Kate Middleton has a Baby! US Nay drops Bombs on Great Barrier Reef, New Blindness Cure!

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• published: 22 Jul 2013
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Today in the news: - Kate Middleton is in labour at a hospital as we speak - US jets dump bombs near Great Barrier Reef - and UK scientists report a big leap towards curing blindness Prince William's wife, Kate, is in the early stages of labor in a central London hospital, Kensington Palace officials said today. It is a historic moment for the British monarchy — the couple's first child will become third in line for the British throne, after Prince Charles and William, and should eventually become king or queen. The palace, is planning to reveal the news through a mixture of tradition and social media. Palace officials have said that the first hint will come when a royal aide emerges from the hospital with a signed bulletin carrying the Buckingham Palace letterhead. The bulletin will be given to an official who will be driven to Buckingham Palace, where it will be posted on an easel in public view in front of the building. At the same time the bulletin is posted, there will be an official announcement on Twitter and the media will be formally notified. The document will give the baby's gender, weight and time of birth. US fighter jets dropped four bombs on the Great Barrier Reef off Australia's coast during a training exercise that went wrong, it has emerged. The two planes jettisoned four bombs - two inert and two unarmed - in more than 165 ft of water, away from coral, to minimise damage to the World Heritage Site, the US navy said. The jets were to bomb an island range nearby, but the mission was aborted. Apparently, the AV-8B Harriers were low on fuel and could not land loaded. Luckily the bombs didnt explode, and after a massive environmentalist outcry the US Navy is thinking about recovering the bombs from the seabed. The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral structure rich in marine life. It stretches for more than 1,680 miles along Australia's eastern coast. The prospect of reversing blindness has made a significant leap, according to scientists in the UK. An animal study in the journal Nature Biotechnology showed the part of the eye which actually detects light can be repaired using stem cells. The team at Moorfields Eye Hospital and University College London say human trials are now, for the first time, a realistic prospect. Experts described it as a "significant breakthrough" and "huge leap" forward. Photoreceptors are the cells in the retina which react to light and convert it into an electrical signal which can be sent to the brain. However, these cells can die off in some causes of blindness such as Stargardt's disease and age-related macular degeneration. The London-based team have shown it is possible to replace the light-sensing cells themselves, raising the prospect of reversing blindness.