Washington, Dec 8 : Researchers in Finland say they have identified the first potential "biomarker" that could be used in development of a sputum test for early detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a condition that causes severe difficulty in breathing — most often in cigarette smokers.

Vuokko L. Kinnula and colleagues point out that until now, no disease marker for COPD currently exists, despite extensive efforts by scientists to find one.

Previous studies pointed to a prime candidate — surfactant protein A (SP-A), which has a major role in fighting infections and inflammation in the lung.

London, Dec 8 : A new report has suggested that rich countries will have to help poorer nations develop alternatives to fossil fuels as well as cutting their own emissions if the world is to tackle climate change.

According to the Telegraph, the new report, from the Global Climate Network, said that rich countries would have to help poorer nations develop low carbon technology so that they are pumping out less carbon from coal or oil.

Washington, Dec 8 : A new study of redback spiders has revealed that tiny males are ten times better lovers than bigger counterparts – because they''re quicker to mature and faster on their feet.

The study shows the importance of maturation in defining mating and paternity success.

For the study, the researchers simulated two competitive contexts favouring the development of differently sized male redbacks (Latrodectus hasselti) in field enclosures.

London, Dec 8 : Taking a major step towards creation of quantum networks, physicists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have made a new record for the length of time that quantum information can be stored in and retrieved from an ensemble of very cold atoms.

Although the information remains usable for just milliseconds, even that short lifetime should be enough to allow transmission of data from one quantum repeater to another on an optical network.

The new record is of 7 milliseconds for rubidium atoms stored in a dipole optical trap, while the previous record for storage time was 32 microseconds- a difference of more than two orders of magnitude.

Washington, Dec 8 : New dating of an important hominid site in Ethiopia has suggested that the road to advanced cognition in modern humans was a long and winding one, and they developed their greater intelligence gradually.

About 1.7 million years ago in Africa, Homo erectus, an ancestor of modern humans, started using large hand axes and cleavers.

This know-how spread to Asia and Europe and remained cutting-edge technology for well over a million years.

London, Dec 8 : Wikipedia users are enraged after many UK Internet providers decided to block a page on the online encyclopaedia showing an image of a naked girl.

The blocked page shows an album cover of German heavy metal band Scorpions.

Internet providers blocked the controversial page after online watchdog the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) warned them its picture might be illegal.

However, some volunteers who run Wikipedia claimed that the foundation had no authority to censor one of the web''s most popular sites.