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The test of the missiles, which have a range of about 300 miles, added to regional tensions after other firings in recent months.

Scientists have found evidence of an important similarity between the behavior of polycrystalline materials -- like metals and ceramics -- and glasses, research that could lead to better predictions of how many valuable materials behave under stress.

Coronary artery bypass surgery provides "excellent" long-term survival for children who have severe inflammatory heart and blood vessel damage caused by Kawasaki disease.

While post-operative problems may increase over time, these can be managed with proper follow-up care. Most of the young patients have normal lives, including participation in sports.

Research has identified a new gene associated with diabetes, together with a mechanism that makes obese mice less susceptible to diabetes.

A genomic fragment that occurs naturally in some mouse strains diminishes the activity of the risk gene Zfp69.

The researchers also found that the corresponding human gene (ZNF642) is especially active in overweight individuals with diabetes.

New research uses the Ras protein to fight its own malign effects.

On July 2 the detectors of Planck's High Frequency Instrument reached their amazingly low operational temperature of -273°C, making them the coldest known objects in space.

The spacecraft has also just entered its final orbit around the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, L2.

Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, said his request to see the democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had been rejected by Myanmar’s ruling generals.

The Astana team's manager had a little problem: Should he designate Lance Armstrong or Alberto Contador as the team leader?

The Iranian government has made it a practice to publicize confessions from political prisoners, often subject to sleep deprivation, solitary confinement and torture, rights groups say.

Argentina’s president said she would not rule out closing major public venues where swine flu could spread more quickly.