Playing virtual reality computer games could provide the answer to combating motion sickness.

Scientists are looking at how feelings of nausea can be induced in people who are put into a virtual reality environment. By putting them back into that environment on a frequent basis the researchers are hoping to find out if they become accustomed to the conditions and overcome the symptoms of motion sickness.

The research is being carried out by scientists at Loughborough Univers

Researchers name the microbes that could produce power by munching pollution.

Bacteria could clear up oil spills and generate electricity at the same time. US scientists have identified microbes that produce power as they digest organic waste 1 .

The bacteria strip electrons from carbon in ocean sediments to convert it into the carbon dioxide they need for metabolism and growth. Usually the organisms just dump the electrons onto iron or sulphate minerals on

Chimpanzee waste could shed light on the origins and spread of HIV.

Delving into droppings has given AIDS researchers a surprise. Far fewer chimpanzees than they had suspected have SIVcpz, the animal virus most like HIV.

The technique could shed much-needed light on the origins and evolution of the viruses that cause AIDS. “It’s a non-invasive means to study the wild relative of HIV in its natural environment,” says Beatrice Hahn, of the University of Alabama in Birmingham,

Adolescents from families where mealtimes and other activities are shared seem to have fewer mental health problems, reports a study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Researchers assessed the family habits and rituals of 82 first time users, aged between 14 and 23, of mental health services in one metropolitan area. Anxiety and depression were the main problems for which treatment was sought. Family practices in 177 young people within the same age band from various educa

Middle aged men should be heartened to know that frequent sex is not likely to increase their risk of stroke. It may actually reduce the risk of sudden death, suggests research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The Caerphilly study, which takes its name from a former mining town in South Wales, involves tracking the development of heart disease in almost 3000 men. All were aged between 45 and 59 when recruited to the study between 1979 and 1983.

Just under 1000 m

Researchers finally measure the subtle quantum effects of fourth fundamental force.

Far from falling smoothly, objects moving under gravity do so in lurching, quantum leaps, a French experiment has revealed 1 . The finding confirms that gravity, like the Universe’s three other fundamental forces, can have a quantum effect.

Particles, such as electrons confined to their orbital shells around the nucleus of an atom, are restricted by the rules of quantum mechan