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Science, Health, and Related Policies

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Recent News Stories

• Republicans abandon Bush on food, energy issues
  A.P.--Congress responded speedily to voters' angst over rising grocery prices and $4-a-gallon gasoline Thursday, bucking President Bush's veto threats with lopsided votes to boost food stamps and farm subsidies. [Read more]
• Clean-Air Rules Protecting Parks Set to Be Eased
  Washington Post--The Bush administration is on the verge of implementing new air quality rules that will make it easier to build power plants near national parks and wilderness areas, according to agency scientists who oppose the plan. [Read more]
• F.D.A. Delays Clinical Trial of Embryonic Stem Cells
  Bloomberg News--The Geron Corporation announced Wednesday that its plans to begin the first clinical trial using embryonic stem cells had been delayed by federal regulators. [Read more]
• Renewable energy tax bill advances in House
  Reuters--A bill that would renew billions of dollars in tax breaks for solar, wind, biomass and other renewable energy sources and extend a proposed new tax credit for non-corn ethanol fuels advanced in the U.S. House of Representatives. [Read more]
• Official Urged Fewer Diagnoses of PTSD
  Washington Post--A psychologist who helps lead the PTSD program at a medical facility for veterans in Texas told staff members to refrain from diagnosing PTSD because so many veterans were seeking government disability payments. [Read more]
• NASA Faces Rocket Test Delays for New Spaceship
  SPACE.com--NASA is expecting delays for the first tests of the rocket that will replace its aging space shuttles after they retire in 2010, agency officials said Thursday. [Read more]
• Valley execs lobby for alternative-energy tax credits
  Silicon Valley.com--Clean-energy and tech executives are leaning hard on Congress to break a deadlock and approve a series of tax credits for the solar and wind industries. [Read more]
• Judge Rejects Deal on Disabled
  Washington Post--A federal judge rejected a proposed agreement between Washington, D.C. and the Justice Department to establish programs and deadlines intended to improve health care for the developmentally disabled. [Read more]
• L.A. prepares massive water-conservation plan
  L.A. Times--The initiative would punish water wasters and limit such activities as watering lawns and washing vehicles. And it would revive a controversial effort to recycle sewage water. [Read more]
• 1,200 people to have canceled healthcare coverage restored
  L.A. Times--The action comes after Kaiser Permanente and Health Net reach an agreement with a California state agency. [Read more]
• Sea Lions died of heat, not gunshots
  L.A. Times--The deaths of six sea lions found in traps on the Columbia River earlier this month were likely caused by the heat, the National Marine Fisheries Service says. [Read more]
• Wyoming marks first illegal wolf kill
  L.A. Times--A wolf shot to death in northwest Wyoming is the first known illegal killing in the state since the animals lost federal protection. [Read more]
• Wildlife numbers plummet globally: WWF
  AFP--The world's wildlife populations have reduced by around a quarter since the 1970s, according to a major report published Friday by the WWF conservation organization. [Read more]
• They say they want a revolution
  Nature--Climatologists have called for massive investment in computer and research resources to help revolutionize modelling capabilities. [Read more]
• Researchers warn of nitrogen hazard to environment
  A.P.--While carbon dioxide has been getting lots of publicity in climate change, reactive forms of nitrogen are also building up in the environment, scientists warn. [Read more]
• Retired justice O'Connor speaks on Alzheimer's
  Reuters--Retired U.S. Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor made a rare public appearance on Wednesday with emotional testimony in Congress on Alzheimer's. [Read more]
• Vitamin D deficiency linked to breast cancer, study finds
  L.A. Times--Patients with deficient levels at the time of diagnosis are more likely to have their cancer metastasize and turn deadly, researchers say. [Read more]
• Study Links Rise in Mastectomies to M.R.I. Detection
  N.Y. Times--New techniques for detecting breast cancer may be leading more women to have their entire breast removed, researchers said Thursday. [Read more]
• Medical Journal’s Article Questions TV Ads for Stent
  N.Y. Times-- A television advertisement for a heart stent may deceive the public and should be reviewed by regulators, according to an op-ed article published by a leading medical journal. [Read more]
• Mars' north pole is layered, scientists say
  L.A. Times--The finding is based on radar images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which show seven distinct layers of ice and dust. [Read more]
• Evolution Goes Wild in Once-Polluted Lake
  Discovery--The cleanup of a polluted Washington lake appears to have driven evolution backwards for the threespined stickleback fish living there. [Read more]
• Microsoft Joins Effort for Laptops for Children
  N.Y. Times--Microsoft and the computing and education project One Laptop Per Child said that they had reached an agreement to offer Windows on the organization’s computers. [Read more]
• Da Vinci to be honored by small helicopter flight
  A.P.--A Japanese man who developed the world's smallest helicopter will take flight in the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci in tribute to the Renaissance genius' original idea. [Read more]
• United Way to Target Health, Education and Income
  Washington Post- The United Way is announcing that it will direct its resources toward 10-year goals that would cut the high school dropout rate in half. [Read more]
• Quaid testifies of peril to newborn twins
  AP- Actor Dennis Quaid told Congress that taking away theright to sue pharmaceutical companies would turn consumers into "uninformed and uncompensated lab rats." [Read more]