Science Headlines for November 10, 2008

MP3 Headphones Interfere With Implantable Defibrillators, Pacemakers, Study Suggests

MP3 player headphones can cause potentially dangerous interactions with pacemakers and implantable defibrillators. For safe use, the headphones must be at least 1.2 inches (3 cm) from the implanted devices. Unrelated research did not find adverse reactions to pacemakers and defibrillators from iPods, Bluetooth headsets, iPhones, electric blankets, hand-held airport metal detectors or pills swallowed to perform video endoscopy.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 7:00 pm

Nanoparticles Research Aids Drug Development

Scientists have developed a new technology which can dramatically improve the effectiveness of antibacterial treatments.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 7:00 pm

Computer Model Can Predict Human Behavior And Learning

A new computer model can predict how people will complete a controlled task and how the knowledge needed to complete that task develops over time.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 7:00 pm

Half-broken Gene Is Enough To Cause Cancer

Tumor suppressor genes do not necessarily require both alleles to be knocked out before disease phenotypes are expressed. Only one allele of SMAD4 has to be damaged to put a person at risk of pancreatic and colorectal cancer.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 7:00 pm

New Small-scale Generator Produces Alternating Current By Stretching Zinc Oxide Wires

Researchers have developed a new type of small-scale electric power generator able to produce alternating current through the cyclical stretching and releasing of zinc oxide wires encapsulated in a flexible plastic substrate with two ends bonded.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 7:00 pm

Researchers Discover New Risk Factor For Cardiovascular Disease, And A Way To Control It

Scientists have discovered that having high levels of particular protein puts patients at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The results of the study were so conclusive that the clinical trial had to be stopped before its scheduled completion date.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 7:00 pm

New Research Finds Markers For Esophageal Cancer Before It Develops

Researchers have identified genetic proteins, also known as biomarkers, capable of distinguishing changes at the microscopic level that can signal a precancerous condition in the esophagus. These markers may help identify patients who are likely to progress to esophageal cancer.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 4:00 pm

Flu Shots May Cut Risk Of Blood Clots Forming In Veins

Flu shots may reduce the risk of blood clots forming in veins by 26 percent. Flu shots may be more protective before age 52.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 4:00 pm

Simple Brain Mechanisms Explain Arbitrary Human Visual Decisions

Scientists report that a simple decision-making task does not involve the frontal lobes, where many of the higher aspects of human cognition, including self-awareness, are thought to originate. Instead, the regions that decide are the same brain regions that receive stimuli relevant to the decision and control the body's response to it.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 4:00 pm

Intelligent Walker Designed To Assist The Elderly And People Undergoing Medical Rehabilitation

Researchers have designed an intelligent walker (i-Walker) that goes a step beyond conventional walkers as it can communicate with the user, think for itself and react to the environment. The device can understand a set of voice commands and can be activated by means of simple verbal instructions given by the user (e.g., "take me to the kitchen"). To do this, it includes elements for independent movement and a personalized intelligent software agent.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 4:00 pm

'Bio-Beer' Designed to Extend Life

Scientists engineer beer containing a chemical thought to prevent cancer.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 10 Nov 2008 | 2:25 pm

Bigger Hockey Players Causing More Concussions (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - One painful lesson every National Hockey League rookie learns is to keep your head up when skating through the neutral zone. If you don't, you will not see the 4,700 joules of kinetic energy skating at you with bad intentions.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 2:22 pm

Obama Could Lift Stem Cell Funding Ban

A federal ban on funding research into embryonic stem cells could be lifted.
Source: Livescience.com | 10 Nov 2008 | 2:07 pm

Obama to meet Bush for handover talks (AFP)

AFP - Barack Obama is to hold his first post-election meeting with President George W. Bush on Monday even as aides said he would reverse current White House policy on oil drilling and stem cell research.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 2:06 pm

Bigger Hockey Players Causing More Concussions

When two players collide, where does all of that kinetic energy go?
Source: Livescience.com | 10 Nov 2008 | 1:20 pm

Antimatter Eludes Search Efforts

Antimatter could be lurking out there, but it's going to be tricky to find, scientists say.
Source: Livescience.com | 10 Nov 2008 | 1:19 pm

IUCN report warns that a quarter of sharks and rays in the north-east Atlantic face extinction

More than a quarter of sharks and rays in the north-east Atlantic face extinction from overfishing, conservationists warned today.

