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5 Predictions for 2008 That (Thankfully) FailedThere are many self-described psychics who claim to see the future. How'd they do?Source: Livescience.com | 30 Dec 2009 | 9:44 pm World's Largest Dinosaur Fossil Field ClaimedA field of dinosaur bones found earlier this year in China may be the largest in the world.Source: Livescience.com | 30 Dec 2009 | 7:56 pm How to Recycle Your Christmas TreeTreecycling: It's time to recycle your Christmas tree.Source: Livescience.com | 30 Dec 2009 | 4:04 pm Ancient Fossil Suggests Origin of CheetahsToday's cheetahs likely originated in the Old World.Source: Livescience.com | 30 Dec 2009 | 3:29 pm Yellowstone Earthquake Swarm Puzzles ScientistsA swarm of small earthquakes in Yellowstone National Park are the most intense in years.Source: Livescience.com | 30 Dec 2009 | 2:47 pm Amazing Mars: Discoveries in 2008Phoenix, MRO, and rovers studied Mars' surface looking for signs of water and potential habitability.Source: Livescience.com | 30 Dec 2009 | 2:17 pm Top 5 Historical Discoveries of 2008This year got historians and archaeologists all hot under the elbow patches.Source: Livescience.com | 30 Dec 2009 | 2:10 pm Smiles Are Innate, Not LearnedBlind individuals produce similar facial expressions as people with sight.Source: Livescience.com | 29 Dec 2009 | 6:34 pm 2008 a Devastating Year for Natural DisastersInsurance group ranks this year third for human and financial losses from natural disasters.Source: Livescience.com | 29 Dec 2009 | 6:18 pm Top 10 Most Literate U.S. CitiesBookworms and others in cities in the Midwest and West have beaten out Yankee types to reach the very top of a researcher’s list of the most literate American cities.Source: Livescience.com | 29 Dec 2009 | 4:18 pm Clockwork That Drives Powerful Virus Nanomotor DiscoveredPeering at structures only atoms across, researchers have identified the clockwork that drives a powerful virus nanomotor. Because of the motor's strength -- to scale, twice that of an automobile -- the new findings could inspire engineers designing sophisticated nanomachines. In addition, because a number of virus types may possess a similar motor, including the virus that causes herpes, the results may also assist pharmaceutical companies developing methods to sabotage virus machinery.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jan 2009 | 1:00 am Mouse Trap? Immunologist Calls For More Research On Humans, Not MiceThe fabled laboratory mouse -- from which we have learned so much about how the immune system works -- can teach us only so much about how we humans get sick and what to do about it, says a leading researcher.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jan 2009 | 1:00 am Family Rejection Of Lesbian, Gay And Bisexual Children Linked To Poor Health In ChildhoodA predictive link has been established between negative family reactions to their child's sexual orientation and serious health problems. Negative parental behaviors toward LGB children dramatically compromises their health.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jan 2009 | 1:00 am Don't Scratch That Itch: Blocking The Protein IL-21R Helps Prevent A Form Of EczemaResearchers have identified a role for the protein IL-21R in a mouse model of atopic dermatitis, a common allergic inflammatory skin disease often known as eczema.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jan 2009 | 1:00 am Shade Coffee Benefits More Than BirdsHere's one more reason to say 'shade grown, please' when you order your morning cup of coffee. Shade coffee farms, which grow coffee under a canopy of multiple tree species, not only harbor native birds, bats and other beneficial creatures, but also maintain genetic diversity of native tree species and can act as focal points for tropical forest regeneration.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jan 2009 | 1:00 am Gene Therapy Reversed Heart Damage In Rats With Heart FailureLong-term gene therapy resulted in improved cardiac function and reversed deterioration of the heart in rats with heart failure, according to a recent study.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jan 2009 | 1:00 am Songs From The Sea: Deciphering Dolphin Language With Picture WordsIn an important breakthrough in deciphering dolphin language, researchers in Great Britain and the United States have imaged the first high definition imprints that dolphin sounds make in water.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 31 Dec 2008 | 7:00 pm Small Molecules, Large Effect: How Cancer Cells Ensure Their SurvivalScientists have identified a molecular mechanism used by cancer cells to "defend" themselves against chemotherapeutics in an attempt to ensure their own survival. Both the messenger substance nitrogen monoxide (NO) and the protein survivin play a role in this.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 31 Dec 2008 | 7:00 pm Genes That Made 1918 Flu Lethal IsolatedBy mixing and matching a contemporary flu virus with the "Spanish flu" -- a virus that killed between 20 and 50 million people 90 years ago in history's most devastating outbreak of infectious disease -- researchers have identified a set of three genes that helped underpin the extraordinary virulence of the 1918 virus.