Views of the hydrocarbon lakes and seas on Saturn's moon Titan taken by the Cassini spacecraft are now available. A new radar image comprised from seven Titan fly-bys over the last year and a half shows a north pole pitted with giant lakes and seas, at least one of them larger than Lake Superior in North America, the largest freshwater lake on Earth.

  Obese people are six times as likely to develop gullet (esophageal) cancer as people of "healthy"weight, shows new research. Rates of esophageal cancer have been rising rapidly, and in some countries, they have risen faster than those of every other major cancer, say the authors.

  In process that is shrouded in mystery, rod-shaped bacteria reproduce by splitting themselves in two. By applying advanced mathematics to laboratory data, scientists have solved a small but important part of this reproductive puzzle.

  An intravenous "blood thinner"widely used in patients with acute coronary syndromes and during coronary artery stent placement appears to be safe in patients with sickle cell disease and may have beneficial anti-inflammatory effects, a small study has found.

  Software under development is helping scientists operate big-budget research instruments -- such as high-powered microscopes and telescopes -- over the Internet, more safely and efficiently than was possible before. The need for such remote operation is growing, and it's driven by the costs of doing research.

  Doctors depend on patients to accurately tell them what drugs they are taking in out-patient visits. But nearly 50 percent of patients taking antihypertensive drugs were unable to accurately name a single one of their medications. Thus, doctors often can't monitor if a drug is working or know about potential adverse interactions.

  Researchers have discovered a hearing mechanism that fundamentally changes the current understanding of inner ear function. This new mechanism could help explain the ear's remarkable ability to sense and discriminate sounds. Its discovery could eventually lead to improved systems for restoring hearing. The tectorial membrane, a gelatinous structure inside the cochlea of the ear, is much more important to hearing than previously thought. It can selectively pick up and transmit energy to different parts of the cochlea via a kind of wave that is different from that commonly associated with hearing.

  An immune system protein could act as an early warning system for lung cancer, reveals new research. Lung cancer kills around 900,000 people every year, and can take 20 years or more to develop fully. But it is usually only picked up at an advanced stage, when the chances of successful treatment are slim.

  The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 is to be shared, in two equal parts, between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.

  While biometric equipment is gaining popularity in a variety of applications, such as ensuring secure access to buildings, industries are finding that many users believe the devices are unsanitary and a potential source of germs that could cause illness. But a new study has found that while the platen glass surfaces of devices that scan fingerprints or hand geometry may look more unsanitary due to visible dirt and prints, they in fact harbor about the same amount of bacteria as a typical doorknob.

  A protein known to repress gene transcription at the molecular level in a variety of processes also blocks embryonic neural stem cells from differentiating into neurons, according to a new study.

  Scientists show how, over many generations, a single yeast gene divides in two and parses its responsibilities to be a more efficient denizen of its environment. The work illustrates, at the most basic level, the driving force of evolution.

  Researchers have found that professional welders who work in enclosed spaces with poor ventilation may be at risk for loss of sense of smell. Although underappreciated, loss of smell function significantly alters quality of life, noted researchers.

  One year after completing the first large-scale report sequencing breast and colon cancer genes, scientists have now studied the vast majority of protein-coding genes which now suggest a landscape dominated by genes that each are mutated in relatively few cancers.