A "red list" report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) found that 26% of all sharks, rays and related species in the regional waters are threatened with extinction. Seven per cent are classed as critically endangered, while a fifth are regarded as "near-threatened".

The total number of at-risk species may well be higher because scientists lack of sufficient information to assess the populations of more than a quarter (27%) of them, the report adds. Many are slow-breeding fish that are especially vulnerable to fisheries.

Two species of shark that are highly prized for their meat, the spiny dogfish (rock salmon) and porbeagle, are critically endangered. They are among the few species that are subject to EU fishing restrictions, although these quotas are well above the zero-catch levels proposed by scientists at the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (Ices).

Angel sharks and common skates are also critically endangered in the north-east Atlantic, prompting Ices scientists to call for greater restrictions on fisheries that target them or land them as bycatch. The basking shark, the world's second largest fish, was listed as vulnerable.

Sonja Fordham, policy director at the Shark Alliance, and co-author of the report said: "The north Atlantic is one of the most overfished regions in the world and yet only four species of sharks and rays are protected. This is a clear consequence of overfishing, whether these species are targeted or taken as bycatch."

Another species listed as critically endangered is the deep-water gulper shark, sought for its rich liver oil, which is used by the cosmetics industry. In 2005, Ices urged the EU to effectively ban deepwater shark fishing, but current quotas allow more than 800 tonnes to be taken next year.

The percentage of sharks and rays in the north-east Atlantic region classified as threatened is higher than the figure for species globally (18%), the IUCN found. It said the decline in numbers was due to the activity of fishing nations such as Spain, Portugal, France and Britain.

"North-east Atlantic populations of these vulnerable species are in serious trouble, more so than in many other parts of the world," said Claudine Gibson, former programme officer for the IUCN's shark specialist group and lead author of the report.

"Most sharks and rays are exceptionally vulnerable to overfishing because of their tendency to grow slowly, mature late, and produce few young. Those at greatest risk of extinction in the northeast Atlantic include heavily fished large sharks and rays like porbeagle and common skate, as well as commercially valuable deepwater sharks and spiny dogfish."

Marine conservationists urged EU fisheries ministers, who are due to agree fishing quotas in December, to impose tighter restrictions in line with scientific advice.

"Country officials should heed the dire warnings of this report and act to protect threatened sharks and rays at national, regional and international levels. Such action is immediately possible and absolutely necessary to change the current course toward extincction of these remarkable ocean animals," said Fordham.

Satellite Images Help Aid Groups Track Atrocities (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - WASHINGTON - Amnesty International and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) are collaborating on Eyes on Darfur (eyesondarfur.org), a Web site that shows before and after satellite images of areas the Washington-based human rights organization believes are, or could be at risk of, being under siege.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 12:48 pm

Families at risk

Anxious times as gorilla rangers' families flee fighting
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Nov 2008 | 12:31 pm

'Assassin cell' therapy to tackle HIV

Researchers have developed a new "assassin cell" therapy for treating HIV which involves engineering the patient's own immune system to fight the virus more effectively.

The therapy – which has proved effective in laboratory tests using human cell cultures – will be tested in a clinical trial of 35 patients with advanced HIV infection that is due to start next summer.

Efforts to find a traditional vaccine against HIV – the virus that causes Aids – have so far drawn a blank. "HIV mutates so quickly," said Dr Bent Jakobsen at Adaptimmune, the company in Oxford that is developing the new approach. "Gradually it gets better and better at escaping the detection of the immune system."

Jakobsen and his colleagues began to pursue a different approach after investigating a patient who had resisted his HIV infection particularly effectively. "When we tested the T cells from this patient, it looked as if he was responding to a number of those variants that normally escape the immune system," he said.

T cells are components of the immune system that attack and destroy cells within the body that are infected. They recognise components of the virus – antigens – that are displayed on the outside of infected cells. In this patient, the T cell receptor protein seemed particularly good at recognising HIV antigens.

The team isolated the receptor protein and then improved its ability to recognise HIV further by randomly mutating it.

Treating patients will involve taking a blood sample and adding an engineered virus containing genes for the improved T cell receptor. The patient's own T cells then take up the genes and so are equipped with the improved receptor. These cells are then injected back into the patient.

The result was a T cell receptor that binds to HIV 450 times more strongly. The study was published yesterday in Nature Medicine.

"In the face of our engineered assassin cells, the virus will either die or be forced to change its disguises again, weakening itself along the way," said Prof Andy Sewell from Cardiff University.

