This month saw the launch of the UK's first Action on Stroke Month, an annual event organised by the Stroke Association and supported by the Wellcome Trust

Earlier this month, the Stroke Association launched the U.K.'s first Action on Stroke Month, an annual campaign that aims "to increase awareness of the impact of stroke and reach out to many more stroke survivors, their families and carers."

The campaign is supported by the Wellcome Trust, which has put together a package of materials that are being published throughout the month. It includes films, personal stories from stroke survivors and their relatives, four large infographics, and a series of feature articles, including one by myself about how stroke affects the brain.

All of the materials in the Trust's Focus on Stroke can be found here.

The EU's food safety body ruled there is 'no specific scientific evidence' that the insect-resistant strain is harmful to health or the environment

France's attempt to ban the planting of a Monsanto strain of genetically modified maize was rejected by the EU's food safety body on Monday.

In response to scientific evidence submitted by France backing its bid to ban the GM maize, the European Food Safety Authority ruled that "there is no specific scientific evidence, in terms of risk to human and animal health or the environment" to support a ban.

In 2008, France banned the the strain MON 810 following public protests against the GM maize, but this was overturned by a French court in 2011. However, in March the French government reinstated the ban, with the then agricultural minister Bruno Le Maire saying the move was "to protect the environment".

The Monsanto-owned strain, marketed as YieldGard by the US company, is an insect-resistant strain of maize that was introduced in 1997.

In its verdict on Monday, Efsa said that much of the scientific evidence in France's new submission in January had already been included in a previous 2008 submission to the agency, which concluded at the time "that no specific scientific evidence, in terms of risk to human and animal health or the environment, was provided that would justify the invocation of a safeguard clause [ban]". It added that no new scientific work had been submitted that suggested there was risk to the environment, either.

A spokesman for Europe's health commissioner, John Dalli, told the AFP news agency that the EU executive "will consider how to follow up on this ruling, though technically we could ask France to raise its ban [on the Monsanto strain]".

The ruling follows a renewed focus on GM food in the UK, with researchers making a plea to anti-GM activists not to rip up a test site of GM wheat. On Sunday, Hector Christie, an old Etonian farmer, was arrested for breaking into the Rothamsted Research site where the wheat is being grown and cutting the top off several plants.

Stroke is a major cause of death and disability in the UK and across the world. What is stroke, how many people does it kill and how are mortality rates changing?

Falcon 9 commercial rocket takes off from Cape Canaveral with supplies for ISS

A privately owned, unmanned rocket has blasted off from Cape Canaveral air force station in Florida on the first commercial flight to the International Space Station.

The 54-metre (178ft) Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 3.44 am (0744 GMT) from a refurbished launch pad just south of where Nasa launched its now retired space shuttles.

Less than 10 minutes later, the rocket and its cargo – a Dragon capsule with 544 kg of supplies for the station crew – reached orbit.

"Feels like a giant weight just came off my back," the company's founder and chief executive, Elon Musk, posted on Twitter after Dragon deployed its solar panels, the first of several key milestones that must be met before the spacecraft is cleared to dock at the station.

"Falcon flew perfectly!!" Musk wrote.

Nasa is counting on companies such as Space Exploration Technologies – SpaceX – to take over the task of flying cargo, and eventually astronauts, to the $100bn space station, which orbits about 240 miles (390km) above Earth.

Currently, Nasa is dependent on Russia to fly crew to the station at a cost of more than $60m per person. Russia, Europe and Japan also fly cargo to the station.

If its test flight is successful, SpaceX will become the first private company to reach the space station, a microgravity research complex for science experiments and technology demonstrations. SpaceX and a second company, Orbital Sciences Corp, already hold contracts worth a combined $3.5bn to fly cargo to the station.

SpaceX is among four firms vying to build space taxis to fly astronauts, tourists and non-Nasa researchers.

Separately, Nasa contributed nearly $400m to SpaceX's $1.2bn commercial space programme, which includes development and up to three test flights of Falcon 9 rockets and Dragon capsules.

An analysis by the US government accountability office shows that a similar programme under traditional Nasa procurement would have cost four to 10 times as much, said Nasa's Alan Lindenmoyer, who manages the agency's commercial spaceflight initiatives.

Tuesday's launch followed a last-second cutoff of Falcon's planned liftoff on Saturday. Engineers later traced the problem to climbing pressure in an engine chamber due to a faulty purge valve.

"It looks like we probably could have flown with the condition," SpaceX's president, Gwynne Shotwell, said during pre-launch mission commentary broadcast on Nasa Television. "Once we separated from the ground, things would have settled down a bit, but it was still the right thing to do."

Dragon will take about a day to reach the space station's orbit. It will then spend another day practicing manoeuvres and testing its communications systems and navigation aids. If all goes as planned, Nasa is expected to clear Dragon for berthing at the space station on Friday.

How do sea creatures get their start in life? This wonderful video explores that theme, bringing you stunning looks at these gorgeous animals

"Don't let my calm
adult exterior fool you;
I was a rocket ship
I was a wild child."

Where do squid, jellyfish and other sea creatures begin life? The story of a sea urchin reveals a stunningly beautiful saga of fertilization, development and growth in the ocean depths.

This video combines lovely imagery with science and poetic narration to tell you about the early life of a sea urchin:

[video link]

Lesson by Tierney Thys, visualization by Christian Sardet (CNRS/Tara Oceans), Noé Sardet, and Sharif Mirshak (Plankton Chronicles Project, Parafilms).

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