THAMNO

Sarah Palin, the cutie that was supposed to help McCain defeat Obama, is fast sinking away in the mediocrity she spreads around. Now, more evidence is surfacing that she is a young earth creationist.

The US National Institute of Mental Health drops a controversial study of chelation therapy for children with autism. The agency says there are better uses for its resources.

An Australian fertilization clinic has been granted the first licence in Australia to practise therapeutic cloning. The group at the centre is now part of only a handful of teams on the planet working on this promising technology.

The LHC had been shut down after a large helium leak into sector 3-4 of the LHC tunnel. Because the tunnel must be warmed in order to allow a thorough investigation and repairs and must then be cooled again, the LHC will not be restarted before 2009.

It seems that passive immunity therapies such as therapies based on monoclonal antibodies are slowly but surely maturing into safe and useful cures.

Neanderthals are often portrayed as knuckle-dragging brutes, but new discoveries are more and more pointing in other directions. One mystery that is currently fascinating scientists is the discovery that they ate seals and dolphins.

Efforts to save the Mallorcan midwife toad and to reintroduce it into its natural environment, may be causing its extinction because of a fungal infection that was unknown at the time of the reintroduction.

Belgium has found the ultimate recycling program. In a bold and unprecedented move, candle wax will now be collected separately in order to recycle it.

The planet has increasing difficulties keeping up with the speed with which humanity is consuming natural resources. As of today, we have used up all resources the earth can produce in 2008, i.e. we are now borrowing from 2009.

Genetically modified cotton in China seems to be of tremendous benefit, not only because the modified plants can defend themselves against the reviled bollworm, but also because those plants seem to protect their unmodified brethren.