JULY 2004

This section features key science stories from The Daily Telegraph's online news service at www.telegraph.co.uk. Click on the links for the full story.

Spot of hope for acne sufferers
The genetic recipe of the bug that causes acne vulgaris, scourge of teenagers around the world, has been discovered.

30 Jul 2004

Weepie or action movie? It's in the hormones, says study
A new study suggests that a person's video or DVD collection is a window on their soul.

28 Jul 2004

Britain's first nude?
A stunning haul of ice-age art found in a limestone cave has shed new light on how our prehistoric ancestors lived 13,000 years ago. David Derbyshire reports on some clever academic detective work.

28 Jul 2004

Endangered species gain a place on Frozen Ark
Scientists are developing the world's first DNA and tissue bank to preserve thousands of animals facing extinction, in an international project called the Frozen Ark.

27 Jul 2004

Pigeons 'may have followed roads since Roman times'
Pigeons have taken the easy route home and followed major roads and other human thoroughfares for thousands of years, researchers claim.

27 Jul 2004

Swing test could spot Asperger's in babies
A simple test of whether a six-month-old can hold his head high on a swing could help to diagnose a form of autism - Asperger syndrome - years earlier than at present.

27 Jul 2004

Blind are being led by the blind, says canine study
Scientists investigating the health of guide dogs have made an alarming discovery: at least one in 10 is seriously short-sighted.

22 Jul 2004

Parents allowed to have donor babies
The fertility watchdog has been accused of turning children into commodities after it relaxed the rules covering so-called designer babies.

22 Jul 2004

Call for 'designer babies' on NHS
The fertility doctor who treated the parents of Britain's first donor siblings has called for "designer babies" to be made available on the NHS.

22 Jul 2004

Prozac ruled out as suicide risk
Fears that Prozac and Seroxat are more likely to trigger suicidal behaviour in patients than old-style anti-depressants appear to be unfounded, scientists say.

21 Jul 2004

Is this the latest weapon against crime?
TV chef Rick Stein and his scientist brother John have joined forces to highlight the remarkable effects of eating fish. Roger Highfield reports.

21 Jul 2004

Crabs and crayfish in the bedroom
The origins of the Stein brothers' love of marine life - and consuming it - dates back to their childhood in Trevose Head, Cornwall. In a bedroom behind their kitchen, live lobsters, crayfish and crabs prowled about. "I always remember the smell of them," said Rick.

21 Jul 2004

Scientists find genetic link to bad behaviour
Researchers have found evidence that some people inherit a genetic make-up that makes them more prone to aggression and violence.

20 Jul 2004

A mother's obesity can harm her baby
Doctors may have underestimated the threat posed to unborn babies if their mothers are overweight, according to new research.

19 Jul 2004

The truth about global warming - it's the Sun that's to blame
The output of solar energy is the highest it has been in 1,000 years, scientists calculate.

18 Jul 2004

Watchdog to review designer baby ban
The fertility watchdog is expected to provoke bitter controversy next week by relaxing the regulations governing so-called designer babies.

17 Jul 2004

Designer babies: Joshua's story
Julie and Joe Fletcher will discover next week whether their two-year-son, Joshua, could be saved by a test tube "donor sibling".

17 Jul 2004

Coroner fears new superbug outbreak
A coroner has called for greater efforts to deal with antibiotic-eating bacteria, which had been linked to 28 deaths in his area.

17 Jul 2004

Science tunes in to love chants of deep sea fish
The midshipman fish has long enjoyed notoriety on the West Coast of America because its noisy lovemaking keeps houseboat residents awake at night.

16 Jul 2004

Cervical cancer screening 'saves 5,000 lives each year'
Cervical cancer screening saves 5,000 lives a year and has prevented an epidemic of the life-threatening disease in Britain, according to a study.

16 Jul 2004

Ward's hygiene regime wipes out superbug
Doctors have wiped out the MRSA superbug from a hospital ward with a tough but simple system of "ring fencing" patients having routine surgery.

