Health & Science

• Thursday, January 30th 2014 - 06:12 UTC

  Gastro-bug exhausted passengers cheer as 'Explorer of the Seas' returns to home port

  

  Passengers staggered off a Royal Caribbean ship reeking of vomit and diarrhea at its home port on Wednesday after their cruise was cut short by an apparent stomach bug that felled nearly 700 vacationers and crew. Cheers erupted from the Explorer of the Seas as the vessel pulled into Bayonne, New Jersey, in New York Harbor.

• Wednesday, January 29th 2014 - 06:46 UTC

  Noravirus hits 'Explorer of the Seas' in the Caribbean; 10-day trip cancelled

  

  The Royal Caribbean cruise 'Explorer of the Seas” has ended the 10-day trip in the Caribbean early after hundreds of passengers and crew members were sickened with a gastrointestinal illness. It is believed the incident is a new case of the noravirus which has been attacking large cruise vessels.

• Tuesday, January 28th 2014 - 05:45 UTC

  Fears that a drifting Russian cruise vessel, full of rats, could reach UK shores

  

  An abandoned cruise ship allegedly brimming with cannibal rats, which has been drifting in the Atlantic Ocean for around 12 months might end up in the shores of Great Britain. According to experts, the Russian liner Lyubov Orlova that once carried 100 passengers, might drift on the west coast of Cornwall, Scotland, or Ireland.

• Saturday, January 18th 2014 - 05:41 UTC

  HMS Protector surveying previously unchartered waters off Sandwich Islands

  

  Previously uncharted areas of the Southern Ocean have been surveyed by personnel on board Royal Navy ice patrol ship HMS Protector. Using its multi-beam echo sounder the ship gathered data off the Sandwich Islands along areas of the Douglas Straits between South Thule and Cook Island for the UK Hydrographic Office to fill in missing data in the Admiralty Charts.

• Saturday, January 18th 2014 - 05:24 UTC

  Outbreak of “Clostridium Difficile” in Uruguay's largest hospital; situation under control

  

  Uruguay's main university hospital, suffering from an outbreak of the highly contagious bacteria “Clostridium Difficile” has been recommended “to suspend new entries to the sections involved, restrict visits and extreme hygiene measures” plus an epidemiological test of patients and staff.

• Wednesday, January 15th 2014 - 18:54 UTC

  The Dutch beat French and Swiss in healthy affordable diet, says Oxfam

  

  The Netherlands is No. 1 in the world for having the most plentiful, nutritious, healthy and affordable diet, beating France and Switzerland into second place. Chad is last in 125th spot behind Ethiopia and Angola, according to a new food database by worldwide development organization Oxfam.

• Wednesday, January 15th 2014 - 07:03 UTC

  Obesity problem in UK 'underestimated' and 'hard-hitting' campaigns are needed

  

  Predictions that half the British population will be obese by 2050 “underestimate” the scale of the obesity crisis, a report suggests. The UK is in danger of surpassing predictions of a 2007 report which estimated that 50% of the nation would be obese by 2050, the National Obesity Forum said.

• Friday, January 10th 2014 - 06:27 UTC

  Construction of Monsanto plant in north Argentina halted on environmental grounds

  

  A labor appeals court in north-central Argentina ruled that the construction of a Monsanto plant is unconstitutional, halting work on the site. The three judge court ruled 2-1 in favor of the activists who filed a legal appeal against Monsanto’s GMO seed plant on environmental protection grounds in the municipality of Malvinas Argentinas, located in central Cordoba Province.

• Thursday, January 9th 2014 - 19:00 UTC

  End of the golden age of antibiotics, which has become a 'truly global issue'

  

  The growing threat of antibiotic resistant organisms is once again in the spotlight. Prof Jeremy Farrar, the new head of Britain's biggest medical research charity the Wellcome Trust said it was a “truly global issue”. Prof. Farrar told BBC Radio 4's Today program that the golden age of antibiotics could come to an end unless action is taken.

• Thursday, January 9th 2014 - 06:23 UTC

  Increase in TB cases in Buenos Aires linked to sweat shops working conditions

  

  Tuberculosis cases in Buenos Aires City have increased 25% between 1985 and 2011 according to a paper presented by a Federal Attorney who links the surge to dreadful working conditions in many of the sweat-shops in the Argentine capital that employ cheap foreign labor.