Science Headlines for November 9, 2008

Consumers Not Ready For Tailor-made Nutrition?

In the near future it will be possible to customize the food we eat to individual needs, based on the genetic profile of the individual. Researchers suggest that the consumer market is not yet ready for this so-called nutrigenomics. They conclude that many obstacles must be overcome before products based on nutrigenomics become a reality.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 1:00 am

Red-eyed Treefrog Embryos Actively Avoid Asphyxiation Inside Their Eggs

Red-eyed treefrog embryos react to environmental oxygen concentration before they have blood or muscular movement. These initial responses to the environment may be critical to the frogs' long-term survival.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 1:00 am

Smaller Mosquitoes Are More Likely To Be Infected With Viruses Causing Human Diseases

An entomologist says smaller mosquitoes are more likely to be infected with viruses that cause diseases in humans.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 1:00 am

Paper Mill Waste May Be Just Right For Reclaiming Mineland

Paper mill waste can safely be applied at a rate three times higher than the typical rate in Ohio, to reclaim soils of surface-coal mined areas.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 1:00 am

Genetic Study Provides New Insights Into Molecular Basis Of Language Development

Scientists have identified the first gene that is associated with a common childhood language disorder, known as specific language impairment (SLI). The gene -- CNTNAP2 -- has also been recently implicated in autism, and could represent a crucial genetic link between the two disorders.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 1:00 am

Physicists Create BlackMax To Search For Extra Dimensions In The Universe

Theoretical and experimental physicists have designed a new black hole simulator called BlackMax to search for evidence that extra dimensions might exist in the universe.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 1:00 am

Record High Performance With New Solar Cells

Researchers in China and Switzerland are reporting the highest efficiency ever for a promising new genre of solar cells, which many scientists think offer the best hope for making the sun a mainstay source of energy in the future. The photovoltaic cells, called dye-sensitized solar cells or Grätzel cells, could expand the use of solar energy for homes, businesses, and other practical applications, the scientists say.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Nov 2008 | 7:00 pm

Carbon Dioxide Levels Already In Danger Zone, Revised Theory Shows

If climate disasters are to be averted, atmospheric carbon dioxide must be reduced below the levels that already exist today, according to a new study in Open Atmospheric Science Journal.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Nov 2008 | 7:00 pm

Mitochondria Could Be Target For Therapeutic Strategy For Alzheimer's Disease Patients

A study in Nature Medicine describes the function and interaction of a critical molecule involved in cell death in Alzheimer's disease patients. These new findings reveal that blocking this molecule, called Cyclophilin D, and development of surrounding mitochondrial targets may be viable therapeutic strategies for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease, according to Shi Du Yan, Ph.D., at Columbia University Medical Center, who led the multi-center research.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Nov 2008 | 7:00 pm

HPV Virus Helps Cervical And Head And Neck Cancers Resist Treatment And Grow And Spread

The human papillomavirus allows infected cervical and head and neck cancer cells to maintain internal molecular conditions that make the cancers resistant to therapy and more likely to grow and spread, resulting in a poor prognosis for patients.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Nov 2008 | 7:00 pm

Paloma becomes Category 1 over storm-weary Cuba (AP)

AP - A ferocious Hurricane Paloma roared across Cuba on Sunday, downing power lines, flooding the coast and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate on an island still recovering from two other devastating storms.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Nov 2008 | 11:26 am

New Fighter Jet: Controversial Future of the U.S. Fleet (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is slated to become the backbone of the U.S. tactical aviation fleet. This ambitious program aims to replace the combined U.S. Defense Department arsenal of F-16 Fighting Falcons, F/A-18 Hornets, A-10 Thunderbolts, and the AV-8B Harrier combat aircraft with a single platform capable of being adapted to the divergent needs of the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Marine Corps.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Nov 2008 | 12:43 am

'Clean-up' bees could save endangered hives

Scientist hopes to reverse honeybee decline with genetically programmed 'hygienic' breeds to combat parasites
Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 9 Nov 2008 | 12:04 am

Mini nuclear plants to power 20,000 homes

Nuclear power plants smaller than a garden shed and able to power 20,000 homes will be on sale within five years, say scientists at Los Alamos, the US government laboratory which developed the first atomic bomb.

