Can Large-scale Pumps Inject Oxygen And Life Into The Lifeless Seabed Of The Baltic?

A pilot study will attempt to answer whether it is possible to maintain the Baltic in this oxygen rich state, by continuously adding oxygen rich water to the deep water.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Dec 2008 | 1:00 am

New Vaccine Protects Monkeys From Pneumonic Plague

Scientists have developed a vaccine incorporating the protein V10 and found that it protected macaques from lethal pneumonic plague and may have implications for use in humans. 
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Dec 2008 | 1:00 am

Archaeological Discovery: Earliest Evidence Of Our Cave-dwelling Human Ancestors

Archaeologists have discovered the earliest evidence of our cave-dwelling human ancestors at the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Dec 2008 | 1:00 am

British Scientist Warns We Must Protect The Vulnerable From Robots

Top robotics expert professor Noel Sharkey has called for international guidelines to be set for the ethical and safe application of robots before it is too late. Professor Sharkey believes that as the use of robots increases, decisions about their application will be left to the military, industry and busy parents instead of international legislative bodies.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Dec 2008 | 1:00 am

Saturn's Dynamic Moon Enceladus Shows More Signs Of Activity

The closer scientists look at Saturn's small moon Enceladus, the more they find evidence of an active world. The most recent flybys of Enceladus made by NASA's Cassini spacecraft have provided new signs of ongoing changes on and around the moon. The latest high-resolution images of Enceladus show signs that the south polar surface changes over time.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Dec 2008 | 1:00 am

Cough Medicine Ingredient Could Effectively Treat Prostate Cancer, Study Shows

An ingredient used in a common cough suppressant may be useful in treating advanced prostate cancer. Researchers found that noscapine, which has been used in cough medication for nearly 50 years, reduced tumor growth in mice by 60 percent and limited the spread of tumors by 65 percent without causing harmful side effects.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Dec 2008 | 1:00 am

Advance In The Battle Against 'Gray Mold'

Scientists are reporting identification of the cluster of genes responsible for the toxins produced by "gray mold," a devastating plant disease that kills almost 200 different food and ornamental plants including tomatoes, strawberries and roses.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 21 Dec 2008 | 7:00 pm

Modified Gene Targets Cancer Cells One Thousand Times More Often Than Healthy Cells

Researchers have designed a gene that produces a thousand times more protein in cancer cells than in healthy cells. The findings may help address the prime challenge in anticancer therapy, improving treatments' ability to specifically and effectively target cancer cells. Using this new approach, scientists should be able to insert "self-destruct" codes into the modified gene, forcing cancer cells to kill themselves while healthy cells remain largely unaffected.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 21 Dec 2008 | 7:00 pm

Hubble Catches Jupiter's Largest Moon Going To The 'Dark Side'

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has caught Jupiter's moon Ganymede playing a game of "peek-a-boo." In this crisp Hubble image, Ganymede is shown just before it ducks behind the giant planet.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 21 Dec 2008 | 7:00 pm

Researchers Compile 'Molecular Manual' For Hundreds Of Inherited Diseases

An international research team has compiled the first catalog of tissue-specific pathologies underlying hundreds of inherited diseases. These results provide information that may help treat conditions such as breast cancer, Parkinson's disease, heart disease and autism.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 21 Dec 2008 | 7:00 pm

Ariane rocket launches satellites for Eutelsat (Reuters)

Reuters - A European Ariane-5 rocket blasted off from French Guiana on Saturday putting into orbit two satellites for Europe's telecoms operator Eutelsat, officials said.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Dec 2008 | 2:13 am

Ariane rocket launches satellites for Eutelsat

KOUROU, French Guiana (Reuters) - A European Ariane-5 rocket blasted off from French Guiana on Saturday putting into orbit two satellites for Europe's telecoms operator Eutelsat, officials said.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 21 Dec 2008 | 2:13 am

Not a quack

Nasa seeks news of ducks it released into Greenland ice
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Dec 2008 | 1:47 am

Obama appoints climate change expert John Holdren as chief scientist

Barack Obama ushered in a revolution in America's response to global warming yesterday when he appointed one of the world's leading climate change experts as his administration's chief scientist.

The president-elect's decision to make Harvard physicist John Holdren director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy reveals a new determination to draw a line under eight years of US policy that have seen George Bush steadfastly reject overwhelming evidence of climate change.

News of the appointment was hailed by scientists around the world, including former UK chief government scientific adviser Sir David King. "This is a superb appointment," he told the Observer. "Holdren is a top-rate scientist and his position on climate change is as clear as you could get. This is a signal from Barack Obama that he means business when it comes to dealing with global warming."

Obama also used his weekend radio address to announce that respected climatologist Jane Lubchenco is to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The appointments follow Obama's selection of Steven Chu, a Nobel prizewinner, to the Department of Energy, where he has been directed to lead the development of alternative energy sources.

"Today, more than ever before, science holds the key to our survival as a planet and our security and prosperity as a nation," Obama announced. "It's time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and ... worked to restore America's place as the world leader in science and technology."

