Firefighters responded to at least 10 times more medical emergencies than fire-related calls across the U.S. last year, The New York Times reported yesterday. [More]

The public health measures taken in response to swine flu may be seen as alarmist, overly restrictive, or even unjustified, says one U.S. expert who argues that our plans for pandemics need to take into account more than the worst case scenarios, and calls for a new framework for thinking about epidemic disease.

Google's algorithm for ranking web-pages can be used to determine which species are critical for sustaining ecosystems. Now researchers find that "PageRank" can be applied to the study of food webs, the complex networks describing who eats whom in an ecosystem.

One way to maximize the eco-friendly factor of a structure is to include a green roof. "Greening" a roof, or covering a roof with vegetation, is gaining popularity in North America, where the number of green roofs increased 30 percent from 2006 to 2007. Benefits of green roofs include improved storm water management, energy conservation, reduced noise and air pollution, improved biodiversity and even a better return on investment than traditional roofing.

Researchers have identified a gene that acts as a master switch to control obesity in mice. When the switch is turned off, even high-fat-diet mice remain thin.

Rewards go further than punishment in building human cooperation and benefiting the common good, according to new research. While previous studies have focused almost exclusively on punishment for promoting public cooperation, here rewards are shown to be much more successful.

Computational photography researchers have built an open-source digital camera. Anyone will be able to create new features for the camera by writing aps that will control all the camera's functions -- focus, exposure, shutter speed, flash, etc. Cameras could be taught new tricks with downloadable apps, analogous to iPhone apps. No longer will camera owners be limited to the features installed by the manufacturer. Sky's the limit.

People who start nicotine replacement therapy at least four weeks before surgery can halve their risk of poor wound healing, according to a new study.

A new earthquake-resistant structural system for buildings, just successfully tested in Japan, will not only help a multi-story building hold itself together during a violent earthquake, but also return it to standing up straight on its foundation afterward, true and plumb, with damage confined to a few easily replaceable parts. During testing on a massive shake table, the system survived simulated earthquakes bigger than either the 1994 Northridge earthquake or the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Scientists have discovered a genetic cause of progressive hearing loss. The findings will help scientists better understand the nature of age-related decline in hearing, and may lead to new therapies to prevent or treat the condition.