"Because the immune cells work so much better when they have this modified antigen receptor they can eliminate the virus. And the mutants that normally escape detection are also recognised and eliminated," Jakobsen said. "That's not to say that will happen in patients. HIV is incredibly difficult to deal with. But it does give hope that it will do much more than the immune system does against the virus."

The search for a vaccine has not gone smoothly. Last year a major trial of an experimental vaccine developed by Merck was abandoned and during the summer work on another vaccine candidate was shelved.

The clinical trial of 35 patients next summer will take place at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

2,000-year-old gold earring found in Jerusalem (AP)

AP - The Israel Antiquities Authority says archeologists have discovered a 2,000-year-old gold earring beneath a parking lot next to the walls of Jerusalem's old city.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 11:57 am

Sea census leads to discoveries of marine wonders (AP)

AP - A city of brittle stars off the coast of New Zealand, an Antarctic expressway where octopuses ride along in a flow of extra salty water and a carpet of tiny crustaceans on the Gulf of Mexico sea floor are among the wonders discovered by researchers compiling a massive census of marine life.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 11:46 am

The Nation's Weather (AP)

AP - Cool, arctic air was to flow across the Great Lakes and into the Northeast on Monday, triggering lake-effect rain and snow showers with ice over both regions. Temperatures were to be in the 30s to 40s in the north and 40s to 50s in the south.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 10:56 am

Case study: Childless couple put CGH screening to the test

After spending $80,0000 on IVF, without success, Lisa and her husband turned to a new embryo-screening technique
Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 10 Nov 2008 | 10:45 am

'Assassin' cells home in on HIV

Scientists engineer cells in the lab to overcome one of HIV's most effective defence mechanisms.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Nov 2008 | 10:11 am

Race to save world's rarest wolf

Scientists begin catching and vaccinating the extremely rare Ethiopian wolf to prevent the spread of rabies.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Nov 2008 | 9:52 am

Snakebites Kill 20,000 People Every Year

Every year, snakebites kill more than twenty-thousand people in developing countries. Several scientists are calling attention to the overlooked problem, while others search for a better antidote.

In a commentary for the current issue of PLoS Medicine, Jean-Philippe Chippaux explained that the price of antivenom has skyrocketed and it is in very short supply.

"Today, with the global economic crisis, the treatment represents several months of the average income of rural families," said Chippaux in his essay. "In an emergency situation, there is insufficient time for families to sell their crops and livestock to buy the antivenom."

To make matters worse, those people who are lucky enough to get a dose of lifesaving medication may suffer from awful side effects, because antivenom is inherently flawed. It is made from Y-shaped proteins called antibodies. Those molecules, which are extracted from the serum of horses or sheep that have been exposed to venom, can wreak havoc on the immune system.

To solve that problem, Alejandro Alagon Cano, is working on better cure.

Based at the Institute for Biotechnology in Cuernavaca, Mexico, he and his collaborators from the University of Arizona are running a clinical trial to test Anavip. It sticks to and inactivates toxins -- just like normal antivenom -- but each molecule is considerably smaller and less likely to send patients into anaphalactic shock.

Even if Cano is successful, economic forces will prevent many people from receiving proper care. For that reason, the world needs a dirt cheap way to treat snakebites, and a global effort to make it available.

Photo: A bamboo pit viper. Credit: Enygmatic-Halycon / flckr

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 10 Nov 2008 | 8:50 am

Scientists say peridotite rock can soak up CO2

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A rock found mostly in Oman can be harnessed to soak up the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide at a rate that could help slow global warming, scientists say.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 8:48 am

MP3 player headphones may hinder pacemakers

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Headphones used with MP3 digital music players like the iPod may interfere with heart pacemakers and implantable defibrillators, U.S. researchers said on Sunday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 7:50 am

Obama to use executive orders for immediate impact (AP)

AP - President-elect Obama plans to use his executive powers to make an immediate impact when he takes office, perhaps reversing Bush administration policies on stem cell research and domestic drilling for oil and natural gas.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 7:37 am

Taking a chance

The risks of opting for an untested remedy
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Nov 2008 | 7:11 am

Cartoon critters, James Bond draw moviegoers (Reuters)

Reuters - The zoo animals of "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" ruled the roost at the weekend box office in North America, while James Bond was the big shot across the rest of the world.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Nov 2008 | 2:42 am

Obama will move to veto Bush laws

Barack Obama will move swiftly to unpick many of what he sees as the most egregious acts of the Bush administration when he enters the White House in January, including restrictions on stem cell research and moves to allow oil drilling in wilderness areas, a leading member of his transition team said yesterday.

