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Ill. zoo creates ornaments from reindeer droppings (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 4:08 pm Insight Into 'Dancing' Atoms: To Make Better MRI Images, Let The Atoms Spin Out Of ControlScientists have made a new theoretical advance in atomic behavior that could lead to sharper magnetic resonance imaging pictures. The discovery could one day help enable the development of portable MRI machines.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 4:00 pm Surgeons Perform World's First Pediatric Robotic Bladder ReconstructionA 10-year-old Chicago girl born with an abnormally small bladder that made her incontinent has become the first patient to benefit from a new robotic-assisted bladder-reconstruction procedure. The surgeons have now performed the operation six times, with good results and no significant complications.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 4:00 pm Road Emissions Dominate Global Transport EmissionsThe world’s car park is growing. It has become so big that the impact of emissions from today’s road traffic on the global temperature in 2100 will be six times greater than that from today’s air traffic.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 4:00 pm The Perfect Nanoballoon: How Ultrathin 'Graphene' Carbon Sheets Keep Everything InsideAirtight containers are not always so airtight. As any child will discover the day after a birthday party, even a tightly tied helium balloon will leak its gas out over the course of many hours. Now scientists have come up with a supremely efficient barrier that lets nothing in or out.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 4:00 pm Eye Divergence In Children Triples Risk Of Mental IllnessChildren whose eyes are misaligned and point outward are at significantly increased risk of developing mental illness by early adulthood, according to findings published in Pediatrics.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 4:00 pm Hormones: The Reason Why Females With Cystic Fibrosis Have A Worse Outlook Than Males With The DiseaseFemales with cystic fibrosis have more severe disease than males with cystic fibrosis and have a shorter lifespan. Although many suggestions have been put forward to explain this sex-related difference, a concrete mechanism to explain it has remained elusive.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 4:00 pm Space shuttle unlocks from ISS (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 3:51 pm Space shuttle undocks from space station (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 3:43 pm Endeavour leaves remodeled space stationCAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The shuttle Endeavour astronauts left the International Space Station on Friday after completing a marathon mission to remodel the research outpost into an orbital home for six.Source: Reuters: Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 3:35 pm Unraveling the Wonders of Spider SilkA researcher collects spider silk strands and combs through glands to find the genetic blueprints for silk making.Source: Livescience.com | 28 Nov 2008 | 3:33 pm Research on mice links fast food to Alzheimer'sLONDON (Reuters) - Mice fed junk food for nine months showed signs of developing the abnormal brain tangles strongly associated with Alzheimer's disease, a Swedish researcher said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 3:29 pm OPEC likely to delay output cut decision to December (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 3:05 pm Arkansas Earthquakes Could Portend Something BigA series of small earthquakes in Arkansas could be a sign of something much bigger to come.Source: Livescience.com | 28 Nov 2008 | 2:52 pm Older People Get Distracted EasilyOne reason memory becomes a problem with age.Source: Livescience.com | 28 Nov 2008 | 2:47 pm World's Oldest Person DiesEdna Parker, who became the world's oldest person more than a year ago, has died at age 115.Source: Livescience.com | 28 Nov 2008 | 2:43 pm The Human Soul: An Ancient Idea (LiveScience.com)LiveScience.com - A friend recently told me that he had finally, in middle age, found his soul mate. She was a woman he barely knew, but he was willing to give up everything to be in her sphere. With glassy eyes, he described how they were special, destined to find each other, and that in coming together they made each other whole. It was hard to not laugh at my friend's pronouncement of wandering souls crashing together, because most adults are long past that ephemeral kind of love and way into the hard reality of day-to-day living with someone, no matter the condition of their soul. ...Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 2:35 pm The Human Soul: An Ancient IdeaAn Iron Age stone slab confirms that people have been into the idea of a soul for a long time.Source: Livescience.com | 28 Nov 2008 | 2:27 pm Scientists find 4 genes that drive metabolism (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 2:20 pm Scientists find 4 genes that drive metabolismLONDON (Reuters) - Four genetic variations appear to determine the speed at which people burn up food, researchers said on Thursday, a finding that could one day see doctors offer their patients more individual care.Source: Reuters: Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 2:20 pm Protection boost for rare gorillaCameroon creates a new national park for the Cross River gorilla, the world's rarest, ahead of a key conservation meeting.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 28 Nov 2008 | 1:57 pm New Leprosy Bacterium: Scientists Use Genetic Fingerprint To Nail 'Killing Organism'A new species of bacterium that causes leprosy has been identified through intensive genetic analysis of a pair of lethal infections, a research team reports.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 1:00 pm Helping The Embryo Implant: A New Role For One Type Of Immune CellOne of the most critical stages in establishing a pregnancy is the implantation of the embryo in the wall of the uterus. Although the accumulation of immune cells known as DCs has been observed in the uterus after fertilization and prior to implantation, their function was not known.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 1:00 pm Using Invisibility To Increase VisibilityResearch into the development of invisibility devices has spurred two physicists' thought on the behavior of light to overcome the seemingly intractable problem of optical singularities which could soon lead to the manufacturing of a perfect cat's eye.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 1:00 pm Land Iguanas Under Continuing Threat On Galapagos ArchipelagoThe Galapagos Islands, which provided impetus and inspiration for Charles Darwin's seminal work, "On the Origin of Species," are home to unique populations of reptiles. Since the time of man's first visit in the 16th century to this crucial incubator for evolutionary theory, the islands' native plants and animals have faced grave challenges, including severe pressures from introduced species, habitat destruction and predation by man himself.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 1:00 pm Garden goodsWhat have you done for your garden lately?Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 28 Nov 2008 | 12:44 pm 10 things......fungi have done for us. Number one, Marmite. MmmmSource: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 28 Nov 2008 | 12:15 pm AC Grayling: Children of God?AC Grayling: There's no real evidence to suggest that religion is hardwired – it's just wishful thinking on the part of religious academicsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 28 Nov 2008 | 11:30 am Ask AP: `Dead zones,' Secret Service protection (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 11:03 am Expert: Small Ark. earthquakes could be warning (AP)AP - A series of small earthquakes that rattled central Arkansas in recent weeks could be a sign of something much bigger to come.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Nov 2008 | 10:51 am Faiths in climate change summitAbout 1,000 representatives of leading religions gather in Sweden for a summit on climate change, said to be the first of its kind.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 28 Nov 2008 | 6:18 am 25,000 gardens now nature havensMore than 25,000 people transform their gardens into wildlife reserves by taking part in an RSPB nature drive.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 28 Nov 2008 | 4:53 am Letter: Beyond scienceLetters: It is unfortunate that Richard Dawkins gave the impression he did not consider of value any information not derived from checking ideas by further observations or experimentsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 28 Nov 2008 | 12:45 am Shuttle astronaut invents zero-gravity cupCAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Future space travelers may be drinking their own urine, thanks to the International Space Station's new water recycler, but they can now do so with a touch of class.Source: Reuters: Science News | 27 Nov 2008 | 9:52 pm Clue to break-up of ice shelvesA US team produces a computer model to predict the rate at which ice shelves break apart into icebergs.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 27 Nov 2008 | 8:14 pm Scientists crack iceberg mysteryOSLO (Reuters) - U.S. scientists have figured out how icebergs break off Antarctica and Greenland, a finding that may help predict rising sea levels as the climate warms.Source: Reuters: Science News | 27 Nov 2008 | 7:36 pm Scientists track genetic changes in leukemiaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Distinctive genetic changes occur in the cancer cells that trigger relapse in patients with the most common type of childhood cancer, according to a study that may offer new hope for beating the disease.Source: Reuters: Science News | 27 Nov 2008 | 7:26 pm Europe rejects patenting of embryonic stem cell techniqueIn a landmark ruling, the European Patent Office has refused a patent covering the use of human embryonic stem cells on the grounds that it would be contrary to "public order or morality". Some experts believe this will provide a boost for European companies developing technologies based on human embryonic stem cells. The patent would have covered virtually any application of human embryonic stem cells or cells derived from them. Had it been granted, companies that develop therapies involving embryonic stem cells may have been obliged to pay licences for using the technology. "I can imagine there will be sighs of relief," said Dr Robin Lovell-Badge, head of stem cell biology and developmental genetics at the National Institute for Medical Research. "There are going to be lots of other biotech companies interested in either applications for the cells or deriving products from the cells, or using the cells in screening methodology." He said the ruling would make it easier for biotech companies to operate in the EU compared with the US, where similar patents on the use of human embryonic stem cells have been granted. Although the patent offices of individual European countries are not bound by the decision, it brings to a close a 13-year saga of applications and appeals centering on the patent and cements a marked distinction between the patent regime for human embryonic stem cells set down by the EPO and that in America. The widely used method forms the basis of numerous potential clinical applications. In its submission to the EPO's final board of appeal, which considered the case in June, WARF described the method as, "the first to successfully isolate and culture human embryonic stem cells that can grow in vitro. The provision of these is a major scientific breakthrough and pioneering invention opening up a new and very exciting field of research having great potential for promising medical therapies and other applications." The board denied the appeal on two grounds under the European Patent Convention. It decided the application would be contrary to public order or morality, and it would contravene the EPC's ban on using human embryos for industrial or commercial purposes. Alex Denoon, a lawyer who specialises in stem cell intellectual property with Clifford Chance, said the decision was widely expected. "I don't see this as a seismic shift ... This decision means that the administratively beneficial route of going through the European Central patent office is not available for patents related for embryonic-derived stem cells." But he said many companies were already filing on a country-by-country basis rather than going through the EPO. The UK Intellectual Property Office, for example, will allow applications for inventions related to stem cells with a limited number of possible developmental fates, but it will not allow patents for the process of obtaining stem cells from human embryos or for human embryonic stem cells that can become any other cell type. In the US, this latter class of stem cells can be patented. Lovell-Badge said he did not regard the WARF method as particularly novel because it relies heavily on previous academic work on mice that earned Sir Martin Evans at Cardiff University last year's Nobel Prize for Medicine. "The methodology isn't hugely different from the mouse, which has been around for 26 years," he said. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 27 Nov 2008 | 6:16 pm Stephen Hawking named to Canadian research postTORONTO (Reuters) - Internationally renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has been appointed to the post of distinguished research chair at a quantum theory and cosmology institute founded by Research In Motion co-CEO Mike Lazaridis.Source: Reuters: Science News | 27 Nov 2008 | 6:08 pm Adam Rutherford: Today's children may know less chemistry, but they do learn the scientific methodAdam Rutherford: A report on children's poor science knowledge may, in fact, be unscientific, but our future depends on evidence-based methodsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 27 Nov 2008 | 5:20 pm Mark Vernon: We should not put our faith in pure science, but rely instead on old-fashioned good judgmentMark Vernon: Rather than looking to pure science for guidance, we should put our faith in old-fashioned good judgmentSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 27 Nov 2008 | 3:30 pm
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