Science Headlines for October 9, 2008

Plant Virus Research Could Lead To New Ways To Improve Crop Yields

An interdisciplinary group of scientists has obtained the first detailed information about the structure of the most destructive group of plant viruses known: flexible filamentous viruses.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

Children's Asthma Affected By Parental Expectations

Asthmatic children whose parents have high expectations for their ability to function normally are less likely to have symptoms than other children dealing with the condition.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

Sharpest Whole-Planet Picture Of Jupiter Taken From The Ground

A record two-hour observation of Jupiter using a superior technique to remove atmospheric blur has produced the sharpest whole-planet picture ever taken from the ground. The new image reveals changes in Jupiter's smog-like haze, probably in response to a planet-wide upheaval more than a year ago.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

Burn Treatment Cream May Delay Healing

A cream commonly used to treat burns may actually delay healing. In addition, despite the wide range of wound dressings available for burns, there is no consensus on the most effective alternative treatment, say researchers who carried out a systematic review of existing data.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

Circadian Clock May Be Critical For Remembering What You Learn, Researchers Say

The circadian rhythm that quietly pulses inside us all, guiding our daily cycle from sleep to wakefulness and back to sleep again, may be doing much more than just that simple metronomic task, according to researchers. Working with Siberian hamsters, biologist Norman Ruby has shown that having a functioning circadian system is critical to the hamsters' ability to remember what they have learned. Without it, he said, "They can't remember anything."
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

The Pepperoni Pizza Hypothesis

What's the worst that could happen after eating a slice of pepperoni pizza? A little heartburn, for most people. But for up to a million women in the US who have a chronic bladder condition, enjoying that piece of pizza and other foods can cause intense pelvic pain and an urgent need to frequently urinate. Researchers believe a surprise culprit is causing the pain: the colon. This concept opens up new treatment options for this debilitating condition.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

Molecule That Coordinates The Movement Of Cells Identified

A molecule bridging two proteins that gives cells their shape and ability to migrate in a directed fashion may also shed light on how to keep cancer from spreading.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 12:00 pm

Honey Helps To Heal Wounds, Review Suggests

Honey may reduce healing times in patients suffering mild to moderate burn wounds. A systematic review concluded that honey might be useful as an alternative to traditional wound dressings in treating burns.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 12:00 pm

Cosmic Eye Sheds Light On Early Galaxy Formation, Just Two Billion Years After Big Bang

Astronomers have provided unique insight into the nature of a young star-forming galaxy as it appeared only two billion years after the Big Bang and determined how the galaxy may eventually evolve to become a system like our own Milky Way.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 12:00 pm

Levels Of Key Hormone During First Trimester Of Pregnancy Could Lead To Earlier Diagnosis Of Gestational Diabetes

New research shows women who develop diabetes during pregnancy (gestational diabetes mellitus) have reduced levels of an insulin-sensitive hormone, adiponectin, as early as nine weeks into the pregnancy. The findings show early warning signs of gestational diabetes (GDM) are evident months before the clinical diagnosis is currently made (20-22 weeks).
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 12:00 pm

Mysterious DNA Found to Survive Eons of Evolution (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Scientists have discovered mystery snippets of mammal DNA that have survived eons of evolution and yet have no apparent purpose. The finding reveals just how much we don't know about the secrets hidden in our genome and that of other animals.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 11:15 am

Juno Spacecraft to Study Jupiter (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - For generations, astronomers have argued over how the planets in our solar system were formed. Today, most theories assume that planets were formed in a nebula of gas and dust that condensed around what eventually became our sun, but there is still great disagreement over details, particularly for gas giant planets like Jupiter: Did a small core form first around which each planet condensed, or did instability in the nebula cause pockets to collapse directly into planets?
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 11:15 am

Water woes

Summit considers ways to improve water security
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 9 Oct 2008 | 11:11 am

Mysterious DNA Found to Survive Eons of Evolution

Scientists have discovered mystery snippets of DNA that have no apparent purpose, yet have survived eons of evolution.
Source: Livescience.com | 9 Oct 2008 | 11:07 am

Hurricane Ike produces 76,000 damage claims so far (AP)

AP - More than 76,000 damage claims from Hurricane Ike have been filed with the Texas-backed windstorm insurance association, which expects to pay billions of dollars to policy holders for losses.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 10:41 am

Scientists find key protein helps people hear

LONDON (Reuters) - A protein in the inner ear helps people differentiate between sounds and understand speech, French researchers reported on Wednesday in a finding that could help treat the hard of hearing.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 10:04 am

Is anybody listening out there? Earth sends messages into space?

