Â鶹´«Ã½

Tough flu

For the first time, ordinary winter flu circulating in Europe and possibly elsewhere has been found to be fully resistant to the antiviral drug Tamiflu. Health authorities have called emergency meetings as the drug is the main defence against a pandemic. Tamiflu-resistant flu viruses had been thought weak and unable to spread.

Sporting coronaries

Got a heart condition? Then avoid sports matches you really care about. A study in Munich, Germany, during the 2006 football World Cup found that heart attacks were 2.66 times as likely on days Germany played. Admissions peaked on 30 June, when Germany beat Argentina in a penalty shoot-out ().

Whistling hummer

It is an extraordinary aerial display with a surprise at the tail end: male Anna’s hummingbirds dive at speeds of more than 23 metres per second (watch a ), emitting a loud whistle. The noise comes not from the bird’s throat, but from its vibrating tail feathers (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, ).

Superfast star

A fast-moving star has given the first clue of a black hole in our neighbouring galaxy. Most such stars are thought to have been flung out from the black hole at the Milky Way’s centre, but this star’s composition suggests it came from the Large Magellanic Cloud, says Alcestes Bonanos at the Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington DC. The study will appear in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Dam damage

Two dams appear to be threatening the health of Lake Victoria in east Africa – and locals who depend on the lake for food. The dams caused water levels to drop over 2 metres between 2000 and 2006 and fish stocks have dropped by 80 per cent as a result (Wetlands Ecology and Management, ).