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Researchers in Israel say they have succeeded in putting a version of the Bible on a chip smaller than a pinhead. Its 300,000 words in Hebrew were inscribed on a silicon surface at the Haifa Institute of Technology. Scientists say the aim of the project is to increase young people's interest in nanoscience and nanotechnology. The record for the smallest copy is held by a Bible measuring 2.8x3.4x1cm (1.1x1.3x0.4in), weighing 11.75g (0.4 ounces) and containing 1,514 pages. The 0.5sq-mm (0.01sq-in) nano-Bible was written on a silicon surface covered with a thin layer of gold (20nanometres thick - 0.0002mm).

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ndonesia has cleared six members of a family hospitalised with bird flu symptoms, a health official said on Saturday, in a case that has raised concerns over potential human-to-human spread of the disease. It also comes as the World Health Organisation investigates a suspected case of limited human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 bird flu virus in Pakistan. The six Indonesians from a small village in Banten province, just hours from the capital Jakarta, had been suffering from high fever after more than a dozen sick ducks died in their backyard.

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When Park He-ran was a young mother, other women would approach her to ask what her secret was. She had given birth to three boys in a row at a time when South Korean women considered it their paramount duty to bear a son. Ms. Park, a 61-year-old newspaper executive, gets a different reaction today. “When I tell people I have three sons and no daughter, they say they are sorry for my misfortune,” she said. “Within a generation, I have turned from the luckiest woman possible to a pitiful mother.” In South Korea, once one of Asia’s most rigidly patriarchal societies, a centuries-old preference for baby boys is fast receding. And that has led to what seems to be a decrease in the number of abortions performed after ultrasounds that reveal the sex of a fetus.

Source: Forbes -- Read Full Story

A patient's sex and race, along with the type of treatment they receive, can impact their survival after a diagnosis of advanced laryngeal cancer, say U.S. researchers. They analyzed data from a national cancer registry on more than 7,000 patients diagnosed with advanced laryngeal cancer between 1995 and 1998. Of those patients, 53.6 percent had a total laryngectomy (removal of the larynx), 30.6 percent had radiation therapy (radiotherapy) alone, and 15.8 percent had combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

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U.S. health officials issued the second warning since 2005 on Friday about deaths from misuse of Johnson & Johnson's Duragesic pain-killing patch or generic versions. Despite a July 2005 warning, the Food and Drug Administration "has continued to receive reports of deaths and life-threatening side effects after doctors have inappropriately prescribed the patch or patients have incorrectly used it," the agency said. The patch delivers a potent narcotic called fentanyl through the skin. The product was approved in 1990 for patients with persistent, moderate-to-severe pain and whose bodies are used to opioids. That means they have used another strong opioid pain medicine around the clock for a week or longer.

Source: Medical News Today -- Read Full Story

Many common beliefs about what is good and bad for you are untrue, they are "medical myths", said US researchers writing in a leading medical journal. Even doctors are duped, said authors Rachel C Vreeman, fellow in children's health services research at the Indiana University School of Medicine, and Aaron E Carroll, assistant professor of paediatrics at the Regenstrief Institute, both in Indianapolis, writing in the 22nd December Christmas issue of the BMJ. Should people drink at least eight glasses of water a day? Does reading by a dim light damage eyesight? Does shaving make hair grow back thicker? These are three of the seven beliefs held by members of the public and doctors that Vreeman and Carroll selected for research and critical review. They noted the quality of the evidence they found, and also when there was no evidence one way or the other.

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bandoned children in Romania who were removed from orphanages and put in foster care had far better reasoning, language, and other intellectual skills than those who remained, U.S. researchers said on Thursday. The study is one of the first scientific investigations of the impact of foster care on reversing the damage of severe neglect to a child's developing brain. Earlier studies have shown the physical and emotional effects left by the country's notorious communist-era orphanages.

Source: U.S. Senate -- Read Full Story

Over 400 prominent scientists from more than two dozen countries recently voiced significant objections to major aspects of the so-called "consensus" on man-made global warming. These scientists, many of whom are current and former participants in the UN IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), criticized the climate claims made by the UN IPCC and former Vice President Al Gore. The new report issued by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s office of the GOP Ranking Member details the views of the scientists, the overwhelming majority of whom spoke out in 2007. Even some in the establishment media now appear to be taking notice of the growing number of skeptical scientists.

Source: LifeNews -- Read Full Story

Time magazine has released the results of a new abortion poll that finds a majority of Americans want virtually all abortions made illegal. The poll specifically finds about 55 percent of the public is opposed abortions in 96 percent of the cases in which women have them. Time contracted the polling firm SRBI Public Affairs to conduct a telephone survey of 1,503 registered American voters last month. The firm polled Americans from November 12 to 19 and its survey had a three percent margin of error. Time asked Americans which of three position statements on abortion best represents their views. The survey found 42 percent of Americans take a pro-abortion view saying "a woman should be able to get an abortion if she wants one, no matter what the reason, up until the time the fetus is viable, that is, live on its own ."

Source: Voice of America -- Read Full Story

"Global Facts and Figures" is published by the American Cancer Society, which analyzed data gathered by the society and government agencies around the world. Of the 12 million new cases of cancer, the report estimates that the final tally will show nearly seven million newly diagnosed cancer cases and 4.7 million deaths occurred in economically developing countries. In men, the most commonly diagnosed cancers in developing countries are of the lung, stomach and liver, while the most common in women are breast, cervical and stomach cancers.