16 Jul 2004

Hawking rethink 'solves riddle of the black holes'
In an announcement that has sent waves of excitement through the rarefied world of astrophysics, Prof Stephen Hawking claims to have solved one of the greatest mysteries of black holes.

15 Jul 2004

Gulf war veterans admit more fertility problems
Gulf war veterans are more likely to be infertile than troops who did not serve in the conflict, a study commissioned by the Ministry of Defence shows.

14 Jul 2004

Ice Age's 'Sistine Chapel' is revealed
Elaborate carvings of birds, beasts and dancers etched into a cave roof by a prehistoric "Michelangelo" have been unveiled by archaeologists.

14 Jul 2004

Catch a falling star and put it in your rocket
A cargo of Sun dust from a million miles away will reveal secrets of our Solar System, if it doesn't get broken, says Roger Highfield.

14 Jul 2004

The EU constitution is 'unfair', according to game theorists
Independent analysis reveals that complex voting doesn't add up, reports Roger Highfield.

14 Jul 2004

Cassini makes waves among Saturn's rings
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor

14 Jul 2004

'Happy gene' could solve mystery of depression
A single gene could be responsible for making some people naturally positive and happy while forcing others to be negative and gloomy.

14 Jul 2004

Fears grow over rising carbon dioxide levels in water
Scientists have blamed rising carbon dioxide levels for an increase in water pollution that has been linked with health fears.

14 Jul 2004

How Blair can win the election if he looks like a woman
Politicians can be made to look more caring, kind and sharing, or ruthless, cold and untrustworthy, by making subtle changes to make them more feminine or masculine. Roger Highfield reports on research by Perception Lab, shown at the Royal Society.

07 Jul 2004

MMR scare blamed for huge rise in mumps
Britain is suffering the most serious outbreak of mumps for more than a decade, according to official figures.

07 Jul 2004

Mars backlash fears
The curse of Mars has struck again. In the wake of the loss of the Beagle 2 lander, scientists fear that a wildly wobbling radar could wreck Beagle's £150 million mothership, Mars Express. Roger Highfield reports.

07 Jul 2004

The bug that is poisoning millions
Researchers have discovered that bacteria are playing a key role in the 'worst mass poisoning in history'. Roger Highfield reports.

07 Jul 2004

Teeth show how society was shaped by old age
The lifespan of our ancestors made a dramatic leap 32,000 years ago, allowing people to grow older and wiser, according to a study of hundreds of ancient teeth.

06 Jul 2004

Beagle leader denies Mars probe was 'amateurish'
The scientist who led Beagle 2, Britain's failed attempt to land a spacecraft on Mars, has denied that the mission was "amateurish".

06 Jul 2004

Trains 'could detect rail faults'
All trains could be turned into sentries to detect and predict track defects, railway engineers will be told at a conference.

05 Jul 2004

White-knuckle ride through Saturn's rings
The first close-up of Saturn's shimmering rings has been taken by the Cassini spacecraft as it squeezed through a gap between two of them and settled in orbit after a voyage of more than two billion miles.

02 Jul 2004

White-knuckle ride through Saturn's rings
The first close-up of Saturn's shimmering rings has been taken by the Cassini spacecraft as it squeezed through a gap between two of them and settled in orbit after a voyage of more than two billion miles.

02 Jul 2004

Diet soft drinks 'may lead to over-eating'
Low calorie soft drinks may do more harm than good for people desperate to shed excess pounds, according to a study.

02 Jul 2004

Warning over cloning
Cloning creates too many mutant babies to be attempted on humans, Europe's leading fertility doctors said yesterday.

01 Jul 2004

The hidden dangers of IVF tourism in Europe
Fertility treatment is so cheap in parts of eastern Europe that British childless couples may be tempted to become "IVF tourists", doctors say.

01 Jul 2004

Firm shuts British project on GM crops
The last big biotechnology company working on genetically modified crops in Britain is to transfer its efforts to the United States.

01 Jul 2004