Science Headlines for October 30, 2008

Gender Affects Perceptions Of Infidelity

A new study explored how men and women perceive online and offline sexual and emotional infidelity. When given the choice, men were more upset by sexual infidelity and women were more upset by emotional infidelity.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm

Common Cold Symptoms Caused By Immune System -- Not The Cold Virus

Scientists confirm that it is how our immune system responds, not the rhinovirus itself, that causes cold symptoms. Of more than 100 different viruses that can cause the common cold, human rhinoviruses are the major cause.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm

Predicting Boom And Bust Ecologies

While scholars may be a long way from predicting the ins and outs of the economy, biologists have uncovered fundamental rules that may govern population cycles in many natural systems.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm

Cholesterol-lowering Drugs May Also Lower PSA, But Whether They Cut Cancer Risk Is Still Not Known

Popular cholesterol-busting drugs -- statins -- appear to lower men's PSA values along with their cholesterol levels, according to researchers. But whether the drugs prevent prostate cancer growth or just mask it is not known yet.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm

World's Smallest Hand-held Instrument For Detecting Health And Safety Threats

Researchers in Indiana are describing development of the world's smallest complete mass spectrometer (MS), a miniature version of a standard lab device -- some of which would dominate a living room -- to identify tiny amounts of chemicals in the environment.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm

Allergies May Protect Against Certain Types Of Cancer

A new article provides strong evidence that allergies are much more than just an annoying immune malfunction. They may protect against certain types of cancer.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm

Vaginal/Caesarean Combo Delivery Of Twins Safe, Study Suggests

Doctors need not go straight to Caesarean section when delivering twins, but can start with vaginal delivery of the first twin in many cases, researchers have found in a new study.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

New Gene Responsible For Puberty Disorders Identified

A new gene responsible for some puberty disorders has been identified. Scientists found that the gene mutated in CHARGE syndrome – a multi-system disorder characterized by diverse problems from heart defects to hearing loss to cleft lip and palate and mental retardation – also accounts for about 6 percent of two puberty disorders.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

Methane Gas Levels Begin To Increase Again

The amount of methane in Earth's atmosphere shot up in 2007, bringing to an end a period of about a decade in which atmospheric levels of the potent greenhouse gas were essentially stable, according new research.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

New Drug Target In Obesity: Fat Cells Make Lots Of Melanin

As millions of Americans gear up for the Thanksgiving holiday, a new report may provide some relief for those leery second helpings. Researchers describe a discovery that may allow some obese people avoid common obesity-related metabolic problems without losing weight: they make a common antioxidant, melanin, in excess. Even more promising is that some of the antioxidant drugs that can mimic the melanin effect are FDA-approved and available.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

Wyoming proposes changes in its wolf plan (AP)

AP - Wyoming is revising its gray wolf management plan in hopes of placating concerns about providing enough protection for the animals, but environmentalists said the changes are inadequate because wolves can still be shot on sight in most of the state.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Oct 2008 | 9:56 am

Snow leopard wins top photo prize

A picture of an elusive snow leopard on a night-time prowl wins the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year award.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 30 Oct 2008 | 9:28 am

Shell third-quarter profits surge on high oil price (AFP)

AFP - Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell said on Thursday that net profits jumped 22 percent to 5.1 billion pounds in the third quarter, when oil prices hit record highs.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Oct 2008 | 9:23 am

US space probe completes successful Mercury fly-pass (AFP)

AFP - The US space probe MESSENGER made its second successful fly-by of the year of the planet Mercury, revealing like never before 30 percent of the solar system's smallest planet, scientists announced on Thursday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Oct 2008 | 3:17 am

Devil's Night: The History of Pre-Halloween Pranks

The night of Oct. 30 is called Devil's Night in Detroit and Miggy Night in parts of England. Elsewhere it's Mischief Night.
Source: Livescience.com | 30 Oct 2008 | 3:02 am

How Parked Cars Could Power the Future (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Editor's Note: Each Wednesday LiveScience examines the viability of emerging energy technologies - the power of the future.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Oct 2008 | 2:56 am

