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PPL Therapeutics of Edinburgh, Scotland has cloned 5 pigs with ?knock out? genes, meaning that their organs can be transplanted to humans. They were born on Christmas day and are named Noel, Angel, Star, Joy and Mary. They contain special genes prevent the human immune system rejecting their transplanted organs.

PPL cloned the piglets with help from the scientists who cloned Dolly the sheep in 1997.The company has also successfully introduced human DNA into animals such as cows, which then produce proteins in their milk which can be used in human medicine.
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In 1994, a New Mexico jury awarded $ 2.9 million in damages to 81-year-old Stella Liebeck, who suffered third-degree burns to her legs after spilling a cup of McDonald?s coffee on herself. This case inspired the annual Stella Awards for the most frivolous lawsuit in the U.S. This year?s candidates are listed below.

January 2000: Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas was awarded $780,000 by a jury after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running around inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were surprised at the verdict, considering the little boy was Ms. Robertson?s own son.
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Federal law enforcement officials are investigating whether sleeper cells or freelance agents of Osama bin Laden may have smuggled small, portable nuclear weapons or radiological bombs into the United States.

Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., chairman of the House subcommittee on national security, says, ?It?s possible, and it?s very scary. If you asked me if bin Laden really had these weapons, I would say probably not, but, on the other hand, I wouldn?t be the least surprised if there were a nuclear explosion in Israel or the United States.?
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Scientists think there is just a one in 20 chance that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) will collapse in the next 200 years. The WAIS is crucial to future sea levels, because if all the ice melts in this region, it could raise ocean levels by several feet.

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet contains about 13% of all the ice in Antarctica, and scientists believe it melted about 120,000 years ago when temperatures were warmer than they are today. In parts of the West Antarctic, temperatures are now rising much faster than they are in the rest of the world, and the researchers involved in the UK study have concluded there is now a one in 20 chance in the next two centuries of the ice sheet once again collapsing.
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