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But is the 65-year-old Democratic vice presidential nominee-to-be physically fit to be "a heartbeat away"? One medical expert says yes, despite his increased risk for suffering an aneurysm. Biden underwent surgery in 1988 to repair two berry aneurysms on opposite sides of his brain. (A berry aneurysm gets its name because the bulge it creates is so small it looks like a tiny blueberry.)

As the first anniversary of the credit crisis approaches, it's clear that a major part of the problem was a spectacular failure of information, with complex asset-backed securities turning out to be far riskier than anyone thought. But as sophisticated as we consider ourselves, this is just a contemporary example of what might be called the Problem of the Oblong Dice. The first game of dice, played by ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians, used astragali, animal ankle bones that are more oblong than square. Yet rolls of the dice got the same score whether the dice ended up on a...

Study Warned of China Quake Risk Nearly a Year AgoKevin Holden Platt in Beijing for National Geographic NewsMay 16, 2008 Just ten months before a deadly earthquake struck Sichuan Province's Beichuan county on May 12, a scientific study warned that the Chinese region was ripe for a major quake. After examining satellite images and conducting on-the-ground inspections of deep, active faults in Sichuan Province for more than a decade, scientists issued a warning. "The faults are sufficiently long to sustain a strong ground-shaking earthquake, making them potentially serious sources of regional seismic hazard," the Chinese, European, and U.S. geoscientists wrote...

Bacteria Levels In Aircraft Shows Low Risk To Travelers, Study Shows ScienceDaily (May 2, 2008) — Popular wisdom says that aircraft provide the perfect environment for spreading disease, but few studies exist to confirm or deny this suspicion. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a leading federal agency and Harvard University has measured concentrations of bacteria in the cabin air of 12 commercial passenger aircraft, and found that flying may be safer than we think. “In general, bacterial concentrations and types found during the study should not pose a risk to travelers,” says Christine Rogers,...

Men could reduce their risk of developing prostate cancer through regular masturbation, researchers suggest. They say cancer-causing chemicals could build up in the prostate if men do not ejaculate regularly. And they say sexual intercourse may not have the same protective effect because of the possibility of contracting a sexually transmitted infection, which could increase men's cancer risk. Australian researchers questioned over 1,000 men who had developed prostate cancer and 1,250 who had not about their sexual habits. This is a plausible theory Dr Chris Hiley, Prostate Cancer Charity They found those who had ejaculated the most between the ages...

A new brain-scan study may help explain what's going on in the minds of financial titans when they take risky monetary gambles — sex. When young men were shown erotic pictures, they were more likely to make a larger financial gamble than if they were shown a picture of something scary, such a snake, or something neutral, such as a stapler, university researchers reported. The arousing pictures lit up the same part of the brain that lights up when financial risks are taken. "You have a need in an evolutionary sense for both money and women. They trigger the same...

NEW YORK - Having a big belly in your 40s can boost your risk of getting Alzheimer's disease or other dementia decades later, a new study suggests. It's not just about your weight. While previous research has found evidence that obesity in middle age raises the chances of developing dementia later, the new work found a separate risk from storing a lot of fat in the abdomen. Even people who weren't overweight were susceptible. That abdominal fat, sometimes described as making people apple-shaped rather than pear-shaped, has already been linked to higher risk of developing diabetes, stroke and heart disease....

Hacker gives live video demonstrationFollowing on from last week’s story about how the MIFARE Classic’s RFID chip, as used in London Transport’s Oyster card, had been compromised, BoingBoing has gone a step further. It gave a video demonstration of a hacker demonstrating how easy it is to extract details from a RFID-equipped credit card. In the video, the hacker Pablos Holman boasts that he is able to “decrypt the data” using an “eight dollar reader from eBay”. One quick swipe of the reporter’s American Express card later and he appears to have done just that, with the cardholder’s name and...