How Parked Cars Could Power the Future

Imagine running a parking meter backwards and actually being paid to park your car.
Source: Livescience.com | 30 Oct 2008 | 2:48 am

Letters: Climate change and future fuels

Letters: The Royal Society is set to launch a major study into geoengineering technologies
Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 30 Oct 2008 | 2:32 am

Musician in hospital with anthrax after handling drum skins

Spanish man being treated for anthrax in intensive care at an east London hospital
Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 30 Oct 2008 | 1:53 am

Sabretooth tigers hunted in packs, scientists say

Sabretooth "tigers" were social animals who lived and hunted in prides, a study suggests.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 30 Oct 2008 | 1:22 am

Climate damage science studied

The UK's Royal Society is to investigate whether ambitious engineering schemes could reduce the impact of global warming.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 30 Oct 2008 | 1:17 am

NASA probe shows Mercury more dynamic than thought (AP)

AP - Earth's first nearly full look at Mercury reveals that the tiny lifeless planet took a far greater role in shaping itself than was thought, with volcanoes spewing "mysterious dark blue material."

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Oct 2008 | 1:03 am

Warning as seabird breeding fails

Kittiwakes, Arctic terns and Arctic skuas suffer a breeding season which could see them wiped out, it is claimed.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 30 Oct 2008 | 12:33 am

Fearsome T-Rex was one nosy dinosaur (AFP)

AFP - Tyrannosaurus Rex could sniff out distant prey even at night, yet another reason the flesh-ripping predator reigned supreme as king of the dinosaurs, according to a study published on Wednesday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Oct 2008 | 12:17 am

Royal Society to research geo-engineering potential to limit global warming

The Royal Society has announced plans today to study which planetary-scale geo-engineering techniques might play a practical role in stemming the worst impacts of climate change.

Geo-engineering includes everything from placing mirrors in space that reflect sunlight from the Earth to seeding the oceans with iron to encourage the growth of algae that can soak up atmospheric carbon dioxide. The Royal Society study will look at which techniques might be feasible to carry out and what their impacts or unintended consequences might be on society.

"Some of these proposals seem fantastical, and may prove to be so. Our study aims to separate the science from the science fiction and offer recommendations on which options deserve serious consideration," said John Shepherd, an oceanographer at Southampton University, and chair of the Royal Society working group that will carry out the study. "We need to investigate if any of these schemes could help us avoid the most dangerous changes to our climate and to fully understand what other impacts they may have."

In September, the Royal Society published a special edition of its journal, Philosophical Transactions, dedicated to geo-engineering. In their introduction to the papers in that edition, Brian Launder of the University of Manchester and Michael Thompson of the University of Cambridge wrote: "While such geo-scale interventions may be risky, the time may well come when they are accepted as less risky than doing nothing. There is increasingly the sense that governments are failing to come to grips with the urgency of setting in place measures that will assuredly lead to our planet reaching a safe equilibrium."

In the papers, experts said that a reluctance "at virtually all levels" to address rising greenhouse gas emissions meant carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were on track to pass 650 parts per million (ppm), which could bring an average global temperature rise of 4C. They called for more research on geo-engineering options to cool the Earth.

But not everyone is convinced of the need for such radical techniques to halt climate change. Greenpeace chief scientist Doug Parr said: "The wider point is not the pros and cons of particular technologies, but that the scientific community is becoming so scared of our collective inability to tackle climate emissions that such outlandish schemes are being considered for serious study. We already have the technology and know-how to make dramatic cuts in global emissions - but it's not happening, and those closest to the climate science are coming near to pressing the panic button."

Shepherd said that, whatever his study finds, the world cannot ignore the need to cut carbon emissions anyway. "Whatever solutions technology may offer us in the future, it's clear that the need to cut emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is now more urgent than ever."

The working group's report is expected to be published next year.

Croissant and latte breakfast may not be healthier than fry-up

A croissant and latte on the way to work may not always be a healthier option than stopping at a "greasy spoon" cafe, according to a campaign group that aims to reduce salt in diets.

