The US National Cancer Institute team has found a way to manipulate immune cells in one’s own body to attack certain kinds of cancer. Two of 17 people treated have been declared clear of skin cancer after treatment using genetically modified versions of their own immune cells. The treatment has also been proven to work on breast, liver and lung cancers.

American Association for the Advancement of Science, John Holdren has declared that the world has already entered a state of dangerous climate change. Claiming that, “if the current pace of change continues, a catastrophic sea level rise of four metres this century is within the realm of possibility,” he warned against more heat waves, wild fires and floods within our lifetimes.This year’s opium harvest in Afghanistan reached the highest levels ever, almost 50 per cent more than last year. Executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, puts much of the blame on the resurgence of Taliban rebels in the country’s most productive opium region. A US interceptor test missile successfully shot down a dummy warhead on Friday over the Pacific Ocean. The Pentagon claims that this is close to if not the end of the testing a long range missile defence system and is pleased with results, despite claims from defence experts that the target missile did not deploy decoys or other devices that could be carried by actual long-range ballistic missiles. These may be added in later tests in December. Steve Irwin, the energetic Australian crocodile hunter, passed away Monday at the age of 44. Irwin was swimming off the northeastern Australian coastline, 60 miles north of Cairns, when a sting-ray punctured his heart. His energetic presence will be missed in both the entertainment and environmental world. A young Carleton student came to the university looking for a husband and ended up funnelling cash to a terror cell. Chemistry student Zenab Armend Pisheh says she was used by young, aspiring jihadists in Britain and Canada. Among the funelled items were CDs, jihad training videos and thousands of dollars in Cash. Pisheh is currently helping authorities in the case. n MySpace.com is introducing a music downloading service which focuses on music from independent artists. The social networking Web site with more than 70 million users has been pushing to share the download market with rival iTunes.

Sources: PC World, CNN, Globe and Mail, BBC and the New York Times