Oldest known rock on Earth is discovered

MONTREAL, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Scientists using geochemical testing say Canadian bedrock more than 4 billion years old might be the oldest known section of the Earth's early crust.

U.S. researchers from the Carnegie Institution of Washington and Canadian scientists from McGill University in Montreal determined an age of 4.28 billion years for rock samples taken from the Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt, making it 250 million years more ancient than any previously discovered rocks.

The Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt -- an expanse of bedrock exposed on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay in northern Quebec -- was first recognized in 2001 as a potential site of very old rocks.

Samples of the Nuvvuagittuq rocks were analyzed by geologists Jonathan O'Neil of McGill University and Richard Carlson of the Carnegie Institution. By measuring minute variations in the isotopic composition of the rare earth elements neodymium and samarium in the rocks, O'Neil and Carlson said they determined the rock samples range from 3.8 billion to 4.28 billion years old.

Before the study, the oldest dated rocks were from a body of rock known as the Acasta Gneiss in the Northwest Territories, which are 4.03 billion years old.

The findings appear in the journal Science.

New arena in fight against heart disease

LA JOLLA, Calif., Oct. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. medical researchers say they are focusing on a new approach in the fight against heart disease.

Scientists at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology say statins -- cholesterol-lowering drugs -- have lowered the number of people who suffer from heart disease and heart attacks.

"We hope we can bite off another chunk by controlling the impact of inflammation-causing immune cells on the artery wall," said Dr. Klaus Ley, director of the institute's recently created Inflammation Biology Division.

"The scientific community used to think cholesterol alone led to plaque formation," Ley said. "While it is true that cholesterol plays a major role, it is not the whole story."

Ley said inflammation caused by the immune system also aids in plaque formation and weakening of the artery wall. As such, it offers a whole new therapeutic avenue for potential ways to combat heart disease.

Ley previously was director of the Berne Cardiovascular Research Center at the University of Virginia. He was recently selected as the 2008 recipient of the Bonazinga Research Award from the Society for Leukocyte Biology.

Busy October hurricane period is forecast

FORT COLLINS, Colo., Oct. 1 (UPI) -- U.S.