Formula milk blamed for early development

Three female infants in Wuhan, Hubei Province, are showing signs of sexual development, including breast growth. The girls, ranging from 4 months to 15 months, have been diagnosed with abnormally high female hormones. Their parents blame their formula milk, Shengyuan Formula Milk, which has produced similar cases in female infants taking it in Jiangxi, Shandong and Guangdong provinces. Shengyuan claims on its website that their products are safe. Health and food safety authorities have not made any official conclusions.

Microsoft speeds up Win XP phase-out

Microsoft is stepping up efforts to phase out its operating system Windows XP, including refusals to issue new security patches for Windows XP Service Pack 2. Microsoft doesn't seem particularly pleased about the success of XP, the mainstream operating system that still claims more than twice the market share of Windows Vista and Windows 7 combined, according to PC World. The SP2 patch is a significant upgrade for XP, while SP3 isn't as critical. Microsoft announced earlier that Internet Explorer 9 and the new version of Windows Live Essential will not be XP-compatible, in its effort to get users to upgrade.

Finalist dies at World Sauna event

The annual World Sauna Championships in Heinola, Finland, on Saturday have ended in tragedy, with the death of one of the finalists, BBC reported. Vladimir Ladyzhensky of Russia and Finnish rival Timo Kaukonen collapsed and were taken to the hospital after withstanding a temperature of 110 degrees Celsius for six minutes. Ladyzhensky later died.

Police nab tax office bomb suspect

Guangxi police said Sunday they have arrested the man wanted for the bombing of a tax office in Changsha, Hunan Province. The suspect, Liu Zhuiheng, 51, of Hengyang, Hunan, was captured at 5:45 a.m. Sunday in Quanzhou, Guangxi. An explosion occurred on July 30 on the third floor of a district tax office in Changsha, killing four and injuring another 19. Police said the suspect admitted he had committed the crime.

Seniors push physical limits

To challenge their physical limits, more than 400 senior citizens took a nonstop fast walk covering 51.8 kilometers in the heat of Chengdu, Sichuan Province, Saturday evening, the Chengdu Evening News reported. It took them about 10 hours to finish. They brought medicine to cope with heat stroke and other situations. Some were tailed by private cars with medicine in case of an emergency. Doctors say seniors who are interested in such activities should consider their physical situations and a medical care team is necessary.

Mission impossible: perfect tan

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh say that an even tan is impossible to achieve.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh say that an even tan is impossible to achieve, the Daily Mail reported. They found some body areas are much more resistant to tanning than others. The findings, published in the journal Experimental Dermatology, show that people's bottoms are much more resistant to sunshine, and when they does go red, they tan less well than other areas. It also found that people with no freckles tanned more easily than those with freckles.

French First Lady may appear in Paris CSI

Carol Mendolson, a producer of the U.S. TV crime show CSI, said she was preparing to make a two-hour CSI TV movie set in Paris, the Daily Telegraph reported. "(The French First Lady) Carla Bruni wrote to us to say she absolutely adored our show," she told France's Pure People. "So we would be delighted to offer her a part in our CSI film set in France."

Beetle powered by methane gas

British engineers have converted a Volkswagen Beetle into the "Bio-Bug", a car powered by the biogas produced from human waste at sewage plants, the Daily Mail reported. This conversion technology has been used in the past but the Bio-Bug is Britain's first car to run on methane gas without its performance being reduced and has a top speed of 114 miles per hour. The Bio-Bug can go 5.3 miles per cubic meter of biogas, which means that just one sewage plant could power 95.4 million miles a year, saving 19,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. The vehicle's improved reliability means that its makers believe it can "blow away" electric cars and pave the way for a green motoring revolution.

New weight-loss procedure freezes fat

The hottest new weight-loss procedure to arrive in the UK freezes hard-to-shift flab to death, the Daily Mail reported. Fresh from the U.S., this innovative machine goes by the name of Zeltiq, and uses a cooling method called cryolipolysis to target, chill and break down fat cells. Tests have shown that just one treatment is capable of destroying up to 25 percent of fat cells in the area. While doctors offering the treatment are singing its praises over procedures that use radio frequency and ultrasound technologies, Roberto Viel, a cosmetic surgeon from the London Centre for Aesthetic Surgery, says: "In principle, it seems very interesting and safe, but the question is: will the body be able to wash out all the destroyed fat?"

(China.org.cn August 10, 2010)