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Researchers in Boston have pinpointed a primary trigger for the most common form of diabetes and have uncovered evidence that simple, inexpensive aspirin-like drugs could keep the disease that affects millions in check. The researchers, from Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, discovered a genetic ''master switch" in the liver that is turned on when people become obese. Obesity has long been linked to diabetes, but the reason, until now, has been unknown. Joslin researchers found that once on, this switch produces low-level inflammation, which disrupts the body's ability to process insulin, causing type 2 diabetes.

Mental Health Charity Calls for Cannabis Probe Sat Jan 29,10:37 AM ET LONDON (Reuters) - A British health charity called on Saturday for an investigation into evidence that smoking cannabis may cause psychosis in people at risk of mental illness. Rethink, which campaigns on behalf of schizophrenia sufferers, said the mental health risks of using cannabis were not widely understood. "There is strong evidence from a wide range of sources that long term and short-term use of cannabis can 'trigger' a psychotic episode of schizophrenia in people who are at high risk of developing schizophrenia --- for instance, people who...

<p>PALM BEACH, Florida -- A new computer chip promises to keep police guns from firing if they fall into the wrong hands.</p> <p>The tiny chip would be implanted in a police officer's hand and would match up with a scanning device inside a handgun. If the officer and gun match, a digital signal unlocks the trigger so it can be fired. But if a child or criminal would get hold of the gun, it would be useless.</p>

Did a Comet Trigger The Great Chicago Fire? By Irene Mona Klotz, Discovery News The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 March 5, 2004 — Perhaps it was not Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicking over a lantern that sparked the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which destroyed the downtown area and claimed 300 lives. New research lends credence to an alternative explanation: The fire, along with less-publicized and even more deadly blazes the same night in upstate Wisconsin and Michigan, was the result of a comet fragment crashing into Earth's atmosphere. The comet theory has been around — and most often discarded...

<p>Lawyers for Gov. Gray Davis and state Controller Steve Westly announced an agreement Monday that ended a weeks-long impasse over midyear budget cuts and could lead to a tripling of the annual vehicle license fee -- without a vote of the Legislature or the public.</p>

UN inspectors provide Bush with fresh trigger for war By Rupert Cornwell and Andy McSmith 23 February 2003 An invasion of Iraq by the US and Britain could come even sooner than expected, as United Nations weapons inspectors threw down a double challenge to Saddam Hussein, and President Bush issued his sternest warning yet to the UN to fall into line or face irrelevance. The new pressure on Baghdad comes as Tony Blair risks a huge Commons rebellion this week when Labour MPs are ordered by the whips to support the threat of military force against Iraq. Last night, war...

Inspectors discover Iraqi warheads. Will this be the trigger for war? By David Usborne in New York and Andrew grice 17 January 2003 The prospects of war with Iraq appeared to increase suddenly last night after United Nations weapons inspectors revealed they had discovered a number of empty chemical warheads stashed in a complex of newly built bunkers in the country. Officials and diplomats said they could not yet reach any definitive conclusions on the warheads but their discovery threatens to alter the mood severely as the United States continues to press the case against Iraq. Hiro Ueki, a UN...