Blow hot, blow cold
The world鈥檚 largest 鈥渢hermometer camera鈥� started operations atop the 5100-metre-high Chajnantor plateau in the Chilean Andes, the European Southern Observatory said on 4 August. The Large Bolometer Camera, which is cooled down to about 0.3 kelvin, will measure the temperature of extremely cold objects in the universe formed soon after the big bang.
Cheap drugs 鈥榲ictory鈥�
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Drug companies in India can carry on making cheap variants of lifesaving medicines, thanks to a High Court ruling in Madras on 6 August. The court rejected a challenge from the pharmaceutical company, Novartis, which sought to stop Indian companies making cheaper, but slightly different versions of original drugs, including its own anti-cancer drug Glivec.
Medicine price prune
The UK is hoping to cut its annual drug bill through renegotiating an agreement that allows pharmaceutical companies to set prices for drugs sold to its National Health Service. Health secretary Alan Johnson announced proposals on 7 August that would base drug prices on the impact they have on human health, rather than the cost to the drug company of developing them.
Long hot summers
The heatwave that has already killed hundreds in Europe this year is no aberration. The frequency of extremely hot days between 1880 and 2005 has nearly tripled and the duration of heatwaves across the continent has doubled (Journal of Geophysical Research, ).
Balsa planet
A huge alien planet in the constellation Hercules has a record-breaking low density, about the same as that of balsa wood. The planet, called TrES-4, was discovered during the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey, and its weak gravity means it could be losing grip of its puffed-up atmosphere.