MultiDetector Computed Tomography (MDCT) can aid forensics teams in determining if a person has drowned, according to a study published in the June issue of Radiology.

MDCT is comparable to conventional autopsy in demonstrating airway froth and sediment that are indicative of drowning.

The world's largest and most prolific team of planet hunters announced today (Monday, May 28) the discovery of 28 new planets outside our solar system, increasing to 236 the total number of known exoplanets.

University of California, Berkeley, post-doctoral fellow Jason T. Wright and newly minted Ph.D. John Asher Johnson reported the new exoplanets at a noon media briefing at the semi-annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Honolulu.

Using NASA's Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite and ground-based telescopes, astronomers have determined, for the first time, the properties of a rare, extremely massive, and young binary star system.

The system, known as LH54-425, is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. The binary consists of two O-stars, the most massive and luminous types of stars in the Universe.

A review declared the EU ETS the most significant accomplishment in climate policy to date, concluding it will be central to global climate negotiations. However since the EU accounts for only 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, a global framework for managing climate policy is required in the long term, they say in their Review of Environmental Economics and Policy.

Northwestern University's Charles Bennett, M.D., is a super sleuth of potentially deadly prescription drug reactions. He leads a national SWAT team of doctors called RADAR (Research on Adverse Drug Events and Reports) based out of Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine. They swoop in to investigate early signs of trouble years before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) takes notice.

A new study by Bennett, the A.C. Buehler Professor in Economics and Aging at Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine, and a hematologist and oncologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, found RADAR identified serious drug reactions six years earlier than the FDA and drug companies.

The sharpest image ever taken of the large "grand design" spiral galaxy M81 is being released today at the American Astronomical Society Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii. A spiral-shaped system of stars, dust, and gas clouds, the galaxy's arms wind all the way down into the nucleus.

Scientists in New Zealand have discovered that some cows have genes that give them the ability to produce skimmed milk naturally. They say they can use this information to breed herds of milkers producing only skimmed milk.

Even better, they said they can breed herds producing milk with the unique characteristics required to make a butter that is spreadable straight from the fridge.

They have already identified a cow, Marge, with the genes required to do this and say a commercial herd is likely by 2011. The milk is very low in saturated fats and so should be high in polyunsaturates and monounsaturated fats.

A newly discovered dwarf galaxy in the Local Group has been found to have formed in a region of space far from our own and is falling into our system for the first time in its history, according to new data obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory. An international team of astronomers report that the dwarf galaxy, Andromeda XII, marks the best piece of evidence for small galaxies which are just now arriving in our Local Group. The finding provides an important test for simulations of galaxy formation.

If you're inactive as a child, you are basically 'storing up' illnesses for when you are an adult, University of Leicester study says.

Professor Kamlesh Khunti, Professor Melanie Davies and Dr Margaret Stone surveyed over 3500 pupils from five inner city secondary schools in Leicester. They identified low levels of physical activity in both South Asian and white children. For example only half the children walked to school although south Asian children were less likely to walk to school compared to white children. Furthermore, half the pupils spent 4 hours or more a day watching television or videos or playing computer games.