■ United States
Shuttle launch scrubbed
NASA has canceled today's planned launch of the space shuttle Atlantis, but put off a decision to return the orbiter to its hangar to protect it from Tropical Storm Ernesto, a spokesman said yesterday. However, workers at Cape Canaveral, Florida, began making preparations on Sunday for a rollback. Moving Atlantis back to the hanger would challenge NASA's ability to launch the shuttle before a Sept. 7 deadline. The agency wants to launch before then so the shuttle's visit to the international space station doesn't interfere with the trip of a Russian Soyuz in the middle of next month.
■ United Kingdom
Cancer cells tricked
Scientists have found a way to trick cancer cells into committing suicide. The new synthetic compound, which removes a molecular safety catch that activates a natural executioner in the body's cells, could lead to better treatments of cancers including those affecting the lung, skin, breast, kidney and colon. The body has several defenses against cells growing out of control and into tumors -- one is to cause defective or dangerous cells to commit suicide. A team led by Paul Hergenrother, a chemist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has found a way around the natural biological process that kickstarts cell death or apoptosis. The research results were published yesterday in Nature Chemical Biology.
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