AIDS DENTS POPULATION
Falling birth rates and rising AIDS deaths are damping down the world population explosion, say UN demographers. Last week they cut 400 million from their best estimate of the population in 2050, from 9.3 billion to 8.9 billion. The current figure is 6.3 billion.
CHINA鈥橲 MOON PLAN
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China鈥檚 first unmanned probe to the Moon could be launched by 2005, say officials, who hinted that the missions would be aimed ultimately at mining the Moon鈥檚 resources. The probe would be followed by a lander, then a craft that would bring samples back to Earth.
ETHNIC BIAS
Leading medical journals are guilty of ethnic bias, focusing on diseases of the rich world, says Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet. In last week鈥檚 issue, he cites a study showing that just 5 per cent of all papers in the leading five journals, including his own, dealt with diseases of poverty.