Messages are beamed to a planet 20 light years from Earth in the hope they will reach intelligent alien life.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 9 Oct 2008 | 8:53 am

Mushroom enzyme could strip pollutants from fuel cells

An enzyme from fungus that grows on rotting wood could be used as clean alternative to expensive and polluting and rare metals in fuel cells and batteries, say scientists
Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 9 Oct 2008 | 8:32 am

Scientist warns cash woes 'devastating' to science (AP)

AP - Famed scientist Richard Leakey warned that the worldwide credit crisis will be "just devastating" to scientific research in coming years, as endowment interest income drops and companies cut donations.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 7:50 am

Gene-testing startup's study responds to critics (AP)

AP - A Silicon Valley gene-testing startup is responding to criticism that the tests could spur bad health-care choices by teaming up for a broad study of how the results affect behavior.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 4:28 am

Scripps to study lifestyle impact of gene testing

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - San Diego's Scripps Translational Science Institute said on Thursday it will conduct the first study to assess whether people undergoing genetic testing ultimately change their behavior.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 4:17 am

Scientists win Nobel for green jellyfish protein (AP)

AP - Three U.S.-based scientists won a Nobel Prize on Wednesday for turning a glowing green protein from jellyfish into a revolutionary way to watch the tiniest details of life within cells and living creatures.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 4:12 am

Mass Extinctions Remain Mysterious

Several mass extinctions have unknown causes.
Source: Livescience.com | 9 Oct 2008 | 4:08 am

Blood Cell Genes May Signal Heart Disease (HealthDay)

HealthDay - WEDNESDAY, Oct. 8 (HealthDay News) -- A test that measures the activity of genes in white blood cells might someday help doctors determine the proper treatment when someone complains of chest pain, researchers report.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Oct 2008 | 3:48 am

New fungi species unearthed in UK

Several species of fungi new to the UK have been unearthed by mushroom experts at the National Trust's Clumber Park.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 9 Oct 2008 | 1:24 am

Bailout Bill Is Rife With Tasty Green Pork

Clean technology companies of all sorts are cheering the green pork that legislators added to the $700-billion Wall Street bailout bill that passed Congress last week.

Extensions to tax credits for wind and solar power producers finally got their long-awaited passage, but a slate of more obscure provisions could help drive interest and capital in new types of green businesses.

"It's a pretty comprehensive bill, much more so than extending the [tax credit] for solar. While that's probably the premiere provision, there's a whole lot more in there," said Josh Green, general partner at MDV, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm with large investments in green tech. "I'm not a huge fan of all the pork that was put into the bill, but if it's going to be in there, I'm glad there's all this energy stuff."

With both candidates pitching "green jobs" as central to their economic plans, providing incentives for American companies to develop cleaner and more efficient energy technologies has become a safe political issue. That allowed green tech industry backers to finally pass a variety of tax breaks in the bill for technologies like geothermal, solar thermal and tidal power, plug-in hybrids and energy efficiency aids. Tidal and wave power got investment credits extending all the way to 2016.

Silicon Valley investment firms breathed a collective sigh of relief over the extensions of wind and solar tax credits, which threatened some large power projects.

"We were delighted, and we were relieved," said Paul Holland, general partner at Foundation Capital, which manages $2.5 billion, including 10 clean tech investments. "We are confident this is going to spur renewed interest and renewed investment in clean tech."

While some of the tax breaks are obvious -- like a new provision giving the first 250,000 plug-in hybrid buyers up to a $7,500 credit -- others are more subtle, but just as likely to have wide-reaching impacts.

Take a small provision for advanced metering and smart grid applications. The bailout bill added a line so that utilities that install smart meters, smart meters, which allow consumers real-time access to their energy usage and two-way communication with utilities, can depreciate the cost of the meters in 10 years instead of 20. Sound trivial? Think again.

