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Ancient Climate Cycles Recorded In Mars RocksThe ancient climate change on Mars was caused by regular variation in the planet's tilt, or obliquity, according to new research. On Earth, similar "astronomical forcing" of climate drives ice-age cycles.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Dec 2008 | 4:00 pm Opening Up The Last Part Of Electromagnetic SpectrumNew research on the last, hidden part of the electromagnetic spectrum is producing new, safe and non-destructive tests for medicine, security and industrial quality control.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Dec 2008 | 4:00 pm Flesh-eating Bacteria: Blood Tests Can Help Detect Presence Of Necrotizing Soft Tissue InfectionsA quick surgical reaction to 'flesh-eating bacteria' reduces mortality. With less than half of patients with necrotizing soft tissue infections displaying the physical signs of these very serious infections, researchers have found two simple blood tests can help physicians diagnose what is commonly known as "flesh-eating bacteria."Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Dec 2008 | 4:00 pm Cutting The Cord To Determine Babies' Health Risk From Toxic ExposureDespite the well-known dangers of first- and secondhand smoke, an estimated ten percent of pregnant women in the US are smokers. Now, in the first study of its kind, a team of researchers has completed a global assessment of newborns' umbilical cord blood to provide the first assessment of proteins detectable in infant blood and to identify possible molecular predictors, or biomarkers, of fetal health risks from smoking mothers.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Dec 2008 | 4:00 pm Why The 'Perfect' Body Isn't Always Perfect: How Hormones Interact With Waist-to-hip Ratios In WomenThe hormones that make women physically stronger, more competitive and better able to deal with stress also tend to redistribute fat from the hips to the waist, according to one anthropologist. So in societies and situations where women are under pressure to procure resources, they may be less likely to have the classic hourglass figure.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Dec 2008 | 4:00 pm A Little Wine Boosts Omega-3 In The Body: Novel Mechanism For A Healthier Heart FoundModerate alcohol intake is associated with higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids in plasma and red blood cells. The study suggests that wine does better than other alcoholic drinks. This effect could be ascribed to compounds other than alcohol itself, representing a key to understand the mechanism lying behind the heart protection observed in moderate wine drinkers.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Dec 2008 | 4:00 pm Teen Self-Esteem May Be Too HighSome think the pendulum may have swung too far.Source: Livescience.com | 5 Dec 2008 | 1:13 pm New Genetic Target For Sickle Cell Disease Therapy FoundResearchers have identified a gene that directly affects the production of a form of hemoglobin that is instrumental in modifying the severity of the inherited blood disorders sickle cell disease and thalassemia. The discovery could lead to breakthrough therapies for sickle cell disease and thalassemia, which could potentially eliminate the devastating and life-threatening complications of these diseases, such as severe pain, damage to the eyes and other organs, infections, and stroke.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Dec 2008 | 1:00 pm Quantum Trick Makes Metals Become InsulatorsFuture technologies ranging from information technology to high-temperature superconductivity require new materials with tailored electronic properties. A novel quantum simulator consisting of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice functions as a construction kit with which scientists can create and investigate new materials. Physicists have succeeded in simulating one of the most dramatic electronic phenomena with the aid of this quantum simulator: when the interactions between the electrons become too strong, a metal can suddenly become insulating.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Dec 2008 | 1:00 pm Old As You Want To Be: Study Finds Most Seniors Feel YoungerOlder people tend to feel about 13 years younger than their chronological age. Researchers analyzed the responses of 516 men and women age 70 and older who participated in the Berlin Aging Study, tracking how their perceptions about age and their satisfaction with aging changed over a six-year period.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Dec 2008 | 1:00 pm Genetic Breakdown In Fanconi Anemia May Have Link To HPV-associated CancerA genetic malfunction that causes DNA instability in people with the blood disorder Fanconi anemia may put them at high risk for squamous cell carcinomas linked to human papillomavirus, according to a new study. Researchers report breakdown of a cell signaling pathway for the FA gene complex triggers cellular abnormalities, when then are made worse by HPV cancer genes in skin cells.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 Dec 2008 | 1:00 pm Climate bill 'could lead world'A new Scottish bill to help tackle climate change could be a "world leader", environmental groups claim.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 5 Dec 2008 | 12:01 pm "Big Bang" collider repairs to cost up to $29 millionGENEVA (Reuters) - Repairing the giant particle collider built to simulate the "Big Bang" could cost up to 35 million Swiss francs ($29 million), the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) said on Friday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 5 Dec 2008 | 11:51 am Between a rock and a hard placeWhat do the words Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian mean to you? They are the periodic divisions of the Palaeozoic era, and although these terms are in standard use in every country in the world, four of them are based on direct observations in Britain and a fifth was named by Sir Roderick Murchison when he took his geological hammer to some telltale rocks in Russia. Like association football, rugby, cricket, golf and Newtonian physics, geology is part of Britain's gift to the rest of the planet. So the revelation that there are so few trained earth scientists in Britain that the Home Office is encouraging foreign-trained researchers to migrate is not bad news for British universities. It is humiliating news. It suggests that geology is a science at a national discount, with practitioners to be imported as necessary, while our schools and colleges get on with really important things such as media studies, fashion design and advanced food preparation. Geology is the bedrock of every economy. It shores up all our wealth. Everything material that we possess is either dug from the soil, or grown in it. The ground we stand on is not just our richest asset, but our only material asset: it provides all our fine china and our coarse pottery; all our diamonds and rubies, all our pennies and all our golden guineas: it delivers the cement, sand and gravel for our cities, the tar and asphalt for our roads, the clay for our tennis courts, the terroir for our wine-tasters and the mineral water for sybarites seeking a detox. It yields the bricks for our homes, the slate for our roofs, the plaster for our ceilings, and