Science Headlines for November 12, 2008

Commercial Poultry Lack Genetic Diversity, Are Vulnerable To Avian Flu And Other Threats

As concerns such as avian flu, animal welfare and consumer preferences impact the poultry industry, the reduced genetic diversity of commercial bird breeds increases their vulnerability and the industry's ability to adapt, according to a genetics expert. Native birds however, might be able to restock poultry industry's genetic stock.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Nov 2008 | 7:00 pm

Nature’s Own Chemical Plant

Crude oil is getting more and more expensive, a fact clearly felt by the chemical industry. An alternative source of carbon is biomass, for instance colza and whey, which can likewise be used to produce chemical products.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Nov 2008 | 7:00 pm

Stem Cells From Monkey Teeth Can Stimulate Growth And Generation Of Brain Cells

Researchers have discovered dental pulp stem cells can stimulate growth and generation of several types of neural cells. Findings suggest dental pulp stem cells show promise for use in cell therapy and regenerative medicine, particularly therapies associated with the central nervous system.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Nov 2008 | 7:00 pm

New Method Provides Panoramic View Of Protein-RNA Interactions In Living Cells

Scientists have developed a genome-wide platform to study how specialized proteins regulate RNA in living, intact cells. The platform allows researchers to identify, in a single experiment, every sequence within every strand of RNA to which proteins bind. The result is an unbiased and unprecedented look at how differences in RNA can explain how a worm and a human can each have 25,000 genes yet be so different.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Nov 2008 | 7:00 pm

Airport Malaria: Cause For Concern In U.S.

"Airport malaria" is a term coined by researchers to explain the more recent spread of malaria to areas such as the United States and Europe, which some scientists credit to warmer climate changes.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Nov 2008 | 7:00 pm

New Path Found To Antibiotics In Dirt

A teaspoon of dirt contains an estimated 10,000 species of bacteria, but it's only one percent of these microbial bugs -- the ones that can be grown easily in a lab -- that have brought us antibiotics, anticancer agents and other useful drugs.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Nov 2008 | 7:00 pm

Fatty Diet During Pregnancy Makes New Cells In Fetal Brain That Cause Early Onset Obesity

A study in rats shows that exposure to a high-fat diet during pregnancy produces permanent changes in the offspring's brain that lead to overeating and obesity early in life. This surprising finding provides a key step toward understanding mechanisms of fetal programming involving the production of new brain cells that may help explain the increased prevalence of childhood obesity during the last 30 years.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Nov 2008 | 4:00 pm

New Method Can Capture Catalysis, One Molecule At A Time

Researchers have developed an ingenious microscopic method to observe the behavior of single nanoparticles of a catalyst, down to the resolution of single catalytic events.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Nov 2008 | 4:00 pm

New Technology Could Revolutionize Breast Cancer Screening

The world's first radar breast imaging system that could revolutionize the way women are scanned for breast cancer is currently under clinical trial. Scientists have been working for a number of years to develop a breast-imaging device which uses radio waves and therefore has no radiation risk unlike conventional mammograms.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Nov 2008 | 4:00 pm

Antibiotic Use Increases At Academic Medical Centers

Antibacterial drug use appears to have increased at academic medical centers between 2002 and 2006, driven primarily by greater use of broad-spectrum agents and the antibiotic vancomycin, according to a new article.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Nov 2008 | 4:00 pm

Helicopters Collect Whale Snot from Blowholes (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Tiny, remote-controlled helicopters hovering above the blowholes of whales have collected snot samples that could help scientists learn which bacteria lurk in seemingly healthy cetaceans in the wild.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Nov 2008 | 1:50 pm

Helicopters Collect Whale Snot from Blowholes

The mist from whales' blowholes could give scientists information on their health.
Source: Livescience.com | 12 Nov 2008 | 1:40 pm

The Obama Conspiracies: Truth Will Be Revealed

Rumors about Obama have been investigated and disproven, but what if they were true?
Source: Livescience.com | 12 Nov 2008 | 1:27 pm

Google hits to warn of flu epidemics

Google already has a window into our souls through our internet searches and it now has insight into our ailing bodies too.

The internet giant is using its vast database of individual search terms to predict the emergence of flu up to a two weeks before government epidemiologists.

Google Flu Trends uses the tendency of people to seek online help for their health problems.

