Global Checkup: Most People Living Longer, But Sicker

If the world's entire population went in for a collective checkup, would the doctor's prognosis be good or bad? Both, according to new studies published in The Lancet medical journal.The vast collaborative effort, called the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2010, includes papers by nearly 500 authors in 50 countries. Spanning four decades of data, it represents...

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NASA Debunks Mayan Doom, 10 Days Early

Dec 13, 2012 2:57pm Kukulkan pyramid, Yucatan, Mexico. Jeremy Woodhouse/Getty.We’ll never know if they were wrong.NASA has quietly published a web video explaining why the world did not come to an end “yesterday,” Dec. 21, 2012.The date of its release, December 11, was no mistake, even if doomsayers would likely call it one last act of earthly hubris. NASA uploaded...

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UK government urged to consider relaxing drug rules

JUST say yes to considering relaxed drug controls, urged a panel of UK parliamentarians this week - but Prime Minister David Cameron has rejected the calls. Many countries have loosened their penalties for drug use, including the Czech Republic and Portugal, which...

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Clashes as Argentines outraged by sex slavery case

BUENOS AIRES: Angry Argentines clashed with police and smashed windows and politicians voiced outrage on Wednesday after a court acquitted 13 people charged with running a sex slavery ring.Demonstrators furious over the legal ruling took to the streets of the capital and in at least seven provinces, including Tucuman in the north, where a court announced the acquittal Tuesday.Susana Trimarco,...

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Video teases latest major effort to jailbreak Apple's iOS 6

A promotional image teasing the release of the first untethered jailbreak for iOS 6.(Credit:Dream Jailbreak)Even if the world doesn't end on December 21, things might go a bit sour for Apple the day after. An unidentified hacker behind a hack called Dream Jailbreak posted video evidence this evening of something countless iPhone,iPad, andiPod Touch owners greatly desire: an untetherediOS 6 jailbreak...

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Gold “Mining” Termites Found, May Lead Humans to Riches

Want to know if you're literally sitting on a gold mine? Get some termites, a new study suggests.New experiments in West Australia reveal that termites "mine" and stockpile the precious metal while they're collecting subterranean material for their nests.For the study, entomologist Aaron Stewart, with Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, and colleagues...

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Mall Shooter Quit Job, Was Going to Hawaii

In the days before he stole a semiautomatic weapon and stormed into an Oregon shopping mall, killing two people in a shooting spree, Jacob Roberts quit his job, sold his belongings and began to seem "numb" to those closest to him.Roberts' ex-girlfriend, Hannah Patricia Sansburn, 20, told ABC News today that the man who donned a hockey mask and opened fire on Christmas shoppers...

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Today on New Scientist: 11 December 2012

Out-of-season's greetings from the Arctic frost flowers Season's regards from an icy meadow in the Arctic, but it's no winter wonderland and please don't dash out into itHow hacking a mosquito's heart could eradicate malaria Watch how a double-pronged trick helps mosquitoes remain healthy while carrying disease, a process that could be exploited to eliminate malariaNew drug lifts hard-to-treat...

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Freezing fog grounds British flights

LONDON: Severe fog has forced the cancellation of dozens of flights scheduled to take-off and land at Britain's airports on Wednesday with more disruption expected later in the day.Flights to Warsaw, Nice, Stockholm, Aberdeen and several German cities were among 20 cancelled by London's Heathrow."It's better to cancel flights when there's fog because in fog you can't land as many planes...

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John McAfee said to be released from Guatemalan detention

John McAfee(Credit:Personal photo)A Guatemalan judge has ordered Antivirus-software pioneer John McAfee to be released from a local detention center, according to the Associated Press. Judge Judith Secaida reportedly told McAfee's lawyer, Telesforo Guerra, that she ruled McAfee's detention to be illegal and he had 10 days to figure out his immigration status. McAfee was detained last week after crossing...

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