Irish badger brouhaha
Culling badgers to stop cattle getting tuberculosis doesn鈥檛 work, according to a report by the UK鈥檚 Badger Trust and Badgerwatch Ireland. Farmers have argued that cows catch TB from badgers, but the report says cattle TB is rife in the Republic of Ireland despite 鈥渧irtual extermination鈥� of badgers in some areas. The UK鈥檚 National Farmers鈥� Union disputes the claims.
Stumbling on lunar soil
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None of the four teams that took part in NASA鈥檚 Regolith Excavation Challenge on 12 May won the $125,000 prize on offer. To win, they had to scoop up 150 kilograms of mock lunar soil and dump it into a bin, using no more than 30 watts of power.
Atlantis ready for launch
The shuttle Atlantis, with its fuel tank newly repaired, is ready to return to the launch pad for an 8 June launch, NASA said on 11 May. The tank was damaged by a hail storm in February, and technicians had to patch about 4200 spots with fresh foam.
Refugees rising
As many as a billion people could be homeless by 2050 through the combined effects of war and climate change, warns the UK charity Christian Aid in a report released on Monday based on the latest UN population and climate change figures. The impact of climate change is the great, frightening unknown, it says, noting that at present 155 million people are living uprooted by conflict, natural disasters and construction projects.
Allergies overestimated
Many children who are told they are allergic to peanuts may not be. Researchers at Sydney Children鈥檚 Hospital in Australia studied 84 children who recorded a positive result to the standard skin-prick peanut test and found that only 67 per cent proved to be allergic when given peanuts to eat under hospital supervision (Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, vol 18, p 231).