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Cancer link trashed

Cellphone masts have been cleared of any link with childhood cancer by a study of 7000 British children – the largest study of its kind undertaken. Children who developed cancer between 1999 and 2001 were no more likely to have been born near a mast than healthy children (BMJ, ).

Halfway to Pluto

The first mission to Pluto has passed a milestone. On 14 June, the NASA spacecraft New Horizons had covered half the distance to the dwarf planet. Despite New Horizons being the fastest object ever launched from Earth when it departed in January 2006, it will still take another five years to arrive at Pluto.

Female ‘Viagra’ flops

A drug designed to boost female libido was rejected last week by a panel from the US Food and Drug Administration. It concluded that flibanserin, developed to raise sexual desire in the brain, doesn’t provide enough sexual satisfaction to offset the possible side effects of using it, which include fainting, dizziness, depression and appendicitis.

Ten-year savings plan

Just 10 years – that’s the time required to save our closest cousin from extinction, say the IUCN and the Wildlife Conservation Society. They announced this week that east and central African nations have devised a plan that could – if implemented – protect 96 per cent of eastern chimpanzees.

The ol’ swoop ‘n’ skim

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has performed a daring manoeuvre – skimming through the upper atmosphere of Saturn’s moon, Titan, at a speed of 5.9 kilometres per second. The goal was to get close enough to the moon to see if it has its own magnetic field, which could signify an ocean beneath its icy surface.