By tracking searches for terms such as 'cough', 'fever' and 'aches and pains' it claims to be able to accurately estimate where flu is circulating.

Google tested the idea in nine regions of the US and found it could accurately predict flu outbreaks between seven and 14 days earlier than the federal centres for disease control and prevention.

Google hopes the idea could also be used to help track other diseases. Flu Trends is limited to the US.

Jeremy Ginsberg and Matt Mohebb, two software engineers involved in the project, said: "Patterns in Google search queries can be very informative."

In a blogpost on the project they wrote: "It turns out that traditional flu surveillance systems take one-two weeks to collect and release surveillance data but Google search queries can be automatically counted very quickly.

"By making our estimates available each day, Flu Trends may provide an early-warning system for outbreaks of influenza."

They explained that private information health would be kept confidential. " Flu Trends can never be used to identify individual users because we rely on anonymised, aggregated counts of how often certain search queries occur each week."

A paper on the project has been accepted by the respected journal Nature.

"This seems like a clever way of using data that is created unintentionally by the users of Google to see patterns in the world that would otherwise be invisible," Thomas Malone, a professor at the MIT Sloan school of management, told the New York Times.

Lebanon finds 2,900 year old Phoenician remains

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese and Spanish archaeologists have discovered 2,900-year-old earthenware pottery that ancient Phoenicians used to store the bones of their dead after burning the corpses.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 12 Nov 2008 | 1:16 pm

Space Shuttle Gears up for Home Improvement in Orbit (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - When NASA's shuttle Endeavour launches toward the International Space Station this Friday, it will be hauling the mother lode of new gear for some orbital renovations.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Nov 2008 | 12:17 pm

Baby born after ovary transplant

A healthy baby girl has been born in London following the world's first transplant of an entire ovary, it has been reported.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 12 Nov 2008 | 10:51 am

Action urged over nanomaterials

An independent commission finds no evidence nanomaterials cause harm, but warns of serious gaps in knowledge about their risks.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 12 Nov 2008 | 10:27 am

Professor Sir John Lawton on need to test nanotechnology

Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 12 Nov 2008 | 8:15 am

Urgent regulation needed for nanomaterials: experts

LONDON (Reuters) - More testing and regulation of nanomaterials used in an increasingly number of everyday products is urgently needed, experts said on Wednesday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 12 Nov 2008 | 8:07 am

NASA begins shuttle launch countdown

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) -- Countdown clocks at the Kennedy Space Center began ticking down on Tuesday toward Friday's launch of space shuttle Endeavour on a mission to outfit the International Space Station for an expanded live-aboard crew.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 12 Nov 2008 | 7:48 am

Women Mellow with Age

Women who had reached menopause were more likely to judge arguably good-looking women as attractive.
Source: Livescience.com | 12 Nov 2008 | 4:07 am

Cold front could thwart Friday's shuttle launch (AP)

AP - An approaching cold front could thwart NASA's plans to launch space shuttle Endeavour on Friday on a flight to the international space station.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Nov 2008 | 4:01 am

Raul Castro says Cuban storm losses near $10 billion (Reuters)

Reuters - Cuba has suffered almost $10 billion in damages from the three hurricanes that struck the island this year, President Raul Castro said in a report aired on Tuesday on state-run television.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Nov 2008 | 3:41 am

UK experts give blackouts warning

Energy experts warn the UK could face an unacceptable risk of major blackouts in less than 10 years unless policy is improved.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 12 Nov 2008 | 3:05 am

Energy body warns on oil prices

A lack of investment in exploration will be likely to force oil prices up and up, a leading energy body warns.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 12 Nov 2008 | 2:39 am

NASA rover low on power from Martian dust storm (AP)

AP - NASA's Spirit rover, which is nearing its fifth year on Mars, is struggling to survive after a dust storm sapped its power, mission scientists said Tuesday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Nov 2008 | 2:21 am

There she blows

Breathalysing a sperm whale with a mini helicopter
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 12 Nov 2008 | 12:39 am

Obituary: Fr Michele Piccirillo

Obituary: Franciscan priest and archaeologist who excavated Christian sites in the Holy Land
Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 12 Nov 2008 | 12:14 am

Attack of the Tiny Particles - be slightly afraid

The government must begin a "major and urgent" effort to assess the safety of nanomaterials, the tiny particles commonly used in products as varied as sun creams, sports clothing and medicine, leading experts warn today.

