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Despite recent sightings of a giant, elusive reptile living in a creek in South Dakota, a search has so far turned up nothing. Between July 24 and July 26 this summer, Shirley Nikodym and Chris Heinz were walking along Moccasin Creek when they saw what appeared to be a large snake poke its head out of the water. The snake ducked back under and began swimming toward the shore, causing them to run away.

Animal control officer John Weaver searched the area but saw no sign of the snake. The huge ball python that Nikodym and Heinz described to him is a tropical snake that needs hot weather. Weaver says it couldn?t survive a South Dakota winter, and probably won?t live through September.
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Dozens of people in the South American country of Suriname have reported seeing a UFO near the capital. Police, military and air traffic control officials said they received reports of a brightly lit white object that flew back and forth at great speed during a two-hour period last week. There were also sightings on the southern outskirts of the capital, and most television stations showed videos of the UFO.

Air Force Officer Tony Comvalius, who also saw the UFO, says there were no planes in the area at the time and he confirmed with the weather service that it was not a weather balloon. ?I don?t know what it was,? he says, ?but was definitely not a flying object that I know.?
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Genetically modified crops are expanding worldwide, with total area planted expected to reach 50 million hectares this year. The total area planted in GM crops this year is 10 percent higher than last year, according to a global survey made by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA).

?Despite the ongoing debate on GM crops, particularly in countries of the European Union, millions of large and small farmers in both industrial and developing countries continue to increase their plantings of GM crops,? the ISAAA says.

Clive James, chairman of ISAAA, says global GM crop areas have increased rapidly since 1996, when genetically modified crops were first grown commercially.
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Women who work night shifts may have a 60 percent greater risk of breast cancer. This finding may be due to the body?s response to light, according to researchers at the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

A gland in the brain known as the pineal gland produces the hormone melatonin when the body is exposed to sunlight or artificial light. This production is disrupted when people are up at night with the lights on.

?Exposure to light at night may increase the risk of breast cancer by suppressing the normal nocturnal production of melatonin by the pineal gland which, in turn, could increase the release of estrogen by the ovaries,? the researchers say. Breast cancer is linked with production of the female hormone estrogen.
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