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An old theory about autism and the brain is getting a fresh look from autism experts in the U.K. The theory of the “extreme male brain” was first mentioned more than 60 years ago, writes Simon Baron-Cohen, PhD, and colleagues in Science. Now, they’re exploring that theory in light of …

WASHINGTON – Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito said Thursday he was “unduly restrictive” in promising in 1990 to avoid appeals cases involving two investment firms and said he has not made any rulings in which he had a “legal or ethical obligation” to step aside. In a letter to Sen. …

BRUSSELS, Belgium – Global warming is making life more dangerous for people across Europe and even starting to hurt businesses, necessitating urgent action from the European Union, the WWF environmental group said last Tuesday. “The citizens expect to see real action from the EU because climate change is already a …

CAMARILLO, Calif. – Retail gas prices plunged an average of 23 cents nationwide in the past two weeks, marking a return to pre-Hurricane Katrina (search) levels, according to a survey. The weighted average price for all three grades declined to $2.45 a gallon on Friday, said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes …

SAN FRANCISCO – The notorious E. coli bug made its film debut Wednesday. That’s when researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Texas announced in the journal Nature that they had created photographs of themselves by programming the bacteria — best known for outbreaks of …

WASHINGTON – The European Union has formally requested answers from the Bush administration about reports of secret U.S.-run prisons for terrorism suspects in Europe, and the United States will reply “to the best of our ability,” the State Department said Wednesday. Britain, which holds the revolving presidency of the EU, …

WASHINGTON – Donald Powell (search), chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., has been assigned to oversee the federal government’s disaster recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast, the Bush administration announced Tuesday. Powell, 64, a wealthy contributor to President Bush’s presidential campaign, will be in charge of the long-term plans …

SAN FRANCISCO – A flock of wild parrots that took up residence on a hill overlooking the bay, becoming the subject of a best-selling book and documentary film, were nowhere to be seen Tuesday after one of their perches was cut down and two others faced a similar fate. Mark …

FORT MADISON, Iowa – The search for two inmates who escaped from the Iowa State Penitentiary is continuing as police say one of the men could still be hiding in town. “We’re urging friends and neighbors to check on each other … and report anything unusual,” Police Chief Randy Van …

SAN QUENTIN, Calif. – As murderer and Crips co-founder Stanley Tookie Williams tries to stave off execution next month, California prison officials have launched an unusual counterattack against the notion that he has redeemed himself behind bars. The Corrections Department earlier this month posted a press release on its Web …