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 31 Dec 2008 | 7:00 pm Aphids Leave Old Exoskeletons Near Their Colonies, As DecoysBy leaving the remains of their old exoskeletons, called 'exuviae', in and around their colonies, aphids gain some measure of protection from parasites. Parasitoid wasps are likely to attack the empty shells, resulting in a lower attack rate on their previous occupants -- much like in the popular 'shell game' confidence trick.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 31 Dec 2008 | 7:00 pm Open thread: 2008 will be exactly one second longer than usual. What do you plan to do with the extra time?Open thread: 2008 will be exactly one second longer than usual. What do you plan to do with the extra time?Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 31 Dec 2008 | 1:00 pm Plants 'more important than ever'The role of plants has never been so vital, says the head of Kew Gardens, as the site turns 250 years old.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 31 Dec 2008 | 10:41 am NASA says Columbia crew had no chance to surviveCAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Astronauts on the shuttle Columbia were trying to regain control of their craft before it broke apart in 2003, but there was no chance of surviving the accident, a NASA report said on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 31 Dec 2008 | 9:42 am Stern hope over US climate dealEconomist Lord Stern says he is optimistic that a global deal on reducing carbon dioxide emissions will be struck under Barack Obama.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 31 Dec 2008 | 8:59 am NASA describes final moments of Columbia tragedy (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 31 Dec 2008 | 8:29 am Oil prices end tumultuous year below 40 dollars (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 31 Dec 2008 | 7:20 am Honour for Royal Society luminaryProf Martin Taylor, vice president of the Royal Society, heads the list of scientists recognised in the New Year Honours.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 31 Dec 2008 | 7:01 am 5 Predictions for 2008 That (Thankfully) Failed (LiveScience.com)LiveScience.com - As the year draws to a close and a new year begins, it is natural to reflect on what has passed and what may lie ahead. Goals are set, resolutions are kept (or not), and inevitably predictions are made.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 31 Dec 2008 | 2:31 am New NASA report details final minutes of Columbia (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 31 Dec 2008 | 2:31 am Extra second to keep UK on timeA "leap second" will be added onto official clocks at midnight to account for the Earth's slowing spin on its axis.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 31 Dec 2008 | 2:11 am Ticking overHow a "leap second" will be added to Big BenSource: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 31 Dec 2008 | 1:33 am Vegetable oil tested on NZ flightA New Zealand passenger plane successfully completes a two-hour test flight partly powered by vegetable oil.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 31 Dec 2008 | 1:32 am Wired Science's 13 Most Popular Stories of 2008It was a good year for Wired Science, and we have our readers to thank for that. So, for the dual purposes of thanking you and patting ourselves on the back, here is a list of our most read stories of 2008 (and a couple we think should have been). 1) Biologists on the Verge of Creating New Form of Life
Working with simple membranes and proteins, Harvard Medical School researcher Jack Szostak is closing in on creating a new form of life that might resemble the earliest life on earth. It was probably a combination of the frightening idea of scientists creating new life forms, and a fascination with how life evolved on Earth that landed this story at the top of the list.
It was the unconditional love that Wired Science readers have for extraterrestrial life that boosted this story to just shy of first place. In November, scientists discovered glycolaldehyde, a sugar molecule considered critical for life, in an area of the galaxy calm enough for planet formation. 3) Bolt is Freaky Fast, But Nowhere Near Human Limits We piggy-backed on Usain Bolt's electrifying speed with this post, which broke down the biomechanical limits of human runners and delved into the possibility that Bolt (or someone like him) could go even faster. 4) What's Old Is New: 12 Living Fossils
Animals are always popular at Wired Science, and the stranger the better. Purple frogs, ten-footed lobsters and three eyed beetles are some of the crazy creatures on this list of animals that have stuck with the same genetic plan for millions of years. 5) Secrets of Stradivarius Explained This story explained how Stradivarius violins, considered the best in the world, get their pitch-perfect sound courtesy of the Little Ice Age.