Comparing deaths/TWh for all energy sources The ExternE calculation of death/TWh from different energy sources (not including global warming effects and is the average for European nations). This draws on data from 4290 energy-related accidents, 1943 of them classified as severe, and compares different energy sources. It considers over 15,000 fatalities related to oil, over 8000 related to coal and 5000 from hydro. Deaths statistics from the fuel chain for coal and nuclear Higher level of deaths from coal in public health would be related to the increased deaths from particulates. The deaths totals are more from coal occupation are...

ANYBODY who dabbles in transatlantic affairs has come across one giant stereotype: Americans admire risk-takers, whereas Europeans (at least in the rich, stable parts of the continent) are instinctively risk-averse, expecting the state to shield them from all sorts of dangers, including their own folly. Move a bit farther east to the ex-communist world, especially Russia, and you enter a place where things seem to have gone from one extreme to another: from an all-demanding, all-protective state to a free-for-all where life is full of deadly dangers, about which even the prudent can't do very much. Like most windy generalisations,...

The Offshoring of America's Top Jobs Many of America's top jobs are moving offshore. Which jobs are most likely to be hit by "offshoring" and what can you do to protect and safeguard your career?Jobs that are most likely to be moved offshore have these Characteristics: Work is highly repetitive (accounting) Work is predictable and well defined (customer service) Can be broken down into small manageable projects (software development) Can be turned into a routine (Tele-marketing) Proximity to the end customer is not important (phone based tech support of consumer products) End customer has already moved offshore (semiconductor sales) Jobs...

HONOLULU, Feb. 20, 2008 – The United States will continue to face military risks even when the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan end, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said yesterday. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, in an interview while on a six-day trip to California, Hawaii and Australia, shared the philosophy he applies to assessing military risks. First, he said, he constantly assesses the readiness of troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. “It impacts overall readiness, equipment readiness and people,” he noted. Second, the admiral said, he speaks with the service chiefs about readiness. He said that Army...

Heavy mobile phone use a cancer risk By Lucy Cockcroft Last Updated: 1:09am GMT 18/02/2008 People who use a mobile phone for hours a day are 50 per cent more likely to develop mouth cancer than those who do not talk on them at all, new research has shown. The study also suggests that mobile users who live in rural areas may be at an increased risk of cancer because handsets need to emit more radiation to locate fewer antennas. Studies in recent years have found no link between cancer and mobile phone use Research author Dr. Siegal Sadetzki, a...

Banks advised to walk away from big deals By Henny Sender in New York Published: February 14 2008 22:03 | Last updated: February 14 2008 22:03 Leading banks are being advised that it would be cheaper to walk away from big buy-out deals than incur further losses on their funding commitments, increasing the chances that more high-profile private equity transactions will collapse. This advice from lawyers contrasts with the conventional wisdom that banks would risk serious damage to their reputations if they were to drop out of deals. But legal advisers argue that the break-up fees banks would owe in...

How broccoli can reduce risk of a heart attack By Nic Fleming, Medical Correspondent Last Updated: 1:42am GMT 22/01/2008 Eating steamed broccoli reduces the risk of a heart attack by boosting the body's ability to fight off cell damage, researchers have found. Previous studies have found people who eat broccoli, especially if raw or lightly cooked, are at lower risk of heart disease and some cancers. Now scientists have found a clear link between high levels of certain substances found in the vegetable and reduced damage caused by hearts being deprived of oxygen. Normal biological processes associated with eating and...

Osteoarthritis Risk Linked To Finger Length Ratio ScienceDaily (Jan. 7, 2008) — People whose index finger is shorter than their ring finger are at higher risk of osteoarthritis, a new University of Nottingham study has found. A study of more than 2,000 people suggests that people whose index finger is shorter than their ring finger are up to twice as likely to suffer from the condition, which is the most common form of arthritis. Index to ring finger length ratio (referred to as 2D:4D) is a trait known for its differences between the sexes. Men typically have shorter second than...