Hundreds of consumer products made with nanoparticles, which can be 100 times smaller than a virus, are already on the market, despite an almost complete lack of knowledge of the dangers they may pose to human health and the environment, according to a report by the royal commission on environmental pollution.

Nanoparticles have been embraced as a wonder ingredient across manufacturing industry. Cosmetic companies add titanium dioxide nanoparticles to sun creams to make them transparent instead of white. Sports clothing firms have introduced odour-free garments containing nanosilver particles that are twice as toxic to bacteria as bleach. The motor industry has added carbon nanofibres to car tyres and body panels to strengthen them. Many nanomaterials are so poorly understood that scientists are unable to predict how they will behave, and are unclear even how to check their safety, the report says.

Sir John Lawton, who chairs the commission, said the lack of tests and environmental monitoring for nanoparticles meant it was impossible to know if the materials were already a cause for concern. "Would we know if nanomaterials were causing harm? The answer is, no we wouldn't. We have no evidence that they cause harm, but a lot of that is because of a lack of evidence," he said.

Industry figures estimate at least 600 products are already available globally that contain nanomaterials of some form, but that figure is expected to rise steeply.

The report warns that the proliferation of nanoparticles will see more of them released into the environment where they could be inhaled, discharged into water courses, and potentially introduced into the food chain with unknown consequences.

Lawton acknowledged nanoparticles were "exceedingly useful", but said there was "a major gap between the pace at which new nanomaterials are being developed and the generation of environmental health and safety data". Some scientists who gave evidence to the commission said it could be 20 years before sufficient safety measures were in place to monitor nanotechnology. "We don't want to be alarmist, but experience says the more we find out about this the better," said Lawton. "We're saying [to the government] get your finger out and get on and do something. This is really urgent."

Last week, the Royal Society expressed its dismay at the government's lack of action following its own report on nanotechnology in 2004, which also called for more stringent safety checks.

Nanoparticles lend their success to the extraordinary, and sometimes highly unusual, properties they have. For example, carbon nanotubes are incredibly strong, while pieces of graphite easily sheer apart. Nanoparticles of silver are significantly more toxic than lumps of the metal because the tiny particles have a huge surface area. The medical industry is investing heavily in nanoparticles to create precision drugs that can target specific tissues, such as cancer cells.

The report calls on government departments to back immediate research into toxicity tests for nanoparticles and the impact of nanomaterials in the environment.

The commission picks out three types of nanoparticle it says are of particular concern. Highly toxic nanosilver will inevitably get into the water supply when sports garments incorporating silver nanoparticles are washed. These could cause problems at sewage treatment works, which rely on beds of bacteria to purify water. Carbon nanofibres, which can be added to car tyres or woven into clothing to produce different colours without using dyes, are likely to be shed into the environment where they could be inhaled.

Finally, "buckyballs" - microscopic football-shaped cages of carbon - can be absorbed by simple organisms, according to the report, raising concerns that they could contaminate the food chain.

A spokesperson for Defra said: "As the commission states, it has found no evidence of harm to health or the environment from nanomaterials, but the government remains committed to researching their health and environmental impact."

Backstory

Eric Drexler, an American engineer sketched the scenario whereby nanomachines no bigger than molecules run amok, consuming the planet's resources and leaving nothing but grey goo, in his 1986 book Engines of Creation. He has now dismissed that view, but more realistic concerns remain. Nanotechnology encompasses any material suited to measurement in billionths of a metre, or nanometres: connections in a chip, fibres in a tennis racket, or particles absorbing UV light in suntan lotion. Nanoparticles behave unlike lumps of the same material - stronger, more toxic, and with radically different electrical properties. What makes them so useful also makes their safety so uncertain.

Woman has baby after first ovary transplant

It is good news for the 38-year old German woman who last year received pioneering ovary transplant surgery at the Infertility Centre in St Louis, Missouri. At 2.50pm today her baby daughter was delivered by Caesarean section. She weighed in at 7lb 15oz and is 54 centimetres long.

The decision to deliver the baby by c-section at 40 weeks and one day into the pregnancy was not connected with the mother's earlier surgery, according to Dr Sherman Silber, who carried out the ovary transplant. The birth is the ninth reported worldwide to use ovary tissue transplanted from one sister to another, but the first to use a whole ovary.

