It is not science fiction to think that our eyes could very soon be the key to unlocking our homes, accessing our bank accounts and logging on to our computers, according to one scientist. New research is helping to remove one of the final obstacles to the everyday application of iris scanning technology.

  Dieters should focus on limiting the amount of fructose they eat instead of cutting out starchy foods such as bread, rice and potatoes, report researchers, who propose using new dietary guidelines based on fructose to gauge how healthy foods are.

  Major new research indicates that coral reefs won't survive the rapid increases in global temperatures and atmospheric carbon dioxide forecast by the IPCC. The livelihoods of 100 million people living along the coasts of tropical developing countries will be among the first casualties. Marine scientists argue for drastic action by world leaders on carbon dioxide emissions. Immediate use of proven policy and management tools to address over-fishing, pollution and unsustainable coastal development is critical to saving coral reefs.

  Researchers may have found a key mechanism underlying idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a usually fatal lung disease for which transplantation is the only successful treatment. The investigators found that a specific molecular pathway appears responsible for key aspects of the scarring of lung tissue that characterizes IPF, the cause of which is currently unknown.

  Interaction of parasites may help predict outbreaks of infectious diseases. This could lead to predicting more successfully when infectious cyclical diseases in humans are likely to occur.

  Dust from the Gobi and Taklimakan deserts in China and Mongolia is routinely present in the air over the western United States during spring months, a researcher has found. He found that in years with large Asian dust storms there was an increase in particles of 2.5 microns or less in the air over the western United States. Particles that small can be inhaled more deeply into the lungs and are a health concern.

  In April, a European team of astronomers announced the discovery of two possibly habitable Earth-like planets. Two new detailed studies of this system confirm that one of the planets might indeed be located within the habitable zone around the star Gliese 581. More than 10 years after the discovery of the first extrasolar planet, astronomers have now discovered more than 250 of these planets.

  Scientists report that adult stem cells isolated from humans with muscular dystrophy can be genetically corrected and used to induce functional improvement when transplanted into a mouse model of the disease. The research represents a significant advance toward the future development of a gene therapy that uses a patient's own cells to treat this devastating muscle-wasting disease.

  As the 140th Anniversary of the last big earthquake on the Hayward Fault approaches, new U.S. Geological Survey studies provide mounting evidence that the San Francisco Bay Area should get ready for another big quake soon. The Hayward Fault has ruptured about every 140 years for its previous five large earthquakes. October 21, 2008, marks the 140th Anniversary of the 1868 approximate Magnitude 7 earthquake. Two and half million people now live along the Hayward Fault and seven million people in the region would feel a repeat event of the same magnitude.

  Investigators have uncovered a promising drug therapy that offers a ray of hope for children with Batten disease -- a rare neurodegenerative disease that strikes seemingly healthy kids, progressively robs them of their abilities to see, reason and move, and ultimately kills them in their young twenties. The study explains how investigators improved the motor skills of feeble mice that model the disease.

  Many industrial processes involve reactions in places that are difficult to see directly. A novel tabletop touch screen allows hidden sequences of events to be observed in progress. It can be operated intuitively using a combination of fingers and recognizes swiping movements. A crowd of people is gathered around a large table with an illuminated surface, on which images of a journey through pipes and machines in a factory are being displayed. Users can select individual components by touching the corresponding image with a finger. The objects can be rotated and observed by swiping a finger over them -- and the same method can be used to watch a process in slow motion.

  A new sedative drug has been shown to improve the sleep quality and comfort levels of intensive care patients, compared to the most commonly-used medication, according to new research.

  Resting in less than 10 feet of Caribbean seawater, the wreckage of Quedagh Merchant, the ship abandoned by the scandalous 17th century pirate Captain William Kidd as he raced to New York in an ill-fated attempt to clear his name, has escaped discovery -- until now. An underwater archaeology team has just announced the discovery of the remnants.

  A direct link between obesity and bad breath has been found: the more overweight you are, the more likely your breath will smell unpleasant to those around you. While widespread obesity is a modern invention, bad breath is not. The phenomenon goes back thousands of years.