Japan’s space lab

A team of astronauts have attached a $1bn Japanese laboratory to the International Space Station (ISS).

The 16-tonne Kibo lab was delivered by the shuttle Discovery. It will be the station's biggest room, for the study of biomedicine and material sciences.

Astronauts Akihiko Hoshide and Karen Nyberg maneuvered Kibo into place, using the space station's robotic arm. The lab was anchored after two crew members had made preparations during a spacewalk lasting more than six hours.

Discovery docked at the ISS on Monday after a two-day voyage. As well as the Japanese laboratory, the shuttle has also brought a pump to unblock the station's toilet, which broke nearly two weeks ago. The crew has been performing manual flushes several times a day.

Man leaves £180k violin on train

A £10,000 reward is being offered for the return of a valuable 17th Century violin which was left on a train.

Robert Napier, from Wiltshire, had just had the 1698 Venice-made Goffriller valued by a London dealer at £180,000. He got off a Paddington to Taunton train at Bedwyn on 29 January with the family heirloom still on board.

"It was just one of those terrible moments when I realised, as the train was steaming off, that I had left it on the train," he said.

That is going to be an expensive …music trip!

Moon roses

Scientists with the European Space Agency (Esa) say the day when flowers bloom on the Moon has come closer.

An Esa-linked team has shown that marigolds can grow in crushed rock very like the lunar surface, with no need for plant food. Some see growing plants on the Moon as a step towards human habitation.

But the concept is not an official aim of Esa, and one of the agency's senior officials has dismissed the idea as “science fiction”. The new research was presented at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) meeting in Vienna, the largest annual European gathering of scientists studying the Earth, its climate and its neighbours in space.

Bernard Foing, a senior scientist with the European Space Research and Technology Centre (Estec) in the Netherlands, believes growing plants on the Moon would be a useful as a tool to learn how life adapts to lunar conditions, and as a practical aid to establishing manned bases.

Imagine moon roses and moon …asparagus!

Sea level rises

Sea levels could rise by up to one-and-a-half meters by the end of this century, according to a new scientific analysis.

This is substantially more than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecast in last year's landmark assessment of climate science. Sea level rise of this magnitude would have major impacts on low-lying countries such as Bangladesh.

The findings were presented at a major science conference in Vienna. The research group is not the first to suggest that the IPCC's forecast of an average rise in global sea levels of 28-43cm by 2100 is too conservative.

The IPCC was unable to include the contribution from "accelerated" melting of polar ice sheets as water temperatures warm because the processes involved were not yet understood.

Queen plan stage musical

Queen guitarist Brian May has revealed a sequel to the stage musical We Will Rock You will be bought to the stage.

"We are planning the sequel," he said. "It is a real challenge." The 60-year-old said about two million people had seen We Will Rock You, written and directed by Ben Elton, since it opened in London in 2002.

May also say the band were preparing for their autumn tour and new album. "The long arm of Queen has pulled me back in at the moment. It is a beast." He added: "We've pressed the button to go on tour this autumn so already the preparations are very consuming.

"We've chosen our set; we've chosen our environment on tour. It is very exciting, very exciting indeed. Very time consuming but Queen always was consuming." Productions of We Will Rock You, based on the songs of Queen, have since opened in Australia, Spain, Russia, the US, Japan and Germany.

The musician was speaking at a formal ceremony to install him as the Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.

Elephant 'had aquatic ancestor'

An ancient ancestor of the elephant from 37 million years ago lived in water and had a similar lifestyle to a hippo, a fossil study has suggested.

The animal was said to be similar to a tapir, a hoofed mammal which looks like a cross between a horse and a rhino. Experts from Oxford University and Stony Brook University, New York, analyzed chemical signatures preserved in fossil teeth. These indicated that the animal grazed on plants in rivers or swamps.

The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could shed light on the lifestyle and behavior of modern elephants. Dr Erik Seiffert, co-author of the study has said: "It has often been assumed that elephants have evolved from fully terrestrial ancestors and have always had this kind of a lifestyle.”Now we can really start to think about how their lifestyle and behavior might have been shaped by a very different kind of existence in the distant past.

"It could help us to understand more about the origins of the anatomy and ecology of living elephants."