Many foods eaten for breakfast contain high levels of salt. While many consumers recognise there are high salt levels in traditional English fry-ups including bacon, beans and sausages, far fewer realise that sweet pastries on offer at high street coffee chains could also contribute significantly to busting the 6g of salt daily target set for adults by the government's Food Standards Agency (FSA).

A Starbucks' cinnamon swirl, for instance, contained more than twice the amount of salt contained in a rasher of bacon from a supermarket, while American-style muffins contained the same amount of salt or more than a standard pack of ready salted crisps. One Costa muffin had three times as much as a packet of crisps, a survey by Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) revealed.

Eating too much salt increases the risk of high blood pressure, and therefore a stroke or heart attack. About three-quarters of the salt we eat is already in the food we buy, the rest is added during cooking and at the table. The FSA says the average daily adult salt intake is 8.6g, down from 9.5g in 1990. It wants to make FSA targets for different types of food tougher, but these only apply to foods bought from shops. Although the FSA is turning its attention to caterers and coffee shops, Cash believes many people who eat breakfast out are unaware of how salty it can be.

Cash, which has worked closely with the FSA, surveyed more than 200 breakfast items over the past four months, including those at seven leading high street chains. It gleaned information from product labels, company websites and customer service departments and by phoning cafes. These checks found that the salt content even of muffins could vary widely.

Although full English fry-ups may contain enough salt for a whole day's "allowance", there were cooked breakfasts that could remain on the menu, said Cash. One poached egg, one tomato, mushrooms and a slice of toast and butter could contain as little as 0.7g of salt. Even two sausages, a fried egg, one tomato and a slice of toast and butter, might, at 2.3g, be little more salty than a coffee shop latte and pastry.

Carrie Bolt, nutritionist with Cash, said: "When eating breakfast away from home, customers shunning greasy spoons for coffee shop breakfasts could actually be eating more salt and be better off choosing lower salt options from the greasy spoon menu."

Costa said it was working with the FSA to develop standards that met future guidelines. Its website gave nutritional analysis of all products. Starbucks said it was continually reviewing its range and also gave nutritional information on its website.

Researchers question health benefits after metal found in wines

The health benefits of a regular tipple have been thrown into doubt after the discovery of widespread metal contamination in common table wines. Tests on red and white wines from 15 countries, including France, Spain and Italy, have revealed the existence of ions at levels scientists consider hazardous.

Wines from Hungary and Slovakia have been ranked as the most contaminated, while only those from Italy, Argentina and Brazil are not posing a health risk, the scientists said.

High levels of certain metals in the diet have been linked to Parkinson's disease and indirectly to heart disease, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, said Declan Naughton, director of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences, at Kingston University, London.

He said: "This is something that needs serious attention. It's worrying that this has not been brought up before."

Naughton, who led the study, added: "We should be declaring levels of metal ions on wine labels and where necessary, we should be doing more to remove metal ions in the winemaking process."

With his colleague Andrea Petróczi Naughton collected published research papers on substances found in wines and used these to draw up a table of metal contamination in wines from various regions. The researchers then employed a safety measure known as the Target Hazard Quotient (THQ) to determine whether the metal contamination might be potentially dangerous. The THQ was originally developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency to assess the health risks of pesticides, but has since been used to look at the health risks of mercury-contaminated seafood.

Writing in the Chemistry Central Journal, the scientists have described how they considered a wine to be safe if it had a THQ of no more than one.

According to their research, however, available wines commonly had THQs in the range of 50 to 200, with Hungarian and Slovakian wines reaching 300. A 250ml glass of such wine would have a THQ of between 30 and 80. The researchers did not look at wines from the UK.

The study noted the difference in metal contamination across the regions, placing France at the bottom of the league table, with the worst levels, followed by Austria, Spain, Germany and Portugal with increasingly less pollution. The metals that were of most concern were copper and manganese, the scientists said.