the tiles for our floors. The fuels we use - petrol or uranium, natural gas or anthracite - come from the ground, along with the iron for our tools and the feedstock for our plastics industries. The information society runs on copper and silicon from the rocks, and the coin we pay for these things is minted from metals found in seams between the rocks. We even pay unconscious tribute to geology in our clichés: old as the hills, good as gold, thick as a brick, clear as mud, set in stone, hit the dirt, no stone unturned, grit in the oyster and so on. How did we get to this state? These are the dying days of the International Year of Planet Earth. Next year will be the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and the 150th since the publication of The Origin of Species. These two celebrations are related. The great debate about fossils set geologists thinking about the age of the planet. It was the geologist Charles Lyell who inspired the young Darwin, and one of Darwin's first scientific honours was for his contributions to geology. Meanwhile, planet Earth is under pressure. Its human population has reached unparalleled numbers, many of the world's great rivers are beginning to run dry, most of the great forests are under threat, deserts are advancing, glaciers retreating and sea levels rising. So there are plenty of challenges for earth scientists: in civil engineering, in oceanography, in hydrology, atmosphere and climate science, and in geophysics. Geologists and geophysicists can do good and save lives: they are usually the first to identify natural hazards and suggest ways of mitigating risk. The stakes are always high and getting higher: natural disasters killed around 230,000 people between January and June of this year, but altogether an estimated 130 million people lost their harvests, or their livestock, or their homes, or their livelihoods, or their savings in those earthquakes, floods, forest fires, typhoons and cyclones, according to Cred, the centre for research on the epidemiology of disasters at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. But geology is also a home for the scholarly. Archaeologists need earth scientists; so do the space agencies behind the missions to Mars and Venus, Saturn and Mercury. Geologists and geophysicists can also make money: they are key figures in the extraction of oil, minerals and metals. Like merchant bankers, geologists have access to state-of-the-art technology; unlike merchant bankers, geologists can go to work in denims and comfortable boots and spend time out of doors. The world may be closing in on merchant bankers, but geologists can find work almost anywhere. Why have students voted with their feet? And why have university geology departments closed, when we have, quite literally, the world to play for? To invoke yet another down-to-earth cliché, have we lost our marbles? guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 5 Dec 2008 | 11:45 am Gorilla states in poaching pledgeWith gorilla numbers declining, countries that are home to the animals vow to enforce laws on poaching.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 5 Dec 2008 | 11:12 am NASA lands a cosmic first with "tweets" from Mars (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 Dec 2008 | 10:59 am Collider 'needs warning system'An official investigation into the accident at the Large Hadron Collider recommends the installation of an early warning system.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 5 Dec 2008 | 9:40 am Climate change, drought to strain Colorado River (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 Dec 2008 | 9:38 am Oil industry adjusts to lower prices (The Christian Science Monitor)The Christian Science Monitor - Oil's swan dive from a record high of $147 a barrel last summer to a trading price of $46.10 Thursday, the lowest level in nearly four years, has rattled America's energy industry. But it hasn't flattened it – so far.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 Dec 2008 | 8:00 am China, Russia to send probes to Mars next yearBEIJING (Reuters) - China will team up with Russia to launch two satellite probes to take pictures of Mars and one of its small moons in October next year as it seeks to cement its place in the select ranks of global space powers.Source: Reuters: Science News | 5 Dec 2008 | 3:43 am Groups protest drilling-lease auction in Utah (AP)AP - Conservation groups filed formal protests Thursday against what they call a "fire sale" of oil-and-gas drilling leases in Utah being conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 Dec 2008 | 3:25 am Food vs Fuel: Saltwater Crops May Be Key To Solving Earth's Land Crunch
Saltwater-loving plants could open up half a million square miles of previously unusable territory for energy crops, helping settle the heated food-versus-fuel debate, which nearly derailed biofuel progress last year. By increasing the world's irrigated acreage by 50 percent, saltwater crops could provide a no-guilt source of biomass for alt fuel makers and tone down the rhetoric of U.N. officials worried about food prices, one of whom called the conversion of arable land to biofuel crops "a crime against humanity." While growing crops in saltwater has been on the fringes of horticulture for decades, the new demand for alternative energy has pushed the idea onto the pages of the nation's most prestigious scientific journal and drawn the attention of NASA scientists. Citing the work of Robert Glenn, a plant biologist at the University of Arizona, two biologists argue in this week's Science that "the increasing demand for agricultural products and the spread of salinity now make this concept worth serious consideration and investment." Glenn has been arguing for the value of all kinds of saltwater farming to a small but growing audience for nearly thirty years, but it is the demand for biomass to turn into fuel that brought NASA calling. His team's report for the agency estimates that salt-loving crops could be used to produce 1.5 billion barrels of ethanol annually on a swath of new agricultural land almost five times the size of Texas. "I'm convinced that saltwater agriculture is going to open up a whole new expanse of land and water for crop production," Glenn said. "Maybe the world hasn't needed a 50 percent expansion in irrigated agricultural land because we've had enough food, but now that biofuels are in the mix, I think it's the way crop production should go." The world's population has grown by five billion people since 1900 to an astounding 6.7 billion today. Despite the population explosion, food production — primarily animal feed and commodity cereals like wheat and rice — has been able to keep pace. But the food system has been severely stressed by a variety of factors, including the increasing use of arable land to grow energy crops to turn into biofuels. Even if energy crops didn't cause all or even most of the precipitous rise in food prices in 2007, most social and environmental groups agree that the best location for bioenergy crops would be on currently unusable land. That would ensure that land used to grow food crops in poor countries wasn't converted to growing energy crops to power cars in developed nations. A key question has remained, though: where exactly will humans find a whole bunch of unused land that is still good for growing crops?
