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Drugs used to treat malaria and schizophrenia may be able to defeat theinfectious proteins that cause the human equivalent of mad cow disease.University of California at San Francisco researchers found the drugs wereeffective in treating mouse cells infected with proteins known as prions,which cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

“It’s a big leap from findings in cell culture to those in humans, and we donot know if we will see a favorable response in humans. But the results wesaw, in a cell model we consider valid, make this lead worth pursuingimmediately,” says Dr. Carsten Korth.
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Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines is getting ready to explode, dumping tonsof water on villages below. The latest eruption of Mt. Etna in Sicilyproduced dramatic nighttime images of hot rolling lava and explosivefireworks. But these volcanoes are small compared to what scientists sayAmerica will experience one day. Sooner or later, they warn, a “supervolcano” will strike right here in the U.S.A.

The eruption of pent-up energy will cover half the United States in ash, insome places up to 3 feet deep. Earth will be plunged into a perpetual winterthat lasts years. Some plant and animal species will disappear forever. Evenhumans could be pushed to the edge of extinction – it’s happened before.
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In Murmansk’s nuclear graveyard in Russia, three nuclear submarines with thedestructive power of 200 nuclear bombs lie rusting in the icy water. Thesubmarines will never be used again. These vessels, and dozens of otherslike them, could cause a catastrophe which would make the Chernobyl disasterpale into insignificance.

Two years ago Robin Cook, then British Foreign Secretary, promised $16.5million to help with the nuclear clean-up in the Murmansk region, as part ofa larger program of nuclear clean-up in Russia, where, during the Sovietera, environmental considerations always came last.
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Scientists at Virginia Tech University say that rats’ genes could makevegetables produce more vitamin C. When they introduced rat genes into thegenetic material of lettuces it caused the greens to increase theirproduction of vitamins by 700%.

Craig Nessler, who lead the research, says he does not expect to see theengineered lettuce for sale any time soon. “We are aware that vegetablescontaining rats’ genes would not meet the customer’s taste.” However, hehopes to develop his findings into a method that will eventually help fightundernourishment in Third World countries.

Rats were selected because they can produce vitamin C themselves, whilehumans no longer have this ability.
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