Recent News

By Region: Europe

British anthrax death sparks outbreak concern

(Reuters) A British drug user has died from anthrax, health authorities said on Friday, triggering concerns a European outbreak of the rare infection among people who inject heroin may be worsening. The user was possibly infected by contaminated heroin and there were at least seven other similar cases across Europe, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) Read More »

August 20, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, International, and Public Health
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Synthetic ‘upgrade’ for fruit fly’s DNA

(New Scientist) The genetic code of the fruit fly Drosophila has been hacked into, allowing it to make proteins with properties that don’t exist in the natural world. The advance could ultimately lead to the creation of new or “improved” life forms in the burgeoning field of synthetic biology. The four letters of the genetic Read More »

August 14, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, North America, Agriculture, Biotechnology, International, and Research
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Book details Soviet plans to wage germ warfare with lethal ‘designer’ strains

(The Washington Post) In the Soviet playbook for all-out war with the United States, the wasting of U.S. cities by nuclear bombs was to be followed by something equally horrifying: waves of plagues to kill any survivors. Soviet scientists spent decades preparing for the second attack, concocting new kinds of biological weapons more lethal than Read More »

August 9, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, North America, Biological Weapons, International, and Research
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New scientific method unmasks chronic infections

(EurekAlert) Chronic infections are a large and growing problem throughout the developed world, and intensive research is being conducted in ways to combat the recalcitrant bacteria. When bacteria aggregate into so-called biofilm, they become resistant to antibiotics. Until now scientists have only been able to speculate about what happens when bacteria overpower the immune system during Read More »

August 8, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Public Health, and Research
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U.N. Draft Measure Warns Syria Over WMD

(Global Security Newswire) A U.N. General Assembly proposal due for consideration on Friday would urge Syrian President Bashar Assad to leave office while pressing his beleaguered government not to employ its unconventional armaments or hand them off to nongovernmental entities, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 31). Observers fear that escalating violence in the Read More »