Reuters
Science - Reuters

A worker picks some New Zealand spinach growing in a greenhouse at an organic farm located on the outskirts of Beijing June 20, 2008. (David Gray/Reuters)

FDA to allow radiation of spinach and lettuce

Thu Aug 21, 6:55 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Health regulators have approved the use of ionizing radiation for fresh spinach and lettuce, saying the technique already approved for other foods can help control harmful bacteria and other pathogens.

  • Residents push a truck stuck along a flooded street in Manila, August 20, 2008. (Cheryl Ravelo/Reuters)
    Typhoon Nuri on course for possible direct Hong Kong hit 43 minutes ago

    HONG KONG (Reuters) - A typhoon that killed four people in the Philippines is heading towards Hong Kong and may hit the city dead-on if it continues along its current track, said the Hong Kong Observatory.

  • An artist's concept depicts the distant dwarf planet known as Eris on June 14, 2007. (NASA-JPL/Caltech/Handout/Reuters)
    Iran plans manned space mission in 10 years Thu Aug 21, 5:46 AM ET

    TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran plans to send a manned rocket into space in the next 10 years, state television reported on Thursday, just days after the Islamic Republic announced it had put a dummy satellite into orbit.

  • Before and after images illustrate a face transplant performed by Chinese doctors on a 30-year-old mauled by a bear. New faces given to a Chinese man after a bear tore off part of his face and a French-Caribbean man disfigured by a rare tumor show that such transplants can work and are not medical oddities, researchers said on Thursday. (The Lancet/Handout/Reuters)
    Face transplants can work, studies show 2 hours, 53 minutes ago

    LONDON (Reuters) - New faces given to a Chinese man after a bear tore off part of his face and a French-Caribbean man disfigured by a rare tumor show that such transplants can work and are not medical oddities, researchers said on Thursday.

  • Workers clear debris from a damaged roof at the Palm Beach Equine Clinic after Tropical Storm Fay passed through Wellington, Florida August 19, 2008. (Joe Skipper/Reuters)
    Soggy storm Fay moves over Florida again Thu Aug 21, 5:57 PM ET

    MIAMI (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Fay came ashore on the Florida coast for the third time in less than a week on Thursday, bringing more of the torrential rain that has flooded hundreds of homes.

  • Study head Amy DeMarco in an undated photo. An epilepsy drug being tested for use in treating addiction can help obese rats shed weight, U.S. government researchers said on Wednesday. (Brookhaven National Laboratory/Handout/Reuters)
    Addiction drug reverses obesity in rats Wed Aug 20, 7:13 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An epilepsy drug being tested for use in treating addiction can help obese rats shed weight, U.S. government researchers said on Wednesday.

  • A tourist covers herself with an umbrella while taking cover from the rain as Tropical Storm Fay arrives in Orlando, Florida, August 19, 2008. (Scott Audette/Reuters)
    Scientists urge U.S. to protect economy from climate Wed Aug 20, 5:01 PM ET

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Eight scientific organizations urged the next U.S. president to help protect the country from climate change by pushing for increased funding for research and forecasting, saying about $2 trillion of U.S. economic output could be hurt by storms, floods and droughts.

  • Rick Dyer (R) and Matt Whitton, who both claim to have the corpse of Bigfoot, hold a news conference in Palo Alto, California, August 15, 2008. (Kimberly White/Reuters)
    "Bigfoot" was rubber gorilla costume Wed Aug 20, 2:51 AM ET

    LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - No wonder Bigfoot failed a DNA test. Researchers said on Tuesday the hairy heap claimed by two men to be the corpse of the mythical half-ape, half-human creature was actually a full-body rubber gorilla costume.

  • Peru joins fray for treasure ship claimed by Spain Wed Aug 20, 6:28 PM ET

    MIAMI (Reuters) - Peru has entered the battle for a multimillion-dollar treasure of gold and silver that Spain alleges a U.S. treasure hunting company looted from a Spanish warship sunk in 1804.

  • A woman donates blood at a blood donation center in Switzerland, January 10, 2008. (Michael Buholzer/Reuters)
    Stem cells could allow "blood farms," company says Tue Aug 19, 2:16 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Embryonic stem cells can be used to grow vats of red blood cells, which could lead to the creation of "farms" that could provide limitless sources of blood, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

  • A French doctor examines a patient's medical results as he looks for tumours at a hospital in Nancy, France. British researchers have developed a more accurate technique for spotting the most aggressive forms of bowel cancer.(AFP/File/Jean-Christophe Verhaegen)
    Stem cell test to help treat bowel cancer Tue Aug 19, 8:18 PM ET

    LONDON (Reuters) - Stem cell scientists have developed a new and more accurate way of spotting aggressive forms of bowel cancer, allowing for tailored treatment that should improve patients' chances of survival.

  • This composite image provided by NASA Wednesday Aug. 20, 2008 shows the active galaxy NGC 1275 (Perseus A). X-ray data from the Chandra's Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer and radio data from NRAO's Very Large Array were combined with optical wavelengths in the red, green and blue from Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. In the composite image, the X-ray data contribute to the soft violet shells around the outside of the center. The pinkish lobes toward the center of the galaxy are from radio frequencies. The radio emission, tracing jets from the black hole, fills the X-ray cavities. Dust lanes, star-forming regions, hydrogen filaments, foreground stars, and background galaxies are contributions from the Hubble optical data. The Hubble Space Telescope has found the answer to a long-standing puzzle by seeing the details of giant but delicate filaments shaped by a strong magnetic field around the active galaxy NGC 1275. (AP Photo/NASA)
    Monster magnets support lovely space lace pattern Wed Aug 20, 7:40 PM ET

    CHICAGO (Reuters) - Giant magnetic tentacles are the force that keeps a lacy pattern of glowing gas filaments in the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 1275 from evaporating in the surrounding hot gas or collapsing under the weight of their own gravity, British astronomers said on Wednesday.

  • A worker picks up a mosquito at a Sanaria Inc. facility in Rockville, Maryland, October 26, 2007. (Jim Young/Reuters)
    For mosquitoes, DEET just plain stinks: study Mon Aug 18, 5:03 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - DEET, the widely used mosquito repellent, does not block the insects' sense of smell but simply stinks to them, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

  • Bacteria a big killer in 1918 flu pandemic: study Tue Aug 19, 12:57 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bacterial pneumonia may have killed most people during the 1918 flu pandemic, and antibiotics may be as crucial as flu drugs to fight any new pandemic, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.