Possible Mars impact highlights risk to Earth 00:01 04 January 2008 NewScientist.com news service David Shiga Asteroid 2007 WD5's orbit takes it from just outside Earth's orbit through Mars's orbit to the asteroid belt (Illustration: JPL/NASA)Tools An asteroid hurtling towards Mars has a 1 in 28 chance of walloping the Red Planet, according to the latest calculations. The rock's discovery just a couple of months before a possible impact begs the question of what would happen if it were instead headed for Earth – the only option, astronomers say, would be to evacuate any inhabited areas it might hit. The...

Here’s a seldom-reported fact. Our recent housing bubble was caused by government. The intended consequence was to stimulate the economy. But below-market interest rates produced above-market real estate values. Now the government seems determined to help us out of this crisis. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has proposed a bill that would fix the mortgage market with regulations. Hillary Clinton wants a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures and a five-year freeze on mortgage rates. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s more modest plan is to persuade lenders to forego any interest rate adjustments on subprime mortgages. But these are all just temporizing measures. If...

Flu doubles risk of heart attack and stroke By Nic Fleming, Medical Correspondent Last Updated: 3:01am GMT 06/12/2007 A bout of flu doubles the immediate risk of having a heart attack or stroke, a groundbreaking study has found. Sufferers are four times more likely to be affected within three days of falling ill with the flu and are at double the risk for up to a week, according to the study of two million people. More than 15 million flu jabs will be given to elderly and vulnerable patients in the next two months Flu dislodges fatty deposits that build...

Margin Debt -- and Risk -- Is Growing By JACK WILLOUGHBY EVEN AFTER A RECENT DROP, margin debt remains within spitting distance of the all-time high it hit in July, and 43% higher than it was a year ago. It's become a source of concern to some investors who worry that it makes the stock market more vulnerable to a nasty tumble, particularly if equities' resurgence continues. "High margin debts show the effect of over-leveraging and mispricing of risk in our financial system," says Scott Schermerhorn, chief investment officer for Choate Advisors, which runs about $2.7 billion. "It indicates that,...

Budget developments moved so fast and were so uncertain over the past 24 hours that there was no opportunity to offer a clear picture of the situation or suggest what people could do to weigh in. Yesterday rumors of a “deal” circulated but were denied by the Republican leadership. This afternoon, with very little notice, a bare majority of the Senate Republican caucus decided that further negotiations were unlikely to produce any additional progress. Abel Maldonado and Richard Ackerman ultimately combined with the Democrats and voted out this budget. I am afraid that this action places California on a collision...

Left-handers more at risk of mental illness By Laura Clout Last Updated: 1:49am BST 31/07/2007 Left-handed people may have an increased risk of developing schizophrenia, scientists have found. An international group of scientists, led by a team at Oxford University, have identified a gene that seems to increase the chance of being left-handed. The researchers said that the same gene - called LRRTM1 - may slightly increase the risk of developing the brain disorder. Schizophrenia is a highly complex condition that results in impaired perception and thought, it affects around one in every 100 people. Although little is known about...

Source: University at Buffalo Date: July 13, 2007 Selenium Supplements May Increase The Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes Science Daily — Selenium, an antioxidant included in multivitamin tablets thought to have a possible protective effect against the development of type 2 diabetes, may actually increase the risk of developing the disease, an analysis by researchers at the University at Buffalo has shown. Results of a randomized clinical trial using 200 micrograms of selenium alone showed that 55 percent more cases of type 2 diabetes developed among participants randomized to receive selenium than in those who received a placebo pill. Results...

Drinking milk cuts diabetes risk Milk consumption has fallen in recent years Drinking a pint of milk a day may protect men against diabetes and heart disease, say UK researchers. Eating dairy products reduces the risk of metabolic syndrome - a cluster of symptoms which increase likelihood of the conditions - the Welsh team found. In the 20-year study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, metabolic syndrome increased the risk of death by 50%. Experts recommended people only eat two or three portions of dairy a day. The University of Cardiff study of 2,375 men aged between...

