Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), known to deplete ozone, are also to blame for global warming since the 1970s, according to a paper in the International Journal of Modern Physics B.

The statistical analysis found that CFCs are the key driver in global climate change, rather than carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which the author says would explain why temperature has not continued to rise as CO2 has - CFCs have gone down a lot.

A naturally occurring protein, diazepam binding inhibitor (DBI) , secreted only in discrete areas of the mammalian brain may act as a Valium-like brake on certain types of epileptic seizures.

 Valium, which is notoriously addictive, prone to abuse and dangerous at high doses, was an early drug treatment for epilepsy, but it has fallen out of use for this purpose because its efficacy quickly wears off and because newer, better anti-epileptic drugs have come along.

Researchers writing in Neuron say DBI calms the rhythms of a key brain circuit and so could prove valuable in developing novel, less side-effect-prone therapies not only for epilepsy but possibly for anxiety and sleep disorders. 

Do you know, my original title for this was "The Early Bird Gets the PR". I hastily changed it before posting because it was the most cynical title of I'd ever read, of anything, ever. But, it has undeniably happened. We have another earliest bird that has once again knocked Archaeopteryx off of its perch.

Here it is; it's called Aurornis xui, and here is Jon Tennant covering it for Discover.

 Much like in Frank Herbert’s "Dune", a science-fiction epic about characters attempting to rule a planet torn apart by conflict, the issue of balancing desires for resources, and their impact on people, faces much of Africa today. The planet that serves as the stage for that story, a barren desert where control over said resources dictates human events, in many ways mimics the present situation on the African continent.