• Live giant squid caught on camera
• Green energy 25-30 pct of world mix by 2050 - Shell
• Clostridium botulinum exposed
• Pheromones may be used to herd alien fish
• US sets up national stem-cell bank
• Europe planning bird flu measures
• Deadly H5N1 bird flu strain reaches the UK

The brain is a "time machine," assert Duke neuroscientists Catalin Buhusi and Warren Meck. And understanding how the brain tracks time is essential to understanding all its functions. The brain's internal clocks coordinate a vast array of activities from communicating, to orchestrating movement, to getting food, they said.

Hunger in American households has risen by 43 percent over the last five years, according to an analysis of US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data released today. The analysis, completed by the Center on Hunger and Poverty at Brandeis University, shows that more than 7 million people have joined the ranks of the hungry since 1999.

Picky female frogs in a tiny rainforest outpost of Australia have driven the evolution of a new species in 8,000 years or less, according to scientists from the University of Queensland, the University of California, Berkeley, and the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated that morphine withdrawal complicates hepatitis C by suppressing IFN-alpha-mediated immunity and enhancing virus replication. The paper by Wang et al., Morphine withdrawal enhances hepatitis C virus (HCV) replicon expression, appears in the November issue of The American Journal of Pathology and is accompanied by a commentary.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is enrolling volunteers in a study to test a new vaccine that targets avian flu, the first such vaccine against the virus. The Vanderbilt trial, led by Kathryn Edwards, M.D., will test the new vaccine in nearly 100 individuals 65 years of age and over. It is the second phase of anational study led by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Copying the ideas of others is usually frowned upon, but when it comes to the work of Mother Nature, scientists are finding they can use nature as a template.

The National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths (np-SAD) based at the International Centre for Drug Policy, St George's, University of London, has found that there has been a decline in the number of drug-related deaths occurring, from 1,487 in 2003 to 1,372 in 2004, a drop of eight per cent. The report published today contains information on drug-related deaths for the year 2004 reported by Coroners and Procurators Fiscal in the UK and Islands (Guernsey, Jersey and Isle of Man). The figures for 2004 do not include information for Northern Ireland.