After taking into account environmental protections and other factors, Glenn's report estimates that 480,000 square miles of unused land around the world could be used to grow a special set of salt-tolerant plants — halophytes. Glenn's team calculated that this could produce 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent per year. That's 35 percent of the United States' liquid fuel needs. Halophytes thrive in saltwater. While salt damages
most plants, these salt-loving plants actually use the
saltwater to draw in fresh water. In essence, they make themselves
saltier than the surrounding water, which, through osmosis, drives
fresh water into the plant. These plants are attractive candidates for both food and fuel because they have very high biomass and oil seed yields. The Science authors note that one leading halophyte-candidate, Salicornia bigelovii, produces 1.7 times more oil per acre than sunflowers, a common source of vegetable oil. "[Some halophytes] yield even more than things like switchgrass and they'll be grown on land that's just not used right now," said Glenn. Of course, turning halophyte biomass into fuel will require further cost reductions in the production of biofuel from cellulose. Research into cellulosic ethanol continues around the world at a breathtaking pace and many industry observers expect the next five years to yield enough breakthroughs to make the technology economical. Halophytes could also be part of the solution to another environmental problem: heavily-salinated wastewater from large farms. Right now, that water is dumped into manmade wetlands. For example, in California, the Imperial Valley authorities dump their salty water into the Salton Sea. "That's a huge ecological problem waiting to happen," said Glenn. After absorbing 80 years of agricultural runoff, the Salton Sea is 25 percent saltier than the ocean, and is facing serious ecological problems. Instead of pumping salinized water into these wetlands, the farms could capture that wastewater and use it to grow halophytes. Already, Sharon Benes, a plant scientist at Fresno State, has been planting test plots in the San Joaquin Valley. But even if halophytes can help solve some of the world's environmental problems, Glenn is realistic about the difficulties of changing agricultural systems. "I started in aquaculture back in the early 70s and we thought, golly, aquaculture is going to save the world. Looking back, it's been 35 years, but over half of the key fisheries products come from aquaculture, it just took longer than people thought," Glenn said. "I think it's the same thing with saline crop production." Citation: "Crops for a Salinized World" by Jelte Rozema and Timothy Flowers. Science, doi 10.1126/science.1168572 Image: Salicornica bigelovii and Salicornica virginica growing in Galveston, Texas. flickr/Anna Armitage See Also:
WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal's Twitter , Google Reader feed, and webpage; Wired Science on Facebook. Source: Wired: Wired Science | 5 Dec 2008 | 1:02 am Stephen Moss on the crisis facing The Kennel Club and the future of Crufts'We are the tiniest production company on the planet - there are more dogs here than staff," Jemima Harrison tells me when I am arranging a visit to her Wiltshire farmhouse. She isn't exaggerating. There are two and a half staff - Harrison herself, who writes, directs and produces films, as well as cooking excellent sausages in her smoke-filled kitchen; partner Jon Lane, co-producer and cameraman; and part-time researcher Rachael Turner. And there are at least seven dogs: five full-timers, one of which attempts to eat my tape recorder, and two in transit. Harrison, in between making documentaries, runs a dog rescue centre. While her company, Passionate Productions, is small, it is also noisy. It may, indeed, be the jack russell of the film world - limited in stature but capable of a loud yelp and fearsome nip. As the Kennel Club, bastion of the dog world, organiser of Crufts and for 135 years ruler of dogdom, is finding out. In August, BBC1 broadcast Harrison's disturbing film Pedigree Dogs Exposed, which argued that highly selective breeding was damaging the health of many pedigree dogs and undermining their genetic diversity. Several organisations, including the RSPCA, the PDSA and leading charity the Dogs Trust, have responded by pulling out of Crufts. Sponsors Pedigree have also jumped ship, but claim this was a commercial decision rather than a moral statement. And, potentially most serious of all, the BBC is reviewing whether it should continue to broadcast the show - next year's Crufts takes place at Birmingham's NEC in March. Dogdom is in uproar. So-called whistleblowers who helped Harrison with her film have been frozen out and allegedly subjected to hate campaigns by traditionalists. The world of prize-winning shih tzus and schnauzers will never be quite the same again. The Kennel Club has taken Harrison to the broadcasting regulator Ofcom, complaining that the documentary was unfair (they were especially angry to be likened to Nazis in their alleged commitment to a doggy version of eugenics), but she is unrepentant. "I got a very emotional email from a senior figure at the Kennel Club after the programme," she says. "They were incredibly upset. They thought it was a travesty, but obviously the Kennel Club were never going to be happy with the programme. The Kennel Club has remained largely unchallenged for 135 years and it needed doing. That sort of pomposity and arrogance needed puncturing. I don't really care how many people I've upset if it gets a better deal for the dogs." Harrison's argument is that the breed standards overseen by the Kennel Club have caused an exaggeration of certain characteristics that has taken some breeds further and further away from the originals, causing physical deformities that are harmful to the dogs. There is also a separate, but related, issue concerning the decline in genetic diversity caused by the mating of dogs which are closely related