Science can predict large earthquakes

Many were surprised by the sudden occurrence of the powerful earthquake that hit Japan on 11 March.

People were surprised because many believe—or were led to believe—that huge earthquakes at magnitude 9.0 capable of generating 10-meter tsunami waves cannot be predicted by modern science. Well, at least one person does not think so.

Mom on trial for denying her son cancer medicine

Testifying for the attempted murder of her 9-year-old son for withholding cancer medications, Kristen LaBrie told the Essex Superior Court "I was really scared he had had it. I was scared he couldn't go through any more chemotherapy. I felt it could out-villain-ize the disease."

The 39-year-old Massachusetts mother of an autistic son who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma—a tumor in the chest—denied Jeremy Fraser the medications for five months that could have increased the chances of his survival.

Study shows New Delhi's water positive for superbug

Water samples taken from India's capital is positive for New Delhi metallo-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) "superbug" based on a study published in The Lancet on 7 April.

How did they find out?

Researchers from the UK's University of Cardiff collected water samples (creeks, drainage and public tap water) from various locations within a 12-kilometer radius of central New Delhi between 26 September and 10 October last year. They brought the samples to London to test for the presence of the superbug gene called blaNDM-1.

Japan sprays nitrogen into reactors to avoid explosion

Reading the latest developments of the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant makes me feel like going back to my high school days. Why? Because I am overwhelmed with the parade of the chemical elements that the news say.

From hydrogen, to nitrogen, to silicon and zirconium. I feel like I am reviewing the Periodic Table in my Chemistry class. Not to mention iodine and cesium, which have become relatively common words since the troubled plant started leaking radioactive materials into the air, sea, and spreading into the food, milk and drinking water.

First US patient to receive stem cell treatment identified

In October last year, US scientists said they injected a drug derived from human embryonic stem cells into the spine of a patient who became partially paralyzed after he figured from a vehicular accident.

The treatment is the first of its kind that was performed in the country and the name of the patient was made a top secret.

Zeolite: A remedy for radiation exposure?

Much has been said about potassium iodide to guard against the harmful effects of radioactive materials leaked from Japan's nuclear power plants after it was knocked down by the most powerful earthquake ever to hit the country and the giant tsunami waves last month.

A US company called Clean Age Minerals, Inc., a subsidiary of Daleco Resources Corporation, proposed today the use of Clinoptilolite zeolite and its synthesized forms as solution to decontaminate the water and soil exposed to radiation from the damaged power plants.

Study says 20% of US moms have kids from many dads

An interesting study was presented on Friday at the Population Association of America that says 20 percent of all US women have children from multiple men.

Looking closer, children from moms with two or more babies were sired from at least two dads in 28 percent.

Study shows touch-free faucets are not disease-free

Can't touch this.

A study at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine revealed that hands-free faucets contain higher numbers of disease-causing microorganisms than the manual faucets.

India's population up by 181 million in the last 10 years

India's population increased by 181 million in the past decade and now stands at 1.21 billion according to the initial 2011 census report released yesterday.

The provisional population report makes India trail closely behind China's 1.34 billion (est. Dec 2010).

Curtain falls for Fukushima nuke plant, Emperor visits calamity victims

The Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) announced on Wednesday that it will decommission Reactors Nos. 1-4 of one of its damaged plants, the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, and will never be used again.

TEPCO Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata made the announcement on behalf of the hospitalized company President Masataka Shimizu, and said, "I deeply apologize for causing a great deal of worry to so many people," the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.