The patient, who has not been identified, underwent early menopause at age 15 and has been infertile ever since. She received the ovary from her identical twin sister who lives in British Columbia. Her sister already has two children.

Dr Silber believes the procedure could benefit women who are about to receive cancer treatment such as chemotherapy which can reduce their fertility. In that case a surgeon could remove an ovary, freeze it until the treatment is over, then transplant it back into the patient to restore her fertility.

Another possibility is for a woman to delay reproduction by putting an ovary on ice until she is ready to have a baby. I'm very sceptical that anyone would want to go through such a drastic procedure for this purpose, though. Re-connecting the ovary is a major surgical procedure which of course entails risks – and there is the much easier alternative of freezing eggs for future use.

The Guardian's Science Weekly podcast will feature an interview with Dr Silber in next Monday's show.

Video - Mysterious Airflow Around Wind Turbines

Johns Hopkins researchers model wind power's mysteries
Source: Livescience.com | 11 Nov 2008 | 10:40 pm

Gov't nixes forest experiments; scientists upset (AP)

AP - For more than a decade, the federal government has spent millions of dollars pumping elevated levels of carbon dioxide into small groups of trees to test how forests will respond to global warming in the next 50 years.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 11 Nov 2008 | 10:26 pm

Spiders' secrets unwoven at Isis

Their silk is stronger than steel, so how do spiders spin it? The new Isis 2 target station will help scientists solve the riddle.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 11 Nov 2008 | 10:01 pm

James F. Gilchrist on Being a Chemical Engineer

I've always loved mathematics, chemistry, and physics.
Source: Livescience.com | 11 Nov 2008 | 9:42 pm

Deadly Stomach Bug More Common

A nasty, sometimes deadly stomach bug is at least six times more common than was thought.
Source: Livescience.com | 11 Nov 2008 | 9:14 pm

Help Us Honor Soldier Scientists

In honor of scientists who've served this and other Veterans Day-observing countries nobly during times of war, Wired Science would like to present this gallery of soldier scientists.

The list is by no means complete: it's just the start of what I could do with a few hours on Google. Scientist veterans of the wars in Korea and Vietnam, who haven't yet made obituary headlines or been commemorated by biographers, are notably absent. So are scientists who left the lab to serve in Iraq or Vietnam, or returned from service to their research.

So the rest of the list is up to you. If someone deserves to be here, please add an entry in the comments section. And it's not just big names we're after: maybe you know someone like Frank Faux, who returned from World War II to the trenches of the Los Angeles Air Pollution Control District, uncelebrated but plenty worthy of recognition.

Norman Ikari. Born to Japanese immigrants, Ikari joined the U.S. Army during World War II and won a Bronze Star and Purple Heart while fighting in the 442nd regiment, which was composed entirely of first-generation Japanese Americans — many of whom would have been in prison camps, just like Ikari's family, had they stayed home. Upon returning, he became an NIH infectious disease researcher before working as an activist on Japanese American veterans issues.

Arthur Galston. Trained as a botanist, Galston entered the Navy and was stationed in Okinawa during World War II. After the war, he did research on soybean growth regulation that was later used to develop Agent Orange. Galston fought against the use of this toxic defoliant, lobbying the Department of Defense to study it and eventually convincing Richard Nixon to halt its use during the Vietnam War. He later taught biology at Yale, and founded the school's bioethics institute.

C. Lester Hogan. The physicist could have avoided serving in World War II by working in the U.S. as an engineer. Instead he went to the Pacific to teach submarine crews how to use acoustic torpedoes. He later became a professor at Harvard before joining Motorola as a semiconductor developer. When he left, the company sued him — a battle they lost, with his new compensation package becoming part of the era's corporate lexicon.

Jehu Callis Hunter. He fought in World War II in the all-black 92d Infantry Division of the Fifth Army, also known as the Buffalo Soldiers, before studying tumor biology at the National Cancer Institute. As an administrator at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, he developed a national network to study Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Stanhope Bayne-Jones. Trained as a physician and skilled in chemistry and microscopy, he received the British Military Cross, Croix de Guerre and Silver Star during World War I. Bayne-Jones then taught bacteriology at Johns Hopkins before leading a World War II military epidemiology effort. He finished the war as a Brigadier General, then founded the School of Medicine in Rochester New York and the Yale Medical Library.