and the use of "super-sires", champion dogs which are deemed highly desirable in a pedigree and, through artificial insemination, can now produce many litters. Some critics accuse breeders of "playing God" with dogs. Amazingly, all these animals - from the chihuahua to the great dane - are descended from wolves. Harrison says the "plasticity" of the dog - its malleability in the hands of breeders - has been its greatest enemy. Pedigree Dogs Exposed includes painful footage of a cavalier King Charles spaniel writhing in agony because its skull has allegedly, over time and by selective breeding, been modified in such a way that it is now too small for its brain. The story is repeated across many breeds - bull terriers and dachshunds whose legs are too short, German shepherd dogs with collapsing back ends ("half dog, half frog", according to those demanding reform), pugs with squashed faces that can barely breathe, basset hounds whose exaggerated skin folds are liable to become infected, bulldogs which have departed so much from the 17th-century original that they find it hard to mate without human assistance or give birth naturally, since the puppy's head is often too large to pass through the birth canal. Harrison compares photographs of breeds a century ago with those today, and the changes in conformation are startling. Beauty is the watchword of the showing world, according to staunch critics such as the RSPCA's chief veterinary adviser, Mark Evans, who has labelled dog shows a "parade of mutants". Aesthetics have been placed before health and functionality. Harrison and her supporters reckon this is dogdom's "Miss World moment": if the BBC pull the plug on Crufts, it will lose its large television audience and the sponsorship that goes with it, and at best end up on some obscure cable channel. Poor Peter Purves. The Kennel Club is doing a good job of not looking panicked when I visit its Mayfair HQ. "Members must be dressed appropriately in the dining room," reads a notice pinned to the reception desk. "No jeans, leggings or trainers." A wooden board has inscribed on it the club's patrons since its inception in 1873: the Prince of Wales from 1873 to 1901 and the five reigning monarchs since. Embarrassingly, the Queen is patron of both the Kennel Club and the RSPCA. The Kennel Club is not used to criticism. In its library, I look at Edward Ash's monumental two-volume Dogs: Their History and Development, published in 1927; the reference to the club in the introduction sets the tone. "In April 1873 the Kennel Club was formed, with Mr S E Shirley as chairman. He subsequently became president, holding this honour until his much-regretted demise in March 1904. In 1874 the first KC Stud Book was published. No remarks of mine are needed to suggest that the founding of the Kennel Club was the greatest step in the welfare of dogs and dog shows. With a master-hand this organisation controlled without jar or unpleasant interference, to the benefit of all. Gradually the dog show emerged from perfectly impossible conditions to a controlled and satisfactory one." The club's principal function is to register pedigree dogs - more than 270,000 a year. The certificate it provides for a £12 fee gives puppy buyers a guarantee of the dog's pedigree. The club also funds research into canine health issues, tries to educate the public on responsible pet ownership, runs dog shows and field trials, and lobbies parliament on behalf of dogs. None of this good work, it complains, was discussed in Harrison's programme. "We knew there were health problems with some breeds and were already working to address them," says the club's secretary, Caroline Kisko. "We started on this five years ago. That's part of the reason we were miffed with the programme. It made it look as if we weren't aware of the issues and that we weren't doing anything, as if we had our heads in the sand." She also dismisses the argument that beauty rules supreme in the show ring. "Health has to be the number one criterion for judging dogs," she insists, "temperament the number two, and everything else comes afterwards." The Kennel Club has put 12 breeds on what it calls its "worry list". These are breeds with recurring health problems that may be linked to the breed standard - a written description of the ideal dog that is holy writ for breeders. It has already revised the standard for the pekingese to encourage a less flat face. The gradual elimination of the pekingese's muzzle - in line with a standard that specified "profile flat with nose well set between eyes" - meant that these dogs, too, were having difficulty breathing. Noses are now back in. The breed standards, many of which date back to the Victorian era, are remarkably detailed. Take the dachshund: "Rump full, broad and strong, pliant muscles. Croup long, full, robustly muscled, only slightly sloping towards tail. Pelvis strong, set obliquely and not too short. Upper thigh set at right angles to pelvis, strong and of good length. Lower thigh short, set at right angles to upper thigh and well muscled. Legs when seen behind set well apart, straight and parallel. Hind dewclaws undesirable." And that's just the hindquarters. There are also detailed specifications for general appearance, characteristics ("intelligent, lively, courageous to the point of rashness"), temperament ("faithful, versatile, good-tempered"), head and skull, eyes ("almond shaped"), ears ("mobile"), mouth, neck, forequarters, body, feet, tail, gait, coat, colour ("no white permissible, save for a small patch on chest which is permitted but not desirable"), and, controversially, size - between 9kg and 12kg. Controversially because there are suggestions that some owners starve their dachshunds ahead of shows to ensure that they make their fighting weight. The degree of detail is obsessive, the search for perfection hard for the outsider to fathom. This is one of those closed worlds which may make perfect sense to its inhabitants but look bizarre to those who stray into it. So, are the people who