London, Dec 4 : A pair of pooches trained at finding pirated DVDs face a 30,000 pounds bounty on their heads put forward by crime gangs.

The two sniffer dogs, Lucky and Flo, both black Labrador Retrievers, have been trained to detect ''optical discs'' by scent, and they have been very successful at their work so far.

Now the Malaysian organised crime gangs, suffering from the work of the duo, have put a price on their heads.

The two dogs’ contribution is said to be largest ever collaboration on anti-piracy in the UK, and it is first, involving the Metropolitan Police, the Motion Picture Association and the UK Film Council among others.

London - It may take until mid-century for American men to ever dominate like they did in the 1990s, the leader of that extraordinary generation, Pete Sampras, has predicted.

The seven-time Wimbledon winner and holder of the all-time record 14 Grand Slam titles said at the BlackRock Masters in London that the glory days are done for US tennis after the explosion of talent during the last decade.

London, Dec 4 : A mathematician at Drexel University in Philadelphia is working on an idea to develop the perfect curved wing mirror surface for vehicles, which would lead to fewer road accidents in the future.

According to a report in New Scientist, the US Department of Transportation says that in 1994 alone, lane changes and lane merger crashes were the cause of 244,000 crashes, causing 225 deaths and many serious injuries.

“That is largely down to the poor view afforded by wing mirrors,” said Andrew Hicks, a mathematician at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Mirrors usually have a curved design, which is supposed to increase the field of view.

London, Dec 4 : Scientists have discovered a gene behind increased vulnerability to the ‘placebo effect’— the mysterious capacity which enables some people to benefit from sham treatments.

The finding could be considered a milestone in the quest to understand the phenomenon, which often blurs the results of clinical trials.

And the finding came despite the fact the gene is not vital to a person’s response to treatment for all conditions and the experiment involved only a small number of people.

"To our knowledge, it''s the first time anyone has linked a gene to the placebo effect," New Scientist quoted Tomas Furmark of Uppsala University in Sweden as saying.

London, Dec 4 : It’s not just love or giggles that are contagious, fear too is infectious, claim researchers.

They added that the smell of fear is real.

According to experts, sweat people produce when they are scared gives off signals that are subconsciously picked up by others.

The finding by Stony Brook University in New York may explain why individuals with phobias such as a fear of flying can infect others who normally exhibit no such worries.

The study found people who are scared give off "pheromones" - hormones - that subconsciously trigger parts of the brain associated with fear, reports the Telegraph.

London, Dec 4 : A range of Lego bricks featuring fighting figures has been slammed by religious leaders, as it includes an al-Qaeda terrorist.

The figure comes with a mask, a rocket launcher, assault rifle and grenades, and looks exactly like one of 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden’s followers.

The toy has earned the ire of religious followers, with Mohammed Shaffiq, of the Muslim organisation ‘The Ramadhan Foundation’, has branded the toy “absolutely disgusting”.

“It is glorifying terrorism — the makers should be ashamed,” the Sun quoted him as saying.

“We should be coming together to unite against terrorism, but how is that possible when children are playing with toys like this?” he stated.