The first UK trial using dust suppressants on roads to cut pollution caused by vehicles has been launched.

The human lungs can "taste" bitter substances in the air, according to a study that could lead to new types of drugs designed to make it easier for asthma sufferers to breathe.

The advance buzz on Stevens' sixth album proper was that the banjo-toter had gone digital.

A head teacher has resigned after a schoolboy died from an asthma attack he suffered at school, a council said today

Waterloo Road – now into its sixth series – is kept fresh by periodic decapitation. One head goes and another arrives, to be stitched into place on the bleeding stump. The operation doesn't always take, though it's probably too early to say whether Amanda Burton, the latest replacement, will ultimately be rejected by the host body. She's certainly a matching donor in terms of her character, this particular headship calling for a melodramatic back-story (one recent headmistress had spent time working as a prostitute) and a positively magnetic ability to attract trouble. Mrs Fisher meets the first requirement since she's just taken a year and a half off to cope with the psychological trauma of having her oldest daughter go missing and things look very promising on the second count too. As one of her staff members put it – a little way into the chain of catastrophes that fills the timetable at Waterloo Road – "Parental punch-up, mass evacuation, asthmatic pupil... talk about a baptism of fire."

Flying Lotus has already released one of the year's best albums, but he's not stopping there. On 20 September, the electronica pioneer releases a new seven-track EP called Pattern+Grid World.

A "low-allergy" peanut is being developed which could revolutionise eating out for allergy sufferers. Researchers from the US Department of Agriculture are creating "naturally bred" peanuts which are not genetically modified (GM) and which pose little risk to sufferers.

Children who eat a diet rich in fruit, vegetables and fish have a lower risk of asthma and wheezing, but eating three or more burgers a week can increase the risk, scientists have concluded.

People with lung conditions like emphysema and asthma should stay indoors if volcanic ash starts to settle, a spokesman for the World Health Organisation said today.

Science writer Simon Singh today won his Court of Appeal battle for the right to rely on the defence of fair comment in a libel action.

Double Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington eased into the final of the 800metres freestyle as she dominated the event on the third morning of the British Gas Swimming Championships here yesterday.