The Crimson reports two Iranian sisters, one headed to do mathematical work, the other to study philosophy, were barred from a flight from London on Sunday despite having visas. They were denied seats on three other flights as well. The two have a sister who is already in Cambridge, working at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

A worker fell to the ground around 2 p.m. at Gordon Hall, Dave Lyons reports. His injuries were serious enough to have the BPD homicide unit called in, just in case, Scan Boston reports.

Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals of Norcross, GA, wants Dr. Pieter Cohen to stop saying mean things about the sort of supplements it makes, so it's sued the Harvard Medical School professor and Cambridge Health Alliance physician for libel and slander. Read more.

Via Improbable Research.

The Supreme Judicial Court today ruled against a Canton company that makes padded hip protectors, saying a Harvard Medical School researcher did not libel it in a medical-journal article that said the devices did not seem to do much to protect the elderly from broken hips.

The state's highest court said HipSaver of Canton failed to prove that Dr. Douglas Kiel and his co-authors had written anything false in their 2007 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The Herald reports six scientists and students drank poisoned coffee from a single-serve coffee machine in August.