Pairing leptin with just a minor amount of exercise seems to revive the hormone's ability to fight fat, researchers discovered. The combination of leptin and a modest dose of wheel running prevented obese rats on a belt-busting, high-fat diet from gaining weight, even though neither tactic worked alone. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2008 | 3:00 am
A two-year study of internationally funded training programs in biotechnology and biosafety warns that as many as 100 developing countries are unprepared to effectively manage and monitor the use of modern biotechnologies, leaving the world community open to serious biosafety threats. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2008 | 3:00 am
Sandy Sutherland looks through the lens of the microscope at tiny sections of fish earbones, known as otoliths, each showing annual bands of growth. She carefully counts the bands to determine the age of the fish, then moves on to the next sample. Known as an age reader, Sutherland is one of a small team at NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center whose aging work is critical to stock assessments needed to manage the nation's fishery resources in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2008 | 3:00 am
Researchers have pinpointed the function of a potent cancer gene. The gene, known as "ERG", has long been associated with a range of human malignancies, including leukemia and sarcoma. American scientists showed in 2005 that ERG is mutated in more than half of all prostate cancers. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2008 | 3:00 am
Organic farmers who let their cows graze as nature intended are producing better quality milk. Milk from grazing cows on organic farms in the UK contains significantly higher beneficial fatty acids, antioxidants and vitamins than its conventional 'high input' counterparts. During the summer, one of the beneficial fats in particular -- conjugated linoleic acid -- was found to be 60 percent higher. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2008 | 3:00 am
Engineers have created a method that uses pervasive Bluetooth signals from cell phones and other wireless devices to constantly update how long it takes vehicles and pedestrians to travel from one point to another. The method envisioned by engineers represents a potentially low-cost leap in technology to provide information for everything from the speed of the morning commute to the sluggishness of airport security lines. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2008 | 3:00 am
When the world's most powerful subatomic particle collider begins gathering data this summer, it will be a major milestone for a number of University of Washington scientists. UW physicists and mechanical engineers played a central role in designing and fabricating nearly 90,000 tubes that are key to the workings of the Atlas detector. Atlas is one of six particle physics experiments that are part of the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2008 | 3:00 am
Biologists have discovered that a fundamental building block in the cells of flowering plants evolved independently, yet almost identically, on a separate branch of the evolutionary tree -- in an ancient plant group called lycophytes that originated at least 420 million years ago. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2008 | 12:00 am
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Very Large Telescope's First Light, ESO is releasing two stunning images of different kinds of nebulae, located towards the Carina constellation. The first one, Eta Carinae, has the shape of a "little man" and surrounds a star doomed to explode within the next 100,000 years. The second image features a much larger nebula, whose internal turmoil is created by a cluster of young, massive stars. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2008 | 12:00 am
Childhood exposure to lead is associated with shrinking of specific parts of the brain in adulthood, finds a new study. Scientists studied the association between exposure to lead in the uterus and during early childhood and brain volume in adulthood. Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2008 | 12:00 am
A world expert on primates, Dr Jane Goodall, urges Europe to find alternatives to experiments on animals. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 28 May 2008 | 1:21 pm
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian archaeologists have discovered what they say was the ancient headquarters of the Pharaonic army guarding the northeastern borders of Egypt for more than 1,500 years, the government said on Wednesday.
ROME (Reuters) - The leaning tower of Pisa has been successfully stabilized and is out of danger for at least 300 years, said an engineer who has been monitoring the iconic Italian tourist attraction.
The oil giant has admitted that its support for lobby groups that question the science of climate change may have hindered action to tackle global warming Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 28 May 2008 | 11:17 am
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Phoenix lander has sent back new pictures from the arctic circle of Mars, showing for the first time the spot where it will dig through the Red Planet's dusty surface looking for water and assess conditions for life.
Conservationists in Cumbria set 1,000 traps along the Scottish border to stem the spread of grey squirrels. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 28 May 2008 | 8:20 am
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Exposure to lead in early childhood or in the womb can cause permanent brain damage that may even cause criminal behavior, researchers reported on Tuesday.
A model of a proposed European manned spaceship goes on show at the Berlin Air Show. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 28 May 2008 | 12:22 am
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The Mexican Navy searched for sharks in the ocean near Pacific surfing beaches on Monday, after two bathers were killed and another maimed in a rare spate of shark attacks.
Colin Pillinger: Had Europe fully backed the Beagle project we, rather than Nasa, would be on the verge of solving space's greatest mystery Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 27 May 2008 | 11:05 pm
Primatologist says scientists should actively encourage research that does not use live, sentient beings Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 27 May 2008 | 11:04 pm
Largest creatures that ever flew may have spent much of their time on the ground, research suggests Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 27 May 2008 | 11:03 pm
Hedgehogs are poor at reacting to cars, which may help explain why the UK's population is declining. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 27 May 2008 | 9:51 pm
The cost of decommissioning the UK's ageing nuclear facilities is set to rise above £73bn, the BBC learns. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 27 May 2008 | 9:12 pm
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Contrary to earlier findings, there is no apparent link between migraine and left-handedness, German researchers have shown.
Brazil's new Environment Minister Carlos Minc takes office as economic pressure on the Amazon region rises. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 27 May 2008 | 8:57 pm
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Restrictions by U.S. east coast states on harvesting horseshoe crabs, whose eggs provide food for endangered migrating shore birds, have boosted the animal's population after years of over-fishing, experts say.
BEIJING (Reuters) - Pollution levels rose sharply in Beijing on Tuesday, just 2-½ months before the Olympic Games in the city, prompting authorities to warn residents with respiratory problems to stay inside.
Edinburgh Zoo owners send emergency aid to a Chinese panda sanctuary devastated by the recent earthquake. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 27 May 2008 | 2:26 pm