Any time liquid is discovered on another planet, it raises the chance that life will turn up as well. Saturn's moon Titan, with its hydrocarbon lakes, is one of the most promising spots in the solar system to look for extraterrestrial life. Jupiter's icy moon, Europa, Mars and another of Saturn's moons, Enceladus, are some other potential local harbors for life. 7) Forgotten Experiment May Explain Origins of Life Continuing with the origins-of-life theme this year, an old "volcano-in-a-bottle" experiment, sitting on a shelf 50 years, turned out to provide new evidence that life may have begun near volcanoes. 8) Graphic Evidence Against Steroid Abuse
Wired Science broke the story of the Mars Phoenix Twitter feed and helped make her the tweeting star that she was. We then turned around and used the her tweets to break the story of the discovery of ice on Mars, featured here. Unfortunately our love affair with Phoenix came to an end in November when the Martian winter set and deprived her of her solar power, which we commemorated with our popular Twitter-style epitaph contest that received almost 1,000 entries. 10) Large Hadron Collider: Best- and Worst- Case Scenarios We broke down how the LHC could affect the major theoretical physics ideas of our generation. Turns out, though, that we didn't envision the real worst-case scenario. That the world's most complex machine would break within weeks of beginning operation.
With the number of foreclosures skyrocketing, your own personal "bouncy house" complete with beds, heat, food, water and first-aid might not be a bad idea. We found this emergency inflatable home called the "Life Cube" at the California Clean-Tech gala in November. 12) First Beam Circles Large Hadron Collider Track In September, the colossal Large Hadron Collider, which physicists around the world have anxiously awaited for decades, sent its first beam around its 17-mile circular track. Little did we know it would be months before we'd get more action out of the thing. Just a week after the celebrated machine started up, an electrical problem shut it back down. The most recent estimate is that it could be back in action by 13) Top 10 Amazing Physics Videos Nothing helps us get through a work day quite like one of Aaron Rowe's nearly-patented top 10 video lists. This one, covering physics, ends with the Large Hadron Collider rap, the best music video ever made for an atom smasher. Editor's Picks: Here are two stories we think should have made this list, but somehow fell just short or slipped through the cracks. 1) Give Thanks? Science Supersized Your Turkey Dinner
Sure it's cool they shot these guys into space and some of them survived. But really, tardigrades are just so damn cute! Like a cross between a teddy bear and the Michelin Man. See Also:
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 31 Dec 2008 | 1:14 am Grim details of Columbia disasterThe space shuttle crew tried valiantly to regain control of their doomed orbiter, says a Nasa report into the 2003 disaster.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 31 Dec 2008 | 1:06 am Editorial: In praise of... strict timeEditorial: it is true, the days really are getting longer, so much so that it is time for another leap secondSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 31 Dec 2008 | 12:02 am A Willy Wonka Who Wants to Feed the World
Ask America's foremost molecular gastronomist about the Willy Wonka comparisons, and Homaro Cantu will insist that he's just an average guy who likes cheeseburgers. But it's not cheeseburgers that have earned the Chicago chef fame: it's dishes prepared with industrial lasers, inkjet printers and liquid nitrogen. Look beneath the technical sophistication, though, and Cantu's kitchen pyrotechnics are revealed as explorations of possible answers to a very simple question: What is food? And if the cuisine at Moto, his "molecular tasting lab," can be described as postmodern, Cantu himself has little time for gastro-academic posing. He's driven by a techno-utopian vision of decentralized food in which the world's ever-growing appetites are met by a radical transformation of agriculture itself — and it all begins in our kitchens. "Make enough food for everyone. That's the end game," says Cantu. "And to get there, we have to start thinking a little crazier about what food is." Wired.com talked to Cantu about his tastes and vision. Wired.com: What have you been working on lately? Homaro Cantu: We've been trying to incorporate food from the green world, and started growing microalgae. You can get 10,000 to 30,000 gallons of algae per acre. It can be grown in salt or fresh water, in a whole variety of temperatures. It increases the food supply rather than depleting it, and it's a net energy gain. For $300 we built a photobioreactor that produced 15 gallons of food per month. The idea was to take algae, process it into sushi and fuel, and deliver it it in a truck running on algae biofuel. And we're just a bunch of chefs. If we can figure this out, I don't know why others can't. Wired.com: Hearing about algae or jellyfish as dietary staples depresses me. Those aren't exactly humanity's first choices in food. Cantu: I can't think of a time in the history of man when food was in excess. We're dealing with the same old problems we've dealt with for 60,000 years. Look at corn, at how many products come out of it — food, plastics — on one crop a year. Algae provides eight crops per year. It's the responsible thing to do. Algae is the perfect food plant. It doubles cell mass every twelve hours, depending on the strain. The Japanese have a long lifespan in part because they eat different forms of algae. Of