Hangover-free booze
A synthetic form of alcohol aims to give you all the buzz minus the hangover. The drink, known as 鈥渁lcosynth鈥�, is designed to mimic the positive effects of alcohol but without the nausea or throbbing head, claims its creator, David Nutt, at Imperial College London. His 90 or so patented alcosynth concoctions must go through clinical trials before being offered to the public.
Bad air鈥檚 global toll
More than 90 per cent of the world鈥檚 population live in places where air quality levels breach World Health Organization limits, according to published by the WHO. The model suggests that one in nine deaths across the planet are caused by exposure to air pollution.
Mercury is shrinking
The smallest planet is getting smaller. Images from NASA鈥檚 Messenger spacecraft, which orbited Mercury from 2011 to 2015, reveal cliff-like surface features called fault scarps consistent with contraction. The young age of the smallest of these suggests that the planet鈥檚 interior is still cooling (Nature Geoscience, ).
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Sickness benefits
Morning sickness is associated with a lower risk of miscarriage in women who have had previous losses, according to a study that tracked the symptoms of nearly 800 pregnant women. Those who reported nausea or vomiting were 50 to 75 per cent less likely to miscarry than those who didn鈥檛 feel sick (, ).
The Italian jellyfish job
The notorious sea creature shipped around by ballast waters that devastated Black Sea fisheries in the 1990s has found a new home off the coast of Italy. Vast swarms of invasive and voracious warty comb jelly have been recorded in lagoons in the northern Adriatic, a port hub.
