Soon, wheelchairs controlled by tongues

October 12th, 2009 LONDON - Scientists in Italy have hailed a remote control 'spider pill' camera with moving legs as a new way to scan for diseases. Dr Enrico Grasso, a cancer specialist at the University Hospital Tor Vergata in Rome, believe the device could help detect diseases, including cancer of the stomach or colon, by transforming the invasive procedure of diagnosing serious conditions.

September 22nd, 2009 Senator backs off tax on condoms, contact lensesWASHINGTON — They were calling it the tax on Q-tips. Amid Republican ridicule, a Democratic chairman backed down Tuesday and exempted consumer items of $100 or less — from condoms to contact lenses — from a proposed tax on medical device manufacturers.

September 9th, 2009 LONDON - Toddlers are able to learn a second language from the age of 20 months, just as they are still learning their own native tongue, says a new study. At that age the tots' minds are developed enough to learn basic language skills but are not sufficiently tuned in to one language ahead of another.

September 2nd, 2009 MELBOURNE - In a groundbreaking innovation, scientists have created an electronic device that may allow blind people to "see" using their tongues. The extraordinary technology works by taking pictures filmed by a tiny camera, and turns the information into electrical pulses, which can be felt on the tongue.

August 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Cigarette smokers have fewer and flatter taste buds, says a new study on Greek soldiers. The research on the tongues of 62 soldiers, published in the open access journal BMC Ear, Nose and Throat Disorders, has demonstrated how cigarettes deaden the ability to taste.

August 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have devised a small, cheap, lab-on-a-chip sensor that quickly and accurately identifies sweetness. It can accurately identify the full sweep of natural and artificial sweet substances, including 14 common sweeteners, using easy-to-read colour markers.

July 15th, 2009 DEA weighs new limits on drug eyed in Jackson caseWASHINGTON — Federal authorities are considering making the potent anesthetic propofol — one of the drugs found in Michael Jackson's home — a controlled substance, which would put new limits on its distribution. The Drug Enforcement Administration was petitioned two years ago to make propofol a scheduled drug under the Controlled Substances Act.

July 8th, 2009 Malaysia drops English used to teach math, scienceKUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia announced Wednesday it will abandon the use of English to teach math and science, bowing to protesters who demanded more use of the national Malay language. Malay will be reinstated in state-funded schools starting in 2012 because teaching in English caused academic results in those subjects to slip, Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said.

June 9th, 2009 LONDON - Why is it that people, especially those bilinguals, often have tip-of-the-tongue experiences in which words suddenly and perplexingly go missing only to reappear seconds or minutes later? Well, new research has shed some light on why these momentary lapses in vocabulary occur. Jennie Pyers, a psychologist at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, says that one possible explanation is that similar-sounding words compete for the brain's attention.

May 5th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists are developing artificial cells with the ability to tap an energy source and use it for sustained mobility. A Japanese study described the first 'self-propelled' oil droplets (used as a model for research on artificial cells) that can run on a chemical 'fuel'.

April 27th, 2009 91 protesters arrested at White HouseWASHINGTON — U.S. Park Police say they have arrested 91 protesters in front of the White House, including some in wheelchairs who chained themselves to a fence.

April 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Your usual nine to five office shift has a biological reason behind it, and now scientists have found that some genes in the body are switched on once every 12 or 8 hours, which in turn keeps us actively involved in the work, according to a new study. The findings by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies indicated that shorter cycles of the circadian rhythm are also biologically encoded.

April 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - After a controversy started following his comments about democracy in China, actor Jackie Chan has insisted that his remarks were taken out of context. Chan, 55, a Hong Kong native and one of the Communist nation's leading stars, had reportedly made the comment at a business forum in the country's Hainan province on April 18.

March 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Anna Nicole Smith's boyfriend, attorney and two doctors were charged Thursday with conspiring to give her prescription drugs before she died in 2007, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office said in a press release. Howard K. Stern, the boyfriend, and doctors Sandeep Kapoor and Khristine Eroshevich were charged with conspiracy for giving controlled substances to Smith from June 5, 2004 to Jan.

March 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Brit actress Gemma Arterton could not help herself from using her tongue when filming kissing scenes with actor Jake Gyllenhaal, even though it had been understood that she was not to. Arterton, 23, who co-star's with Gyllenhaal in the upcoming movie Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time, plays the part of a sixth century princess, while he the prince.