The results of a new study suggest that rising temperatures are leaving a mark on the world. According to a report published in the current issue of the journal Science, the first flowering of plants in Britain has changed by as much as 55 days over the past few decades in response to warmer weather. The results, the scientists say, are the “strongest biological signal yet of climatic change.”

Alastair Fitter of the University of York and his father, naturalist Richard Fitter, analyzed 47 y

Rising levels of gonorrhoea and syphilis across western Europe since 1995 imply that complacency over HIV prevention efforts may have set in among individuals and some governments, argue researchers in this week’s BMJ.

Angus Nicoll and Francoise Hamers examined national trends in diagnosed HIV infections, gonorrhoea, and infectious syphilis from 1995 to 2000.

They found the numbers of new diagnoses of sexually acquired HIV infections increased by 20% in western Europe. Rates of go

Popular arthritis drugs, known as selective COX 2 inhibitors, may not be superior to traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, conclude researchers in this week’s BMJ.

A study published in September 2000 concluded that the COX 2 inhibitor, celecoxib, was associated with a lower rate of stomach and intestinal ulcers than two older drugs for arthritis. However, only data for the first six months of the study were published. When all the data were considered, the published results appe

Scientists from Imperial College London have discovered that xenon gas could help in protecting damaged nerve cells.

The research, published today in Anesthesiology, shows that xenon, an inert gas, acts as a neuroprotectant, helping to protect damaged nerve cells from dying. Based upon pre-clinical trials, researchers believe it could have human applications, eventually leading to treatments for people suffering from nerve damaging illnesses, such as strokes, and brain and spinal cord injur

Authors of a research letter in this week’s issue of THE LANCET describe a new technique where the detection of a specific protein in faeces could be a marker for colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer is a common disease (causing around 500,000 deaths each year worldwide), and screening methods that are more reliable than colonoscopy and faecal-blood assessment are needed for earlier disease detection. Nicholas Coleman and colleagues from the MRC Cancer Cell Unit, Cambridge, UK, aim to develo

Species extinction or `biodiversity loss` has accelerated at an alarming rate over the past century. Although much of the blame has been laid at the door of human activity, biologists are looking at the factors that influence how species-particularly similar species-co-exist, in their efforts to better understand how the balance of species can be maintained.

New research into forest trees by Dr Colleen Kelly of the Division of Ecology and Biodiversity at the University of Southampton has sho