Volcanic rumblings
Volcanic activity on Mount Mayon in the Philippines increased dramatically on Monday, suggesting an eruption is imminent. Mount Mayon, the country鈥檚 most active volcano, has erupted 50 times in the past 400 years. About 35,000 people are being evacuated.
China orders dog cull
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Up to half a million dogs may be culled in eastern China to control a rabies outbreak that has killed 16 people this year. If the disease continues to spread, says the Xinhua news agency, all dogs living in 16 villages in Jining prefecture, Shandong province, may be culled. Last week, officials in Muding county in the south-west province of Yunnan ordered the extermination of 50,000 dogs to contain a rabies outbreak.
Guns don鈥檛 know your age
Gun-owners in the US tend to store weapons less safely around adolescents than around young children. Parents with teenagers are more likely to keep unlocked and loaded firearms than those with kids under 12, even though adolescents are far more likely than younger children to be injured by a gunshot (Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, vol 160, p 788).
Street drug eases depression
Ketamine 鈥� an animal tranquilliser that is commonly abused as a street drug 鈥� may also work as a remarkably rapid antidepressant, according to a preliminary study in Archives of General Psychiatry. A single dose can relieve depression in some people in just 2 hours, and continue to do so for a week.
Polio returns
Bangladesh is the latest country to be facing a polio comeback. It had been free of polio since 2000, until a case in southern Chandpur district in January, which prompted health authorities to begin a massive vaccination drive. A further nine cases have now spooked officials into carrying out yet another wave of vaccinations.