Democrat rivals defend the right for abortion

The two Democratic rivals for their party's presidential nomination have both affirmed their support for abortion rights.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were speaking at a forum on faith and politics in Pennsylvania, where the next key primary vote is to be held. Both candidates professed their Christian faith as they were questioned on a range of issues.

Republican candidate John McCain declined to attend the forum. Senator Obama leads Senator Clinton in terms of delegates won in the primaries so far. He is hoping to seal his lead with a victory in Pennsylvania ahead of the party's nominating convention in August.

What the ones against abortion miss is that if somebody wants to do it will do it under any circumstances even if that costs them their own lives, isn’t it better to be protected in a healthy environment with experts around? This is the simplest argument!

Doctors attack 'supersize' drinks

Increasingly large pub measures are pushing customers towards unsafe levels of drinking, the Royal College of Physicians has warned.

RCP president Ian Gilmore accused the pub industry of acting irresponsibly and urged it to put its house in order. Some 14% of licensed premises say they now offer only 250ml sized wine glasses - equivalent to a third of a bottle.

The Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers hit back that it was in the business of offering customers choice. The 125ml wine glass used to be the standard size but now just 16% of pubs and bars say it is their normal size. Customers give their view of larger measures.

Supersize drinks lead to supersize heart attacks!

Obama calls for Beijing boycott

Barack Obama has called on US President George W Bush to boycott the opening of the Beijing Olympics if China fails to improve its human rights record.

The Democratic presidential hopeful made his call a day after a similar appeal by his rival, Hillary Clinton. The US stage of the Olympic torch relay passed off amid confusion and tight security in San Francisco on Wednesday.

The route was totally changed at the last minute and the closing ceremony took place on a motorway fly-over. Throughout the route, the torch-bearers were immersed in a cocoon of security, surrounded by dozens of police officers and track-suited Chinese guards.

Is it just me or has anybody else notice that this man makes announcement that he knows will bring controversy and votes after he makes sure that a lot of voices have said the same from all the sides?

Breakthrough at Stonehenge dig

Archaeologists carrying out an excavation at Stonehenge say they have broken through to a layer that may finally explain why the site was built.

The team has reached sockets that once held bluestones - smaller stones, most now missing or uprooted, which formed the site's original structure. The researchers believe that the bluestones could reveal that Stonehenge was once a place of healing.

The dig is the first to take place at Stonehenge for more than 40 years. The team now needs to extract organic material from these holes to date when the stones first arrived.

Six-way kidney transplant

US doctors have carried out what is believed to be the world's first simultaneous six-way kidney transplant.

Six recipients received organs from six donors in operations at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland. The procedure was made possible after an altruistic donor - neither a friend nor relative of any of the six patients - was found to match one of them.

Five patients had a willing donor whose kidney was incompatible with theirs, but it did match another in the group.

Medicine bring hope, at least there is something in this world that does so.

Bob Dylan wins Pulitzer

Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan has received an honorary Pulitzer Prize for his "profound impact on popular music and American culture".

The special music award recognised the 66-year-old's "lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power". Prize administrator Sig Gissler said the honour "reflects the efforts of the Pulitzer board to broaden the scope of the music prize".

The time has come!

Eurotunnel shows profit

Wow! Believe it or not, Eurotunnel has reported its first annual profit, boosted by its huge programme of debt restructuring.

The company that runs the tunnel between Britain and France reported a net profit of 1m Euros in the whole of 2007. That included a 3.3m euro exceptional profit from its capital restructuring.

The company has struggled with its debt levels since the tunnel was opened in 1994, but it finally reached agreement with its creditors last year. "The year 2007 proves that the new Eurotunnel group has broken with its past," the company said in a statement.

You never know now, Euro-Disney in Paris might report profits as well!!!

'Ex-slave' takes Niger to court

A former slave is suing Niger's government, accusing it of failing to implement laws against slavery introduced in 2003.

Hadijatou Mani took the case to the Community Court of Justice of Ecowas, the Economic Community of West African States, based in Nigeria. This is the first such case brought by a former slave in Niger.

The government says it has done all it can to eradicate the practice and says the problem has been exaggerated. Ms Mani appeared in court with her lawyers, family members and anti-slavery activists. The government was represented by a high-powered team including the prime minister, justice minister and speaker of parliament. The case is due to last for five days.

At last it started, for decades slavery has been the cancer of Niger and yes in the 20th century and the 21st century. There are even books from ex-slaves who were sold in UK and France.