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Post offices are using irradiation to protect against anthrax contamination. Postal workers who handle the irradiated mail have reported health problems, their union leaders say.

At least 87 of about 750 workers at the Gaithersburg, Maryland, postal facility have reported problems, says Tammy Thompson, president of the Montgomery County local of the postal workers union. ?The employees are experiencing nosebleeds, runny noses, runny eyes, extreme headaches, nausea,? he says.

Some have been absent from work or have filed workers? compensation claims. The postal union complaints were made after physicians on Capitol Hill said 73 Senate staffers had developed similar symptoms.
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Babies have mastered the art of learning in their sleep. By the time they?re a year old they can recognize many sounds and even simple words. Marie Cheour at the University of Turku in Finland thinks they progress this fast because they learn language while they sleep as well as when they?re awake.
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Archeology is too exclusive and too commercial, and only benefits a limited circle of academics instead of the general public, according to Simon Thurley, the retiring director of the Museum of London.

Thurley says that property developers in London spent millions on archeological excavation over the past ten years, yet the vast majority of finds made in Britain remain unseen and unheard of by ordinary people.

Ninety per cent of the tens of thousands of finds made each year are never shown to anyone except a few scholars. ?If that?s the case,? he says, ?Why are we digging them up? It?s not a question of money, but of imagination and determination.?
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New research suggests that drinking alcohol may reduce aging drinkers, including the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

Although extreme alcohol consumption kills brain cells, scientists don’t know if it has permanent effects on reasoning and memory. They do know that prolonged, excessive drinking can lead to cirrhosis of the liver and may contribute to the risk of breast cancer. Drinking is also responsible for many accidental injuries and deaths.
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