ANTI-DRINKING DRIVE A new computer program used to combat high-risk drinking in more than 500 American schools and universities will be introduced in Australia. Students at Geelong Grammar School, Deakin University and the universities of Melbourne, NSW and Queensland will take part in the pilot of the online alcohol education software program, AlcoholEdu. The program, designed by a Boston health promotion company, Outside the Classroom, has curbed problem drinking on many US campuses, the company's founder and chief executive, Brandon Busteed, said. - AAP RIDE WITH A MESSAGE An Australian heart patient, Steve Quinn, will cycle across the United States next month to raise awareness of two life-threatening heart conditions that affect more than 200,000 Australian adults and children - atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation. Professor Robert Graham, the director of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, said more research was needed to understand these debilitating problems of the heart's electrical activity, and the institute had projects studying gene abnormalities that cause the disorders. "Cycling has helped me enormously on the road to recovery," said Mr Quinn, 39, whose condition is now under control. ANOTHER ASBESTOS? Scientists have warned that carbon nanotubes could pose a cancer risk similar to that of asbestos, saying their use should be restricted to protect human health. Researchers compared the effects of short and long nanotubes in mice. "Nanotubes behave like asbestos in the sense that long ones are harmful, short ones aren't," said Professor Ken Donaldson, of the University of Edinburgh, whose study is published in Nature Nanotechnology . In most products containing nanotubes, such as car body panels, tennis rackets and bicycle frames, the fibres are embedded in composite materials, but the researchers said more studies were needed to confirm this was safe. - Guardian News & Media SEEING THE PROBLEM The progressive eye disease glaucoma costs Australia almost $2 billion a year, and the bill is expected to double in the next two decades, a new study shows. The study by Access Economics estimates that 50 per cent of Australians with the condition are undiagnosed and unaware their peripheral vision is slowly disappearing. "As Australians live longer the number who get glaucoma, and suffer its debilitating effects, is growing dramatically," said Professor Jonathan Crowston, of the Centre for Eye Research in Melbourne, which commissioned the report. Studies estimate that 300,000 Australians have glaucoma, 10 per cent of whom are aged over 80. - AAP