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - The world's top military powers are gradually dismantling their stockpiles of nuclear arms, but all are developing new missiles and warheads with smaller yields that could increase the risk of atomic warfare, a Swedish research institute said Monday. In its annual report on military forces around the globe, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute also said the rising number of nations with nuclear weapons is raising the risk such arms could be used. "The concern is that countries are starting to see these weapons as useable, whereas during the Cold War they were seen as a deterrent,"...

OMAHA, Neb.—Building hope for one pill to prevent many cancers, vitamin D cut the risk of several types of cancer by 60 percent overall for older women in the most rigorous study yet. The new research strengthens the case made by some specialists that vitamin D may be a powerful cancer preventive and most people should get more of it. Experts remain split, though, on how much to take. "The findings ... are a breakthrough of great medical and public health importance," declared Cedric Garland, a prominent vitamin D researcher at the University of California-San Diego. "No other method to...

Bird flu not only pandemic risk, U.S. experts warn Tue May 8, 2007 7:03PM EDT CHICAGO (Reuters) - While many health experts see the H5N1 bird flu virus as a likely cause for an influenza pandemic, another influenza virus could just as likely mutate into a global killer, U.S. health experts said on Tuesday. "You can not accurately predict if and when a given virus will become a pandemic virus," said Anthony Fauci, head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci said too little is known about exactly how and when a virus will mutate. Focusing...

DNA test to identify heart attack risk By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 2:14am BST 04/05/2007 Scientists are to develop a DNA test to determine if someone has an inherited vulnerability to heart attacks, it was disclosed yesterday. Researchers have identified a stretch of DNA as a major risk factor for coronary artery disease and heart attacks. The test will help to identify people at high risk of heart disease, enabling them to change their lifestyles. Heart disease kills more than 200,000 people in the UK each year. The studies, which involved looking at the genetic make-up of about...

Investment column: Do not put all your eggs in emerging markets basket Tom Stevenson Last Updated: 1:19am BST 01/05/2007 A week can be as long in the markets as in politics. Last Wednesday I heard a compelling investment case for emerging markets from Barings Asset Management. Then, yesterday, one of the better-performing of those markets, Turkey, showed why they are sometimes defined as "investments from which you can't emerge in an emergency". So who's right? The new-world-order bulls who argue that the four-year emerging market surge is still in its infancy, or the investors who yesterday wiped more than 8pc...

Left-handed women face higher risk of death Last Updated: 1:54am BST 02/05/2007 Left-handed women are at a higher risk of dying, particularly from cancer and circulatory diseases, a study has suggested. Numerous reports have associated left-handedness with various disorders and, in general, a shorter life span, according to a report by Dutch researchers in the journal Epidemiology. Dr Made K Ramadhani and colleagues from University Medical Centre Utrecht write: "Left-handers are reported to be under-represented in the older age groups, although such findings are still much debated." It is estimated that about one in 10 people is left-handed. The researchers...

The United States would be inclined to allow the sale of advanced stealth F-22 fighter jets to the Israeli Air Force if the State of Israel's security was in jeopardy, former US Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen told The Jerusalem Post Thursday night. F-22 Raptor

China and US at highest risk of damage from asteroids 14:01 27 March 2007 NewScientist.com news service David Shiga Simulations show the asteroid impact locations that would produce the most casualties in red. The Pacific coast of Asia is a particularly deadly place for an asteroid to strike because of tsunamis, while a direct strike on some densely populated inland areas could also cause a heavy toll (Illustration: Nick Bailey et al/University of Southampton)The worst places for an asteroid to strike in terms of infrastructure damage are shown here in red, with the north Atlantic appearing prominently (Illustration: Nick Bailey...

Horses at risk from virus that can kill in four hours By Charles Clover, Environment Editor Last Updated: 2:27am BST 27/03/2007 A deadly virus that kills horses is poised to arrive in Britain as a result of climate change, scientists warned. African horse sickness, which is spread by the Culicoides midge, kills 90 per cent of horses that catch it. The disease causes bleeding, breathing difficulties, colic and death within four hours of catching the virus. The Government-funded Institute for Animal Health (IAH) described the virus as "probably the worst horse disease on the planet". It could devastate the £4...