According to Naughton, the risk assessment could be conservative because it did not take into account binge drinking or the possibility that a person could have other toxins, such as the alcohol itself, in their bloodstream.

"Relatively high levels of potentially hazardous metal ions are frequently found in both red and white wines originating from various countries. For consumption of 250ml daily, these wines give very high THQ values and may present detrimental health concerns through a lifetime, based upon the metal content alone," the authors write.

Screening plan to tackle male menopause

Doctors have drawn up plans to screen older men for the male menopause, amid concerns that as many as one in five of the over-65s may be affected.

The existence of a male equivalent to the menopause is still controversial, but most experts agree some men experience a crash in testosterone that can leave them tired, depressed and lacking in libido.

The so-called "andropause" has also been linked to diabetes and obesity, and in some cases can be treated with testosterone injections.

Medical associations, including the European Association of Urology, have issued guidelines recommending that men with type 2 diabetes and symptoms of testosterone deficiency be tested.

"It is going to pick up a lot of men with low testosterone who previously would have been sat at home without their doctor investigating it," said Hugh Jones, professor of andrology at Sheffield University.

Unlike the menopause in women, not all men experience the andropause and scientists say that only those showing clear symptoms should be offered testosterone injections.

Eberhard Nieschlag, who worked on the guidelines at the University of Münster in Germany, told the New Scientist magazine that testosterone injections could be used to kickstart weight loss or alleviate the symptoms of diabetes.

Doctors should be more aware of the effects low testosterone can have, he said.

Turning dumb dialogue into intelligent conversation

Computer games are now incorporating AI characters that can converse with one another
Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 30 Oct 2008 | 12:07 am

Pilot Stuart Ross develops rocketbelt designed to strap on and fly

"I've always loved flying," says Stuart Ross, a commercial airline pilot for whom flying a 767 to the Mediterranean and back a couple of times a week just isn't enough of a thrill. "A lot of my colleagues get involved in restoring old fighter planes and things like that," he says, "but I thought, sod it, let's go for something a bit different."

So Ross retreated to the bottom of his garden in Horsham, West Sussex, and spent four years and the best part of £100,000 building a rocketbelt - a Buck Rogers-style flying backpack that can shoot the wearer 1,000 feet into the air at 60mph. With testing of this most sought-after of gadgets nearing completion, Ross is preparing to take his rocketbelt on the road.

High flyer

"It's designed, quite simply, to strap on and fly," he says of the device, which will look pleasingly familiar to sci-fi fans. The rocketbelt consists of a pair of stainless steel fuel tanks, a gas tank, a rocket motor and two downward-facing rocket nozzles. The whole device weighs almost 60kg (130lb) - even without a pilot strapped into it - and is powered by highly volatile 90% pure hydrogen peroxide. Although Ross talks down the obvious dangers involved, he understandably keeps the rocketbelt tethered to a frame during testing. With an earsplitting burst of superheated steam, the contraption lifts Ross gently into the air and, for a few noisy seconds, he is flying. "The adrenalin rush starts three hours before you fly it and finishes when you go to bed," he says.

Originally imagined in Amazing Stories comic books and Buster Crabbe film serials, the flying backpack - or jetpack - is the most desirable and elusive of sci-fi gadgets. Today we carry personal communication devices in our pockets, walk through automatic sliding doors, buy robots to vacuum our carpets, and can even book trips into space - if we have a spare $200,000 (£127,450). But we still can't strap on a jetpack and zoom off to Tesco for our groceries.

This isn't for want of trying: inventors have been working on creating real working jetpacks for more than 60 years, with mixed results. An attempt to build a rocket-powered flying backpack was allegedly made by the Nazis towards the end of the second world war, and further attempts were made in the US after Nazi rocket experts were transferred to Alabama as part of Project Paperclip. None got more than a few inches off the ground.

The rocketbelt that Ross has based his design on was invented in the 1950s by Bell Aircraft Company engineer Wendell Moore, and then developed into the 1960s for the US army as a proposed method for moving troops around battlefields. However, the device had a fatal flaw: its heavy fuel consumption meant flight times were limited to just 21 seconds - too short for any practical use. The army withdrew its funding, and Bell turned the rocketbelt into a spectacular entertainment attraction.

