Brain scan provides early Alzheimer’s warning
Researchers from the universities of Florida and Kentucky have found that a key region of the brain – the hippocampus – begins changes early in life that can indicate the future onset of Alzheimer’s. (Daily Mail, The Times)
Road rage is result of brain disorder
A study published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences claims that people who carry out acts of road rage may be suffering from a brain disorder. (The Daily Telegraph)
GM virus restores fertility
Scientists in Japan and the US have used a genetically modified virus to correct a form of infertility in male mice. (The Times)
Prostate cancer kills one man an hour
Prostate cancer is set to become the most common male cancer over the next three years – yet argues David Dearnaley of the Institute for Cancer Research, 70 per cent of cases do not require treatment. (The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Financial Times, Daily Mail)
NHS patients are denied cancer drug
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence is poised to reject cancer treatment Glivec for use by NHS patients. David Cook, director of studies at Sheffield University chemistry department, believes Nice is making a mistake. (The Times)
Stress can cause difficult menopause
Women who deal with a lot of stress during their thirties are more likely to suffer during their menopause. Cary Cooper, an expert on stress and its effects from the University of Manchester Institute for Science and Technology, argues that even those well equipped to deal with stress will suffer later in life. (The Times T2)
Vice leaves little to chance
DNA can act as vice, holding molecular components in place so that chemists can join them together more easily. By leaving less to chance, DNA templates could minimise mistakes introduced during assembly of complex molecules, and so reduce the proportion of unwanted products. DNA templating is not a new idea. But it is much more versatile than has previously been supposed, say David Liu and colleagues at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Nature)
"Frozen ocean" under Mars surface
Vast reserves of hydrogen lurk under the dusty Martian surface, scientists will confirm on Thursday, when scientific details of observations made by the Mars Odyssey spacecraft are revealed. That hydrogen is almost certainly locked up in crystals of water ice. (New Scientist)
Solar flare silences Japan's Mars probe
A solar flare has silenced Japan's first Mars probe, cutting communications with Earth. Japanese officials say the spacecraft's computers can be reconfigured to fix the problem - but this may take six months. Communications with Nozomi were severed on 21 April, but this was only revealed on Friday by Japan's education ministry, which oversees the country's space programme. (New Scientist)