John Podesta, a former chief of staff to Bill Clinton whom Obama has put in joint charge of his transition process, indicated the incoming president would use extraordinary powers to force through rapid change. "There's a lot the president can do using his executive authority without waiting for congressional action, and I think we'll see the president do that," Podesta said.

Podesta singled out restrictions applied by George Bush, in 2001, on federal funding of stem cell research, as well as recent moves by the White House to dilute environmental protections against oil drilling, as two areas in which quick action may be taken. "You see the Bush administration, even today, moving aggressively to do things that are probably not in the interest of the country," he said.

Podesta's comments could be interpreted as a warning to the Bush administration not to forge ahead with controversial decisions in the weeks of transition, a ploy used by many outgoing presidents.

According to the Washington Post, a team of about 50 Obama advisers have worked for months identifying some 200 Bush policies that are possible targets. Other areas of action may include reproductive rights, food and drug regulation and immigration enforcement.

Podesta's signal that the new administration would act quickly to negate several key provisions left by the outgoing one came as the president and president-elect prepared to meet today. Bush will show Obama around the White House, followed by private talks likely to focus on national security, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the economic crisis.

Since last Tuesday's election, Obama and his team have focused on the economy, which they have underlined as their number one priority. But by flagging up stem cells and drilling, the team has also indicated it means to move on several fronts, meeting the expectation of change unleashed by Obama's campaign. A volley of executive orders reversing key Bush policies would have the benefits of being relatively quick to implement, as they would not involve congressional approval, and of costing little money.

Stem cell research has been a rallying cause for American liberals since Bush blocked federal funding for all but a few sources of old cells in August 2001. Scientists have complained the restrictions, inspired by the Christian right, have held back US dynamism in a research field seen as a possible route to cures for conditions such as Alzheimer's.

Podesta pointed to attempts by the Bush administration in its dying days to expose tracts of public land in the west to oil and gas drilling. In recent weeks the US Bureau of Land Management has offered up about 360,000 acres in Utah to oil and gas companies, with auctions of the leases likely before Obama takes over. "They want to have oil and gas drilling in some of the most sensitive, fragile lands in Utah. I think that's a mistake," Podesta said.

The Sierra Club, the country's largest grassroots environmental organisation, said it was concerned about last-minute changes from the Bush administration. "They have consistently weakened protections over the last eight years, and we are encouraged that the Obama team plans to act to clean up the mess when they get into office," the club said.

Tony Blair, reacting to Obama's victory yesterday, said: "There is this huge weight of expectation, but it is at least possible to meet a reasonable part of those expectations."

Tests on cell therapy to fight HIV

Researchers have developed a new "assassin cell" therapy for treating HIV which involves engineering the patient's own immune system to fight the virus more effectively.

The therapy - which has proved effective in laboratory tests using human cell cultures - will be tested in a clinical trial of 35 patients with advanced HIV infection that is due to start next summer.

Efforts to find a traditional vaccine against HIV - the virus that causes Aids - have so far drawn a blank. "HIV mutates so quickly," said Dr Bent Jakobsen at Adaptimmune, the company in Oxford that is developing the new approach. "Gradually it gets better and better at escaping the detection of the immune system."

T cells are components of the immune system that attack and destroy cells within the body that are infected. In this patient, the T cell receptor protein seemed particularly good at recognising HIV antigens.

The team isolated the receptor protein and then improved its ability to recognise HIV further by randomly mutating it.

The clinical trial of 35 patients next summer will take place at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Drug could save thousands from heart attacks

Statins, the drugs already prescribed to people with high cholesterol, could be offered to many more who have no obvious risk of heart disease following the results of a trial published yesterday.

The trial, codenamed Jupiter, was designed to find out whether people with normal or low levels of cholesterol but raised levels of a protein linked to inflammation might benefit from the drug.

Researchers had expected there might be a modest improvement in their prospects, but the trial was stopped early in March when it became clear that the risk of heart attacks, stroke or heart-related death in those placed on the statin was nearly halved.

The trial, undertaken by the drug company AstraZeneca, involved rosuvastatin, known by the brand name Crestor. Almost 18,000 people were recruited in 26 countries. The largest contingent, more than 16%, came from Britain. They should have been monitored for three and a half years but, because of the strongly positive results, they were typically followed up for only 1.9 years.

