Biobank open for business
The world鈥檚 largest medical experiment, involving half a million Britons, was launched on Wednesday. UK Biobank aims to find out how genetic and environmental factors combine to cause common diseases (New 杏吧原创, 21 January, p 8). The pilot phase aims to recruit 3000 volunteers in the Manchester area.
Astronomically hot
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The highest temperature ever recorded on Earth 鈥� more than 2 billion kelvin 鈥� has been achieved in plasma created in the 鈥淶 machine鈥� at the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico. The temperature is higher than those found inside stars.
Heart disease hope
Statins, already hailed as wonder drugs for lowering blood cholesterol, have now been shown to reduce the build-up of plaques on artery walls, raising hopes that the symptoms of heart disease can be reversed. However, the statin tested, Crestor (rosuvastatin), has been linked to muscle problems and kidney damage, and the researchers say it should not be prescribed at the high doses used in their tests.
Oil clean-up on ice
Extreme cold has hampered efforts to clean up the oil spill on Alaska鈥檚 northern coast 鈥� the largest ever recorded. By Tuesday, 230,000 litres of crude oil had been recovered after the ruptured pipeline was discovered two weeks ago at a site operated by BP Exploration (Alaska). Around 950,000 litres of oil were spilt.
Kebab rat does a Lazarus
A rodent first found for sale as a kebab on a stall in Laos has lost its distinction as the first known member of a new order of living mammals. Laonastes aenigmamus is actually the sole surviving species of a group thought extinct for 11 million years. As such it is a striking example of the 鈥淟azarus effect鈥�, in which an organism turns up after a long gap in the fossil record.