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Top 5 Incredible Science Discoveries of 2008Dinosaurs, the brain, gorillas, electrons and arctic ice make the list of this year's top 5 science stories.Source: Livescience.com | 29 Dec 2009 | 2:49 pm Exercise Improves Kids' AcademicsAerobic exercise improves a student's fitness level and test scores, too.Source: Livescience.com | 29 Dec 2009 | 2:06 pm Breakthrough In Production Of Double-walled Carbon NanotubesIn recent years, the possible applications for double-walled carbon nanotubes have excited scientists and engineers, particularly those working on developing renewable energy technologies. These tiny tubes, just two carbon atoms thick, are thin enough to be transparent, yet can still conduct electricity. This combination makes them well-suited for advanced solar panels, sensors and a host of other applicationsSource: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Dec 2008 | 1:00 am Changing Drivers' Perceptions Of Law Enforcement May Deter Drunk DrivingIn 2007, approximately 1,500 people nationwide were killed in crashes that involved a drunk driver from Thanksgiving through New Year's Day. Researchers found that the most important deterrence factors for high-risk drivers are their perceptions of the likelihood of being stopped or arrested and their support for deterrence laws.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Dec 2008 | 1:00 am New Label-free Method Tracks Molecules And Drugs In Live CellsA new type of highly sensitive microscopy could greatly expand the limits of modern biomedical imaging, allowing scientists to track the location of minuscule metabolites and drugs in living cells and tissues without the use of any kind of fluorescent labeling.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Dec 2008 | 1:00 am Potential Autoimmunity-inducing Cells Found In Healthy AdultsIt's not just patients with autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis that have self-attacking immune cells; healthy people have them too, according to a new report in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. However, in healthy adults, these cells are maintained in an "off" state, perhaps explaining their innocuous nature.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Dec 2008 | 1:00 am Humans, Oceans Shaped North American Climate Over Past 50 Years, NOAA Report SaysGreenhouse gases play an important role in North American climate, but differences in regional ocean temperatures may hold a key to predicting future U.S. regional climate changes, according to a new NOAA-led scientific assessment.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Dec 2008 | 1:00 am Vitamin D Deficiency In Infants And Nursing Mothers Carries Long-term Disease RisksOnce believed to be important only for bone health, vitamin D is now seen as having a critical function in maintaining the immune system throughout life. The newly recognized disease risks associated with vitamin D deficiency are clearly documented in a report in Breastfeeding Medicine.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Dec 2008 | 1:00 am Diet For Diabetics: Low-glycemic Diet Shows Greater Improvement In Glycemic Control Than High-fiber DietPersons with type 2 diabetes who had a diet high in low-glycemic foods such as nuts, beans and lentils had greater improvement in glycemic control and risk factors for coronary heart disease than persons on a diet with an emphasis on high-cereal fiber, according to a new study.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 Dec 2008 | 7:00 pm How Certain Vegetables Combat CancerWomen should go for the broccoli when the relish tray comes around during holiday celebrations this season.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 Dec 2008 | 7:00 pm Protein Sports Drinks Proven To Give Best PerformanceSports drinks containing protein are better at improving athletes' performance. Research published in the International Society of Sports Nutrition has shown that drinks containing a mix of carbohydrate and protein are superior to carbohydrate-only drinks in improving cyclists' recovery from exercise.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 Dec 2008 | 7:00 pm How Helium Can Be Solid And Perfect Liquid At Same Time, Now Explained By Computer-assisted PhysicsAt very low temperatures, helium can be solid and a perfect liquid at the same time. Theoreticians, though, have incorrectly explained the phenomenon for a long time. Computer simulations have now shown that only impurities can make this effect possible.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 Dec 2008 | 7:00 pm Did Drought Help End Roman Rule?Clues preserved in an ancient cave link the fall of the Roman Empire with drought.