Kerosene is the the primary source of light for more than a billion people in developing nations and it is churning out black carbon previously overlooked in greenhouse gas estimates, says a new study. 

Results from field and lab tests found that 7 to 9 percent of the kerosene in wick lamps — used for light in 250-300 million households without electricity — is converted to black carbon when burned. In comparison, only half of 1 percent of the emissions from burning wood is converted to black carbon.

A previously invincible mutation in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) has been thwarted by an investigational drug in a phase I clinical trial.

12 patients in a trial with chronic phase CML and the T315I mutation had a complete hematologic response (absence of CML cells in the blood) after treatment with ponatinib. Eleven had a major reduction in CML cells in the bone marrow and nine achieved a complete cytogenetic response – no cells in the marrow. 
Twelve patients with acute myeloid leukemia also participated in the trial. A separate paper will address those results.

T315I is present in up to 20 percent of patients and blocks the docking station where three other successful CML drugs normally connect to the mutant protein.

An online calculator says it can predict at birth a baby's likelihood of becoming obese in childhood, according to a paper in PLOS ONE.

They estimate the child's obesity risk based on its birth weight, the body mass index of the parents, the number of people in the household, the mother's professional status and whether she smoked during pregnancy.

Yes, that determines if your child is going to be fat.  But it's PLoS One and the credit card cleared.

The researchers think their prediction method will be used to identify infants at high risk and help families take steps to prevent their children from putting on too much weight. Like what, getting mom a better job land quitting smoking before pregnancy? 

When people witness a hurtful action they make a moral determination based on whether it is intentional or accidental instantly, according to a new paper.

The paper says the brain is hard-wired to recognize when another person is being intentionally harmed. It also provides new insights into how such recognition is connected with emotion and morality, according to lead author Jean Decety, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at UChicago.

We'll never cure things that shorten life span, like cancer and aging, but a roadmap to under cells at the molecular level might one day help push them to the background, and so a team of researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison have created an "atlas" that maps more than 1,500 unique landmarks within mitochondria that could provide clues to the metabolic connections between caloric restriction and aging. 

The creation and dispersal of modern humans and of modern human behavior are of great interest to archeology and anthropology and engraved objects are a hallmark of cognition and symbolism, important features of modern human behavior. 

Why aren't there more discoveries of these in Asia? In recent years, engraved ochre, bones and ostrich eggs unearthed from various Paleolithic sites in Africa, the Near East and Europe have attracted the attention of many scholars but they are rarely encountered at Paleolithic sites in East Asia.