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A man was handcuffed, arrested and dragged before a court after falling off the settee with laughter while watching Have I Got News For You. Christopher Cocker, 36, was enjoying the BBC1 show when a joke made by panellist Paul Merton had him doubled up with laughter. He collapsed on the floor - but the thud startled his downstairs neighbour who, believing he had collapsed, called police. Officers arrived and said Cocker was initially co-operative but became 'aggressive' when they asked his name and tried to shut his front door. He was eventually disabled with parva spray through the gap...

Indispensable in hot kitchens: the nanotube Oxford chemists have found a way of using carbon nanotubes to judge the heat of chilli sauces. The technology might soon be available commercially as a cheap, disposable sensor for use in the food industry. Professor Richard Compton and his team at Oxford University have developed a sensitive technique to measure the levels of capsaicinoids, the substances that make chillies hot, in samples of chilli sauce. They report their findings in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal The Analyst. The current industry procedure is to use a panel of taste-testers, and is highly...

Olympia Police officers pepper spray protesters lined up at the Port of Olympia, Saturday morning, Nov. 10, 2007, in Olympia, Wash. At least 12 people have been arrested today as protests of military-cargo shipments from the Port of Olympia moved to downtown and the Plum Street entrance to Interstate 5, according to the The Olympian. (AP Photo/The Olympian, Tony Overman)

WASHINGTON (AP) - Devil's Revenge. Spontaneous Combustion. Hot sauces have names like that for a reason. Now scientists are testing if the stuff that makes the sauces so savage can tame the pain of surgery. Doctors are dripping the chemical that gives chili peppers their fire directly into open wounds during knee replacement and a few other highly painful operations. Don't try this at home: These experiments use an ultra-purified version of capsaicin to avoid infection - and the volunteers are under anesthesia so they don't scream at the initial burn. How could something searing possibly soothe? Bite a hot...

HOT SPRINGS, Ark.- A woman in Hot Springs has been arrested after she allegedly exchanged blasts of pepper spray with two police officers. Police said Lawanda Diane Clay, 38, produced a can of pepper spray when two officers were investigating a disturbance complaint Sunday. Clay refused to drop the can, and Cpl. Carl Holland used his own pepper spray on her, police said. Clay responded by allegedly spraying Holland and then the other officer, Patrick Langley, police said. Holland hit Clay twice in the leg with his night stick and she dropped the spray and was handcuffed.

Taiwan scientists have found evidence that suggests capsaicin -- the substance that gives red pepper a spicy kick -- can reduce the growth of fat cells. Gow-Chin Yen and colleagues at the National Chung Hsing University in Taichung, Taiwan, cite previous research suggesting obesity can be reduced by preventing immature fat cells, called adipocytes, from developing into mature cells. Past research also linked capsaicin to a decrease in the amount of fat tissue and decreased blood-fat levels. With that knowledge, the researchers tested capsaicin's effects on pre-adipocytes and adipocytes growing in laboratory cultures. They found capsaicin prevented pre-adipocytes from filling...

Eighteen Indonesian prisoners broke out of jail using an unusual weapon - the chilli pepper. Prisoners at Pematang Sinatar jail in Sumatra mixed hot chillies with water in plastic bottles to spray at guards. The fiery liquid temporarily blinded the guards, allowing prisoners to grab their keys and make the break for freedom. Sixteen of the inmates had now been recaptured, a police official said, but two were still on the run. The men were meant to be on their way to breakfast but instead stormed the prison gate, Detective Den Martin told the Associated Press news agency. They were...

ANGIER, N.C. -- Cold Sweat ice cream is hot. In fact, it's so hot customers at Sunni Sky's ice cream shop in Angier, N.C., have to sign a waiver stating that they’ve been warned. Sunni Sky's makes its Cold Sweat-flavor treats with milk, sugar, three kinds of pepper and two kinds of hot sauce. It's so spicy that just touching it makes your fingers feel hot, according to the News and Observer. The waiver for the fiery mixture has dozens of signatures. Pregnant women and people with health problems are not supposed to eat it. Anyone younger than 18 needs...

