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An asteroid will pass close to the Earth on April 13, 2029 and it may come back and hit us in 2036. NASA is trying to decide whether to try to tag the asteroid with a warning radio beacon before it hits. They may also try to nudge it out of its current path, so it will miss us. They only need to move it about half a mile out of its current orbit?something we know how to do. But they have to do the job before 2029, or else they?ll have to move it a distance as large as the diameter of the Earth, which is more than we?re capable of doing at the moment. At least we know it’s coming?or is it better not to know? NASA’s Donald Yeomans says, “Ten years ago, we would have been blissfully ignorant.”
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We all know that 911 changed the way New Yorkers live, the same way 7/7 changed the way London’s residents live their lives. But 911 changed the way people in Central Ohio live too, even though there have never been any terrorist attacks in the area.

Homeowners near Columbus started buying different kinds of real estate than they had before. A survey done in November, 2001, showed they wanted to live in less populated areas, with more space. All other factors, such as school quality, commuting distance, safety and price, remained the same. By coincidence, another survey had been done just a few months before 911, showing that neighborhood density wasn’t nearly as important.
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We’ve written before that geneticists think that redheads may be closely related to Neanderthals. Now it turns out that people with red hair feel less pain?could their Neanderthal ancestry be the reason for this?

Scientists want to know if there is a natural mechanism at work in redheads that can be adapted to help in developing new painkillers and anesthetics. Studies on “redhead” mice, which have blonde fur but carry a similar gene to the one that causes red hair in humans, are helping the scientists target the pain-reducing mechanism.
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Meat sizzling on the grill may tempt your taste buds, but all that barbecuing may be cooking up cancer-causing chemicals. Should you substitute sandwiches? Nope, lunch meat can cause cancer. But scientists have found that a touch of rosemary makes hamburgers less carcinogenic. What about the hamburger bun? Whole wheat is better for us and scientists have now developed a “white” whole wheat grain. But you can relax: beer kills cancer cells.
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