Argentine airport personnel averted potential disaster earlier this month, when they prevented one traveler from sneaking hundreds of dangerous stowaways onto his flight. They first became suspicious when an X-ray scanner revealed movement within the m…

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Sleep disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea, and shift work disorder are common among US and Canadian police officers, and excessive fatigue is impairing their ability to perform their duties safely and effectively. About 40 percent of respondents in a …

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The journal that published a 2009 study linking a virus to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) has retracted the controversial paper. In September, the study authors withdrew some of their findings after admitting that they were based on “contaminated data,…

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Concerned that details of recent research studies on a lab-made, highly transmissible version of bird flu could be used by terrorists to manufacture biological weapons, the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity has asked two scientific jou…

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Frankincense, an aromatic resin that features prominently in the Christmas story and is used extensively in religious rituals, is in danger of disappearing. Fires, grazing cattle, and longhorn beetles that lay their eggs under trees’ bark are decimatin…

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France is recommending that tens of thousands of women go under the knife again if they have silicone breast implants made by the French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP). The implants were banned last year after it was discovered that they were made…

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Car enthusiasts will likely wince when they hear what one US man who won a $380,000 Murcielago Roadster did just hours after it was delivered—he crashed it. David Dopp was giving family and friends rides in his new luxury sports car when it hit a…

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The 18th birthday celebration of Jyoti Amge of Nagpur, India, involved cake, friends, and a Guinness representative armed with a measuring tape. There, she was measured and officially declared the world’s shortest living woman. An achondroplastic dwarf…

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More than 900 people were killed and tens of thousands were left homeless when a typhoon struck the southern Philippine island of Mindanao late last week, causing flash floods and landslides that swept away homes, schools, roads, and even entire villag…

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After 17 years in power, North Korea’s “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il passed away on Saturday at the age of 69. The world’s only hereditary communist ruler, he will be succeeded by the youngest of his three sons, Kim Jong-un. North Korea will observe a peri…

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The popular social networking site Facebook launched a new feature that aims to connect potentially suicidal users with crisis counselors. In recent years, a number of suicidal users have posted their final words on Facebook. The new tool allows users …

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US census data for 2010 showed that the number of new marriages dropped five percent between 2009 and 2010, bringing the percentage of married US adults to a record low. Whereas 72 percent of American adults were married in 1960, just 51 percent are ma…

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A group of over 100 beluga whales has become trapped by ice floes in a strait off the Bering Sea, and the small white whales may soon die without help. Nearby hunters reported that two relatively small ice holes were making it possible for the whales t…

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Yesterday, after nearly nine years of war, the US military officially declared an end to its mission in Iraq. The occasion was marked by a brief, low-key flag-lowering ceremony in a fortified compound at Baghdad airport. More than one million Americans…

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Thousands of people are killed in the US each year as a result of distracted driving. To try and combat this, the Nati onal Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), a federal investigatory board whose mandate is to ensure safe public transportation, is call…

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Armed with hand grenades, a revolver, and an assault rifle, a man once convicted for illegal weapons possession and drug offenses attacked crowds of Christmas shoppers in the Belgian city of Liège yesterday, killing at least three and injuring mor…

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Hemophilia is a genetic blood disorder in which clotting ability is impaired, resulting in excessive bleeding. The second most common form of the disease, hemophilia B, is caused by a deficiency of coagulation factor IX and is treated with infusions of…

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Many parents would shudder at the idea of giving their kids cookies or Twinkies for breakfast, but if they believe that allowing them to have certain sugary cereals is any better, they should think again. A study of breakfast cereals found that 44 vari…

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Women whose job schedules are irregular and include both day and night shifts may be at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The longer women maintain a schedule that rotates through day and night shifts, the greater the risk becomes. Research…

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If the current bedbug problem has taught us anything, it is that without harsh and often dangerous chemicals, we are at the mercy of many pests. Early humans could perhaps teach us a thing or two about repelling insects. Ancient bedding discovered in a…

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