By halving the time over which the companies can write-off their investments, they double the amount of money they can save on their taxes. At the scale of billions of dollars, that's no small feat.

"What it does is that it ends up providing a significant discount to the cost of the meter for the person who is buying it," Green explains. "Now you're going to see widespread adoption, more than you've seen."

Adrian Tuck, CEO of the smart meter maker Tendril, agreed. He foresees major changes in his business after the adoption of the legislation, which had been in the works for years.

"It's showing all the signs of being a game-changer for us because it's going to force people to get up and move," Tuck said. "Quite how that translates into business on the ground, it's too early to say, but all of the conversations I've had on it have been enthusiastic."

The bill is stocked with similar small tax breaks that could end up having outsized impacts by enabling fledgling clean tech businesses to get on their feet.

But not all the items are likely to have major impacts. For example, the bill gives a tax credit for carbon dioxide sequestration of $20 per metric ton.

"This is a start," said Chris Davis, a lawyer in Goodwin Procter clean tech practice. "I'm not convinced that $20 a ton makes it economical, but it sweetens it."

Green also criticized a $2.5 billion tax break given to the coal industry for what he described as "coal technology that doesn't have a lot to do with clean coal."

But overall, Green, Davis and Holland were pleased with both the broad intent of the legislation and its details. Perhaps, all the political talk of fostering a green economy is actually translating into good legislation.

"We're actually seeing functional government happen here," Holland said. "We're seeing goals that are congruous with one another instead of being incongruous."

Image: Solar-thermal startup, BrightSource Energy's Solar Energy Development Center in Israel. Courtesy: BrightSource Energy

WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal's Twitter, Google Reader feed and webpage; Wired Science on Facebook.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 9 Oct 2008 | 12:10 am

A breakthrough is expected in the research to develop artificial life

As significant advances in artificial life are predicted to arrive soon, there remain conceptual challenges to be overcome before synthetic cells are possible
Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 8 Oct 2008 | 11:12 pm

Jellyfish help scientists win Nobel chemistry prize for work on cell activity

Discovery of green-glowing protein from jellyfish helps net two American and one Japanese scientists the Nobel prize for chemistry
Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 8 Oct 2008 | 11:11 pm

Google's Super Satellite Captures First Image

This bird's-eye view of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania was the first image ever seen by the GeoEye-1, the world's highest-resolution commercial satellite sponsored by Google, when it opened its camera door earlier this week.

The 4,300-pound satellite collected the image at noon EDT on Oct. 7 while moving from the north pole to the south pole in a 423-mile-high orbit at 17,000 miles per hour, or 4.5 miles per second. The spacecraft can take photos at a resolution of up to 41 centimeters -- close enough to zoom in on the home plate of a baseball diamond, according to Mark Brender, GeoEye's vice president of communications and marketing.

Even though the GeoEye-1 satellite sports a colorful Google sticker, its key customer is actually not Google but rather the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, a U.S. government agency that analyzes imagery in support of national security. The NGA is paying for half of the development of the $502 million satellite and has committed to purchasing imagery from it. Google is GeoEye's second major partner.

"This is the opposite of a spy satellite," Brender said in a phone interview. "Spies don't put info on the internet and sell imagery. We're an Earth-imaging satellite, and we can sell our imagery to customers around the world who have a need to map and measure and monitor things on the ground."

Since around the late 70s, the military has used high-resolution spy satellites capable of reading newspaper headlines in Red Square. But only in recent years the technology became available to the public and businesses while concurrently making dramatic strides in coverage and resolution. For example, when Google Earth launched in 2004, its imagery was low-res and spotty. But by March 2006, a third of the world population could get a bird's-eye view of their own homes in high resolution.

There's one catch for Google: While the GeoEye-1 will provide imagery to the NGA at the maximum resolution of 43 centimeters, Google will only receive images at a 50-centimeter resolution because of a government restriction, Brender explained. However, Google's partnership with GeoEye is exclusive, meaning the search-engine giant will be the only online mapping site using the satellite's photos.

"We're commercializing a technology that was once only in the hands of the governments," Brender said. "Just like the internet, just like GPS, just like telecom -- all invented by the government. And now we are on the front end of the spear that is commercializing this technology."

