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By Geoff Brumfiel of Nature magazineDid the United States organize a fake vaccine campaign in Pakistan to try and ensnare the world’s top terrorist? In true spook fashion, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) isn’t saying, but the rumor alone could set back already fragile vaccination efforts in the troubled nation of 180 million, according to public-health researchers from the region.The story, which first appeared in The Guardian on Monday, alleges that the CIA sent vaccinators into the Pakistani city of Abbottabad in the months before the raid by US special forces that killed Osama bin Laden....

“They’re gorgeous, and there are more of them now than before,” says James Russell, principal investigator of NASA’s Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) mission, about noctilucent (literally, “night-shining”) clouds. Floating at an altitude of around 50 miles, they are only seen well after sunset on summer nights above 50 degrees latitude in either hemisphere and have been increasing in frequency and brilliance with each passing year. Their origin is a mystery as is the reason for their growing quantity and brightness....

By Marian Turner of Nature magazineEngineered bacteria that can detect and kill human pathogens could provide a new way to treat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Using the tools of synthetic biology, researchers have given bacteria therapeutic properties unseen in any natural strain – although they won’t be injected into people any time soon.“Our study is the first example of how synthetic biology will be useful for fighting bacterial infections,” says biochemical engineer Matthew Chang, an author on the paper, which is published today in Molecular Systems Biology....

For 30 years, researchers have pursued the universal quantum computer, a device that could solve any computational problem, with varying degrees of success. Now, a team in California and Spain has made an experimental prototype of such a device that can solve a wide range of problems in fields such as chemistry and physics, and has the potential to be scaled up to larger systems. Both IBM and a Canadian company called D-Wave have created functioning quantum computers using different approaches....

Wear a condom: That has been the standard—and strong—advice from public health officials trying to thwart the spread of HIV or syphilis. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has spent decades trying to get people to put them on. But now health workers are pushing the latex prophylactic for a different reason: Ebola recovery. People are surviving the disease. Doctors Without Borders, which oversees many Ebola clinics in west Africa, is sending home recovered Ebola patients with a stack of condoms, and health workers are urging them to only engage in protected sex for at least three months after recovery....

Call them laser-guided smart bombs for brain tumors. Researchers at the University of Michigan announced the testing of a drug delivery system that involves drug-toting nanoparticles and a guiding peptide to target cancerous cells in the brain. Their study finds that via this method more of the drug can be delivered to a tumor’s general vicinity. They report their findings in the November 15 issue of Clinical Cancer Research. The researchers used a pharmaceutical called Photofrin, which is photodynamic, meaning it is activated by a laser after it has entered the bloodstream....

On January 4, 2007, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed entitled “A World Free of Nuclear Weapons,” written by an impressive array of statesmen: former secretary of state George Shultz, former secretary of defense William Perry, former secretary of state Henry Kissinger and former senator Sam Nunn of Georgia. In the article the authors worried that the likelihood of international terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons is increasing. They asserted that “unless urgent new actions are taken, the U....

In the past decade, HIV infection in the industrial world has largely evolved from a virtual death sentence to more of a chronic disease, which is a testament to the efforts of researchers and patient advocates. But the 40 million HIV-positive people worldwide are a somber reminder of the work ahead. Resistant strains of the virus have appeared; citizens in developing countries lack access to lifesaving drugs; and basic questions about the progression of the virus postinfection remain....

VOYAGERS BY THE NUMBERS I very much enjoyed “Voyagers to the Stars,” Tim Folger’s article on the history and the status of the Voyager spacecraft. But I was puzzled when he mentioned that Voyager 1 and 2 will continue their journey and pass the nearest neighboring star, Proxima Centauri, in 16,700 and 20,300 years, respectively. NASA’s website says that the Voyagers won’t reach the halfway point to Proxima Centauri for 40,000 years and will travel two light-years to do so....

