Researchers claim sequenced 'Bigfoot' DNA

A Texas veterinarian says she and fellow genetic researchers have confirmed the existence of "Bigfoot," though their findings have yet to pass peer review.Dr. Melba S. Ketchum of Nacogdoches, founder of DNA Diagnostics Inc. in the eastern Texas town of Timpson, said she and her team spent five years on their study of purported Bigfoot hair and concluded they have confirmed the existence of a hominin hybrid species, the legendary creature commonly called "Bigfoot" or "Sasquatch," living in North

Nov. 28, 2012

Gardening could help long space missions

NASA says it is conducting plant research aboard the International Space Station because life in space may depend on it during future long-duration missions.Using plants to provide a food source and to recycle carbon dioxide into breathable oxygen may prove critical for astronauts who will live in space for months at a time, the space agency said in a release Tuesday.Several plant-growing experiments have been conducted to help scientists understand the impact of zero gravity conditions on plant

Nov. 28, 2012

About 80 drugs interact with grapefruit

More than 80 common medications interact with grapefruit -- about half with serious complications, including death, Canadian researchers say.David Bailey, a clinical pharmacologist at the Lawson Health Research Institute in London, Ontario, first discovered the interaction between grapefruit and certain medications more than 20 years ago. Since then the number of drugs with the potential to interact has jumped. “What I‘ve noticed over the last four years is really quite a disturbing trend and th

Nov. 28, 2012

Life found buried beneath Antarctic ice

U.S. scientists say they found metabolically active bacteria in the brine of an Antarctic lake sealed for thousands of years under more than 65 feet of ice.Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said the finding sheds light on the limits of life in extreme environments.The brine has been isolated from the surface environment, and from any external sources of energy, for at least 2,800 years, they said."This provides u

Nov. 28, 2012

U.K. woman unaware of pregnancy gives birth

 A British woman oblivious of her pregnancy gave birth to a child when she visited a hospital for back pain, local media reported Monday.Kayleigh Renwick, a 24-year-old nurse from County Durham, was just hoping to relieve her backache when she visited a hospital in May this year. She had initially suspected a kidney infection as the source of her pain.Instead she found out -- for the very first time -- that she was carrying a child. Shocked, Renwick visited the University Hospital of North Durha

Nov. 27, 2012

Extreme weather tough on U.S. transport system

Wild weather is taking a toll on roads, airports, railways and transit systems across the country.That’s leaving states and cities searching for ways to brace for more catastrophes like Superstorm Sandy that are straining the nation’s transportation lifelines beyond what their builders imagined.Despite their concerns about intense rain, historic floods and record heat waves, some transportation planners find it too politically sensitive to say aloud a source of their weather worries: climate cha

Nov. 25, 2012

Korean team develops new way of generating stem cells

Korean scientists have discovered a new molecular compound that could increase the efficiency of human adult cell reprogramming to induced pluripotent stem cells.The low-molecule Reprogramming Stimulating Compound 133, or RSC133, adds to the list of non-viral vectors that are crucial to advancing the biotechnology and production of iPS cells.Dr. Cho Yee-sook and Dr. Lee Jung-woon of the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience & Biotechnology led a team of researchers for this latest discovery tha

Nov. 25, 2012

India wages hi-tech war on ancient scourge: tuberculosis

NEW DELHI (AP) ― Shammo Khan walks into a dusty courtyard that reeks of garbage, searching for the fingerprint of a man exhausted by HIV, drug withdrawal and the tuberculosis lesions hijacking his lungs. She opens her laptop on his rope bed, prods the emaciated man to log in on a fingerprint reader and watches him slowly and painfully swallow a handful of TB drugs in an experimental program harnessing new technology to combat an ancient killer still ravaging India. Private companies, aid groups

Nov. 25, 2012

Woman dies after 42 years in coma

A Miami woman who fell into a diabetic coma in 1970 died at age 59 after 42 years of unconsciousness, her family said.Edwarda O‘Bara died Wednesday after being cared for by her mother and sister through decades of illness, the Miami New Times reported Friday.O’Bara was a high school student when she fell ill and regurgitated her diabetes medicine. She was rushed to the hospital, where she asked her mother never to leave her side just before she slipped into the coma, The Miami Herald said.Her mo

Nov. 25, 2012

Argentine experts find giant penguin fossils in Antarctica

Argentine experts have discovered the fossils of a two-meter tall penguin that lived in Antarctica 34 million years ago.Paleontologists with the Natural Sciences Museum of La Plata province, where the capital Buenos Aires is located, said the remains were found on the icy southern continent."This is the largest penguin known to date in terms of height and body mass," said researcher Carolina Acosta, who noted that the record had been held by emperor penguins, which reach heights of 1.2 meters ta

Nov. 23, 2012