show dogs barmy? "I would completely dispute that dog people are in some way nutty," insists the Kennel Club's Kisko. "They are very enthusiastic about their dogs, but unlike someone who is very enthusiastic about sailing or golfing, these are living creatures and they need care all year round, all day round, rather than a yacht or a golf club which you can just put away until you need it next time." Geoffrey Davies, one of the UK's leading experts on the pekingese, also rejects the charge of eccentricity. Showing is a hobby like any other, he argues, but he admits Christopher Guest's spoof documentary, Best in Show, is a wickedly accurate portrayal of the world of dog shows. "Showing dogs can be very competitive and intense, but it's also great fun." Davies is fascinating because his life has been dominated by dogs. He has owned more than 200 pekingese in 50 years of showing, had 15 champions, owned best of breed and the toy group winner at Crufts, and judged all over the world. "I've been associated with the breed for 50 years," he says, "since I was a schoolboy of 12. The pekingese is a small dog with the heart of a lion. They've brought so much to my life. When I was first introduced to them, I was an introverted, shy, stuttering boy. They developed my life enormously, took me out to shows, and introduced me to people who covered every socio-economic group - from a cousin of the Queen to a man who swept the streets. All social barriers were broken down through common love of the dog." Davies's enthusiasm is infectious, and it is tempting to play up the comedy of the bitchy world of showing. But Harrison warns me against being seduced. "People have dismissed it as something that's quirky and British and Best in Showish," she says. "It's been the subject of humour from the outside world, but in fact it's really serious for the dogs. They're not having a good time." David Balding, professor of statistical genetics at Imperial College London and co-author of a recent report on inbreeding in purebred dogs, agrees. The exaggerations caused by slavish devotion to the standards is one problem, but the loss of genetic diversity is potentially even more devastating and may threaten the viability of some breeds. "Because you're mating animals with similar genes," says Balding, "you're getting a big loss of genetic diversity and that has bad consequences in terms of your ability to resist disease. Breeding has gone too far. It was something that started getting organised and became systematic in the 19th century, and it didn't do much harm for a long time. But now we have reached the point where the harm is starting to show more and more. We are now doing genetic damage to the dog." The Kennel Club argues that it is doing what it can, but says it has to move cautiously or the breed clubs - the autonomous bodies which represent each breed (there are 18 for the pekingese alone) - will go their own way. Unlike in other European countries, the Kennel Club has no statutory powers; breeders can do what they want. "The most important thing is keeping people with us so we can influence them," says Kisko. "Once you've pushed them away from you, you have no influence over them." Critics of the club, however, believe its hybrid status - part private members' club (with a ceiling of 1,500 members), part charity, part commercial business dependent on registration fees from breeders - renders it incapable of implementing the root-and-branch reform now needed to return to functionality rather than cosmetic appearance in breeding, to rewrite breed standards (all of which the Kennel Club is currently reviewing), and to combat the loss of genetic diversity. "The Kennel Club's constitution is the main problem," says Beverley Cuddy, editor of Dogs Today. "It has tried to make changes, but how can something that is so undemocratic vote for democracy? The snobbery and silliness have to go." She says we should copy Sweden, where the government and kennel club work paw in paw, all dogs are registered (mongrels as well as pedigrees), health tests are mandatory, and breeders are made responsible for the health of a dog in the first three years of its life. "Can't we borrow a Swedish manager, like the England football team did?" asks Cuddy, perhaps forgetting the grisly consequences. What happens next is hard to say. Much hinges on the BBC, which has convened an expert panel to advise it on whether the health concerns raised by Harrison's programme are being effectively addressed by the Kennel Club. A BBC spokesman says the decision on whether it will broadcast next year's Crufts is imminent and that the corporation is "hopeful" of continuing the 42-year association. Harrison says she would be "incredibly disappointed if the BBC does not drop Crufts". Even if the BBC does carry on with the show, Cuddy says things will never be the same again. "I don't think coverage in the future will be uncritical," she says. "There will be no more rose-coloured spectacles." If the pekingese wins the toy group by a nose, the statisticians will henceforth be there to check its length. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 5 Dec 2008 | 12:15 am 'Solar taxi' goes round the worldSwiss adventurer Louis Palmer takes his solar-powered car to the UN climate change talks after a round-the-world trip.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 5 Dec 2008 | 12:13 am Happiness: Contagious as the Flu (LiveScience.com)LiveScience.com - In a good mood? Your neighbor, her friends and even her friends' friends should thank you - you're likely infecting them with your cheer. Happiness spreads through social networks about as easily as the flu, according to a new study.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 Dec 2008 | 12:11 am Happiness: Contagious as the FluIn a good mood? Your neighbor, her friends and even her friends' friends should thank you.Source: Livescience.com | 5 Dec 2008 | 12:01 am Minister checks on science examsThe science minister is to examine GCSE and A-level papers to check they are not being "dumbed down".Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 5 Dec 2008 | 12:00 am NASA delays Mars mission to 2011 (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 11:50 pm NASA sets May date for Hubble telescope repairs (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 11:30 pm Seawater holds key to future foodGrowing crops in salt water is becoming necessary to overcome shortages of fresh water, scientists say.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 Dec 2008 | 11:21 pm Ancient rock art reveals previously unknown bat speciesAn ancient cave painting in Australia depicts a previously unknown species of large bat, according to researchers.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 Dec 2008 | 11:09 pm Genetic Tests of Athletic Prowess — For Babies
