Lead balloon
The US is facing a 鈥渉elium crunch鈥�, and it鈥檚 bad news for cryogenics researchers, the aerospace industry and electronics manufacturers, says a National Research Council report. The reason? The US government鈥檚 ill-advised decision to sell off its helium reserves a decade ago. The panel worries that the US will become a net helium importer in 10 to 15 years.
Rotavirus vaccine
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An oral vaccine against a major cause of diarrhoea, rotavirus, which kills 500,000 children each year, is to be introduced in 44 poor countries by 2015, says the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation. The vaccine reduced infections by 65 per cent in Mexican infants and by 61 per cent in South Africa and Malawi.
Dark no longer
A mission to catalogue the solar system鈥檚 鈥渄ark鈥� objects has found its first near-Earth asteroid. NASA鈥檚 Wide-field Infrared Satellite Explorer tracked down 2010 AB78 by its infrared glow 鈥� it had been missed by visible light telescopes. Roughly a kilometre wide, it fortunately poses no threat to Earth.
Spine stem cell first
A man with the fatal neurodegenerative condition amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is the first person ever to receive injections of stem cells into the spinal cord. Neuralstem of Rockville, Maryland, plans to treat 18 more ALS patients with the stem cells, which are designed to repair damaged nerves. They are derived from spinal cells extracted from an 8-week-old fetus.
Tiger crash
According to a WWF report, habitat loss and a demand for body parts for Asian medicine has led to a 70 per cent drop in tiger numbers from the greater Mekong, which includes Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam. That leaves around 350 in the region and 3200 globally.