Thirty years ago, when the world faced the terrifying prospect of an untreatable disease known as AIDS, big drugmakers scented an opportunity and raced to develop new medicines. Today, as the world confronts another crisis, this time one of antibiotic resistance, the industry is doing the opposite. It is cutting research in a field that offers little scope for making money. Antibiotics have become victims of their own success. Seen as cheap, routine treatments, they are overprescribed and taken haphazardly, creating "superbugs" they can no longer fight. These "superbugs" are growing, but are not yet widespread, so the costly research needed to combat them is not worthwhile. Medical experts say this dilemma could return medicine to an era before Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928. More»

Auction house Christie's will offer an unconventional painting by French classical artist Nicolas Poussin, depicting Carthaginian general Hannibal astride an elephant, in July, expecting it to fetch 3-5 million pounds ($4.5-7.5 million). The early work is not considered one of the artist's best and was little known until it appeared in public at an exhibition in Rouen in northern France in 1961. But the auction house is hoping that its provenance - the painting was originally in the collection of Poussin's greatest patron in Rome, scholar Cassiano dal Pozzo - will help boost interest when it goes under the hammer in London on July 2. "It was painted right after he arrived in Rome and he obviously developed as his career progressed," said Georgina Wilsenach, head of old master and British paintings at Christie's. More»

Antibiotic resistance poses a catastrophic threat to medicine and could mean patients having minor surgery risk dying from infections that can no longer be treated, Britain's top health official said on Monday. Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England, said global action is needed to fight antibiotic, or antimicrobial, resistance and fill a drug "discovery void" by researching and developing new medicines to treat emerging, mutating infections. Only a handful of new antibiotics have been developed and brought to market in the past few decades, and it is a race against time to find more, as bacterial infections increasingly evolve into "superbugs" resistant to existing drugs. "Antimicrobial resistance poses a catastrophic threat. If we don't act now, any one of us could go into hospital in 20 years for minor surgery and die because of an ordinary infection that can't be treated by antibiotics," Davies told reporters as she published a report on infectious disease. More»

Scientists say babies decipher speech as early as three months before birth. The evidence comes from detailed brain scans of 12 infants born prematurely. At just 28 weeks' gestation, the babies appeared to discriminate between different syllables like "ga" and "ba" as well as male and female voices. Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the French team said it was unlikely the babies' experience outside the womb would have affected their findings. The research lends support to the idea that babies develop language skills while still in the womb in response to their parents' voices. Experts already know that babies are able to hear noises in the womb - the ear and the auditory part of the brain that allow this are formed by around 23 weeks' gestation. But it is still debated whether humans are born with an innate ability to process speech or whether this is something acquired through learning after birth. More»

Seasoned art collectors and first-time buyers wanting to own an Andy Warhol will get their chance next week when 125 paintings, drawings and photographs by the artist will be auctioned in a week-long cybersale. The global online auction from February 26 through March 5 will include works with estimated values ranging from $600 to $70,000 and bring Warhol to a much broader audience. Interested buyers can browse and bid online and will receive updates if a higher bid comes in. "Increasingly clients are comfortable bidding in an online format," said Amy Cappellazzo, chairwoman of Post-War and Contemporary Development at Christie's, which is conducting the online sale. More»

A woman has defaced Eugene Delacroix's painting "Liberty Leading the People" with a black marker as it hung in an outpost of the Louvre gallery in northern France. Police arrested a 28-year-old woman on Thursday for writing "AE911" across the bottom of a painting so closely identified with the French Republic that its image once graced the 100-franc note and it has been reproduced on postage stamps. Painted in 1830, the work was on loan from the main Louvre in Paris to the new Louvre-Lens gallery in northern France inaugurated last December by President Francois Hollande. "AE911Truth" is the name of a website called "Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth" whose backers say they are seeking to establish the truth of the September 11, 2001 suicide airliner attacks on New York's Twin Towers. More»

The world's longest domestic cat, a 48.5in (1.23m) Maine Coon named Stewie, has died at the age of eight. Stewie's owner, Robin Hendrickson, said record-holding cat died on Monday evening after battling cancer. The pet, of Reno, Nevada, was awarded the record, measured from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail, by the Guinness Book of Records in 2010. The cat was a certified therapy animal that frequently visited a local senior centre near his home. "Stewie was always very social and loved meeting new people," Ms Hendrickson said. "He has touched many lives, and for that I am grateful." He was also the record-holder for world's longest cat tail. More»

A Pablo Picasso portrait of his mistress and "golden muse" Marie-Therese Walter sold for 28.6 million pounds ($45 million) on Tuesday, leading an important Sotheby's auction of impressionist, modern and surrealist art. The sale was the first of a series held in London this month by Sotheby's, Christie's and smaller auction houses in the latest barometer of the strength of the high-end art market. Prices for the most sought-after works have soared in recent years despite broader economic concerns, with collectors in China, Russia and the Middle East joining more established patrons in Europe and the United States. Subtracting the buyer's premium of more than 10 percent, the amount realized for the 1932 Picasso was at the lower end of pre-sale estimates of 25 million-35 million pounds. More»

Anita Ekberg, who famously waded in Rome's Trevi Fountain with Marcello Mastroianni in the 1960 classic film "La Dolce Vita", would probably say "It's about time, darling!" The fountain, arguably the world's most recognizable, is about to get the most thorough face-lift since it was completed in 1762 and the restoration was presented on Monday by a man who also uses the word darling a lot: fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. Lagerfeld is artistic director of Fendi, the Italian luxury fashion house which is picking up the tab for 2.2 million euro ($2.9 million) restoration. "I think its a great idea and a great project. This fountain is a symbol of the Rome like the Colosseum and St Peter's and I am happy that we can all help," said Lagerfeld, wearing a black, high-neck jacket, black lace gloves and black sunglasses. The 20-month restoration will clean the fountain, which covers the entire facade of Rome's Palazzo Poli with its allegorical statues of Tritons guiding the shell chariot of the god Oceanus illustrating the theme of the taming of the waters. More»

Climate change is back on the global agenda, with debate in the corridors at Davos given fresh impetus by U.S. President Barack Obama and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon both highlighting it as top priority this week. Yet business leaders are still struggling to find the economic incentives to change current practices. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has not held back in its own assessment of the dangers, with former Mexican president Felipe Calderon warning of "a climate crisis with potentially devastating impacts on the global economy". Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, summed it up for any Davos doubters: "Unless we take action on climate change, future generations will be roasted, toasted, fried and grilled." More»