An innovation called Carbon Hero may help reduce global warming by making people more aware of their carbon footprint. The device uses satellite navigation technology to track journeys. With Carbon Hero, to see the effect a journey is having on the environment you just need to look at your mobile phone. The feedback loop is almost immediate.
Vivid colors, flowing silk ribbons and glittering bits of mirrors -- the Vikings dressed with considerably more panache than we previously thought. The men were especially vain, and the women dressed provocatively, but with the advent of Christianity, fashions changed, according to a Swedish archaeologist.
An experimental, combination vaccine against ebola and Marburg viruses using virus-like particles provides complete protection against infection in monkeys. Traditionally vaccines against viral diseases have consisted of whole viruses, either the one that causes the disease in a weakened or dead state (like the polio vaccine) or a genetically similar virus that does not usually cause disease but elicits a protective immune response. The problem with this approach is there is the risk, however small, of viral reactivation and infection.
The mothers of some autistic children may have made antibodies against their fetuses' brain tissue during pregnancy that crossed the placenta and caused changes that led to autism, suggests new research in the Journal of Neuroimmunology.
The explosion at a sugar refinery in Georgia earlier this month that killed nine workers underscores the need for tougher industrial safety standards regarding production of combustible dust, according to a new article.
They may not be on most people's list of most attractive species, but bats definitely have animal magnetism. Researchers have discovered that bats use a magnetic substance in their body called magnetite as an "internal compass" to help them navigate. Researchers studied the directions in which different groups of big brown bats flew after they were given different magnetic pulses and released 20 km north of their home roost.
Hormones produced by the heart eliminated human pancreatic cancer in more than three-quarters of the mice treated with the hormones and eliminated human breast cancer in two-thirds of the mice. The treatment has not yet been tried in humans, but clinical trials are in the planning stages.
The corn genome has be sequenced. It is hoped that this basic research will lead to the development of crops that can withstand global climate change, add nutritional value to grain, sequester more atmospheric carbon in agricultural soils, or boost yields so crops can meet growing demands for food, feed, fiber and fuel. The genome of corn is very similar to the genomes of rice, wheat, sorghum, prairie grasses and turf grasses. Therefore, the draft of the corn genome should be able to help researchers improve the other cereals and grasses.
The view into the inner world of living cells just got a little brighter and more colorful. A powerful new research tool, when used with other labeling technologies, allows simultaneous visualization of two or more different proteins as well as the ability to distinguish young and old copies of a protein within one living cell.
Researchers in California report development of an anti-cancer 'warhead' that targets the acidic signature of tumor cells in much the same way that heat-seeking missiles seek and destroy military targets that emit heat. These acid-seeking substances are not toxic to healthy cells, and represent a new class of potentially safer, more effective anti-cancer drugs, they say.
The biggest earthquake in the UK for nearly 25 years is felt across large parts of England and Wales. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 27 Feb 2008 | 12:18 pm
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia plans to set aside an additional 700 billion rupiah ($77 million) to compensate thousands more people whose homes are threatened by a mud volcano in East Java province, a minister said on Wednesday.
Water supplies have been cut to a town in China's Hubei province after pollution turned a river red. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 27 Feb 2008 | 11:12 am
LONDON (Reuters) - An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2 shook parts of Britain on Wednesday but officials said there were no reports of anyone being killed or serious damage.
Man suffers broken pelvis as magnitude 5.2 tremor centred on Lincolnshire damages buildings and startles people awake Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 27 Feb 2008 | 8:36 am
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese scientists have expressed full confidence that the Olympic relay torch can scale Mount Everest without sputtering out, a newspaper said on Wednesday.
LONDON (Reuters) - The parental bond may be all in the mind, according to a study published on Wednesday that pinpoints a possible region of the brain key to an instinctive desire to care for and nurture infants.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Among women with BRCA1 gene mutations, which are known to increase the risk of breast cancer, annual screening with both mammography and MRI is associated with better survival when compared with screening with either method alone, new research indicates.
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Exterminators looking for termites in a monastery in Brazil's biggest city of Sao Paulo found a mummy and a skeleton believed to be at least 200 years old, the head of the monastery said on Tuesday.
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina, a country famous for its steaks, will start exporting bovine genetics this year to China, which is trying to improve its meat production as consumption surges.
A fossilised "sea monster" discovered in the Arctic is the largest marine reptile on record, scientists say. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 27 Feb 2008 | 12:54 am
In the 20 years since its launch, 40m people worldwide have taken the so-called wonder drug - but research revealed this week shows that Prozac, and similar antidepressants, are no more effective than a sugar pill. So how was the myth created? Psychoanalyst Darian Leader traces the irrepressible rise of the multibillion dollar depression industry, while others explore the clinical and cultural impact of Prozac, its perceived personal benefits - and sometimes terrible costs Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 27 Feb 2008 | 12:20 am
World's first trial of a fertility treatment designed to be more natural than IVF is to be launched in Britain today Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 27 Feb 2008 | 12:20 am
An MPs' report supports a limited cull of badgers to help prevent the spread of TB in cattle across the UK. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 27 Feb 2008 | 12:01 am
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Scientists can now tell where in the United States a person may have been by analyzing a single strand of hair, offering a new tool for crime investigators trying to identify a body or track criminals.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers have sequenced the gene map of corn, also known as maize, a key crop across much of the world and a source of food, oil and products ranging from shoe polish to ethanol.
A US team wins a $50,000 competition to design a probe that will track a potentially dangerous asteroid. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 26 Feb 2008 | 6:13 pm
Leading dignitaries attend the opening ceremony of a 'doomsday' seed vault deep inside an Arctic mountain. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 26 Feb 2008 | 1:50 pm
They're widely prescribed, but questions now hang over the effectiveness of Prozac and similar drugs Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 26 Feb 2008 | 12:39 pm
Anti-depressants have little clinical benefit for the majority of depressed patients, research shows. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 26 Feb 2008 | 11:36 am
Storage space deep in Norwegian Arctic mountain will preserve samples of all the world's seed crops Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 26 Feb 2008 | 11:16 am