Esmond Keogh (Australia): A stretcher-bearer and machine-gunner in World War I, Keogh researched malaria during World War II. He directed the Australian army's hygiene initiative and led the development of atrebin, an important anti-malarial drug. As a public health administrator, Keogh oversaw the eradication of polio from Australia.

Basil Schonland (South Africa): Schonland volunteered with the Signal Service of Royal Engineers in France during World War I, then studied physics at Cambridge University. Returning to South Africa, he studied atmospheric electricity, then developed the country's own radar system during World War II. He finished the war as science adviser to General Bernard Montgomery, and became research director at the U.K.'s Atomic Energy Authority.

Walter Reed. Served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during the latter quarter of the 19th century, offering care to Native American victims of the country's westward expansion. He joined the Army Medical School in 1893, where he confirmed that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes — a discovery that made the Panama Canal's construction possible. His biomedical research legacy was later celebrated in the names of the military's final medical facilities.

John Wesley Powell: Already a member of the Illinois Natural History Society when he joined the Union Army as a topographer and military engineer, Powell lost an arm at the Battle of Shiloh but continued to fight in the war. After the Civil War ended, he became a geology professor and founded the Illinois Museum of Natural History. He later became the second director of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Images: 1. U.S. Soldiers and Airmen Home National Cemetery / Takomabibelot 2. Norman Ikari / Library of Congress 3. Arthur Galston / Botanical Society of America 4. Lester Hogan / Philosophy of Science 5. Jehu Callis Hunter / NIH 6. Stanhope Bayne-Jones: Johns Hopkins 7. Esmond Keogh / Australian War Memorial 8. Basil Schonland / St. Andrew's College 9. Walter Reed / Walter Reed Army Medical Center 10. John Wesley Powell / WikiMedia Commons

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

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 11 Nov 2008 | 9:08 pm

Music to your ears? Music for your heart, too

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Songs that make our hearts soar can make them stronger too, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 11 Nov 2008 | 8:36 pm

Overworking From Home: Risks Overlooked

Safety hazards, stress, loneliness. And nobody wants to talk about it.
Source: Livescience.com | 11 Nov 2008 | 8:09 pm

Benjamin's story

A gorilla ranger returns with grave news
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 11 Nov 2008 | 7:59 pm

Science for peace

Cash is needed for a pioneering Middle East experiment
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 11 Nov 2008 | 7:53 pm

My Encounter With Fake Al Gore

"I look forward to serving in the Obama administration and while I cannot yet reveal what my exact role will be, I can assure you that President-elect Obama and I are eager to get started building a new world," wrote an Al Gore impostor last week.

The statement, published on An Inconvenient Blog, came to my attention Sunday night. It had Al's picture and all the right corporate and nonprofit affiliations. Further examination revealed the falsehood, but for a moment I thought it might be true.

And that's exactly what the impostor wanted me to do — though not, as I found out later, for the reasons I expected.

The real Al Gore, of course, has denied any intention of serving. And plenty of other details give the hoax away. (If you're looking to pass some time today, challenge your friends to a Mad magazine-style spot-the-error contest on the site.) But Fake Al struck me as reasonably knowledgeable and passionate about climate issues.

"Many people still do not understand that the climate crisis is just as serious as the financial crisis," read a post entitled "What If Your 401K Was Invested in Sea-Ice?". "Now pretend for a moment that your investment wasn’t in the stock market but in northern hemisphere sea-ice... Unfortunately, you are invested in this sea-ice as an inhabitant of this planet."

Continued Fake Al, "If we bailed out Wall Street, the answer is obvious: we bail out the planet."

I came away having thought about whether Al Gore would make a decent climate czar, and about the continuing importance of climate change even though everyone is fixated on the global economy. This little dose of awareness, I figured, is exactly what Fake Al wanted.

I sent him an email, fully expecting to hear the story of a college kid weaned on Adbusters and the Yes Men. That's not quite what happened.

Calling himself a former believer in man-made global warming, Fake Al said the underlying science was flawed and the issue "hijacked by political and financial interests who are now using it to suit their own agendas."

"I started An Inconvenient Blog to parody Al Gore," said Fake Al. "He has become the most visible proponent of the belief that 'global warming' is man-made and he is the figurehead of a movement that essentially tells us if we don't drastically reshape civilization, we're facing almost certain apocalypse. Frankly, some of his proposals are as absurd as they are impractical."

