbicides.

Joke Comprehension May Decrease With Age - a new study suggests older adults have a harder time getting jokes as they age. The research indicates that because older adults may have greater difficulty with cognitive flexibility, abstract reasoning and short-term memory, they also have greater difficulty with tests of humor comprehension.

Reuters: Science

Women drawn to men with muscles - Muscular young men are likely to have more sex partners than their less-chiseled peers, researchers at the University of California Los Angeles said on Monday. Their study, published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, suggests muscles in men are akin to elaborate tail feathers in male peacocks: They attract females looking for a virile mate.