The miniature reactors will be factory-sealed, contain no weapons-grade material, have no moving parts and will be nearly impossible to steal because they will be encased in concrete and buried underground.

The US government has licensed the technology to Hyperion, a New Mexico-based company which said last week that it has taken its first firm orders and plans to start mass production within five years. 'Our goal is to generate electricity for 10 cents a watt anywhere in the world,' said John Deal, chief executive of Hyperion. 'They will cost approximately $25m [£13m] each. For a community with 10,000 households, that is a very affordable $250 per home.'

Deal claims to have more than 100 firm orders, largely from the oil and electricity industries, but says the company is also targeting developing countries and isolated communities. 'It's leapfrog technology,' he said.

The company plans to set up three factories to produce 4,000 plants between 2013 and 2023. 'We already have a pipeline for 100 reactors, and we are taking our time to tool up to mass-produce this reactor.'

The first confirmed order came from TES, a Czech infrastructure company specialising in water plants and power plants. 'They ordered six units and optioned a further 12. We are very sure of their capability to purchase,' said Deal. The first one, he said, would be installed in Romania. 'We now have a six-year waiting list. We are in talks with developers in the Cayman Islands, Panama and the Bahamas.'

The reactors, only a few metres in diameter, will be delivered on the back of a lorry to be buried underground. They must be refuelled every 7 to 10 years. Because the reactor is based on a 50-year-old design that has proved safe for students to use, few countries are expected to object to plants on their territory. An application to build the plants will be submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission next year.

'You could never have a Chernobyl-type event - there are no moving parts,' said Deal. 'You would need nation-state resources in order to enrich our uranium. Temperature-wise it's too hot to handle. It would be like stealing a barbecue with your bare hands.'

Other companies are known to be designing micro-reactors. Toshiba has been testing 200KW reactors measuring roughly six metres by two metres. Designed to fuel smaller numbers of homes for longer, they could power a single building for up to 40 years.

We're all getting fatter and it may be contagious, claim economists

Obesity could be socially contagious, according to new research by two of Britain's leading economists. Professor David Blanchflower, who sits on the Bank of England's monetary policy committee, and Professor Andrew Oswald, an expert on the economics of wellbeing, claim that the nation's expanding waistline could be down to people subconsciously trying to 'keep up with the weight of the Joneses'.

After analysing obesity data from the 50s to the present, the pair conclude that obesity may be transmitted across society in a way that is similar to the progress of a virus.

'The starting point for our exploration is the idea that people care about their status and position in society,' the pair write in a research paper for the Economic Research Institute at Warwick University.

They acknowledge that in a Darwinian society, in which people compete for status, being overweight carries a stigma. But as more people become obese the perception of what constitutes being overweight changes. 'Thus when my neighbour gets a little fatter, I ... become a little fatter (since it is now not necessary to be so slim in order to compete),' Blanchflower and Oswald write.

Data suggests that people living in developed countries are approximately 10kg heavier than they were a few decades ago. The two economists found that, among European women, 'there is evidence that perceptions of being overweight depend not just on a person's own Body Mass Index, but also on their BMI relative to other people'.

Their findings are supported by similar socio-economic analyses. Studies have suggested that it is psychologically preferable to be jobless in areas where there is significant unemployment. 'This is presumably for reasons of reduced stigma,' Blanchflower and Oswald write. 'For equivalent reasons, it may be easier to be fat in a society that is fat.' The pair believe that their work could help explain the phenomenon of dieting. They claim that, as people become fatter, slimmer people's status increases, so they choose to diet 'in the face of societal gluttony'. They also suggest an individual's perception of whether they are overweight depends on their socio-economic characteristics and that 'highly educated people hold themselves to a thinner standard'.

Blanchflower and Oswald found that, in the sample of nearly 30,000 people across 29 countries, 31 per cent of men and 43 per cent of women said that their weight was too high.