Researchers at MIT's Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research have produced a report concerning key design issues of proposed "cap-and-trade" programs that are under consideration in the United States as a way of curbing greenhouse gas emissions. The first contribution of the three-part study found that, based on an examination of the European Union's system and of similar U.S. programs for other emissions, such a program can indeed be effective in reducing emissions without having a significant economic impact.

Developed more than 200 years ago and found in households around the world, chlorine bleach is among the most widely used disinfectants, yet scientists never have understood exactly how this familiar product actually kills bacteria.   New research from the University of Michigan  reveals key details in the process by which bleach works its antimicrobial magic.

In a study published in the Nov. 14 issue of Cell, a team led by molecular biologist Ursula Jakob describes a mechanism by which hypochlorite, the active ingredient of household bleach, attacks essential bacterial proteins, ultimately killing the bugs.

Humans would never agree that elections sometimes come down to looks.   Science disagrees.   Some argue that Barack Obama won because he looks younger and healthier than John McCain while others contend that having twice as much money makes any candidate more likely to win and about three people actually voted based on the issues.

A new report in the November 13th issue of Current Biology says that one species of fish picks its leaders in much the same way; most of the time they reach a consensus to go for the more attractive of two candidates. 

Two clones of highly antibiotic-resistant organism strains, which previously had only been identified in the United States, are now causing serious sickness and death in several Colombian cities including the capital Bogotá, say researchers at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. The study, done in collaboration with Universidad El Bosque in Bogotá, is presented in a research letter published in the Nov. 13 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

An infrared camera aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft has discovered a unique aurora lighting up Saturn's polar cap. The mysterious new aurora is unlike any other known in our solar system.

"We've never seen an aurora like this elsewhere," said Tom Stallard, an RCUK Academic Fellow working with Cassini data at the University of Leicester.  Stallard is lead author of a paper released today in the British journal Nature.  "It's not just a ring of aurorae like those we've seen at Jupiter or Earth. This one covers an enormous area across the pole. Our current ideas on what forms Saturn's aurorae predict that this region should be empty, so finding such a bright one here is a fantastic surprise."

Archaeologists have made a discovery in Egypt, which fills in a missing piece of history in the Old Kingdom ancient burial ground of Saqqara.  The newest discovery, found in the sand south of Cairo about two months ago, most likely housed the remains of Queen Shesheshet.  Shesheshet, the mother of King Teti, ruled from 2323 BC to 2291 BC and founded Egypt's Sixth Dynasty -- over 4,000 years ago.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder(OCD) affects as much as 2 % of the population and is considered a psychiatric disorder. It is the number four psychiatric pathology in terms of frequency following phobias, disorders relating to alcohol and drugs, and depression.

People affected with OCD are obsessed with cleanliness, order, and symmetry or are overcome by doubts and irrational fears. In order to reduce their anxiety, they carry out rituals of tidying, washing or verification for several hours a day in the most serious cases.

The HPV vaccine, sold as Gardasil in the U.S., is intended to prevent four strains of the human papillomavirus, the most common sexually transmitted infection in the world. The vaccine also prevents against cervical cancer. While the vaccine represents a significant public health advance, a new article in the Journal of Law, Medicine&Ethics suggests that it is premature for states to currently mandate the HPV vaccine as a condition for school attendance.

Gail Javitt, J.D., M.P.H., Deena Berkowitz, M.D., M.P.H., and Lawrence O. Gostin, J.D., LL.D., review the scientific evidence supporting Gardasil's approval and the legislative actions in the states that followed and raise several concerns about state mandates for HPV vaccination. 

A team of Princeton University scientists say they have discovered that chains of proteins found in most living organisms act like adaptive machines, possessing the ability to control their own evolution.  They say the research appears to offer evidence of a hidden mechanism guiding the way biological organisms respond to the forces of natural selection and provides a new perspective on evolution, the scientists said.

Blood levels of resistin, a hormone produced by fat cells, can independently predict an individual's risk of heart failure, cardiologists at Emory University School of Medicine have found.

Their findings were presented Nov. 12 at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions conference in New Orleans.

"This is one of the strongest predictors of new-onset heart failure we've been able to find, and it holds up even when you control for other biomarkers and risk factors including high blood pressure and diabetes," says Javed Butler, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine and director of heart failure research at Emory University School of Medicine.