Food or fuel?
As US crops wither in the ongoing drought, the real loser could be green fuel. The US government requires , but corn prices have soared thanks to the drought, hitting livestock farmers who buy it as animal feed. As a result, .
Hepatitis exposure
A medical technician who worked at hospitals in eight US states . Prosecutors say that David Kwiatkowski spread the virus through syringes he used to inject himself with anaesthetics and then returned to the shelves. He has been linked to 30 hepatitis cases so far.
Tropical Antarctica1
East Antarctica may be buried under metres of ice today, but 52 million years ago it was covered with palm trees. During the Eocene period the atmosphere had more than twice as much carbon dioxide as today, and east Antarctica was frost-free even in the depths of winter (Nature, ).
Bill to ban ape research
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Hundreds of chimps could soon retire, after a key Senate committee approved a bill banning invasive experiments on great apes. If made law, the bill would also forbid the US government from paying for similar research offshore. A clause has been inserted to allow individual cases of such research should it be needed for a new or re-emerging disease.
Lights out
India has been struck by , leaving 360 million people without electricity. The country does not generate enough electricity to meet the demands of its people, and is trying to add .
