Washington, Mar 19: While tobacco has always been attributed to devastating effects on health, an international team of researchers has found a rather healthy side of tobacco plants.

The team led by Professor Mario Pezzotti at the University of Verona have genetically modified tobacco plants to produce medicines for several autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including diabetes.

During the study, the scientists set out to create transgenic tobacco plants that would produce biologically active interleukin-10 (IL-10), a potent anti-inflammatory cytokine.

Washington, March 19: In a new research, geologists have determined that Earth’s crust melts easier than previously thought, because rocks in the region become better insulators and poorer conductors as they get hotter.

According to the scientists, the findings provide insights into how magmas are formed, and will lead to better models of continental collision and the formation of mountain belts.

Washington, March 19: A University of Florida researcher that paralysed people can be enabled to control their limbs in more precise and life-like manner by combining computer learning technology with electrical stimulation, a simple technique that has been in use for decades to prompt muscles to contract.

Washington - American International Group, under fire for paying 165 million dollars in retention bonuses using government bail-out money, is not the only government beneficiary to have spent its money that way.

As AIG head Edward Liddy faced criticism on Capitol Hill Wednesday, a federal regulator defended a payment by Fannie Mae, the mortgage finance firm seized by the government last year, of 4.4 million dollars to four top executives.

Washington  - The US Congress tapped into growing public ire over bailed-out insurance giant AIG's payment of bonuses as legislators Wednesday explored ways to reclaim the 165 million dollars.

At the centre of the storm was American International Group (AIG), the world's largest insurance firm whose near failure in September 2008 over insuring questionable financial instruments helped push a teetering US financial system into rapid descent.