Tactless name for a virus
Malaysia is to rename a newly discovered bat-borne virus after angry protests from the state that gave it its name. Health authorities originally decided to call the pathogen, which causes serious respiratory illness in humans, 鈥淢elaka virus鈥� after it infected four people in the southern state in March last year. They will now look for another moniker, AFP reported on Tuesday.
Blown up in space
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Bigelow Aerospace launched its second inflatable spacecraft on 28 June. Genesis II takes the company further towards its goal of building an inflatable space station. The spacecraft beamed back images showing it had inflated and was functioning well.
Killer heat waves
Global warming will cause more deaths in hot summers than it saves in mild winters, according to a study of temperature and mortality in 50 US cities. Death rates rise by 5.7 per cent in heat waves and by 1.6 per cent in cold snaps. While central heating can deal with the cold, fewer homes have air conditioning to combat high temperatures (Occupational and Environmental Medicine, DOI: 10.1136/oem.2007.033175).
Big drink problem
Three out of 10 adults in the US will abuse alcohol in some way or another during their lives. According to a survey in the Archives of General Psychiatry released on Monday, less than a third of those with an alcohol dependency go on to receive treatment.
End of an HERA
Germany鈥檚 largest research instrument, the 6.3-kilometre-long HERA particle accelerator, was shut down on 30 June. For 15 years, deep beneath Hamburg, HERA smashed together electrons and protons, allowing physicists to confirm the nature of the strong force, and to prove that the weak force and the electromagnetic force can be unified.