One of the original Bell rocketbelt pilots was Bill Suitor, recruited as a 19-year-old while mowing Wendell Moore's lawn. "It sure beat the hell out of working for a living," says Suitor. Now in his 60s, he tests rocketbelts for Thunderbolt Aerosystems, a Californian business that wants to make rocketbelts available "to the masses". Thunderbolt is one of three companies offering to sell rocketbelts to the public for upwards of $100,000. However, like Mexico's Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana and Colorado-based JetPack International, it has yet to produce evidence of a single sale.

Happy landing

Ross was inspired by Suitor and has sought advice from him for his own rocketbelt. In preparation for his upcoming untethered test flights, Ross also sought advice from the Civil Aviation Authority, who referred him to a psychiatrist from their medical department. Friends have suggested that the best place for Ross to test his creation might be the car park of a casualty department, but aside from a few hydrogen peroxide blisters and some ruined shoes, he has avoided mishaps.

While Ross will soon be taking to the skies, he can't see jetpacks becoming widely available to the public in the foreseeable future. His original plan was to build five rocketbelts and invite novices along to learn how to fly them. He admits, however, that insurance difficulties might scupper that idea. "I guess we'll cross that bridge when we need to go public," he says. For now, Ross plans to fly the rocketbelt at lucrative paid bookings around the world, and says it will be used to promote a "top secret" new product in the run-up to next Christmas. "Hopefully in 2009 we'll be able to take it out on the road," he says. "The rocketbelt will always interest the public and amaze spectators. There really is nothing else like it in the world."

• Paul Brown is the author of The Rocketbelt Caper: A True Tale of Invention, Obsession and Murder (rocketbeltcaper.co.uk)

In pictures: Jet packs

In movies and comics jetpacks are the ultimate superhero accessory. For a lucky few, these flights of fancy have become reality
Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 30 Oct 2008 | 12:07 am

Afghans plan museums to replace moonscapes

Campaign will reverse decades of cultural desecration and begin restoration of stolen antiques
Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 30 Oct 2008 | 12:06 am

Mercury as You've Never Seen It Before

New pictures of never-before-seen parts of Mercury taken by NASA's Messenger spacecraft are revealing surprises about the solar system's innermost planet.

Usually the deepest craters are the biggest, but on Mercury there are two craters right next to each other that are about the same size even though one is four times deeper than the other. What's going on?

The shallow crater basin, which is about the size of the greater Washington, D.C. and Baltimore metropolitan area, has been filled in with a massive amount of lava, according to Maria Zuber of MIT, one of the leaders of the Messenger mission. The 3,600 cubic miles of lava would be enough to cover the cities in a 1.5-miles thick layer.

The lava comes from volcanoes that were first discovered on Messenger's first flyby of the planet in January.

"The surprise is that it appears to be more volcanic than the moon," Zuber said at a press conference. "Very few people would have thought that before the first Messenger flyby."

The latest images were taken during Messenger's second flyby of Mercury on Oct. 6. Combining the images with Zuber's altimetry data gave the features depth and yielded a wealth of new information about the planet. The spacecraft will make one more flyby in the future and eventually settle into orbit around the planet in 2011. But scientists are already poring over the data they've collected.

"I am just absolutely thrilled with the result," Zuber told Wired.com, "for somebody who does tectonic and volcanic modeling, I am in my element."

Our first glimpses of Mercury came from three flybys by Mariner 10 in the 1970s that captured 45 percent of the surface of the planet. Messenger's first flyby took the first-ever pictures of Mercury's western hemisphere, adding an additional 21 percent to the viewed surface. After the second flyby on Oct. 6, 90 percent of the planet has been imaged at 1 km (3,280 feet) resolution. Once in orbit, Messenger will boost the resolution to 850 feet.

