Science Headlines for October 26, 2008

Climate Change, Acid Rain Could Be Good For Forests

After more than 20 years of research in the northern hardwood forests of Michigan, scientists have reached a surprising conclusion: Moderate increases in temperature and nitrogen from atmospheric pollution actually improve forest productivity.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am

Victorian Manchester Home To First Youth Gangs

A historian has uncovered extensive archive material detailing the activities of the ‘scuttlers’ - one of Britain’s earliest youth cults.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am

Mapping A Clan Of Mobile Selfish Genes

Alu retrotransposons are gradually changing human DNA by making copies of themselves and "jumping" to new locations. Their activity appears to depend on being able to mimic parts of the cell's internal machinery. To identify the Alu retrotransposons that are still capable of moving around, researchers divided them into families and tested a representative of each family in the laboratory.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am

Could Your Initials Influence Where You Choose To Work?

The "name-letter effect," is a phenomenon which shows that we have a preference for things that begin with the same letter as our first name. Belgian psychologists wanted to know if this effect is strong enough to affect where we work. The researchers found 12 percent more matches between employee initials and their company's name than was expected based on a probability estimate, indicating "name-letter effect" occurs between employee names and the company they work for.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am

Green Tea May Delay Onset Of Type 1 Diabetes

A powerful antioxidant in green tea may prevent or delay the onset of type 1 diabetes, Medical College of Georgia researchers say. Researchers were testing EGCG, green tea's predominant antioxidant, in a laboratory mouse with type 1 diabetes and primary Sjogren's syndrome, which damages moisture-producing glands, causing dry mouth and eyes.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am

Mechanism In Cells That Generate Malignant Brain Tumors May Offer Target For Gene Therapy

The researchers who first isolated cancer stem cells in adult brain tumors in 2004 have now identified a molecular mechanism that is involved in the development of these cells from which malignant brain tumors may originate. This could offer a target for scientists seeking treatments that would kill malignant brain tumors at their source and prevent them from recurring.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Oct 2008 | 12:00 am

Phony Friends? Rejected People Better Able To Spot Fake Smiles

All of us have "faked a smile" at some point. Now, a new study might make us think twice about sending out a phony grin. It has been shown that individuals who are experiencing rejection are better at picking up subtle social cues and according to a recent study published in Psychological Science, socially rejected people are particularly good at discerning fake smiles from real ones.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 26 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm

Dolphins Use Complex Coordination During Predation, High-tech Acoustics Study Finds

Spinner dolphins have long been known for their teamwork in capturing prey, but a new study using high-tech acoustics has found that their synchronization is even more complex than scientists realized and likely evolved as a strategy to maximize their energy intake.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 26 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm

Human Brain Minimizes Energy Expenditure And Integrates Gravity Into The Action Plan

When reaching for an object, the brain prepares neural commands sent to the target muscles to minimize energy expenditure, according to a new study.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 26 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm

Practice Makes Perfect In Lung Cancer Surgery, Study Finds

Patients operated on by surgeons who do not routinely remove cancer from the lungs may be at a higher risk for complications, according to new study.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 26 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm

Ancient Sea Predators Shed Skin Secrets (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Predatory reptiles called ichthyosaurs cruised the oceans between 230 million and 90 million years ago. In a classic case of convergent evolution, their body and fin shapes resembled those of today's dolphins, tunas, and great white sharks-the fastest swimmers in the sea.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 26 Oct 2008 | 5:20 pm

Humans made fire 790,000 years ago: study

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A new study shows that humans had the ability to make fire nearly 790,000 years ago, a skill that helped them migrate from Africa to Europe.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 26 Oct 2008 | 4:15 pm

British mountain race runners all accounted for (AP)

AP - Hundreds of mountain runners spent in the night in tents and hastily organized shelters after a long-distance race in England's Lake District was called off due to heavy rain and flooding, British authorities said Sunday.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 26 Oct 2008 | 3:46 pm

AP INVESTIGATION: Palin pipeline terms curbed bids (AP)

AP - Gov. Sarah Palin's signature accomplishment a contract to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48 emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration, an Associated Press investigation shows.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 26 Oct 2008 | 11:43 am

NASA unveils new lunar rover built for endurance

BLACK POINT, Arizona (Reuters) - NASA unveiled a new lunar rover on Friday which aims to transform space exploration by allowing astronauts to roam large distances without cumbersome spacesuits when they return to the moon by 2020.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 26 Oct 2008 | 8:48 am

UK ambitions in space 'at risk'

Scientists and engineers fear the UK is about to turn its back on Kopernikus, one of Europe's flagship space projects.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 26 Oct 2008 | 7:27 am

Seaweed farms 'could fuel future'

Pilot seaweed and algae farms are needed to assess Scotland's marine biomass potential, according to experts.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 26 Oct 2008 | 6:00 am

Australia scientists say bees can count to four

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Researchers have discovered that honey bees can count to four, a report said here on Sunday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 26 Oct 2008 | 12:55 am

Britain threatens to cut Kopernikus programme funding for climate spy in space

A major programme to monitor climate change from space could be in jeopardy after it emerged that the British government is poised to slash funding for the project.

Climate scientists and campaigners have expressed deep concerns over the likely cut to the £128m promised to the Kopernikus programme, which came to light just days after the government stepped up its commitment to reducing carbon emissions.

'The worry from the scientists is that it is essential to understand and monitor this change globally and it's not clear at this stage whether we're going to have the essential measurements to do that,' said Paul Monks, an atmospheric chemist at the University of Leicester.