Russia has developed an “anti-access” presence in the Arctic in the past year with a stronger military presence, a push for more territory, and nationalist rhetoric, a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies notes. While not focused entirely on climate change, the analysis offers a preview of ongoing geopolitical tensions — and legal issues — likely to be exacerbated by ice loss. It urges Arctic nations to negotiate a “declaration on military conduct” requiring nations to give a 21-day advance notice of major military exercises — which could prevent actions like the unannounced Russian Arctic military exercises this year involving more than 45,000 forces....

As your body develops, neural stem cells transform into the specialized neurons, glia and other cells that make up your brain. Researchers have long hoped to harness these stem cells to grow replacements for neurons damaged in degenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. But there is also some risk that neural stem cells will form tumors when implanted in a patient’s brain. Now there may be an alternative. Dennis Steindler of the McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Florida and other scientists were able to extract a population of neural progenitor cells from glia of adult human brains....

For sheer sensory enjoyment, few everyday experiences can compete with a good cup of coffee. The alluring aroma of steaming hot coffee just brewed from freshly roasted beans can drag sleepers from bed and pedestrians into cafés. And many millions worldwide would find getting through the day difficult without the jolt of mental clarity imparted by the caffeine in coffee. But underlying this seemingly commonplace beverage is a profound chemical complexity....

WARSAW (Reuters) - The world is getting further off track in limiting global warming with setbacks in Japan and Australia outweighing positive signals from the United States and China, a study showed on Wednesday.A Climate Action Tracker compiled by scientists said the world was headed for a temperature rise of 3.7 degrees Celsius (6.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times by 2100, against 3.1C (5.8F) if governments stuck to promised cuts in greenhouse gas emissions....

By Environment Correspondent Alister DoyleOSLO (Reuters) - (Release at 2301 GMT, Sunday Nov 3) Simple measures to reduce pollution from cooking stoves in developing nations could save a million lives a year and help slow global warming, a World Bank study showed on Monday.Tighter restrictions on diesel emissions, for instance from car exhausts, could also avert 340,000 premature deaths annually by reining in soot and other heat-trapping pollutants that are also stoking climate change, it said....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The fall of Maximilien Robespierre, or the Coup of 9 Thermidor, was a series of events that resulted in the arrests and executions of Robespierre and his allies on 27-28 July 1794. It signaled the end of the Reign of Terror, the end of Jacobin dominance of the French Revolution (1789-1799), and the beginning of the Thermidorian Reaction....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. For the ancient Greeks, the quality of arete (personal excellence) and the concept of eusebia (social duty) were most important. Aristotle discusses both of these at length in his Nichomachean Ethics and relates arete to eudaimonia - translated as “happiness” but actually meaning “to be possessed of a good spirit”....

Did you like this interview? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. In this interview, World History Encyclopedia sits down with author Matt Waters to chat about his new book King of the World: The Life of Cyrus the Great published by Oxford University Press. Kelly: Can you tell us a bit about your book? Advertisement Matt: This book explores the life of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, reigned from 559 to 530 BCE, a man about whom surprisingly little has been written despite his impact on world history....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. History is recorded by individual human beings with their own beliefs and interests guiding what they choose to record, and, as such, many events and details may be omitted from the account of a certain event or the story of a great person’s life. This is especially so when considering so-called “gay history”....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Michael Sattler (l. 1490-1527) was a Roman Catholic monk who converted to the Anabaptist movement c. 1525 and contributed significantly to their Schleitheim Confession of faith. He is best known, however, for his trial and martyrdom in 1527, an event famously recorded in the 17th-century work Martyr’s Mirror and still commemorated by modern-day Anabaptist sects....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Tibetan sand mandalas are works of art created to encourage healing, peace, and purification generally as well as spiritual or psychological focus specifically for those creating and viewing it. A mandala (Sanskrit for “circle”) is a geometric image representing the universe and a sand mandala, destroyed after completion, emphasizes the transitory nature of all things in that universe....