In one telling remark, he added that respect for the scientific process was not "just about providing investment and resources. It's about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted nor obscured by politics nor ideology."

Obama's appointments are outspoken proponents of the need for urgent action over climate change, and they come after eight years of inaction, during which the Bush administration resisted international emission-reduction accords and the introduction of US laws to protect threatened species.

Holdren, whose expertise runs from nuclear-weapons proliferation to global warming, recently warned in a speech at Harvard that he considered "global warming" to be a misnomer. "It implies something gradual, something uniform, something quite possibly benign, and what we're experiencing is none of those. There is already widespread harm ... occurring from climate change. This is not just a problem for our children and our grandchildren."

As he pointed out, new figures point to a rapid acceleration in the loss of Arctic sea ice, as well as dramatic acidification of the ocean.

With the international community looking to America for leadership, Obama has made it clear that, despite the global economic crisis, the success of his presidency will hinge on a revolution in America's use and production of carbon-based energy. The selection of marine expert Lubchenco underscores that. She has warned that even if the world abruptly shifts away from fossil fuels, the oceans will continue to soak up carbon dioxide and become more acidic. She recommends protecting marine life by reducing overfishing, cutting back on nutrient run-off and creating marine reserves to protect marine eco-systems.

"The Bush administration has not been respectful of the science," she said earlier this year. "I am very much looking forward to a new administration that does respect scientific information and considers it very seriously in making environmental policies."

In another signal of his determination to move on the environment, Obama appointed Carol M Browner as his climate tsar last week. She was quoted as saying: "Time and time again, when the nation has set a new environmental standard, the naysayers have warned it will cost too much. But, once we have set those standards, American ingenuity and innovation have found a solution at a far lower cost than predicted."

For Obama, the creation of this green team is part of a broader push toward economic and environmental self-enlightenment. He has expressed hope that engaging technology with environmental and energy policy will lead to significant job creation.

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Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 21 Dec 2008 | 12:04 am

Which came first, the egg or the egg box?

Scientists at Manchester University have found a new way to make egg boxes - out of chicken feathers. They used feathers rejected by a duvet and pillow company as a basic ingredient for a range of paper products, including festive wrapping paper.

At present, the vast majority of the 120,000 tonnes of feathers plucked from poultry in UK farms goes into landfill or is incinerated. However, under the method pioneered by Professor Chris Carr and colleagues, feathers from poultry are beaten, filtered and turned into a crude feather pulp.

The team have also been able to make plant pots that are far more biodegradable than traditional plastic pots. The researchers believe they may even offer enhanced fertilising properties as protein originally found in the feathers leaches into the soil.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 21 Dec 2008 | 12:04 am

Against the runway: It would soon be a white elephant

In a significant new commitment on climate change, Ed Miliband has announced that Britain will reduce its CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050. President-elect Obama has recently made a mirror-image commitment for the United States, and underlined it by his announcement this week that his energy secretary will be Steve Chu and his chief scientific adviser will be John Holdren. Both are strongly committed to action on climate change. The world is, at last, on a new pathway to managing our global climate crisis.

Decarbonising our economies will be a technological, economic and entrepreneurial challenge of the kind we have never before faced. Above all, careful planning, regulation and public spending must be in place to minimise the cost of this switch, so that it does become the opportunity to stimulate a boost to our economies.

Gordon Brown's announcement on Thursday seemed to indicate that he is on message. Public and private investments in the right infrastructure will not only help to pull our economy out of recession, but also leave it stronger to face the future. Investment in building insulation to bring every home, office block and factory up to the highest energy-efficiency standards; carbon capture and storage; energy micro-generation and new nuclear build; new high-speed rail links; and stimuli for new low-carbon high-tech manufacturing industries are all needed. Above all, we must avoid creating tomorrow's white elephants, such as new coal-fired power stations.

And so we come to air transport and Gordon Brown's imminent decision over Heathrow's third runway. Although only making up 2% of the global CO2 problem at present, this is a rapidly growing sector and one that will resist decarbonising. The technology of low-carbon air flight is still some distance away. Long-haul flights for meetings can be minimised, for example, through the use of the uncannily realistic broadband video conferencing now emerging. But there will be continued public demand. Short-haul flights, however, will become increasingly phased out as they face better competition from rail, including high-speed rail, and the penalties of CO2 pricing, as the EU cap and trade process morphs into a global process aimed at diminishing emissions.

Despite the short-term attractions - perhaps even reducing CO2 emissions by reducing the flights in holding patterns over London - a third runway is very likely to become a stranded asset. Long before the investment in its construction is repaid, public demand for short-haul flights will have been substantially reduced. It would be tomorrow's white elephant.

• Sir David King is a former chief scientific adviser to the government

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Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 21 Dec 2008 | 12:03 am

In pictures: Mount Mabu and its wildlife

It was one of the few places on the planet that remained unmapped and unexplored. But now Mozambique's Mount Mabu has started to yield its secrets to the world

Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 21 Dec 2008 | 12:03 am

British team discovers lost Eden amid forgotten forest in Mozambique

It was one of the few places on the planet that remained unmapped and unexplored, but now Mount Mabu has started to yield its secrets to the world.