The double image at the top of the post shows Mercury's true colors on the left, and an exaggerated false-color image on the right taken using 11 different color filters. The video was made the same way. Bringing out the color this way can help geologists make guesses about the age and composition of the terrain.

Younger, rougher ground, such as the ejecta from a meteorite impact, shows up yellow. Over time, smaller impacts and the solar wind will wear it down and turn it more red. Orange areas are likely from volcanic eruptions, and the blue areas are still somewhat of a mystery. Once in orbit, Messenger will pass over the surface more slowly and gather detailed data that will help scientists understand the mineral composition of the different areas.

More 'Hidden' Territory on Mercury Revealed [NASA]

See Also:

Images and video: NASA

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 30 Oct 2008 | 12:05 am

Beautiful 17-Gigapixel, 96.5 Gigabyte Image of Yosemite

An artist has released a 17-gigapixel image of Yosemite National Park that he says is the largest stitched-together panorama available.

Gerard Maynard, a New York based painter and photographer, put together the ultra-high resolution composite using more than 2,000 individual photos that he took aided by a hacked old Pixorb motorized tripod head.

"What this allows someone to do is fully immerse themselves into the work and discover," Maynard said. "You throw away issues of taste and replace them with actually finding things."

Maynard, who previously gained fame photographing Harlem, found himself out in this landscape through his work as a science photographer for the Yosemite Extreme Panoramic Imaging Project. Stay tuned for a full write-up of that effort, and its implications for geology, tomorrow. But for now, you can revel in nerdy details of the computing power required to handle a 96.5 gigabyte image.

"I have a bunch of RAID systems, so I'm moving data at about 300 MB second," Maynard said. "It takes about 45 minutes to an hour just for one of the large images to load into Photoshop. With a conventional drive, it'd take about two to three hours."

You can check out the massive image in glorious detail at Maynard's website in exchange for watching a pre-roll Obama ad. As much as we hate to do it, we heartily recommend installing Silverlight for the best viewing.

Image: Glacier Point in Yosemite. Courtesy of Gerard Maynard.

See Also:

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

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 29 Oct 2008 | 11:22 pm

Intense care for premature babies risky

BOSTON (Reuters) - Some of the intense care given to the smallest premature infants may be a little too intense, suggested two studies published on Wednesday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 29 Oct 2008 | 10:07 pm

Too Many New Lemur Species?

Primatologist Anne Yoder comments on the trend to pin the new species label on every variation of lemur
Source: Livescience.com | 29 Oct 2008 | 9:41 pm

Ichabod The Baby Aye-Aye

Child of this extremely endangered primate species born in captivity.
Source: Livescience.com | 29 Oct 2008 | 9:40 pm

Mercury was once alive with volcanoes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - While it seems like a geologically dead planet today, early in its history tiny Mercury may have been a caldron of volcanic activity, NASA scientists said on Wednesday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 29 Oct 2008 | 9:40 pm

NASA may be able to speed up launch of moonship (AP)

AP - NASA officials said Wednesday it might be possible to try out its new moon rocketship a year earlier than its current target date of 2015.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 Oct 2008 | 8:19 pm

Giant Tsunami Crashed Ashore 600 Years Ago

Evidence within coastal peat reveals a huge tsunami slammed ashore 600 years ago.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Oct 2008 | 7:52 pm

Spooked? Kids Must Face Fears

Kids should face their fears, study finds.
Source: Livescience.com | 29 Oct 2008 | 7:51 pm

Space shuttle crew practices for next launch

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Seven astronauts climbed aboard the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour on Wednesday in a practice run for a mission to deliver equipment needed to prepare the International Space Station for a larger crew.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 29 Oct 2008 | 7:43 pm

French try plane technology in artificial heart (AP)

AP - In the race to build a better artificial heart, French scientists have turned to technology from satellites and airplanes to create a heart that they say responds better to the human body. So far, the new device, shown at a news conference in Paris on Monday, has only been tested in animals. Its makers hope it might one day help people survive without needing a human heart transplant.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 Oct 2008 | 7:35 pm

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