London, Sept 10: Superstitions like crossing black cats, walking under ladders or stepping on cracks in the pavement have actually evolved to help people survive with "better safe than sorry" approach to life, says a leading researcher.

According to Kevin Foster, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University, a prehistoric human might associate rustling grass with the approach of a predator and hide. Most of the time, the wind will have caused the sound, but "if a group of lions is coming there's a huge benefit to not being around."

He said that the tendency to falsely link cause to effect sometimes works in a positive way.

London, Sept 10 : The British Government is reportedly planning to lift the ban on liquids being carried by passengers in their hand bags by early next year, as over the past two years (since the ban was imposed in August 2006), the country had been incurring heavy costs to the tune of “tens of millions” of pounds in paying for the nearly 
3000 extra staff posted at different airports for frisking passengers for liquids in hand bags.

London, September 10: NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander has abandoned its underground salt search, as soil from the Lander’s deepest trench has failed to fall into its wet chemistry laboratory, and mission managers are abandoning any further attempts to study the soil – at least for now.

According to a report in New Scientist, the soil comes from a trench called ‘Stone Soup’, which reaches some 18 centimeters below the surface – much deeper than any other trench the lander has dug.

London, Sept. 9: Up to five potential suicide bombers may still be at large in Britain.

The Telegraph quoted security services as admitting to this alarming development after the convictions of three British Muslims accused of plotting the world's biggest terrorist atrocity.

Police admit that up to five would-be bombers may still be on the loose, as a bugged conversation between the plotters in their east London bomb factory revealed they had recruited up to 18 people. To date, only 13 people have been arrested in connection with the plot.

Senior officers believe the "key players" have been rounded up, but admit they would be "unwise" to suggest there were no more terrorists connected with the gang.

London, Sept 9: It’s not just humans who like cuddling after a heated argument with a friend, for chimps too follow in their footsteps by comforting each other with a consoling hug and a reassuring peck on the cheek.

That’s the conclusion of a study at Chester Zoo.

The behaviour could indicate some level of empathy, Dr Orlaith Fraser told the British Association Science Festival.

London, Sep 9 : British police and prosecutors were locked in crisis meetings last night after what they believed to be the strongest terrorism case ever presented to a court was rejected by a jury, which will prove to a severe blow to Britain’s anti-terrorist effort.

At the end of a 10 million pound investigation and trial lasting more than two years, jurors were unable to decide whether or not a group of British Muslims were part of a plot to blow transatlantic airliners out of the sky, The Times reported.

The outcome of the case - which featured al-Qaeda-style martyrdom videos made by six defendants - will be seen as a severe blow to Britain’s anti-terrorist effort.