U.S. to press Japan to remove age limit on beef imports: Johanns (Kyodo via Yahoo! Asia News) _ U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Friday the United States will press Japan to remove the age limit on imports of U.S. beef, hardening its demand from an earlier call for raising the limit to 30 months from the current 20 months. [News Source]

Peru, Colombia drop mad cow beef ban (UPI) WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Washington praised Colombia and Peru for lifting a ban on U.S. beef that was imposed during the mad cow scare. [News Source]

Hometown Horns: Amarillo, Texas Janice Lu, Texas Media Relations (Texas Longhorns) Tucked away in the Texas panhandle, the drive from Amarillo to Austin is a lengthy 10-hour journey. In those 10 hours, one could also drive to five—if not seven, varying on speed—different states, all of which are home to many colleges with strong athletic programs. [News Source]

Unfolding the prion mystery (Newsday) THE FAMILY THAT COULDN'T SLEEP: A Medical Mystery, by D.T. Max. Random House, 299 pp., $25.95. [News Source]

A Potential Anti-Prion Drug With “Unprecedented” Potency (Medical News Today) The urgent search for a medication to treat prion diseases has led scientists in Germany to synthesize a new group of compounds, including one that is 15 times more potent than an approved drug now being tested in clinical trials. Their report is scheduled for the Nov. 2 issue of the biweekly ACS Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. [click link for full article] [News Source]

Blair speaks up for scientists in attempt to end public distrust. Irrational public debates and scare stories about science will damage the development of research in Britain if left unchecked, the prime minister believes. [News Source]

State hopes to keep Mad Deer disease out. Hunters must remove animals' spines and brains before returning to California. [News Source]

BSE likely came from feed (Iowa Farmer) OTTAWA (AP) -- An Alberta, Canada, dairy cow that was diagnosed last month with BSE (mad-cow disease) probably contracted the disease from contaminated feed, federal regulators said. [News Source]

30 seconds with heather henson (Orlando Sentinel) no cliches about the acting being "a little wooden." [News Source]

Soldier’s battle with disease continues to surprise family (Gallatin News Examiner) James Alford turned 28 on Thursday under the watchful gaze of his parents, John and Gail. No one expected that day would come, most certainly not the cadre of doctors who have examined him in the past three and a half years. [News Source]