But to his surprise, said Fake Al, some people took his site seriously. (For what it's worth, nearly 900 people now follow him on Twitter.) The site turned into social experiment demonstrating that "there are individuals who do not apply any critical thinking whatsoever to anything they read, even when others call attention to the facts."

So what did this make me, who didn't quite think the site was real, but wasn't willing to dismiss it entirely for at least five minutes?

Maybe the joke's on both me and Fake Al. Five minutes was probably four minutes too long. (The first minute I'll chalk up to the general hobbling of skepticism produced by a culture of reality-hijacking viral marketing.) But some of Fake Al's statements rang true, in spite of himself.

"What if your 401K was invested in Arctic sea-ice?" could be a Greenpeace slogan. And in its last report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that man-made greenhouse gas emissions were probably driving a climate shift that could leave billions of people at risk of drought, starvation, flooding and disease. Humanity, said the IPCC, likely had less than a few years left to start making the changes necessary to avert disaster.

If Al Gore is "apocalyptic," it's only because apocalypse is a possibility predicted by the world's top climate scientists. The situation is so dire that even parodies of its severity become real.

Image: Screengrab from An Inconvenient Blog

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

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 11 Nov 2008 | 7:41 pm

Doubt Cast on 'Dino Dance Floor'

Tracks at a supposed "dinosaur dance floor" may have been made by erosion.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 11 Nov 2008 | 7:21 pm

NASA Looking for Next-Gen Hubble

What will the next great telescope look like? Scientists get out their sketch books.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 11 Nov 2008 | 7:05 pm

Scientists fit cells with 'rucksacks' capable of delivering drugs

Immune cells have been fitted with a synthetic cargo, capable of delivering drugs or vaccines, without altering their function.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 11 Nov 2008 | 6:54 pm

Ultrasonic Frogs Tune Their Ears to Different Frequencies

The Odorrana tormota frog opens and closes tubes in its ears when listening and calling at night.
Source: Livescience.com | 11 Nov 2008 | 6:42 pm

New test to identify heart failure in ER superior

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - A new blood test to identify heart failure patients in most dire need of treatment when they turn up at an emergency room complaining of shortness of breath proved better than current tests, according to results of a study unveiled on Tuesday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 11 Nov 2008 | 6:39 pm

World Needs a Backup Plan

Leaders need an emergency backup plan if cuts in greenhouse gas emissions don't work.
Source: Livescience.com | 11 Nov 2008 | 6:38 pm

New Pyramid Found in Egypt

A new pyramid discovered in Egypt is said to belong to Queen Sesheshet.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 11 Nov 2008 | 6:08 pm

SLIDE SHOW: Best Mars Phoenix Pics

The probe's mission may be over, but its science -- and imagery -- endures.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 11 Nov 2008 | 6:05 pm

Fast Food Loaded with Corn

Feed for beef and chicken comes from corn, as does corn oil used in fast food.
Source: Livescience.com | 11 Nov 2008 | 5:55 pm

Oxford University opens controversial animal research lab

A controversial animal research laboratory that became the focus of a campaign of terror by animal rights activists was officially opened today at Oxford University.

Staff moved the first groups of mice into the £18m Biomedical Sciences Building last week and will transfer the other animals over the next few months. The centre is expected to be fully operational by the middle of next year.

Thousands of animals will eventually be housed in the new facility, which aims to bring the university's disparate animal research projects under one roof. The centre will provide room for mice, ferrets, monkeys and other species, such as tadpoles.

Work on the building began in autumn 2003 but was abandoned less than a year later when contractors quit following intimidation from anti-vivisectionists.

Construction on the building was suspended for 16 months while the university obtained an injunction against animal rights protesters to protect staff and builders and establish an exclusion zone around the facility.

Yesterday the university said it accepted the right to protest, but called the campaign of intimidation, threats, damage to property and arson directed at the university "entirely unacceptable".

"It has not been a simple matter to get to this point," said Julie Maxton, registrar at the university. "We're pleased to have got to this stage, but there's no sense of triumphalism."

University officials met with senior police officers and government ministers to draw up security measures that would allow the laboratory to go ahead. The bill for the extra security for the building will be picked up by the government.

Scientists will use the centre to test new treatments for cancer, leukaemia, heart disease, HIV, arthritis and diabetes. Safety tests on animals are required before new drugs can be licensed.

