Science News

Alzheimer's disease and its associated dementia can be a scary prospect for individuals and families faced with it. Between 2.4 million and 4.5 million Americans suffer from this debilitating, incurable disease, according to the National Institutes of Health. That figure is expected to rise as the baby boomers age.

Community memory screening events are becoming increasingly popular as individuals and their families seek to detect dementia in its earliest stages--before it destroys patients' memories and thinking skills. But many physicians warn against these screenings, which are often ineffective when it comes to detecting dementia, and can leave test-takers feeling scared and powerless.

Which of these guys would you guess is stronger? Him? [Arnold Schwarzenegger saying “One of us is in deep trouble.”]. Or him? [Pee Wee Herman saying, “I’m having a party, and you’re invited!”] If you chose Arnold over Pee Wee, it’s not just because you’re an astute student of popular culture. A new study shows that people are able to accurately judge a man’s strength from his voice. The work appears in the Proceedings of the Royal Society . [Aaron Sell et al., http://bit.ly/9qnXXa ] [More]

By Matt Spetalnick and Alister Bull

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday laid out what he called a battle plan to tackle the BP oil spill and exhorted Americans in warlike terms to embark on a mission to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.

By Emma Marris

The United Nations is setting up a body to monitor global ecology modeled on its influential climate panel. [More]