Until a few years ago this giant forest in the mountainous north of Mozambique was known only to local villagers; it did not feature on maps nor, it is believed, in scientific collections or literature. But after "finding" the forest on a Google Earth internet map, a British-led team of scientists has returned from what is thought to be the first full-scale expedition into the canopy. Below the trees, which rise 45m above the ground, they discovered land filled with astonishingly rich biodiversity.

The scientists found what they believe are three new species of butterfly, a previously undiscovered adder snake and new populations of rare birds. They also expect to find new plants among the hundreds of specimens they have brought back with them.

Photographs from the trip - published here for the first time - show just part of the forest, tropical creepers, giant snakes such as the gaboon viper, and other wildlife seen by the team, including small klipspringer and blue duiker antelope, noisy samango monkeys, elephant shrew, and the granite-like rocky peak of Mount Mabu. Back at Kew Gardens in west London, where he is based, expedition leader Jonathan Timberlake said the wonder of what they experienced was only sinking in now that they are home: "That's when the excitement comes out - when you come back home or start reading some of the background and realise you're breaking new ground."

Scientists "describe" about 2,000 new species a year but discovering new ones still captures the imagination, said Timberlake: "The phenomenal diversity is just mind-boggling - seeing how things are adapted to little niches, to me this is the phenomenal thing. If we don't have wonder as a human species, where are we? If we don't have excitement, what are we doing with our lives?"

Mount Mabu was "discovered" in 2005 when Timberlake's team were looking for a site for a conservation project. Soon afterwards, locally based conservationist Julian Bayliss visited the site and studied satellite photos which showed a forest of about 80 square kilometres.

"It's then we realised this looked [to be] potentially the biggest area of medium-altitude forest I'm aware of in southern Africa," said Timberlake, who has spent most of his working life in the region. "Nobody knew about it. The literature I'm aware of doesn't mention the word 'Mabu' anywhere; we have looked through the plant collections of Kew and elsewhere and we don't see the name come up. It might be there under another name, but we're not aware of any collection of plant or animals, or anything else taking place there."

After a few exploratory trips, in October and November this year 28 scientists and support staff from the UK, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania and Switzerland, with 70 porters, drove to an abandoned tea estate where the road ended and hiked the last few kilometres into the forest to set up camp for four weeks. One highlight was emerging from the canopy on the peak of Mount Mabu, 1,700m up, where "hundreds upon hundreds" of male butterflies had gathered in the sunlight to attract mates by flying as high as possible. "There were swifts flying in and peregrines in the air above: it was phenomenal," said Timberlake.

Outside the forest the land has been devastated by a civil war that lasted from 1975 to 1992, but inside scientists found the landscape was almost untouched. Ignorance of its existence, poor access and the forest's value as a refuge for villagers during the fighting had combined to protect it, Timberlake explained.

The scientists fear that with local people returning to the area, and Mozambique's economy booming, pressure to cut the forest for wood or burn it to make space for crops will threaten the ecology.

Visiting and describing what they found was the first step to conserving the new species, said Timberlake. "They are not propping up the earth in most cases, but if you know about them what right have you to destroy them? If you don't know about them, it was an accident; if you know about them, it's malicious."

How scientists found the unknown forest

Scientists based at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew stumbled across the existence of Mount Mabu after looking at Google Earth internet maps in 2005, in the hope of finding a site for a conservation project.

Conservationist Julian Bayliss visited the area soon afterwards and saw satellite photos of a large, unexplored forest. In late 2008, an expedition hiked into it and was confronted with a treasure trove of new species.

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Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 21 Dec 2008 | 12:03 am

Editorial: John Holdren is science's new champion

Editorial: Obama's decision to appoint John Holdren as chief scientific adviser deserves widespread welcome

Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 21 Dec 2008 | 12:03 am

Ariane makes final launch of 2008

A European Ariane rocket carries into orbit two satellites for the same major operator, the first time this happened.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 20 Dec 2008 | 10:44 pm

Climate experts get key US posts

US President-elect Barack Obama nominates two global warming specialists for key science posts in his administration.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 20 Dec 2008 | 6:22 pm

Activists intercept Japanese whalers in Antarctic waters (AFP)

AFP - Militant environmental activists said Saturday they had intercepted the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctic waters and attempted to attack one of the boats with stink bombs.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Dec 2008 | 6:10 pm

Obama names 4 top members of science team (AP)

AP - President-elect Barack Obama's selection Saturday of a Harvard physicist and a marine biologist for science posts is a sign he plans a more aggressive response to global warming than did the Bush administration.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Dec 2008 | 4:35 pm

Researchers probe scat for clues to orca decline (AP)

AP - Using a trained dog to sniff for poop and petri dishes attached to long poles, scientists are analyzing killer whales' scat and breath samples in the hopes of solving the mystery of Puget Sound's dwindling orca population.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Dec 2008 | 1:05 pm