Capsaicin, the compound that gives red pepper its heat, could stop the spread of prostate cancer, claims a new study. Red chilli pepper has previously been linked to inhibiting the growth of pancreatic cancer cells, and has been suggested to cut fat and energy intake when added to the diet. “We show that capsaicin has a profound inhibiting effect on the growth of prostate cancer cells in vitro and in vivo , inducing apoptosis [programmed cell death] of prostate cancer cell lines,” wrote lead author Akio Mori from the University of California, Los Angeles. The new study, published in the...

Perhaps the first thing that leaps out is that it's a very Beatle-centric list. "Sgt. Pepper" is No. 1 as it often is in such lists, but two of the top three albums are by the Beatles, three of the first five and four of the first 10. The first 10 are: 1) "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by the Beatles 2) "Pet Sounds" by the Beach Boys 3) "Revolver" by the Beatles 4) "Highway 61 Revisited" by Bob Dylan 5) "Rubber Soul" by the Beatles 6) "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye 7) "Exile on Main Street" by...

NEW YORK — Pepper spray (search) was released inside an elevator at Toys R Us' crowded flagship store Saturday, sending at least three people to the hospital and leaving others with irritated eyes, fire and police spokesmen said.Police were reviewing video camera footage to find out who discharged the spray at the toy chain's Times Square (search) store during the busy shopping weekend. The store was not evacuated, and within a few hours it was packed with shoppers who were unaware of the incident.It was unclear how many shoppers were affected. Firefighter Kevin Nolan said five people were taken to St. Vincent's...

Police in riot gear fired pepper balls at protesters in Jacksonville Thursday after they refused to clear the street upon President Bush’s arrival to spend the night. Two people were arrested for disorderly conduct during the confrontation at 8 p.m. between protesters and police on California Street not far from where Bush and wife Laura were staying.snip..........Steveros said he was also shot with a pepper ball and shoved with a baton as he attempted to help the man who had fallen on the sidewalk in front of the Jacksonville Inn. Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters said officers in the...

Pepper Gomez, a legend in Bay Area wrestling and one of the sport's most popular figures during its Golden Age, has died. He was 77. Gomez, who lived on Central Avenue, passed away Thursday morning at Kaiser Hospital in Oakland. During the 1960s, thousands of wrestling fans sat down in their living rooms Friday nights to watch Gomez take on opponents like Killer Kowalski, Strangler Lewis and Whipper Watson on KTVU. ----------------- snip ----------------- Gomez began wrestling professionally in 1953 in Portland and Seattle before arriving nine years later in the Bay Area, where he raised his arms in triumph...

Maui Police Say Fatal Shooting Justified Brother Questions Police Use Of Force POSTED: 3:43 pm HST March 4, 2004 UPDATED: 4:42 pm HST March 4, 2004WAILUKU, Maui, Hawaii -- Maui's police chief said Thursday the use of deadly force that killed a man on a Kihei beach was justifiable.The shooting happened on a Kihei beach Sunday evening. It started when a woman called police because a homeless man had exposed himself to her daughters, police said.A person in the area tried to assist an officer in detaining Ben Ogden (pictured, right). Ogden shot the person with bear repellant, according to...

A Greenville police officer has been suspended from duty after being charged with driving under the influence. Police Chief Lon Pepper Jr. would not name the officer, but the Sunflower County Sheriff's Department identified him as Joseph Chillus. Chillus was pulled over by the Mississippi Highway Patrol on Mississippi 448 in Sunflower County on Aug. 30. He was taken to the sheriff's department, where he failed a DUI test. Pepper said the Greenville Police Department did not learn about the incident until Friday. Pepper said the officer has "been placed on suspension until the final disposition of the case."

Source: Penn State Date: 2003-09-01 Discovery Of 'Hot Pepper' Receptor In Heart May Explain Chest Pain, Lead To New TreatmentsThe secret to heart attack chest pain may be on the tip of your tongue. Although they may seem unlikely bedfellows, Penn State College of Medicine researchers found evidence to suggest that the same type of nerve receptors that register the burning sensation from hot peppers in the mouth may cause the sensation of chest pain from a heart attack. "Our study is the first to demonstrate that the 'hot pepper' receptor exists on the heart and may be responsible for...