Around 98 per cent of the animals will be rodents, with non-human primates making up 0.5%. Some 130 projects that are currently run in laboratories across the university campus will be moved into the new building.

The facility, which the university describes as "world class", will rehouse animals into more modern enclosures and bring together veterinary specialists to monitor their health. Other staff will be responsible for finding ways to reduce the number of animals used in research, improve their wellbeing and refine alternative techniques such as biochemical testing of tissue slices and computer modelling.

Alastair Buchan, head of medical sciences at the university, said: "Unfortunately there is a tension and there always will be a tension, between our needs and our patients' needs, and those who seek to protect animals from any form of harm.

"The reality for those of us who look after the sick and sadly the disabled, is that we cannot get away from our need for careful, well monitored and meticulously regulated use of animals for biomedical research."

The opening of the laboratory drew criticism from animals rights groups, but was welcomed by the broader medical community for setting what one organisation called the "gold standard" for animal research facilities.

Michelle Thew of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection said: "Like the majority of the British public, I want to live in a world where no one wants or believes it's necessary to test on animals. It is therefore depressing that in a collective failure of imagination our leading institutions are choosing to repeat the failed patterns of the past, rather than investing in the future. Humanity will pay a high price until our public money goes into modern, humane, reliable, non-animal research to deliver cures for diseases."

But Mark Walport, director of the Wellcome Trust, said animal research played a "vital role" in developing treatments and understanding diseases that affect thousands of people around the world.

"Where there is no possible alternative, it will continue to be necessary to use animals in research and facilities such as those at the University of Oxford will ensure that animal welfare standards will be amongst the highest in the world," he said.

Oil price dives under 55 dollars per barrel in London (AFP)

AFP - Oil prices sank under 55 dollars a barrel on Tuesday to strike a 21-month low as fresh recession jitters fanned fears about slowing global energy demand, traders said.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 11 Nov 2008 | 5:40 pm

Animal research

Inside the controversial new Oxford lab
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 11 Nov 2008 | 5:11 pm

Philips develops "intelligent pill"

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch group Philips has developed an "intelligent pill" that contains a microprocessor, battery, wireless radio, pump and a drug reservoir to release medication in a specific area in the body.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 11 Nov 2008 | 4:30 pm

Chinese menus, medicine threatening wildlife

BEIJING (Reuters) - Wild animals are climbing back onto Chinese plates after the deadly SARS virus made some diners wary, and booming demand for traditional medicine is also threatening some plants, environmentalists said on Wednesday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 11 Nov 2008 | 4:20 pm

Chinese menus, medicine threatening wildlife (Reuters)

Reuters - Wild animals are climbing back onto Chinese plates after the deadly SARS virus made some diners wary, and booming demand for traditional medicine is also threatening some plants, environmentalists said on Wednesday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 11 Nov 2008 | 4:20 pm

Missing Lunar Tapes Could Yield New Info

A misplaced tape recorder containing data about dust on the moon is relocated.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 11 Nov 2008 | 3:48 pm

Undergrad Competition Inspires Vaccine

The Internationally Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition is underway.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 11 Nov 2008 | 3:05 pm

Egypt says has found pyramid built for ancient queen

SAQQARA, Egypt (Reuters) - Egyptian archaeologists have discovered a pyramid buried in the desert and thought to belong to the mother of a pharaoh who ruled more than 4,000 years ago, Egypt's antiquities chief said on Tuesday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 11 Nov 2008 | 1:23 pm

Human Hair Linked to Lizard and Dinosaur Claws

Human hair shaft proteins are linked to lizard and dinosaur claws.
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Sharks and rays off UK shores critically endangered and facing extinction

More than a quarter of sharks and rays in the north-east Atlantic face extinction through the effects of overfishing, with 7% classed as critically endangered, conservationists have warned.

The Red List published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature states that 26% of these species are at risk of being wiped out and a fifth are now regarded as "near threatened".

The true number of fish under threat may be considerably larger, the report by the IUCN's shark specialist group cautions, because scientists have too little information on 27% of them to determine the health of their populations.

Many of the animals at risk are slow-breeding fish that have few young and reach sexual maturity late in life, a fact that makes them especially vulnerable to the fisheries' activities.

The spiny dogfish (rock salmon) and porbeagle shark, both caught for their meat, are critically endangered. They are among a handful of species under EU fishing restrictions, though 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, according to the report. The realisation is prompting Ices scientists to call for greater restrictions on fisheries which either deliberately catch the fish or land them as bycatch.

