Pesticides developed in the hope that they may be safer than older chemicals known to cause cancer may be only slightly better, according to Margaret Whalen, a biochemist at Tennessee State University. They found the compounds, which are used to protect crops such as pecans, potatoes and sugar beets, as well as to protect boats and wood, can damage cells in the human body that seek out and destroy microbes and cancer cells.
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The world?s first cloned baby could be born in November, according to Italian fertility expert Severino Antinori. Most animal clones have short, unhealthy lives. But even if the baby is healthy, the mother could be at high risk for a rare invasive womb cancer.
Richard Gardner, who chaired the U.K. Royal Society?s working group on cloning, says the mother could be at risk from choriocarcinoma, an unusual form of cancer unique to humans. The cancer develops from the trophoblast, the part of an embryo that invades the womb wall and develops into the placenta. Though the causes are unknown, poorly regulated genes controlling the growth of the placenta seem to be involved.
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Explorers believe they have discovered remains of another city submerged off the coast of India. In January scientists announced the discovery of an ancient city 120 feet under the sea in the Gulf of Khambhat in northwest India, which could be one of the oldest cities known. Fragments of pottery, carved wood, bone and beads from there have been dated to more than 9,000 years old.
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The Earth?s magnetic poles might be starting to flip, according to Gauthier Hulot of the Institute of Earth Sciences in Paris and his colleagues, who have seen strange anomalies in the Earth?s magnetic field.
The magnetic field is created by the flow of molten iron inside the Earth?s core. These circulation patterns are affected by the Earth?s rotation, so the field normally aligns with the Earth?s axis, forming the north and south poles.
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