Vitamin D doesn't reduce knee pain


But a two-year study found that vitamin D did not reduce knee pain or restore cartilage.

Researchers gave subjects vitamin D supplements or placebos. Knee pain decreased slightly in both groups, but there were no differences in the amount of cartilage lost, bone mineral density or joint deterioration.

Russia plans 2015 mission to moon

The Russian Space Agency says it will send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon in 2015 from a new launchpad in the country's far east.

Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin said the rocket booster would deliver a 1,100-pound space exploration vehicle with up to 55 pounds of scientific equipment that would search for water and take soil samples.

The spacecraft would be launched from Russia's new Vostochny cosmodrome. President Vladimir Putin has vowed to invest $1 billion in building the facility in the Amur region not far from the Chinese border.

Russia's only moon mission was in 1973.

Scotch returned to Antarctic stash

Three bottles of rare, 19th century Scotch found beneath the floorboards of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackelton's abandoned expedition base were returned to the polar continent Saturday after a distiller flew them to Scotland to recreate the long-lost recipe.

The bottles of Mackinlay's whisky were rediscovered 102 years after the explorer was forced to leave them behind.

The whisky will be transferred by March from Ross Island to Mr. Shackelton's desolate hut at Cape Royds and replaced beneath the restored hut as part of a program to protect the legacy of the so-called heroic era of Antarctic exploration from 1898 to 1915. The Scotch was bottled in 1898 after the blend was aged 15 years.

Nations OK treaty to cut mercury

A legally binding international treaty to reduce harmful emissions of mercury has been adopted by more than 140 nations, capping four years of difficult negotiations but stopping short of some of the tougher measures proponents had envisioned.


Mercury, known to be a poison for centuries, is released into the air, water and land from small-scale gold mining, coal-powered plants, and from discarded electronic or consumer products such as electrical switches, thermostats and dental amalgam fillings.