Sport fears over sweat virus risk People involved in contact sports are urged to be cautious A potentially fatal liver virus could be spread in sweat during contact sports, say Turkish researchers. They are calling for more compulsory testing for Hepatitis B in sports such as wrestling. The study of 70 male Olympic wrestlers, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found eight who had the virus in their sweat. However, British experts say that catching it through sweat, rather than via blood, remains extremely unlikely. Hepatitis B causes a serious, chronic infection in approximately 5% of adults who...

WASHINGTON — The military has upgraded to "significant" the level of risk it faces in defending the nation, and attributes the higher level to the additional stress placed on the Armed Forces by ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Pentagon assessment, sent Monday by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace to Congress, measures the strains on the military's ability to carry out national military strategy. The risk is an increase from the "moderate" level assessed in the last biannual report. The "significant" level means Defense Secretary Robert Gates will have to lay out to Congress "a risk...

Mothers get heart risk off their chest 15 February 2007 From New Scientist Print Edition. Breastfeeding is well known to boost an infant's health, and now it seems it may be good for the mother as well. In a study of 96,648 nurses who gave birth between 1986 and 2002, those who had spend at least two years of their lives breastfeeding were 19 per cent less likely to suffer a heart attack than those who hadn't breastfed at all. The difference was independent of any of the usual risk factors for heart disease, such as family history, diet or...

Israel faces nuclear Holocaust warns Gingrich Newt Gingrich: Haifa, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem facing mortal Iranian threat, says former US Speaker of the House; emphasizes 'three nuclear weapons are a second Holocaust' The Israeli people are facing the threat of a nuclear Holocaust, former US Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich warned the Herzliya Conference held by the Institute for Policy and Strategy at IDC Herzliya on Tuesday afternoon. Meanwhile, he said, the United States could lose a few million people or a number of cities to a terrorist attack with weapons of mass destruction.  Gingrich, who addressed the...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget relies on rosy revenue projections and could expose California to serious financial risk, the state's nonpartisan legislative analyst's office said Friday. "The budget contains a significant number of downside risks and is based on a number of optimistic assumptions," said Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill, in her first review of the $143.4 billion spending plan the governor released Wednesday. "Its key proposals also raise serious policy and legal issues. Adverse outcomes in just a few of these areas could easily eliminate most or all of the proposed reserve." Schwarzenegger said his proposed budget for the fiscal...

Source: Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health Date: January 4, 2007 Men With No Sons More At Risk For Prostate Cancer, According To New Study Science Daily — In a new and unique study to determine if genes on the Y chromosome are involved in prostate cancer, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in conjunction with Hebrew University of Jerusalem found that men who had only daughters had a higher risk of prostate cancer than men who had at least one son, thus signifying a possible defect on the father's Y chromosome. The results, published in...

China risk to world economy, says Schwab By Eoin Callan and Krishna Guha in Washington Published: December 10 2006 22:13 | Last updated: December 10 2006 22:13 US-Chinese relations are in jeopardy because Beijing is slowing the pace of reform and putting the global economy at risk, Washington’s chief trade negotiator said on the eve of a high-level delegation to China. The Bush administration has identified “troubling indications that China’s momentum towards reform has begun to slow” in the last year, according to Susan Schwab, the US trade representative. The negotiator said the US was ready to initiate new trade...

White bread increases cancer risk Last updated at 10:12am on 20th October 2006 Experts say eating white bread can increase the risk of cancer Eating lots of white bread raises the risk of a cancer that kills thousands of Britons every year, according to new research. Those who eat five slices a day are almost twice as likely to develop the most common form of kidney cancer compared to those who have one and a half slices. Scientists put the cause down to refined cereals triggering a surge in blood sugar and insulin levels, which is thought to fuel cancer...

