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Cure for killer bug - but there's a catch KATE FOSTER IN THE annals of medical history, this could go down as one of the most effective but stomach-churning treatments ever devised. Scientists seeking a cure for a deadly superbug have successfully treated patients using human faeces. Trials in a Scottish hospital have shown patients suffering from the Clostridium difficile bug can be cured using 'donor stool' administered via a tube through the nose into their stomach. Clostridium difficile was last week at the heart of a damning report into cleaning failures at the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust...

Birds prefer their droppings to be on white cars, according to a scientific study. Student teacher Charles West, 37, carried out the survey for his department of education at Bristol University. He enlisted the help of 40 researchers and counted bird droppings on 2,000 motors reports The Sun. The team concluded that birds were less likely to dirty navy blue and black. Bird expert Dr Derek Toomer said they might "bomb" white cars because they associate the colour with predators. He added: "Birds do respond to colours.

SAN FRANCISCO - City officials are hoping to harness the power of dog doo. San Franciscans already recycle more than 60 percent of their garbage, but in this dog-friendly town, animal feces make up nearly 4 percent of residential waste, or 6,500 tons a year — nearly as much as disposable diapers, according to the city. Within the next few months, Norcal Waste, a garbage hauling company that collects San Francisco's trash, will begin a pilot program under which it will use biodegradable bags and dog-waste carts to pick up droppings at a popular dog park. The droppings will be...

    the significance of missus clinton's gratuitous gerundial g-droppings by Mia T, 7.26.05   ratuitous gerundial g-droppings, much like the infamously annoying yet revealing you knows, are a significant marker for missus clinton's ineloquence, vulgarity, ignorance, arrogance, flatulence, retrograde fraudulence, rube-meets-valley-girl demographics, obtuseness, low self-esteem, anxiety, insincerity, complicity. And ultimately, political moribundity. Like those pesky viscous splatters on our windshields, missus clinton's g-droppings soil and obscure as they annoy. Their use is narrowly circumscribed. Whenever a situation arises that requires missus clinton to affect a redneck pose, her gerundial g's drop. Faster than hubby's pants, which is necessary if...

US Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, who had hoped to replace George W. Bush as president yesterday, instead sat in the cold and clapped as the Republican began a second four-year term. Iowa Democratic Senator Tom Harkin patted Senator Kerry on the back shortly before the inauguration Senator Kerry had hoped would be his. As Mr Bush delivered his inaugural address, Senator Kerry, about 10m away on the steps of the US Capitol, joined other lawmakers and the crowd in repeated applause. Senator Kerry looked relaxed, at times wistful. He frequently smiled, able to hide any disappointment over what...

INDANG, Philippines (AP) - Its origins might put off some coffee drinkers, but an exotic bean that draws top dollar from connoisseurs is plucked from animal droppings. Not just any animal. The coffee comes from beans eaten but undigested by the palm civet, a nocturnal, fruit-eating cousin of the mongoose that roams tropical forests. Civet coffee, which some aficionados consider among the world's best, sells for as much as $300 US a pound in the United States. Only 550 pounds are produced worldwide each year, says Antonio Reyes, executive director of the International Coffee Organization Certifying Agency.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Turkey leftovers will take on a whole new use after a Minnesota company finishes construction of a power plant fired by the birds' droppings. It may not be the total answer to relieving the United States' addiction to foreign oil, but the plant will burn 90 percent turkey dung and create clean power for 55,000 homes. Three poultry litter plants have already been built in England, but the Benson, Minnesota-based facility will be the first large-scale plant of its type in the U.S. and the largest in the world, according to operator Fibrominn, a subsidiary of...

The roof of a house in Chile has collapsed under the weight of accumulated pigeon droppings. Ana María Bustos said the roof crashed down into her living room in Santiago because pigeons had been using it as a roost. She said she ended up with around a year's worth of pigeon droppings on her floor. Mrs Bustos added there were also feathers and worms everywhere, and that the smell was disgusting. She told newspaper La Cuarta that her neighbours are now worried the same thing will happen to them. Residents are asking the authorities to allow them to eradicate the...