Latest research news

Sun alert as melanoma kills 1,000 men a year
The number of British men who die each year from the skin cancer melanoma has exceeded 1,000 for the first time, specialists said yesterday. Although more women are diagnosed with melanoma than men, more men die from the cancer because they are less aware of risks and seek medical help too late. Figures from Cancer Research UK show that young men under 24 and older men over 65 were the least likely to go to the doctor if concerned about a mole.
The Daily Telegraph

Global warming turns pristine coral into rubble
A study into the extensive bleaching of the Seychelles corals in 1998 has found that these Indian Ocean reefs failed to recover, with many of them crumbling to broken fragments. Scientists said the findings showed that rising global sea temperatures could have a more devastating impact on the world's tropical corals than previously thought. "Some of the reefs have collapsed to almost mobile beds of rubble. They are no longer solid structures and some have been overgrown with fleshy green mats of algae," said Nicholas Graham, a coral ecologist at the University of Newcastle.
The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Scotsman

Study sheds new light on Gulf war syndrome
British soldiers serving in Iraq do not appear to be suffering ill-health on the scale reported by veterans of the Gulf war, scientists report today. Two studies, published online by T he Lancet , suggest there may not be an Iraq war syndrome. But the research raises concerns for reservists and suggests they may need more help and support. The research was carried out by Simon Wessely and colleagues from the King's centre for military health research at King's College London, who also did the definitive studies on the illnesses now commonly described as Gulf war syndrome.
The Guardian, The Times, The Scotsman, The Daily Telegraph

How Prozac affects the brain
A new mouse model may help explain exactly what happens in the brain in response to antidepressants like Prozac. The research may hold huge potential for understanding and screening new treatments for depression. And the wide variety of existing treatments may have more in common than was previously thought, the researchers suggest. Grigori Enikolopov and his team from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, US, wanted to narrow down which steps in this growth process, called neurogenesis, Prozac was influencing.
New Scientist

Countdown to the big sneeze for sufferers of hay fever
Hay fever sufferers will experience an enormous collective sneeze at exactly 6:02pm on Monday, 29 May. Allergy experts have used a bank of statistics and a formula to pinpoint the worst time of the year for the 12 million people in Britain who suffer from hay fever. The symptoms of the allergy, which include sneezing and a constantly running nose and itchy eyes, are expected to be much worse than usual this year. The formula was created by Boots Health Club in association with the National Pollen and Aerobiology Research Unit at the University of Worcester.
The Scotsman

Looking for aliens on the Moon
When astronauts return to the Moon, they should keep their eyes peeled for extraterrestrial artefacts – pieces of technology from alien civilisations that have wound up on the lunar surface either by chance or design. So says Ian Crawford, a researcher from University of London’s Birkbeck College in the UK. He told a SETI specialist meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society in London last week that although he considers such a find a long-shot, it is definitely worth bearing in mind.
New Scientist