On:

What if we could get a vaccine that would prevent us from getting cancer, by causing our immune systems to protect us from it–just like a flu shot does. This may be on the way.

Our immune systems have trouble recognizing cancer cells as dangerous, so it does not act to destroy them. But we may be able to manipulate our body’s defenses so they will attack cancer cells.

On the Life Extension website, Henry A. Davis quotes immunologist Kunle Odunsi as saying, "There is a slew of data indicating that an immune response can lead to better outcomes in cancer. The question is, how can we harness this power of the immune system?"
read more

On:

Huge mining companies are bulldozing into the rain forests of Brazil, one of the world’s most environmentally sensitive regions.

They expect to spend $24 billion in the next 4 years to dig up iron ore, bauxite (used to make aluminum) and other metals found there. The Brazilian Amazon is where one-fifth of the world’s mining in going on.

Scientists are worried–they say that preserving the world’s largest remaining rain forest–an area the size of Western Europe–is critical to stave off climate change. They predict that cutting this forest down in order to build roads that lead to the mines could change the weather in a way that would kill off one-tenth of the world’s animal species.
read more

On:

Here’s an odd one picked up by New York Magazine: there’s a black object with a small red light on top floating in the surf near President Obama in this publicity shot of him vacationing in Hawaii. Your Out There editor has no idea what this may be, except that it appears to be a device, not a shark or some other sea creature.
read more

On:

Before the Knights Templar even announced their formation to the pope, they traveled thousands of miles to Portugal where they created the first European nation-state. Why did they do this? Why did they build such strange buildings in Portugal as a church without doors? The church was used by them until the destruction of the order, when a door was added. So how did they get in and out? In his new book, the First Templar Nation, Freddy Silva explores these and other mysteries.read more