Laboratory tests confirmed that oil from a spewing Gulf of Mexico well has accumulated in at least two extensive plumes deep under the surface, scientists with the University of South Florida said today.

BP boss Tony Hayward disputed claims today that large undersea plumes had been set adrift by the Gulf oil spill.

Marine scientists have discovered a massive new plume of what they believe to be oil deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico, stretching 22 miles (35km) from the leaking wellhead north-east towards Mobile Bay, Alabama.

CHATTING on a mobile phone may protect against Alzheimer’s and even reverse the disease, new research suggests.

The search for six men trapped inside a collapsed coal mine continued today, despite three weeks of drilling and digging that have revealed no signs of life.