Considered the world's most-accurate commercial imaging satellite, the GeoEye-1 had been undergoing calibration and inspection since it was launched on September 6 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

A second satellite, GeoEye-2, slated to launch in 2011 or 2012, will have a resolution of 25-centimeter, company representatives promised. However, Google's satellite imagery will not likely get more detailed because of the 50-centimeter regulation.

See also:

Google Launches Super-Spycam Into Space; Logo Goes Along for a Ride

Photo: GeoEye

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 8 Oct 2008 | 10:48 pm

Chicago Planetarium's $3M "Overhead Projector"

Adler Planetarium in Chicago took a hit during last night's presidential debate when Sen. John McCain derided a $3-million earmark that Sen. Barack Obama had requested last year to replace the facility's 40-year-old projector.

McCain repeatedly called the requested equipment an "overhead projector" which brings to mind the simple light projector your junior-high geometry teacher used to display transparencies. But the Zeiss planetarium projector Adler has its eye on is no simple teaching aid.

The 78-year-old planetarium's current system weighs more than a ton, is around ten feet long and is capable of projecting over 4,500 stars on a 360 degree planetarium dome. Adler installed its first Zeiss projector in 1930 when the museum opened as the only planetarium in the western hemisphere. It upgraded a newer model in 1969, when humans first landed on the moon.

It's not surprising that nearly 40 years later it might be time for another upgrade. Once at the cutting edge of planetarium technology, Adler has fallen behind the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and the Hayden Planetarium in New York City, which already have the latest Zeiss projector.

Still, Adler is one of the premier science education facilities in the country. It helped turn a generation onto space, and today it hosts over 400,000 school children and visitors every year. Of the many earmarks clearly listed on Senator Obama's website in the name of transparency, I find it interesting that McCain's people picked a science center as the best example they could find of egregious spending.

Besides, as space politics blogger Jeff Foust points out, the point is moot as far as the planetarium is concerned because the spending wasn't passed.

Despite the context, maybe being mentioned in a presidential debate isn't all bad. It put the Adler planetarium on the map for many people who had never heard of it, which could result in a higher turnout for NASA's Future Forum there on Oct. 10.

Photo: Courtesy Fritz Geller-Grimm

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 8 Oct 2008 | 9:55 pm

Cassini Probe Sets Sights on Icy Saturn Moon

A NASA probe is set to make the closest flyby yet of an icy Saturnian moon.
Source: Livescience.com | 8 Oct 2008 | 9:47 pm

Bringing Space Down to Your iPhone

Now you can view NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day on your iPhone.
Source: Livescience.com | 8 Oct 2008 | 9:47 pm

Fisheries waste 'costs billions'

The world's fishing fleets are losing billions of dollars each year through depleted stocks and poor management, according to a UN report.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 8 Oct 2008 | 9:41 pm

Water policy 'failing to deliver'

The UK's existing water policy will fail to cope with future extreme weather events, a National Trust report warns.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 8 Oct 2008 | 9:38 pm

Stem cells from testicles an option to embryos (AP)

AP - Cells taken from men's testicles seem as versatile as the stem cells derived from embryos, researchers reported Wednesday in what may be yet another new approach in a burgeoning scientific field.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 8 Oct 2008 | 9:32 pm

Cocaine addicts' brains predisposed to abuse: study

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Cocaine addicts may have brain deficits that predispose them to drug abuse, and abusing drugs appears to make matters worse, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 8 Oct 2008 | 9:31 pm

Video - Fish Thrive in Ocean Trenches

Snailfish swarm bait in one of the world's deepest ocean trenches in the Pacific. Credit: NERC and Univ. of Aberdeen [Story]
Source: Livescience.com | 8 Oct 2008 | 9:11 pm

Green jellyfish protein scientists win Nobel

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Two Americans and a Japanese researcher won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday for the discovery of a glowing jellyfish protein that makes cells, tissues and even organs light up -- a tool used by thousands of researchers around the world.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 8 Oct 2008 | 8:37 pm

Mice overcome fear, depression with natural Prozac

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The brain can produce antidepressants with the right signal, a finding that suggests that meditating, or going to your "happy place," truly works, scientists reported on Wednesday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 8 Oct 2008 | 8:02 pm

