The Nutty Professors

Over a dozen monkeys used tree branches to escape from a Japanese laboratory surrounded with a 17 ft high electric fence, only to be lured back in by scientists armed with peanuts. The 15 monkeys escaped from Kyoto University’s primate research institute in Aichi Prefecture.
After escaping, the monkeys seemed unsure about what to do next. They sat by the gates of the research centre and were lured back by scientists carrying peanuts.
“It was an incredible escape and the first time something like this has ever happened,” Daily Telegraph quoted Hirohisa Hirai, deputy head of the institute, as saying.

Hopelessly happy

Researchers have found that giving patients with serious illnesses hope for a cure can make them more depressed. Peter Ubel, director of the University of Michigan Centre for Behavioural and Decision Sciences in Medicine, spoke about "the dark side of hope". "Sometimes, if hope makes people put off getting on with their life, it can get in the way of happiness," he explained. "We think they were happier because they got on with their lives. They realised the cards they were dealt and recognised that they had no choice. This sopped their need to recover, and they could focus on the better aspects of life" Ubel looked at a group of adults who had their colons removed.

Pond power

Driven by fluctuations in oil prices and seduced by the prospect of easing climate change, experts are intensifying efforts to squeeze fuel out of a promising new organism: pond scum. As it turns out, algae - slimy, fast-growing and full of fat - is gaining ground as a potential renewable energy source. Experts say it is intriguing for its ability to gobble up carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, while living happily in places that are not needed for food crops. While no one has found a way to mass produce cheap fuel from algae yet, the race is on. University labs and start-up companies across the country are getting involved.