Low-carbon landing
A Europe-wide plan to smooth the trajectory of landing aircraft could reduce carbon emissions by half a million tonnes a year. By 2013, around 100 European airports will allow planes to fly in a continuous descent, which is more fuel-efficient than current stepped trajectories, according to a plan launched by aviation groups on 31 March.
Tampon in the post
Female sex workers can find out more conveniently and discreetly if they have contracted a sexually transmitted disease by sending doctors their used tampons through the post, says Patrick Kimmitt of the University of Westminster in London. He told a meeting in Harrogate, UK, that the tampon method identified more infections than giving urine at a clinic, and was preferred by the 65 sex workers who took part in his study.
We will research!
The US鈥檚 first pro-research rally will take place on 22 April at the University of California, Los Angeles, in response to growing threats from animal rights activists. David Jentsch, founder of UCLA Pro-Test, had his car firebombed. He said this week that 鈥渢he time has come鈥� to make a stand, just as the UK Pro-Test group did in Oxford in 2006.
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Coral sex change
Mushroom corals can switch from male to female and back again, say researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel. Understanding why and when may help protect them from the stresses of a changing environment.
Fountains fight flab
Children at German primary schools that installed drinking fountains 鈥� and encouraged children to use them 鈥� were 31 per cent less likely to be overweight compared with kids at schools with no fountains (Pediatrics, ). The children didn鈥檛 drink any fewer soft drinks, but the water may have made them feel fuller.