Kopernikus is the world's most ambitious environmental monitoring project. Led by the European Space Agency and funded by European member states to the tune of more than €1bn, it features satellites and a network of ground stations to monitor the effects of climate change, such as deforestation and coastal erosion. It has the specific purpose of providing accurate data for policymakers around the world. The first of the five satellites, packed with scientific instruments, Sentinel 1, is due to be sent into orbit in 2011. 'It's essential that we recognise that the Earth is changing and that we put an Earth-management plan in place. Kopernikus is that global view of a changing environment,' said Monks.

British scientists had been led to believe that the UK would take part with a 17 per cent share of the Kopernikus project, costing £128m over five years. But at a meeting last week of the All Party Parliamentary Committee on Climate Change, it emerged that the government agencies tasked with finding the money, which include Defra, the British National Space Centre (BNSC) and the Natural and Environmental Research Council (Nerc), were having trouble finding the cash. 'There were rumours in the last week that Nerc had found £20m, Defra around £8m,' said Mike Healy of the satellite-manufacturing company Astrium.

Campaigners criticised the potential shortfall, which has come as Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband increased the UK legal target to cut the greenhouse gas emissions from 60 per cent to 80 per cent by 2050.

'There is going to be a huge need for data on deforestation, water runoff, flooding, sea-level rise, coastal erosion, large-scale fires,' said Mary Taylor, climate change campaigner at Friends of the Earth. 'Satellite data can be extremely helpful in gathering lots of good, precise data about where exactly changes are happening on the Earth's surface.'

The shortfall for Kopernikus could also have dire implications for British climate science. 'It will have effects on our claim to be climate leaders, it'll have effects on our ability to influence the way the programme goes,' said Shaun Quegan, of the University of Sheffield and a member of the National Centre for Earth Observation.

Monks added that Kopernikus was crucial for global efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change. 'We're moving from this state where we've been trying to understand what's going on to the state where we need to monitor the vast amounts of money we're going to spend mitigating and adapting to climate change.'

The problems are exacerbated by the fact that the main environmental monitoring satellite already in space - Envisat - was due to go offline last year and will not be replaced until 2019. 'We're slowly going blind,' said Healy.

Defra would not comment on the funding concerns. A spokesperson said: 'The UK government is committed to supporting this valuable environmental monitoring programme and no final funding decisions have yet been taken.'

The final decisions on the funding for Kopernikus will be made next month, when European space ministers meet in The Hague. British scientists fear that their only option will be to appeal directly to Downing Street for the extra money.

Delay in cancer drug appeals condemned in report by Macmillan Cancer Support

Cancer sufferers are missing out on new drugs that could extend their lives because of the length of time NHS committees are taking to hear their pleas for treatment. Some patients with advanced cancer have to wait up to three months for an answer, by which time it is no longer worthwhile taking the drug because their condition has deteriorated.

The latest evidence of patients' problems in accessing cancer drugs on the NHS appears in a hard-hitting new report by Macmillan Cancer Support. The report condemns the system that the 152 NHS primary care trusts (PCTs) in England use to consider appeals for 'exceptional' funding for last-chance cancer treatments. It claims procedures are so badly run that they waste the precious time that patients have left, leave them confused and fuel the 'postcode lottery' deciding who does and does not get the drugs.

Dr Rob Glynne-Jones, Macmillan's lead clinician in gastro-intestinal cancer and a clinical oncologist at the Mount Vernon Cancer Hospital in Middlesex, said: 'In some cases the patient's condition will worsen while they are waiting to hear about their request, to a point where further treatment is futile, even if they then get the drug, because in some cases they take a long time.'

In an audit he conducted in 2006, three of 30 patients who applied to receive the bowel cancer drug cetuximab passed beyond the stage where taking the drug might be beneficial because they waited for up to eight weeks.

Freedom of Information Act requests submitted to PCTs in England by Macmillan show that, despite the desperate situation of cancer sufferers, just 49 per cent of PCTs in England deal with exceptional funding requests within a month - the slowest of the four home nations.

• Four PCTs - Manchester, North Tyneside, Haringey Teaching, and Cambridgeshire - took up to three months to hear requests.

• Only 38 per cent of PCTs sufficiently advertise to patients the existence of an appeal process.

• While PCTs' exceptional treatment panels contain doctors, just 6 per cent include an oncologist, despite regular requests for cancer drugs.

• Different PCTs apply different criteria when deciding whether or not to approve funding, such as the cost of the treatment, the level of local media interest in a case, and whether it is near the end of the financial year.

'Cancer sufferers and their families tell us that they don't think that this is a very human approach to this - they think the current system is inhumane,' said Stuart Danskin, Macmillan's senior cancer information nurse.

Many hundreds of cancer patients every year use the 'exceptional treatment' procedures to seek new treatments which the drugs watchdog Nice has either not yet considered or already deemed too expensive.

Macmillan estimates that thousands more either do not know they can apply or are put off from doing so because processes are so bureaucratic. 'A lot of these committees just don't have any expertise in cancer, they aren't very transparent and they take a long time', said Glynne-Jones.

Sandra Woodward, a 57-year-old ex-teacher from Herefordshire, has been waiting for 12 weeks to hear Herefordshire PCT's decision on her request for gemcitabine to tackle her ovarian cancer. She is angry because the delay has forced her to resume chemotherapy using just one drug, when a combination of it and the gemcitabine could give her as much as a year's extra life.

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