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Dec 2008 | 2:33 pm Breeding programme boosts numbers of endangered crayfish speciesA breeding programme has boosted the numbers of an endangered species of British crayfish. The white-clawed crayfish is threatened by a deadly "crayfish plague" and competition from a brash American cousin that was introduced to the country in the late 1970s. The conservation project, launched in 2003 in the Yorkshire Dales, has produced 300 juveniles this year – making it the UK's most successful breeding programme for the native species. The white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) was once common in upland rivers and streams, favouring hard-water areas in particular. But its numbers have been devastated by a virulent plague caused by a fungus that was almost certainly brought to this country by the North American signal crayfish – a species that has been farmed in the UK for the seafood trade since the late 1970s. Now the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of endangered species rates the native white-clawed crayfish as vulnerable to extinction – just two categories away from being critically endangered. The threat from the larger and more aggressive North American signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) is particularly acute because, apart from spreading disease, it is able to breed faster and preys on the smaller native species. Crayfish plague has taken hold quickly because it can be spread by water, fish or equipment that has been in contact with the signal crayfish. In Northern Ireland, where there are no crayfish farms, the crayfish plague is unknown. The Yorkshire project, run by Natural England and the Environment Agency, began by attempting to ringfence populations of the British crayfish. It has now moved on to developing techniques for captive breeding and rearing that allow more than 60% of offspring to survive – many more than would reach breeding age in the wild. "We are at a critical stage in protecting our remaining native crayfish populations and our work in the Yorkshire Dales is at the forefront of conserving this endangered species. It has required a lot of hard work but the results demonstrate just how successful we have been in rearing native white-clawed crayfish. We now need to build on this success," said Neil Handy, fisheries officer with the Environment Agency, who is responsible for managing the facility. "The news that white-clawed crayfish are breeding in increasing numbers in the Yorkshire Dales is extremely encouraging and shows that targeted conservation work can make a real impact. The species has been all but wiped out following the introduction of its American cousin, but the success of this project gives grounds for hoping that extinction is by no means inevitable," said Dr Helen Phillips, the chief executive of Natural England. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 29 Dec 2008 | 2:17 pm Chile says Chaiten volcano still poses dangerSANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's government said on Friday the area surrounding the Chaiten Volcano, which erupted in May for the first time in thousands of years, was still not safe and that a decision regarding the future of the town of Chaiten would be made in coming days.Source: Reuters: Science News | 29 Dec 2008 | 11:19 am The Nation's Weather (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 Dec 2008 | 9:57 am Breeding 'success' for crayfishA breeding programme in northern England has produced 300 threatened white-clawed crayfish in 2008, says Natural England.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 29 Dec 2008 | 9:07 am Myanmar signs gas deal with SKorea, India, China: state media (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 Dec 2008 | 8:18 am Smiles and scowls 'in our genes'The facial expressions we make to show or hide our emotions are hardwired into our brains, a study concludes.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 29 Dec 2008 | 6:00 am China pandas sniff at Taiwan bamboo, lose weight (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 Dec 2008 | 4:32 am Science Weekly podcast: We look back at the most significant stories of 2008Presenter Alok Jha looks back at just a few of the podcast's highlights from 2008. It's been a busy year in the world of science. Breaking the world's biggest machine (the LHC at Cern) was one of the key moments. We dedicated a whole programme to it in its honour, as well as when it was switched on. We pondered what Barack Obama, the new most powerful man in the world, will mean for science? A strange voice revisits us from the music and the brain special. Our listeners are so important, we take them away with us whenever we can. We packed our bags for Boston for the American Association for the Advancement of Science and to the BA Festival of Science in Liverpool. Big names love us. Marcus du Sautoy, the new chair for the understanding of science at the University of Oxford, popped in for a chat. American space tourist Richard Garriott told us what it was like crashing back to Earth, and Ben Goldacre, he of Bad Science fame, had a rant against the media. It's not all serious stuff like quarks, we told you how to build your own spaceship, and looked at the science of wobbling. Collectively, producer Andy and James Randerson became known as the Chucklebrothers of science after their sketches at the BA Festival of Science and in the Atheist Christmas podcast. One of the funniest few minutes of 2008 is the pod attempting to discuss new research into G-spots. Plus, we remember those who can't be with us at this time of year, Nasa's Phoenix lander. Science correspondents James Randerson and Ian Sample feature throughout. WARNING: contains explicit content. Feel free to post what you think were 2008's highlights on the blog below. You can also join our Facebook group, where you can scrawl your thoughts on our wall. Don't forget to subscribe and take the hard work out of listening. Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 29 Dec 2008 | 12:20 am Regular binge drinking can cause long-term brain damage - studyJust a few sessions of heavy drinking can damage someone's ability to pay attention, remember things and make good judgments, research shows. Binge drinkers are known to be at increased risk of accidents, violence and engaging in unprotected sex. But the study is the first to identify brain damage as a danger of consuming more alcohol than official safe limits. The research, to be published in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism, is significant because binge drinking is so widespread in the UK. Twenty-three per cent of men and 15% of women drink more than twice the government's recommended daily limit. For men this means consuming more than eight units a day and for women more than six, according to the Office for National Statistics. Binge drinkers aged between 18 and 24 are a key target of the government's alcohol strategy because a minority of people in that age group cause the majority of alcohol-related crime and disorder. Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said: "We know large numbers of people in this country binge drink. This should be a wake-up call to the millions of people whose lifestyle means they get drunk regularly." Gilmore, who is also the chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance of key medical organisations and specialist alcohol charities, added: "We are all already aware of the immediate impacts of binge drinking: accidents, violence, admission to hospital and unwanted pregnancies. But this opens up the spectre that drinkers who binge regularly may be at risk of long-term brain damage." The study was undertaken by two experts in alcohol's toxic effects on the brain: Professor Fulton Crews, director of the Bowles Centre for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina, and Dr Kim Nixon of the department of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Kentucky. They reviewed previous studies in which rats were used in experiments to examine the impact of binge drinking and then related those findings to humans. For four days in a row the rats were given the same amount of ethanol that someone imbibing 15 units of alcohol - about seven pints of normal-strength beer - would consume in one drinking session. Losses in key mental abilities were noted in the weeks after the experiment had ended. "It is fair and credible to extrapolate the research findings from tests on rats to humans," said Dr Jonathan Chick of the alcohol problems service at the Royal Edinburgh hospital, who is the chief editor of Alcohol and Alcoholism. "From this research we can infer that humans who have a few heavy drinking sessions in a row may sometimes undergo subtle brain changes which make it harder to learn from mistakes and to learn new ways of tackling problems because their brain function has been subtly impaired." The research also suggests that loss of brain function in people under 20 brought on by binge drinking increases their chances of becoming alcoholics in later life, Chick added. Alcohol-related brain damage is becoming a growing burden on the NHS as per capita alcohol consumption increases. Patients with the condition who do not die early need long-term care, which can cost £1,000 a week, for the rest of their lives. The findings underlined the need for the NHS to do more to identify and help heavy drinkers early on, Gilmore said. However, the study also found that binge drinkers who then abstained from alcohol did not suffer long-term brain damage. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 29 Dec 2008 | 12:14 am Madeleine Bunting: Darwin shouldn't be hijacked by New Atheists - he is an ethical inspirationNext year there will be no escaping one man and his legacy - 2009 will be marked by television series, books, debates, conferences and exhibitions devoted to Charles Darwin and his two anniversaries: the 200th of his birth; and the 150th of his book, On the Origin of the Species. One might imagine that there was little more to be written on the man, but the coming year will bring the publication of plenty more books, starting this week with a helpful Rough Guide to Evolution - Darwin's big idea that changed the world - and in 12 months' time 50 new titles should have arrived in bookshops. It is shaping up to be the biggest anniversary ever of an individual's life. There are some obvious good reasons for making such a fuss. He is one of the three great intellectuals of the 19th century who shaped modernity, along with Marx and Freud. Unlike the others, whose reputations have been somewhat battered by a century or so of ferocious debate, Darwin's standing is now higher than ever. Much of what he argued has been