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/ 1 December 2006
If office colleagues begin to slide beneath their desks or flail hopelessly at out-of-reach keyboards, fear not. The latest medical advice on preventing back pain may be to blame. Using advanced scanning equipment, doctors have concluded that the best way to avoid back pain is not to sit bolt upright but to perfect a more laid-back posture, a sprawl that is halfway between upright and horizontal.
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/ 6 November 2006
On Wednesday, in Jdeida prison on the outskirts of Tripoli, five nurses and a doctor prepared themselves for the worst: word that after seven years in prison, they were to be executed by firing squad. The six, who left their countries to work at the Children’s Hospital in Libya’s second city, Benghazi, were arrested and locked up after being accused of deliberately injecting HIV-tainted blood into more than 400 children.
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/ 27 October 2006
Research studies have indicated that two crucial aids to modern living — cellphones and anti-depressants — may undermine male fertility. Samples taken by the Case Western Reserve University in Ohio from men attending an American fertility clinic suggested that their sperm declined steadily in number, quality and ability to swim as cellphone usage increased.
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/ 18 September 2006
Hurricane breeding grounds in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans are being warmed by greenhouse gases, raising fears that more intense and devastating storms will be unleashed on nearby coastlines, scientists warned last week. The scientists used 22 climate models to investigate the possible causes of a rise in sea surface temperatures.
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/ 18 September 2006
The final resting place of the last Neanderthals may have been unearthed by fossil-hunters excavating deep inside a cave in Gibraltar. Primitive stone tools and remnants from wood fires recovered from the vast Gorham’s cave on the easternmost face of the Rock suggest Neanderthals found refuge there.
A British drug company is seeking permission to conduct the first human trials of an experimental vaccine against the avian flu virus. The vaccine will target the lethal H5N1 strain of avian flu, which has spread rapidly throughout bird popu-lations in Asia and has been brought to Europe by flocks of migrating waterfowl.
From the quiet of a high-security lab, away from the furore about human ethics and religious castigation, some of the world’s cloning experts have come together on a groundbreaking project. Working to order, the scientists receive shipments of tissue from around the world, grow them and freeze them in liquid nitrogen, leaving the cells in suspended animation until word comes to revive them and create clones.
It could be the perfect solution for those whose home lives are in tatters thanks to long commutes and longer office hours: a gadget that lets you pat the dog, squeeze your partner and hug the children — without the inconvenience of having to be there. The invention was developed by researchers who believe the pace of modern life has dramatically cut the time people spend showing affection to family members.
A glimpse of an alluring woman is all it takes to ruin a man’s decision-making skills and the more testosterone coursing through his veins, the worse the problem gets, researchers claimed on Wednesday. The finding is unwelcome confirmation that those most likely to be in a position of power are most susceptible to the subtle influences of the opposite sex.
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/ 27 February 2006
Cars filled up at British supermarket forecourts are unknowingly using a greener fuel than a few years ago. The giant chain Tesco is now pumping a blend of petrol that contains 5% bio-ethanol, a type of alcohol made by fermenting sugars from plants. Modern cars run perfectly well on the mix and the admixture helps rein in soaring greenhouse gas emissions.