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Chinese submersible in deep test dive

BEIJING, July 28 (UPI) -- China says its Jiaolong manned deep-sea submersible reached a depth of 16,900 feet during a test dive in the eastern Pacific.

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The submersible took photos and video and made a topography scan at the ocean floor during Thursday's 3.5-hour dive, China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

The craft, named after a mythical sea dragon, is the world's first manned submersible designed to reach a depth of 23,000 feet, Jiaolong chief designer Xu Qinan said.

Thursday's test dive was in preparation for an attempt to reach that record-breaking depth set for 2012, China's State Oceanographic Administration said.

China is the fifth country to send a man more than 11,000 feet below sea level, following the United States, France, Russia and Japan, Xinhua reported.


Australia funds research in virus outbreak

BRISBANE, Australia, July 28 (UPI) -- Authorities in Australia have announced a fourfold increase in funding for research on a bat-borne virus that is potentially fatal to horses and humans.

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Queensland Premier Anna Bligh announced the increase in funding for hendra virus research after a crisis meeting in Brisbane prompted by more than 10 outbreaks of the virus in horses in Queensland and New South Wales over the past month, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Wednesday.

On Tuesday it was confirmed a dog had also tested positive for the virus at a property near Brisbane where three horses have died.

Scientists say despite the infected dog there's no evidence the hendra virus is mutating.

Dr. Martyn Jeggo, director of the Animal Health Laboratory, said it is unlikely humans can catch hendra from dogs.

"All the evidence we have today is that horses become infected from bats and then humans become infected from horses," he said. "There's absolutely no evidence that bats infect humans."

"Therefore, I think it's reasonable to surmise in this case that the dogs became infected from the horse."

The governments of Queensland and New South Wales said they would increase research funding into the hendra virus by $6 million over the next three years.


Drinking decreases among U.K. youth

LONDON, July 28 (UPI) -- There has been a decrease in drinking among U.K. teenagers, with fewer of them considering drinking and drunkenness acceptable, a survey indicates.

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A National Health Service survey showed the percentage of 11-15 year olds who had tried alcohol fell from 51 percent in 2009 to 45 percent in 2010, the BBC reported Thursday.

The proportion of those drinking alcohol was down from a peak of 26 percent in 2001 to 13 percent in 2010.

In a shift in attitudes, the percentage of school-age children saying it was "OK" for someone their own age to drink once a week went from 46 percent in 2003 to 32 percent in 2010.

"Our figures point to an increasingly intolerant attitude among young people in today's society when it comes to the use of cigarettes, alcohol and drugs," Tim Straughan, chief executive of the NHS Information Center, said.

"As well as a reduction in the percentage who say they partake in these behaviors," he said, "a shrinking number think that drinking and drunkenness is acceptable among their peers."

The survey included 7,296 pupils in 246 schools throughout England in the autumn term of 2010, the NHS said. No margin of error was reported.


World population to hit 7 billion in 2011

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 28 (UPI) -- World population will hit 7 billion this year and then add 2.3 billion more -- as many people as lived on the planet in 1950 -- by 2050, U.S. researchers say.

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David Bloom, a professor of economics and demography at Harvard University, said the increase will bring unprecedented global demographic upheaval.

By 2050 nearly all of the 2.3 billion projected increase will be in the less developed regions, with nearly half in Africa, he said in an article in the journal Science.

By contrast, the populations of more developed countries will stay flat but will be aging, with fewer working-age adults to support retirees living on social pensions, he said.

"Although the issues immediately confronting developing countries are different from those facing the rich countries, in a globalized world demographic challenges anywhere are demographic challenges everywhere," Bloom said.

The world's population has grown slowly for most of human history, only reaching 1 billion in 1850.

However, in the past half-century, population has jumped from 3 billion to 7 billion, a Harvard release said.

"The demographic picture is indeed complex, and poses some formidable challenges," Bloom said. "It's just plain irresponsible to sit by idly while humankind experiences full force the perils of demographic change."

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