Psoriasis linked to tripled risk of heart attack 21:00 10 October 2006 NewScientist.com news service Roxanne Khamsi Patients with the common inflammatory skin condition psoriasis have a tripled risk of heart attack, a new study has revealed. The study’s researchers speculate that the systemic inflammation seen in psoriasis might weaken the cardiovascular system, thereby increasing the chance of such heart problems. Psoriasis is an inflammatory system disorder that affects around 2% of people in the US and is characterised by sore, scaly patches of red skin. Recent studies suggest that genetic mutations and lifestyle factors such as stress and smoking...

Cola Raises Women's Osteoporosis Risk 10.06.06, 12:00 AM ET FRIDAY, Oct. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Cola may not be so sweet for women's bones, according to new research that suggests the beverage boosts osteoporosis risk. "Among women, cola beverages were associated with lower bone mineral density," said lead researcher Katherine Tucker, director of the Epidemiology and Dietary Assessment Program at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. There was a pretty clear dose-response, Tucker added. "Women who drink cola daily had lower bone mineral density than those who drink it only once a week,"...

Drug can help cut diabetes risk, say researchers By Nic Fleming, Medical Correspondent (Filed: 16/09/2006) A drug that improves the body's ability to turn sugars into fuel can substantially reduce the chances of people at risk of Type 2 diabetes developing the disease, according to research published yesterday. In a large international trial volunteers with "pre-diabetes" taking rosiglitazone, sold under the brand name Avandia, were 60 per cent less likely than those on placebos to develop the full disease. The drug, already prescribed to those with Type 2 diabetes, was also found to help patients return to normal blood sugar...

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service employees were offered financial incentives to push immigration applications through the system quickly and eliminate a backlog of nearly 4 million such applications in time to meet a presidential deadline, the Daily Bulletin has learned. Employees and internal documents also reveal that the backlog is not actually gone, but that millions of applications in process have been reclassified to fall outside the backlog definition and help the agency meet an October deadline set by President Bush in 2003. The pressure to reduce the backlog, combined with the promise of bonuses for faster work, led to...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States should give the United Nations until the end of the year to reform and then consider cutting back on its U.N. dues if the changes fall short, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said on Monday. "Is good management and lack of corruption too much to ask for?" he asked, calling the United Nations "severely challenged from a management and accountability point of view." Bolton made his comments in response to a question after addressing a symposium on the future of the United Nations sponsored by the conservative Hudson Institute. The United States, one of...

CROCODILE Hunter Steve Irwin's family say they have formally declined a state funeral and will hold a private service within the next seven days. Irwin's father Robert Irwin today also said a memorial service would be held in honour of his son within the next two weeks at an undecided location. Mr Irwin said the family had decided to hold a private funeral for family and close friends only. On behalf of the grief-stricken Irwin family, Mr Irwin read the details from a written statement to a media throng outside the family's wildlife park Australia Zoo on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

WASHINGTON, Sep. 3, 2006 -- An early withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq would give victory to the terrorists and put the American people in danger, President Bush said here yesterday. “If America were to pull out before Iraq can defend itself, the consequences would be disastrous,” Bush said during his weekly radio address to the nation. “We would be handing Iraq over to the terrorists, giving them a base of operations and huge oil riches to fund their ambitions.” Bush said violent terrorist groups such as al Qaeda want to overthrow western-style democracies in the Middle East -- and...

Analysis: Taking on al-Sadr Carries Risk Wednesday August 30, 2006 6:46 PM By ROBERT H. REID Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - This week's intense clashes between the Iraqi army and a Shiite militia are part of a strategy to whittle away the power of a radical cleric. But the high-risk gambit could trigger more fighting across the Shiite south - at a time when the cleric's stronghold in the capital is virtually off-limits. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has promised to disband militias, including the Mahdi Army of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, as a way to curb the sectarian...

Brain scans can identify who is more "rational" and who is more "emotional," says a new study in the current issue of the journal Science. Researchers at University College London put subjects into a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner and watched their brain activity as they sorted through some artfully structured choices. The researchers posed classic Tversky/Kahneman choices framed as gain and loss scenarios. In this case, the subjects were initially told that they would receive £50, but then were told that they had to choose between a "sure" option and "gamble" option. In so-called Gain frame, the...