A trial of a new cancer drug, which accurately targets tumors, has been so successful it has been stopped early.
Doctors at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital gave prostate cancer patients a powerful alpha radiation drug and found that they lived longer, and experienced less pain and side effects.
The medics then stopped the trial of 922 people, saying it was unethical not to offer all of them the treatment.
An art auction Thursday night for relief efforts in Haiti raised nearly $14 million and set records, including highest total ever for a Christie’s charity auction.
The sale, co-organized by actor Ben Stiller’s Stiller Foundation, featured 27 works by 26 contemporary artists. All proceeds will go toward Haitian relief in the areas of education and health care.
Rwanda won a United Nations-backed gold award for its forest promotion policies, an event that former US track and field star Carl Lewis, a nine-time Olympic gold winner, called more important than any athletic medals he garnered.
Policies from the US and Gambia were runners-up, beating out entries from 20 countries to win joint silvers in the Future Policy Awards for forestry, announced this week by the World Future Council.
Despite continuing population and land pressures, Rwanda has achieved a major reversal of its trend of declining forest cover and is on course to reach its goal of increasing forests to 30% of total land area.
Forest cover has already increased by 37% since 1990. Massive reforestation and planting activities to promote indigenous species and involve the local population were undertaken, along with new agro-forestry and forest management education.
Ireland’s economic rebound continued in the second quarter with some of the strongest growth in Europe.
Gross Domestic Product jumped 1.6 percent in the second quarter, far exceeding expectations for a 0.25 percent increase, and marking the first time in five years that the battered economy has achieved two straight quarters of growth.
An age old mating ritual that is rarely glimpsed by humans, plays out in the most desolate reaches of the arctic-circle, as Narwhals on the hunt for a mate, joust with their stunning tusks above the icy water.
Male narwhals, which weigh up to 3,500 pounds, are known for the long conspicuous sword-like tusk that can measure up to 3 meters (10 feet) long. (Females have tusks also jetting from their jaw, but they are shorter.)
NASA said a fond farewell to the first satellite dedicated to studying the science of the stratosphere.
The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery 20 years ago plummeted finally toward its demise in the Pacific early this morning. It delivered several scientific breakthroughs over its two decades.
The seven-ton spacecraft, designed to operate for only three years, actually showed itself to be a workhorse, measuring chemicals, winds and temperatures in the upper atmosphere for 14 years, and orbiting the Earth more than 78,000 times.
Britain’s first recycling plant for disposable diapers is opening in a bid to reduce the huge amounts sent to landfills every year.
The facility at West Bromwich in the West Midlands promises to process a number of personal hygiene products and recover materials which can be used to make plastic components such as roof tiles and commercial tubes.
Britain’s first recycling plant for disposable diapers is opening in a bid to reduce the huge amounts sent to landfills every year.
The facility at West Bromwich in the West Midlands promises to process a number of personal hygiene products and recover materials which can be used to make plastic components such as roof tiles and commercial tubes.
Scientists have made a discovery that, if confirmed, could rewrite the laws of physics.
An international group of researchers at the CERN lab in Switzerland said it has measured a sub-atomic particle, called a neutrino, moving faster than the speed of light — something that was supposed to be impossible.
Most of the runners passed by without breaking their stride.
Josh Ripley from Andover High, however, scooped up the injured competitor and ran a quarter mile back to the starting line to deliver the boy to his coaches before returning to his junior varsity cross country 2-miler.
Chris Brown’s $22,000 Rolex slipped off his wrist while performing onstage at the MTV VMA awards show.
Luckily for him, an honest fan caught it and turned it in. He rewarded her with two prime tickets to his concert in her hometown of Cincinnati and a one-on-one meeting backstage.
General Motors stopped building cars in Spring Hill, Tennessee two years ago, when the auto industry hit rock bottom and tens of thousands of assembly-line jobs evaporated nationwide.
But now, G.M. and the United Auto Workers union have agreed to give the plant a second chance. In a highly unusual move, the automaker plans to bring jobs back — 6,400 jobs overall in the US and 1,700 here at a factory all but left for dead.
When the Philadelphia 76ers heard the news story on TV about an autistic boy in Mt. Airy who had his basketball hoop stolen, they sprang into action to replace the hoop, and more.