A new genetic test offers to predict the sports at which a baby will someday excel. But even if the science were sound — it's not — this might not be a good idea. The $150 test, offered by Colorado-based Atlas Sports Genetics, looks at ACTN3, a gene that codes for fast-twitch muscle fiber. People with lots of fast-twitching muscle are ostensibly suited for "burst" sports like football or sprinting. Those with slow-twitch muscles ought to be better at endurance sports. "Finding any great Olympic athlete normally takes years to determine," proclaims the company's website. "What if we knew a part of the answer when we were born?" But sporting achievement isn't that simple. Theodore Friedmann, a University of California-San Diego gene therapist, told the New York Times that the test was "an opportunity to sell new versions of snake oil." Hundreds of genes have been implicated in athletic success. ACTN3 is just one of these. (Sure, Jamaicans have disproportionately high levels of ACTN3 — but if that explains their Olympic dominance in 2008, what about their poor showing in 2004?) These genes have yet to be connected with those other, equally important predictors of success, which go by the unscientific names of "heart" and "smarts." A perfect example is Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia: slow, small, weak and fabulously successful. "This kid can't run. He's not very strong. He's 5'4", or whatever he is on a good day. He doesn't have much fast twitch. He's just a ballplayer," said his college baseball coach, Pat Murphy, in a Boston Globe story on Pedroia's winning the American League's Most Valuable Player Award. But even if ACTN3 testing was completely accurate, able to predict athletic success before a baby had graduated from bottle-feeding to Gatorade, would it be desirable? Becoming a professional athlete is only a little more realistic than becoming a rock star. Which isn't to say people shouldn't strive — but reaching the pinnacle is less important than the process itself. The benefits of childhood sports take many forms: how to be a good teammate. Learning to perform under pressure. The satisfaction and self-confidence of overcoming adversity. The value of practice and self-discipline. Most important of all is simple fun. If a child doesn't enjoy a sport, he or she should do something else. Reading about the Atlas Sports Genetics test reminded me of a conversation I overheard last year at a local coffee shop. Two new parents were talking with a friend about what sport their baby boy would play. Basketball and football were out of the question, dad said: he'd never be big enough to succeed. The friend suggested tennis, but mom said that traveling across the country for high-level tournaments was too expensive. The parents seemed like nice, thoughtful and genuinely supportive people. It just hadn't occurred to them that their son might be fine picking a sport he liked, and playing it for fun. Image: A child holding a bat, with no implications made about parental pressure / box of lettuce See Also:
WiSci 2.0: Brandon Keim's Twitter stream and Del.icio.us feed; Wired Science on Facebook. Source: Wired: Wired Science | 4 Dec 2008 | 9:56 pm New Image Details Jewel in Southern SkyA new image shows Omega Centauri in all its splendor.Source: Livescience.com | 4 Dec 2008 | 9:30 pm Cellular 'Bullets' Destroy HIV, Raise Vaccine Possibilities
The blow-by-blow cellular story of those rare people whose immune systems control AIDS on their own has been unknown to scientists — until now. Researchers have uncovered the mechanisms used by a type of white blood cell to destroy HIV-infected cells. If a vaccine could program cells to do this, it could protect people from AIDS. "The cells are massively loaded with killer molecules. They were able, in our assay, to kill almost all the HIV-infected cells," said Mark Connors, an AIDS specialist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. "The killing was very efficient and very rapid." It's still too soon to extrapolate from the observations to a fully effective vaccine against AIDS — something that scientists have pursued for years, only to be repeatedly disappointed. But despite the failures of vaccines and other treatments, glimmers of hope are seen in what are known as long-term non-progressors: people whose immune systems naturally and inexplicably control a virus that causes two million deaths every year. Approximately one person in 5,000 possesses this protection, and researchers have identified many genes and proteins that appear to play a role in this defense. The latest findings, published today in Immunity, suggest a specific approach for a vaccine. "It tells us what we want to build," said James Riley, a University of Pennsylvania AIDS researcher who was not involved in the study. Connors' team studied CD8+, or cytotoxic, T cells — the immune system's first responders, responsible for destroying virus-infected cells before the virus can replicate and spread. Once cytotoxic cells taken from long-term non-progressors were primed by an initial exposure to HIV, they loaded themselves with grains containing two weapons: proteins that can dissolve cell walls, and toxic molecules called granzyme B.