Scientists map genomes of two malaria parasites

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists have mapped the genomes of the parasite that causes most cases of malaria outside Africa and a monkey parasite that is emerging as an important cause of malaria in people in Southeast Asia.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 8 Oct 2008 | 8:01 pm

Ohio family finds 7-foot snake under car hood (AP)

AP - Animal authorities in western Ohio have a possible sequel to "Snakes on a Plane": a case of a snake in a car. The Clark County Humane Society is looking for the owner of a 7-foot-long boa constrictor found under the hood of a vehicle in Springfield.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 8 Oct 2008 | 7:54 pm

Expect severe winter in East: forecaster (Reuters)

Reuters - The eastern United States could be on the verge of its coldest, snowiest winter since at least 2003-04, and homeowners should brace for huge heating bills if oil prices stay high, private forecaster AccuWeather said on Wednesday.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 8 Oct 2008 | 7:52 pm

Death Rituals Reveal Much About Ancient Life

Cultures around the world and through time have had wildly varying ways of dealing with the dead.
Source: Livescience.com | 8 Oct 2008 | 7:37 pm

Scientists make ultrathin superconducting films

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. researchers have developed ultrathin films that when sandwiched together form a superconductor, an advance that could lead to a new class of fast, power-saving electronics.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 8 Oct 2008 | 7:29 pm

Deep-Diving Fish Set Surpising Record

Video shows fish swarming in the deepest ocean trenches.
Source: Livescience.com | 8 Oct 2008 | 6:38 pm

Testicle-Harvested Stem Cells Prove Versatile

New stem cells could create personalized replacement tissues, but only for men.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Oct 2008 | 6:37 pm

Man Doing Well After Double Arm Transplant

German farmer who lost arms in accident recovering and able to perform basic tasks, doctors say.
Source: Livescience.com | 8 Oct 2008 | 6:24 pm

Asteroid Exploded in Earth's Atmosphere

A small asteroid exploded over Africa this week in what astronomers said was the first firm prediction of an incoming space rock.
Source: Livescience.com | 8 Oct 2008 | 6:02 pm

Satellites to Predict Disease Outbreaks

Scientists hope to use satellite data to predict cholera and other disease outbreaks.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Oct 2008 | 5:37 pm

BLOG: Invasion of the Turkestan Cockroach

As the war in Iraq continues, a much quieter invasion has been taking place on U.S. soil.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 8 Oct 2008 | 5:27 pm

Monkey or lion?

Clever marketing gives hybrid seeds farmer appeal
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 8 Oct 2008 | 4:01 pm

Fan Use Linked to Lower Risk of Sudden Baby Death

Using a fan to circulate air seemed to lower the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.
Source: Livescience.com | 8 Oct 2008 | 3:04 pm

Cell Illuminators Win Chemistry Nobel

"Hey, this is a really great idea," snarked a commenter in our vote-off between the official and Wired Science winners of the Nobel Prize in physics. "Nobel laureates should be chosen by the casual readers of popular and esoteric technology magazines."

But what do you know: University of California, San Diego biochemist Roger Tsien, a pioneer in real-time cellular observation and the overwhelming favorite in our Nobel chemistry vote, has won.

Tsien, along with co-recipients Osamu Shimomura of the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory and Columbia University's Martin Chalfie, works with green fluorescence protein, or GFP. In nature, it makes crystal jellyfish glow. In a laboratory, spliced into a genome, it lights up whenever a target gene is activated.

This allows researchers to observe cellular function at a level that was previously impossible. (Think of it as the difference between having the pieces of a mechanical clock and seeing the clock run.) It's a rare paper on gene or cell function that doesn't involve GFP -- if not directly, then in the research that led to it.

Congratulations to Tsien, Shimomura and Chalfie, and to the invisible army of colleagues, assistants, lab technicians and everyone else who helped make their work possible.

And in an editorializing aside: Osamu Shimomura, who is responsible for identifying and isolating GFP, did so during his work on crystal jellyfish. His website notes that Shimomura "has never been interested in applications" -- he just wanted to figure out how they glowed.

And that's why basic research, so often criticized for being pointless and esoteric, is so important.

Image: Leiden University

WiSci 2.0: Brandon Keim's Twitter stream and Del.icio.us feed; Wired Science on Facebook.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 8 Oct 2008 | 2:44 pm

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