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Journalism of Courage
It’s all in the genes, even addiction to cigarettes
HOUSTON: Genes may be the reason why some cigarette smokers can kick the habit after years while others are hopelessly hooked after just a short time, a new study suggests. The smoker who insists "I can’t quit" may be battling a genetic predisposition to a smoking addiction, said Margaret Spitz, head of the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Texas. The preliminary findings centre on an unusual genetic brain pattern that impairs the ability to perceive pleasure. That apparently makes it likely that a person will compensate for that lack by using drugs, alcohol or nicotine. The key is the gene for a protein called DRD2, one of five known receptors for dopamine, which carries messages between brain cells and is crucial circuitry for producing the psychological "reward" people feel when they use drugs.
Fat sum for abuse
SYDNEY: A prominent Australian fashion designer won sizeable damages from a Melbourne magazinethat compared her portly figure to Miss Piggy’s in the popular children’s television show the Muppets. Amanda Forsyth was awarded 10,000 Australian dollars in the libel suit she brought against Beat magazine for publishing her photograph with the caption "No wonder Kermit wouldn’t root you, Miss Piggy.’ Forsyth, 27, said the award was not nearly enough for the pain and suffering "I have had to go through."Calf cloned
PARIS: French scientists have managed to clone a female calf from a single cell of muscle tissue of a 60-day-old foetus, the French National Agricultural Institute has announced. The calf was born on February 20th and named "Marguerite." Similar cloning efforts were underway, the institute said on Wednesday.
Lady commander
WASHINGTON: EileenCollins, America’s first woman space shuttle pilot, was promoted to shuttle commander on Thursday at a White House ceremony with President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary. She will be the first woman in charge of a USspace mission. Collins has flown two shuttle flights, one in 1995 and another in 1997, and has been in line to be assigned as shuttle commander. Two shuttle missions are on tap. Columbia is to carry an X-ray telescope into space later this year, possibly in December. Endeavour is to make a space station delivery in December, though that mission may slip into the next year.
Smoke & fire
SINGAPORE: New land and forest fires similar to those that blanketed the region with smog last year are breaking out in Indonesia and parts of Malaysia, The Straits Times newspaper said on Thursday. Quoting officials in Singapore and Indonesia, the paper said new fires were spotted on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and that fresh fires were spotted in East Malaysia on Borneo.