They also hung a large 76ers banner on the garage, brought gifts like a hat, headband, sneakers and a jersey.
A 21-year-old U.S. soldier stationed overseas called his father in Alabama to tell him he’s gay after the official repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy Tuesday.
Air Force Senior Airman Randy Phillips recorded the conversation with a video camera having no idea what his dad’s reaction would be. Now, that reaction has inspired and brought tears to more than 3 million viewers on YouTube.
A young woman on a big horse guiding a group of clients on a ride through Glacier National Park likely saved a boy’s life while proving that skill, quick-thinking and guts sometimes are the best weapons against a head-on charging bear.
“I like a large horse with a lot of spirit, and I was really glad to be on him that day,” said Erin Bolster of the mongrel horse of questionable lineage.
“Some of the horses I’ve ridden would have absolutely refused to do what Tonk did.
(READ the story in the Missoulian)
Two new studies report a significant increase in the number of young adults with health insurance since last year.
Nearly 1 million more adults ages 19-25 gained insurance in the first three months of this year.
One of the most popular provisions of the health care overhaul signed by President Obama in March 2010 mandated that insurance companies allow older children to be included as family members on their parents’ policies.
Mo Farah, a Somali refugee who grew up in London and became a British champion runner, visited his homeland Somalia this week, bringing joy to hundreds of sports fans greeting him at the airport.
Accompanied by his wife and daughter, the 28-year old endurance runner received a hero’s welcome in Somaliland Wednesday, one month after winning a silver medal at the 2011 World championships in Athletics, in the 10,000m competition.
Existing home sales grew in August at the fastest annual pace since March and increased plans for new buildings drawn up by architects indicate a future surge in non-residential construction.
A leading indicator of US building construction surprisingly rebounded last month after four months of declines, an architects’ trade group said on Wednesday. Reuters reports: The architecture billings index jumped 6.3 points to 51.4 last month. Any reading above 50 indicates rising demand for design services, a predictor of construction spending nine to 12 months in the future.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Tuesday named 22 new MacArthur Fellows for 2011 who will each receive one half million dollars in no-strings-attached support for their creative endeavors.
Popularly known as ‘Genius Grants’, this year’s awards go to a range of scientists, musicians and communicators, all selected for their creativity, originality, and potential to make important contributions in the future.
Among those chosen were an architect, a sports medicine researcher, a cellist, a developmental biologist, a radio producer, a neurologist, a conservator, a poet, a technologist, and a public historian.
The recipients learned, through phone calls out of the blue from the Foundation, that they will receive MacArthur Fellowships without stipulations or reporting requirements, offering them unprecedented freedom and opportunity to reflect, create, or explore.
“The unusual level of independence afforded to Fellows underscores the spirit of freedom intrinsic to creative endeavors,” said the Foundation in a release.
Among the recipients this year are:
850 people, ranging in age from 18 to 82, have been named MacArthur Fellows since the inaugural class in 1981.
More info at www.macfound.org/fellows.
An Israeli tennis enthusiast noticed in the 1990s that very few Arabs living in Israel had any chance to play his beloved sport.
He dreamed that a tennis court could provide a common ground between Jews and Arabs and Christians alike, promoting co-existence, equality and self esteem.
So, in 1998 he created the Freddie Krivine Foundation which has built or supported tennis courts and programs in nine Arab neighborhoods, like Nazareth and Haifa, all across Israel.
He believed it was important to create facilities in their own communities so children could play on their own time, rather than piling into buses and driving to a centralized tennis center. Besides creating and maintaining courts, the foundation highly subsidizes tennis lessons, and trains and promotes coaching.
One of the foundation’s stars is Ruan Zubidate, a Bedouin who became the top female Arab tennis player in Israel.
After Freddie died at age 84, his daughter Jane took over as director. But, the main emphasis is still to introduce Israeli Arab children to tennis, and through tennis to introduce Jewish and Arab chidren to each other.
Freddie will be remembered for his noble work bringing Arabs and Jews together during the 2nd annual Akko Open women’s international tennis tournament in October. The fact that the tournament is staged at the newly-opened Israel Tennis Centre in the Jewish/Arab town of Akko is a fulfillment of another of Freddie’s dreams.
(WATCH the video below)