All the patients appeared to be healthy, with acceptable cholesterol levels, but had high levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), an inflammation marker believed to be linked to heart disease. Half were put on statins and half on a placebo.

The researchers found that in the group taking the drug, heart attack risk was down by 54% and stroke by 48%. The combined risk of heart attack, stroke and heart-related death fell by 47%, as did the odds of undergoing surgical procedures.

The research, by the Harvard medical school in Boston, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

New IVF test increases pregnancy chances, say researchers

A new technique for screening embryos for genetic defects during IVF more than doubles the chances that the embryo will implant in the mother's womb, according to a pilot study by UK and US researchers.

The method, which has several advantages over an existing screening technique, led to established pregnancies - meaning that foetal heartbeat was detected using ultrasound - in 78% of the 23 women who underwent the treatment. Genetic screening involves testing embryos produced during in-vitro fertilisation for abnormal chromosomes that could prevent the embryos from being carried to term.

Fertility doctors using the current technique take one or two cells at day three of the embryo's development, when it has eight cells. Once healthy embryos have been selected, they are implanted back into the patient's uterus. The technique, fluorescent in situ hybridisation, is controversial, with some studies suggesting that it provides no benefit or is counter-productive. The long-term effects of manipulating the embryo are unknown.

The new technique, called comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH), allows doctors to remove cells from the embryo at a later stage, when it is five days old and has more than 100 cells. Removing cells at this stage should be less damaging, and by analysing five or six cells the clinician can be more confident that the genetic abnormality exists in the whole embryo, and not just a few cells. The researcher who has developed the new technique is planning to offer it in the UK for about £2,000, on top of the fee for IVF, and around the same as standard screening techniques.

"The pregnancy rates we've got so far are absolutely phenomenal," said Dr Dagan Wells at Oxford University and Reprogenetics UK, who led the study. "We're ready to begin a trial in the UK, and we have a couple of licence applications in to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to start offering CGH to patients." The HFEA is the UK's regulator of fertility clinics.

Dr Mandy Katz-Jaffe at the Colorado Centre for Reproductive Medicine, near Denver, who is part of the team, said: "The patients who are going through this knew this was their last chance of conceiving without going for donor eggs. They have a poor prognosis, with multiple failed cycles. The effect on those patients who have conceived has been beyond anything I can describe." Wells's team tested the CGH method in 23 women aged 30-42, and transferred 50 embryos. After screening and embryo transfer, 20 of the women became pregnant (foetal heartbeat confirmed by ultrasound). Two suffered miscarriages in the first three months, two have already given birth and four more are due before the end of the year.

Wells will present his results today to the American Society of Reproductive Medicine's annual conference in San Francisco.

Science Weekly podcast: After winning the US election, what will Barack Obama mean for science and the environment?

An extended US election special edition of the Science Weekly podcast.

We analyse what Barack Obama's election means for the scientific community across the world.

Lesley Stone, executive director of Scientists and Engineers for America, gives her reaction to George W Bush's successor.

Lord professor Martin Rees, head of the Royal Society, has some advice for the most powerful man in the world.... president to president. He hopes Obama's victory won't result in a brain-drain from Britain to America.

We also look more closely a three key areas: climate change, stem cells and space.

Professor Diana Liverman, director of the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford, gives her view on the green issues Senator Obama needs to focus on.

Chris Mason is an international expert on regenerative medicine, tissue engineering and stem cell technologies.

As for NASA and space, we speak to Lawrence Krauss, a physicist at Arizona State University; and Martin Barstow the head of physics and astronomy at Leicester University.

So as science breathes a collective sigh of relief, we acknowledge how bad things could have been if the Republicans had won. Sarah Palin (with plenty of help from John McCain) has been nominated for the New Humanist's bad faith award. PZ Myers takes a look back at some of their worrying comments on science. Yes, those French fruit flies get a mention!

The Guardian's team of experts debate what the future holds. Science correspondents James Randerson and Ian Sample, environment correspondent David Adam, and Nell Boase from our arts desk all offer their opinions.

Feel free to post your comments on the programme below.

You can also join our facebook group, where you can scrawl your thoughts on our wall.

Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 10 Nov 2008 | 12:06 am

Lungs 'boosted' by breastfeeding

The physical effort involved in breastfeeding may leave babies with stronger lungs, research suggests.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Nov 2008 | 12:04 am

Window into cancer-spread secrets

A technique which literally places a window in a mouse's chest could help scientists unlock cancer's most deadly process.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Nov 2008 | 12:01 am

Octopuses had Antarctic ancestor: marine census

OSLO (Reuters) - Many octopuses evolved from a common ancestor that lived off Antarctica more than 30 million years ago, according to a "Census of Marine Life" that is seeking to map the oceans from microbes to whales.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 9 Nov 2008 | 10:29 pm

Souped-up immune cells catch even disguised HIV

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Genetically engineered immune cells can spot the AIDS virus even when it tries to disguise itself, offering a potential new way to treat the incurable infection, researchers reported on Sunday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 9 Nov 2008 | 10:07 pm

Report: Peru to sue Yale for Inca artifacts (AP)

AP - Peru has reportedly approved a plan to sue Yale for thousands of Inca artifacts excavated by a U.S. scholar at Machu Picchu.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Nov 2008 | 9:49 pm

Astronauts head for extreme home makeover in space (AP)

AP - The international space station is about to get all the comforts of a modern, high-end, "green" home: a fancy recycling water filter, a new fridge, extra bedrooms, workout equipment and the essential half-bath.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Nov 2008 | 6:19 pm

Octopuses share 'living ancestor'

Many deep-sea octopuses evolved from a common ancestor that still exists in the Southern Ocean, a study shows.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 9 Nov 2008 | 6:10 pm

Incredible Deep-Sea Discoveries Announced

An astounding batch of new deep-sea discoveries, from strange shark behavior to gigantic bacteria.
Source: Livescience.com | 9 Nov 2008 | 6:06 pm

Electric car race

Bolivia's lithium is needed to drive electric motoring
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 9 Nov 2008 | 4:07 pm

Big Bird Brains Force Evolution

In evolution, behavior is more than just the result of selective pressures.
Source: Livescience.com | 9 Nov 2008 | 2:55 pm

What Color is the Number 7?

Shows cross-talk within the brain can be the cause of synesthetic experiences.
Source: Livescience.com | 9 Nov 2008 | 2:38 pm

The Real Deal Behind Diet Pills

There are two commonly held opinions about diet pills.
Source: Livescience.com | 9 Nov 2008 | 2:24 pm

8 Ways to Go Green and Save Hundreds

Cut down your environmental footprint and save money.
Source: Livescience.com | 9 Nov 2008 | 2:09 pm

Woman to give birth after first ovary transplant pregnancy

A 38-year-old woman is due to give birth next week after the first ever whole ovary transplant to result in a successful pregnancy.

The woman, who lives in London and whose ovaries stopped working when she was 15, became pregnant just over a year after receiving a donor ovary from her identical twin sister.

The transplant technique will have limited application among women who are not twins because a transplanted ovary would produce genetically different eggs. For these patients it would be simpler to have IVF with donor eggs.

However, the technique offers the possibility of removing and freezing an ovary prior to cancer treatment such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

The transplant was carried out in the US early last year by Dr Sherman Silber at the Infertility Centre of St Louis in Missouri. The patient had experienced an early menopause at age 15 when her ovaries stopped producing hormones.

Her twin sister, who has two children, donated one of her ovaries which the surgical team removed using keyhole surgery. Because both women are genetically identical, eggs from the donor ovary are equivalent to those produced by the patient herself.

Transplanting the ovary into the patient involved microsurgery to reconnect blood vessels as small as half a millimeter in diameter. Three months after the surgery, the patient had her first period in 22 years, indicating that she was ovulating normally again.

"To our knowledge, this is the first successful human intact whole ovary transplant leading to healthy pregnancy," said Silber. He will present his results tomorrow at the American Society of Reproductive Medicine's annual meeting in San Francisco.

The surgical tour de force follows previous successes by Silber with ovary graft transplants in which a slice of ovary tissue is grafted onto an infertile patient's own ovary. The first graft transplant to produce a successful pregnancy happened in 2004, also between two twin sisters.

Silber also presented two other studies at the conference in which his team tested techniques for freezing ovaries for future transplant. In total, the team successfully preserved 27 ovaries, and for the first time five fallopian tubes.

"This sets the stage for a new chapter in reproductive organ transplantation," said Silber. "In addition to whole ovary transplantation it is possible now to consider fallopian tube transplant for women with irreparable tubal disease."

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