When armed, the cells attacked HIV-infected cells by drilling holes in their walls and pumping them full of granzyme B. Connors compared the cells to a gun loaded with bullets. In contrast, cytotoxic cells taken from people with typical HIV vulnerability "didn't load with enough bullets to be capable killers." In addition to vaccines, Riley said the mechanism could also inspire cell-based therapies. "We don't know, from a vaccine point of view, how to induce these types of cells," he said. Connors next hopes to identify the mechanisms that instruct cytotoxic cells to take up arms.
"There's something that's going on in these people," said Connors, "and we're amassing the tools to try and take that apart." Image: A cytotoxic cell attacks a tumor cell / National Institute for Medical Research See Also:
WiSci 2.0: Brandon Keim's Twitter stream and Del.icio.us feed; Wired Science on Facebook. Source: Wired: Wired Science | 4 Dec 2008 | 9:28 pm Hubble Sees a Celestial 'Snow Globe'Globular cluster M13 is home to over 100,000 stars.Source: Livescience.com | 4 Dec 2008 | 9:28 pm Gene may open door for new sickle cell therapiesCHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. researchers have discovered a gene switch that could lead to better treatments for sickle cell disease and thalassemia, two inherited blood disorders that affect millions of people, they said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 9:19 pm Could These Weird Ideas Save the Planet?It's every harebrained scheme for itself at the U.N. climate conference's "Mini Sustainable Club."Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 4 Dec 2008 | 9:05 pm Zimbabwe Cholera Outbreak Declared EmergencyA cholera epidemic blamed on broken sewage pipes has killed more than 500.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 4 Dec 2008 | 8:34 pm Edible Electronics Monitor Drugs in Your Body
Over the next few years popping a pill could be more than just taking a drug and hoping it works. A biomedical company has created a system to embed tiny computers and sensors into drugs and link them to a cellphone or the internet in a bid to make the monitoring of drug efficacy foolproof. The technology allows for automatic collection of vital patient data that can be used to manage chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. It can be particularly useful to closely track a patient's response to a particular dosage of medicine. The idea garnered the company on Thursday one of the 34 prestigious "technology pioneer" awards from the World Economic Forum. “We are enabling intelligent medicine by adding sensors to existing therapies so it can be personalized to every individual on a cost-effective basis,” says George Savage, co-founder and chief medical officer of Proteus Biomedical. Proteus' product consists of two parts: an ingestible sensor chip and an external band-aid-like patch. The chips are just 1mm square and 200 microns thick and are attached to pills with a bio-compatible glue. When swallowed the chips send a signal to the patch. The patch has accelerometers and amplifiers to track heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature and body angle to determine if the patient is lying down or standing up. That information is transmitted via Bluetooth to an online repository and can show how the body is responding to the drug, says Savage. “This provides automated physiological data that gets uploaded with a time stamp to the internet,” he says. “So when physicians see a patient for a few minutes they know exactly what is going on.” The company has had two clinical trials for the product and is hoping to get market clearance from the FDA by the middle of next year. Still, it will be 2011 before the first products hit the market, says Savage. See Also:
Images: Proteus Source: Wired: Wired Science | 4 Dec 2008 | 7:50 pm NASA delays robot Mars life-search missionWASHINGTON (Reuters) - NASA said on Thursday that it will postpone by two years the planned launch of a major mission to study whether Mars was ever capable of harboring life, citing development and testing delays.Source: Reuters: Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 7:46 pm Study sheds light on breast cancer drug failureLONDON (Reuters) - The most commonly used breast cancer drug may cause tumors to spread in a small number of women with low levels of a protein which makes cells stick together, British researchers said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 7:31 pm Boot Knut? Berlin's Star Polar Bear Faces EvictionKnut, turning 2 years old tomorrow, has gotten too big for his enclosure.Source: Livescience.com | 4 Dec 2008 | 7:30 pm Climate history may explain empires' fallCHICAGO (Reuters) - An analysis of rings on a stalagmite from a cave near Jerusalem reveals a drier climate in the region at a time in history when the Roman and Byzantine empires were in decline, scientists reported on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 7:04 pm Mars Wobbles Created Climate SwingsLayering of rock outcrops on Mars point to climate cycles caused by changes in Mars' tilt.Source: Livescience.com | 4 Dec 2008 | 7:04 pm Threat of Punishment Works, Study SuggestsFearing punishment, freeloaders contribute to society.Source: Livescience.com | 4 Dec 2008 | 7:03 pm Nasa delays its next Mars missionThe US space agency (Nasa) has delayed the launch of its Mars Science Laboratory rover mission from 2009 to 2011.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 Dec 2008 | 5:52 pm Students Find Planet Outside Our Solar SystemStudents detect a new exoplanet.Source: Livescience.com | 4 Dec 2008 | 5:49 pm Next Mars Mission DelayedThe next Mars mission has been delayed until at least 2011.