Iowa: Up to 11 bodies found in train car

Up to 11 bodies, possibly immigrants being smuggled into the country, were found in a Union Pacific rail car, authorities said Monday night.

All the victims were from Mexico, said Jerry Heinauer, district director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service for Nebraska and Iowa.

Heinauer said he was told by the Mexican consul that the car left Matamoras, Mexico, in June. It was parked in Oklahoma before heading to Denison, about 60 miles northwest of Omaha, Neb.

He said authorities do not yet know whether the victims were being smuggled into the country, but said the case fit the pattern of smuggling operations. The bodies were found Monday afternoon.

State and local investigators, along with the railroad, were looking into the deaths.

Florida: Astronauts complete space station addition

Making the third and final spacewalk of their mission, shuttle Atlantis’ astronauts finished installing a $390 million girder on the international space station Monday.

Astronauts David Wolf and Piers Sellers hooked up the last of the ammonia lines for the elaborate air-conditioning system that came with the girder. The men also attached more pressure-relief clamps to the coolant lines. They were so far ahead of schedule they even took on a little extra work.

To NASA’s delight, the astronauts managed to retract a stuck bolt in some of the equipment that was installed last spring.

Chicago: Duct tape proven to remove warts

Duct tape, the all-purpose household fix-it with hundreds of uses, can also remove warts.

Researchers say over-the-hardware-counter duct tape is a more effective, less painful alternative to liquid nitrogen, which is used to freeze warts.

The study was reported in the October issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

In the study, patients wore duct tape over their warts for six days. Then they removed the tape, soaked the area in water and used an emery board or pumice stone to scrape the spot. The tape was reapplied the next morning. The treatment continued for a maximum of two months or until the wart went away.

The duct tape irritated the warts, and that apparently caused an immune system reaction that attacked the growths.