Free Republic

Not just for sushi — but for research. You know that burning sensation when you eat wasabi? Researchers at University of California San Francisco think new information about the so-called “wasabi receptor” can help improve pain medications. The wasabi receptor is a protein inside our nerve cells. It reacts to spicy things like wasabi, and even tear gas. UCSF researchers used new imaging technology to better map the protein. They're experimenting with blocking the pain receptor's response. Pain medications and anti-itch medications could become more effective as a result.

Osama's alive and itching to burn US - Report July 30 2002 at 11:05AM Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network plans a major anti-US attack, possibly in August, after which its leader will re-appear on television, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. The Saudi pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat, which on Monday reported that Bin Laden might have been killed or seriously injured in US raids on Afghanistan, quoted "sources linked to aides" of the Saudi-born Islamist militant via the Internet. Bin Laden, Washington's main suspect in the September 11 terror attacks on the US last year, "is alive...