The basking shark, the world's second largest fish, is listed as vulnerable.

The report was released ahead of European commission recommendations for tighter controls on fishing, including zero-catches for porbeagle sharks and spiny dogfish. The advice is also for a ban on fishing vessels keeping aboard common skates, undulate rays, white skates and angel sharks, which should be returned safely to the water wherever possible.

Fisheries ministers are due to discuss the new restrictions at a meeting next month. If the quotas are cut in line with the proposals, fisheries would lose permission to catch 600 tonnes of porbeagles and 2,600 tonnes of spiny dogfish.

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 deepwater gulper shark, sought for its rich liver oil, which is used by the cosmetics industry. In 2005 Ices urged the EU to ban deepwater shark fishing, but current quotas will allow more than 800 tonnes to be taken next year.

The IUCN finds that the percentage of sharks and rays in the north-east Atlantic region classified as threatened is higher than the figure for the species globally - which is given to be 18%. It says the decline in numbers is due to the activities of fishing nations such as Spain, Portugal, France and Britain.

Two species of guitarfish, whose fins are among the most highly sought after for use in shark fin soup in Asian markets, are classified as endangered in the north-east Atlantic. There are no limits on catches of them in European waters.

Scientists working for the IUCN said that it could already be too late to save two types of sawfish, both of which were critically endangered.

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

"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 north-east Atlantic include heavily-fished large sharks and rays ... as well as commercially valuable deepwater sharks and spiny dogfish."

The EU is also looking to protect a string of other species, including cod and haddock, in proposals that reduce quotas by up to a quarter next year.

"We have made real progress in fisheries management over the last six years and we are starting to see positive results, such as the recovery in certain stocks under long-term management plans," said the EU fisheries commissioner, Joe Borg. "But this good news remains the exception, not the rule. There has been so much overfishing over many years that the balance of the marine ecosystems on which our fisheries depend is seriously disturbed."

Marine conservationists urged tighter curbs. "Such action is immediately possible and absolutely necessary to change the course toward extinction of these remarkable ocean animals," said Fordham.

Statins found to be effective against infertility condition

Statins, the cholesterol-lowering drugs, are also effective against a common condition that harms women's fertility, according to a clinical trial that compared them with a drug often used to treat the condition.

In the randomised trial, which involved 60 women in Poland, statins improved various symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome (Pcos) including acne, excess body hair and irregular periods. The drug also lowered the patients' body weight and cholesterol levels.

"There's a growing body of evidence that statins may be very beneficial in the treatment of women with Pcos," said Dr Leszek Pawelczyk at the Poznan University of Medical Science in Poland. "I think that it is a completely new possibility for the treatment of patients."

Pcos affects around one in 10 women in the UK according to the NHS, including Victoria Beckham and Jamie Oliver's wife, Jools. The condition – which is also called Stein-Leventhal syndrome – is associated with multiple cysts in the ovaries. It is the most common cause of ovulation failure leading to infertility in pre-menopausal women.

It leads to irregular hormone levels including typically high levels of testosterone as well as unreliable egg release from the ovaries. Symptoms – which typically begin to appear in late teens or early 20s – include weight gain, acne, irregular or light periods, excess body hair and problems getting pregnant. Many women with the condition suffer very mild symptoms.

Pawelczyk and his colleagues split their 60 patients into three groups at random. All the women had Pcos and none were taking oral contraceptives. Eighteen of them received regular doses of simvastatin (one type of statin), 19 received metformin (a diabetes drug commonly used to treat Pcos) and 23 were given a combination of the two.

After six months on the medications the team found that those on simvastatin had increased their menstruation frequency by 89% compared with a 32% increase on metformin. The two drugs reduced acne by 67% and 59% respectively while the patients' cholesterol levels dropped by 17% and 1%. The two drugs reduced testosterone levels in the patients by 27% and 19% and the body mass index of the two groups of women dropped by 2.2% and 4.3% respectively. Pawelczyk reported his results at the American Society of Reproductive Medicine annual meeting in San Francisco.

"Simvastatin may be a very good option," said Pawelczyk although he stressed that it could not be given to women who were planning to get pregnant, because statins have been associated with birth defects. The results did not show any benefit to giving simvastatin and metformin together.

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