proved right. Scientists, particularly biologists, are full of awe for a man whose thinking was so meticulous, so full of original insight and astonishingly ahead of its time. He is, Newton apart, the greatest British scientist ever, so it makes good sense for the British Council, among others, to use this as an opportunity to flag up the prestigious history of British science. But there is an even more serious purpose than flying the flag or celebrating intellectual history. What drives this anniversary is a missionary zeal to persuade and convince the public of the truth of Darwin's great discoveries, because, astoundingly - despite the mountain of scientific evidence - there is still considerable scepticism and even hostility to this great Victorian. A poll for the BBC in 2006 found that less than half the British population accepted the theory of evolution as the best description for the development of life. Comparable figures in the US are attributed to its intense religiosity, but given the very low levels of regular worshippers in the UK, religious faith can't account entirely for the resistance to Darwinian evolution. So what is it? Freud's explanation in 1920 was that "humanity has in the course of time had to endure from the hands of science two great outrages upon its naive self-love. The first was when it realised that our earth was not the centre of the universe ... The second was when biological research robbed man of his peculiar privilege of having been specially created and relegated him to a descent from the animal world". One wonders how long it took for Copernicus to be treated with respect; one scholar of Darwin suggested it could be another couple of centuries before we can forgive the man. There have been plenty of other reasons to be suspicious. Darwin's ideas have been taken up and used by a litany of crooks and villains for their own purposes. "Survival of the fittest", the phrase most closely associated with Darwin and more properly credited to his contemporary Herbert Spencer, hatched a host of pernicious theories in the 20th century from eugenics to social Darwinianism. So the first imperative for the anniversary is to strip away the accumulation of mythology that has made Darwin such a villain. After speaking to five scholars of Darwin, who between them have accumulated a small pile of books on the subject, the one common refrain was that far too much has been dumped on the man. He was a brilliant scientist, but he was not a philosopher, nor a political or social theorist. He never claimed that his theories could explain everything, and certainly not everything about what it was to be human; on the contrary he himself maintained a very Victorian sense of moral accountability that he never sought to justify in terms of natural selection. In particular, what would have baffled Darwin is his recruitment as standard bearer for atheism in the 21st century. Darwin kept his pronouncements on religion to a minimum, partly out of respect for his Christian wife. Despite continuing claims that he was an atheist, most scholars acknowledge that he never went further than agnosticism. Yet bizarrely, the whole 19th-century collapse of faith is now pinned on Darwin. While he was poring over his pigeons, biblical scholars were hard at work radically revising the historical understanding of the Bible and arguably doing as much as he ever did to undermine the possibility of a literal reading of scripture. The work of the Victorian geologist Charles Lyell debunked the idea of seven days of creation in Genesis long before Darwin. The fear is that the anniversary will be hijacked by the New Atheism as the perfect battleground for another round of jousting over the absurdity of belief (a position that Darwin pointedly never took up). Many of the prominent voices in the New Atheism are lined up to reassert that it is simply impossible to believe in God and accept Darwin's theory of evolution; Richard Dawkins and the US philosopher Daniel Dennett are among those due to appear in Darwin200 events. It's a position that infuriates many scientists, not to mention philosophers and theologians. "A defence of evolution doesn't have to get entangled in atheism," says Mark Pallen, professor of microbial genomics at Birmingham and author of The Rough Guide to Evolution. Bob Bloomfield, of the Natural History Museum, says: "We want to move the agenda on to the relevance of his ideas today and put aside this squabbling over faith and dogma." An attempt to do just that will be in one of the most important of the new crop of Darwin books: Darwin's Sacred Cause, by Adrian Desmond and James Moore, published next month. They argue that Darwin was driven by a moral impulse - abolitionism. He set out to prove that all human beings, regardless of skin colour, were essentially the same, all descended within a few thousand generations from shared parentage. It was Darwin's refutation of the scientific racism of his day used to justify slavery. Bloomfield argues that Darwin's theories of evolution are rich in the ethical inspiration essential for the huge environmental crisis we now face. Common descent provides scientific underpinning for the kinship of all human beings - this is no longer simply an ideal, but a scientific fact. And human beings are connected to all other living things on earth; our relationship with the natural world is not one of dominion but intimate interdependence. Darwin may have provoked outrage by displacing human self-aggrandisement, but he also hugely widened the scope of understanding into how the earth has come to be, and thus the responsibility for how it evolves from here. In comparison with such lofty aims, a row over whether evolution is proof of atheism would be a monumental and nonsensical waste of everyone's time. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 29 Dec 2008 | 12:05 am Letters: Myths, religion and scientific rationalityLetters: Your report of a survey of science teachers' attitudes towards creationism made certain assumptions which would not, I hope, be shared by most teachers of scienceSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 29 Dec 2008 | 12:04 am StarwatchThe International Year of Astronomy opens with Venus as a striking evening star which moves from the S at nightfall to set in the WSW at about 20:15 on the 1st and more than one hour later by January's end. As Venus sinks, Orion and his sparkling retinue of winter constellations take over the SE sky. Brightening from mag -4.3 to -4.5 as it speeds through Aquarius into Pisces, Venus's track during the latter half of the month is shown by the arrow on our chart. The planet is furthest from the Sun on the 14th when its 24 arcsec disc is 51% sunlit. The young Moon stands alongside Venus on Hogmanay evening, above Venus on the 1st, and is nearby again on the 29th and 30th. Jupiter (mag -1.9) and Mercury (fainter at -0.7) lie together very low in the SW as the evening twilight fades. Mercury slides from 2.5° below Jupiter this evening to 2.5° left of Jupiter by the 2nd, the pair standing some 5° high 40 minutes after sunset. By the 11th, Jupiter is probably too low to be seen in the twilight while Mercury will soon be gone too. Saturn, shining at mag 0.9 in SE Leo, rises in the E at 22:25 on the 1st and two hours earlier by the 31st. Look for it to the left of the Moon late on the 14th and above the Moon on the 15th. The Quadrantids meteor shower is active from the 1st to the 6th, with a sharp peak expected during daylight on the 3rd. Even so, with the Moon at an unobtrusive first quarter phase, plenty of its medium-speed meteors may be seen on the nights of the 2nd and 3rd. They appear in all parts of the sky but their paths diverge from a radiant point which lies below the handle of the Plough at our star map times and climbs high into the E before dawn. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 29 Dec 2008 | 12:02 am Additive may increase cancer risk, says studyA common additive in processed foods could increase the risk of lung cancer by making the body's cells grow out of control, scientists warn today. Inorganic phosphate stimulated chemicals in the bodies of tested mice, causing lung tumours to form and grow, a study found. Researchers have called for the additive to be strictly regulated while further studies are carried out. The Food Standards Agency said it could not comment until its officials had reviewed the study. Phosphate helps build bones, teeth, muscle, and even DNA, but greater use of the additive by food companies has led to health questions. One survey found the amount of phosphate in people's diets rose 17% in the 10 years up to 1993. Use of the additive has soared due to its versatility in improving foods. It is a leavening agent in cakes, it retains moisture in meat, and it is used in fizzy drinks, milkshakes, fruit juice, tinned seafood and cheese. Myung-Haing Cho, at Seoul National University, fed mice prone to developing lung cancer a diet mirroring a high (1%) or low (0.5%) phosphate intake in humans. It was found that mice on the phosphate-rich diet had more and larger tumours than the others, their diet boosting a chemical pathway known as Akt which made cells resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Cho, whose study appears in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, said dietary regulation of [the additive] might "be critical for lung cancer treatment as well as prevention". The Seoul test results were greeted with caution by Kat Arney, of Cancer Research UK. But she added: "We do know that eating a lot of processed meat can increase the risk of certain cancers." guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 29 Dec 2008 | 12:02 am Fear: Hobbyists Will Create New Life FormsAmateur biologists are goofing around with genetics. Some fear could unleash new and dangerous life forms.Source: Livescience.com | 28 Dec 2008 | 6:02 pm Police Often Bungle Missing Child Cases (LiveScience.com)LiveScience.com - The search for a missing Florida girl named Caylee Anthony received worldwide attention this year, and recently came to a tragic end.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Dec 2008 | 5:10 pm Malaysia 'using satellite to fight illegal logging' (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Dec 2008 | 1:51 pm
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