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 4 Dec 2008 | 5:34 pm Britain's DNA database violates privacy: courtSTRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - Britain violated the privacy of two people by storing their DNA profiles, Europe's human rights court ruled on Thursday, a decision that calls into question rules governing the use of the country's DNA database.Source: Reuters: Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 5:24 pm Ancient Flying Reptile Bigger Than a Car (LiveScience.com)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 5:24 pm Ancient Flying Reptile Bigger Than a CarA fossil of a toothless pterosaur represents the largest of these flying reptiles ever to be found.Source: Livescience.com | 4 Dec 2008 | 5:11 pm Couples in US prefer to donate embryos for research, study findsDuke University study shows that 41% of patients who finished fertility treatment consider donating embryosSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 4 Dec 2008 | 4:44 pm Turtle Egg-Laying Season Thrown Off by WarmingAmerican turtles are changing their nesting habits thanks to rising temps.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 4 Dec 2008 | 4:34 pm DOUBLE TAKE: To Bury or Not to Bury CO2Experts debate whether burying CO2 makes sense.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 4 Dec 2008 | 4:07 pm Man Accidentally Shoots Wife During SexWe Americans, it seems, have a penchant for doing ourselves harm.Source: Livescience.com | 4 Dec 2008 | 4:05 pm Weather around the U.S.A. (AP)AP - Weather around the U.S.A.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 4:00 pm Walruses Threatened by Shrinking Ice, Group SaysConservationists go to court for the declining Pacific walrus.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 4 Dec 2008 | 2:34 pm "Rogue" stem cell clinics exploit hope: report (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 2:28 pm No Such Thing as a 'Voice Print'Speech recordings may guide investigators, but they can't ID a person.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 4 Dec 2008 | 2:15 pm Fabric can wipe away toxic chemicals: studyCHICAGO (Reuters) - A new dry wipe can clean up chemical agents such as mustard gas, giving soldiers a more convenient way to deal with toxic materials on the battlefield, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 4 Dec 2008 | 1:44 pm DNA database 'breach of rights'Keeping the DNA of two Britons with no convictions was a breach of their human rights, a European court rules.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:44 pm Richard BlackApplause as Queen dips a toe into happy watersSource: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:40 pm Teddy bears go on space missionFour British teddy bears this week ascended to the outer edges of Earth's atmosphere. Boldly going where few cuddly toys have gone before, the teddynauts were dressed in special spacesuits designed and made by 11- and 12-year-old pupils from Parkside and Coleridge community colleges as part of a project with Cambridge University's spaceflight student club. The space mission, aiming to get pupils excited about science and engineering, launched from Churchill College, Cambridge on Monday. From there the four intrepid space pioneers, floated upwards to a height of 30,000 metres with a foam padded box containing cameras attached to a helium balloon. The teddy bears spent two hours and nine minutes in flight, reaching near space, above 99% of the Earth's atmosphere. They endured temperatures of between -40C and -53C, depending on the effectiveness of their spacesuits. All four landed safely just north of Ipswich to be retrieved by the team of student scientists who had travelled from Cambridge by car, following their progress via an onboard GPS system. "This was a really fun thing to do. The best bit was when we set the balloon off with the bears," said Aiyana Stead, 12. Megan Makinson, also 12, added: "It was really fun when the balloon was blowing up. We had to hold it in the freezing winds. It felt like we were being smothered by a giant dumpling." Teacher Steve Hinshelwood, who runs science clubs at Parkside and Coleridge, said the children had great fun as they tried to turn their original spacesuit designs into something they could actually make. "Suddenly scientific ideas such as insulation, convection, conduction and radiation became important. Thinking about weight made ideas of buoyancy, pressure and the composition of the atmosphere relevant," he said. "The need to get the teddies back gave the students a chance to think about computer control and radio communications. "I don't think that the students realised how much science they were learning – they were just having fun." guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 4 Dec 2008 | 12:23 pm Iconic tortoise Lonesome George, 80, may be sterileLonesome George, the conservation icon of the Galapagos islands and last surviving tortoise of his kind, looks set to stay lonely after again failing to produce offspring. Galapagos National Park officials announced yesterday that eight eggs laid by the giant tortoise's two female companions are infertile. Conservationists' hopes were raised in July when George's mates produced eggs after no fewer than 36 years of encouragement by park rangers. The eggs were placed in an artificial incubator but they did not develop embryos. There are now fears that George, who is thought to be around 80 years old and the last remaining member of the Geochelone abigdoni species, is sterile. The most recent prospective mothers have accompanied George in captivity since 1993 but did not begin mating with him until late 2006. They belong to the Geochelone becki species – believed to be the closest existing relative of George. Between them, the females laid 13 eggs on Santa Cruz island in July. The Galapagos National Park director general, Sixto Naranjo, said George could be sterile, or else the female's adjustment to captivity could have left them infertile. Another possibility is that the diet in their breeding centre negatively affected their reproductive systems, he said. But the conservationists have vowed to continue trying. A team of seven biologists and 26 park rangers have begun taking blood samples from tortoises on nearby Isabela island in search of hybrid species that share as many or more genes with Lonesome George. The conservationists may have many more years to assist George – a tortoise called Jonathan on the island of St Helena is now thought to be the world's oldest living creature after a photograph of him has just emerged, confirming that he is likely to be at least 176. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 4 Dec 2008 | 11:40 am
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