Scientists eye White Sands for Mars tech testing
ALAMOGORDO (AP) - NASA scientists need a place to practice for more explorations of Mars and, after a visit to New Mexico, three of them think they may have found just the spot to test their theories: White Sands National Monument. Missions to Mars are planned to look for a sign of life. At White Sands, the NASA experts know there is organic matter and can test how to get reliable samples layer by layer. New technology has to be developed because, in order to not destroy the samples, the layers have to be collected and examined without the use of common tools, such as augers.
Flu survivors still protected from 1918 strain
WASHINGTON (AP) - Nearly a century after history's most lethal flu faded away, survivors' bloodstreams still carry super-potent protection against the 1918 virus, demonstrating the remarkable durability of the human immune system. Scientists tested the blood of 32 people aged 92 to 102 who were exposed to the 1918 pandemic flu and found antibodies that still roam the body looking to strangle the old flu strain. There's no pressing need for a 1918 flu vaccine because the virus has long since mutated out of its deadly form and is extremely unlikely to be a threat anymore, experts said.
Suicide bomber kills neighborhood security leader
BAGHDAD (AP) - A suicide bomber dressed in a woman's robe detonated explosives Sunday in a heavily guarded Sunni area of Baghdad, killing the deputy leader of the neighborhood's U.S.-backed security volunteers who had turned against al-Qaida, Iraqi officials said. The explosion occurred as they were seated on chairs near a checkpoint near the Abu Hanifa mosque in the former insurgent stronghold, police and Iraqi army officials said.