course, we were also doing this to entertain ourselves. Wired.com: Does that sense of play motivate your work? Cantu: Sure. The world is full of challenges, but with those come opportunity, and I'm an opportunist. It's fun to be in it, creating all these exciting new ways to live, rather than doing the same old boring thing. That's how mankind has evolved. We're just starting to see it in the kitchen in the restaurant world, but it's been going on in the food processing world for 40 years. Wired.com: When I think of food processing, I think of food being stripped of its flavor and character — the opposite of dining. Cantu: I'm not going to pin myself down and say that we don't support processed foods. Sixty-five percent of food in America is genetically modified or processed. We're part of that. There's two ways to look at it. Let's say you have a food printer and eight cartridges, and grow eight crops on the roof, and that's all you need to replicate any food product you can imagine, from mom's apple pie to a cheeseburger with French fries. That would decentralize the food structure, and you'd know exactly where your food comes from. At the other extreme, you have what we've been doing: agriculture. The thing that came after permaculture. The forest goes away, and we plant neat straight rows. But it's not sustainable over the long haul. In the end we're going to want to keep the pleasurable eating experience we have today, and technology is going to step in and decentralize that. I support farmers, whether the farmer is a guy next door or a guy that lives in the breadbasket of America. Wired.com: But why cook these decentralized foods with printers or lasers? Cantu: We have sautee pans and burners, too. You can't print a great pizza unless you know how to make a great pizza. There's a lot to be said for classic cuisine. Wired.com: Are there principles that guide the design of your dishes? Cantu: Make enough food for everyone. That's the end game. And to get there, we have to start thinking a little crazier about what food is. Wired.com: What is food? Cantu: It's what enables us to live — and more than that, it's dense energy storage. If you look at it from that point of view, you start shooting two birds with one shot. How can we get something new into the food supply while serving another purpose, such as making plastic? We're going to start working with things that grow easily in varied climates, and the end result will be printed food that grows on your roof. Decentralizing food is the wave of the future. Wired.com: Now that molecular gastronomy has gone relatively mainstream, do you see yourself as being different from other practitioners? Cantu: There's different parts to what I do. There's the restaurant, and everything I do outside. In the restaurant, our food looks different. You'll have a Cuban sandwich that looks like a Cuban cigar with ash on it. We specialize in the transmogrification of known food products into other forms. That's the biggest difference between us and the others. But it isn't always the restaurant. It's me and the pastry chef, working out of sheer curiosity. If you showed the average tinkerer how to do this, they'd do it in a heartbeat. That's what I like about this — and it's the stuff that you'll see in a year or two that sets us apart. We're going to show people how to make plastic from potatoes. How to make styrofoam peanuts from two ingredients and a microwave, and you'll eat them, too. There will be a polymer oven you can put in your microwave and 30 seconds later, it's 500 degrees hot. Instead of using a gas oven or giant electric oven, you'll shrink it down to the size of your hand and only heat the space you need. If you walk into a kitchen and it's hot, there's wasted energy there. Our kitchen isn't hot. Wired.com: Are you aware of what's going on, at the molecular level, with your dishes? Cantu: Yes and no. We think of things in simple terms: how can we end world hunger? And then you investigate that. Recently I started thinking about how people can eat the stuff they don't eat now, that already grows around them. If you can turn that into food and make it taste good, you've got an answer. I can't tell you more about this, but let's just say I've had my neighbors eating twigs and branches by giving them a supplemental product that makes it taste good. You have to have some understanding of chemistry, of how taste receptors work, of how people perceive food. But it starts with that initial crazy question: What is food? See Also:
WiSci 2.0: Brandon Keim's Twitter stream and Del.icio.us feed; Wired Science on Facebook. Source: Wired: Wired Science | 30 Dec 2008 | 11:07 pm Calif. sues to block Bush endangered species rules (AP)AP - California is suing the Bush administration to block last-minute endangered species regulations that are intended to reduce input from federal scientists, state Attorney General Jerry Brown announced Tuesday.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Dec 2008 | 10:07 pm Sharks have wimpy bites, study findsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sharks have wimpy bites for their size and can crunch through their prey only because they have very sharp teeth -- and because they can grow to be so big, researchers reported on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 30 Dec 2008 | 9:57 pm Ancient ship found buried near Argentine river (AP)AP - Workers digging to lay the foundation of a luxury apartment complex in Argentina uncovered a Spanish ship believed to be from the 18th century.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Dec 2008 | 9:57 pm Many studies needed to tie genes to cancer: studyLONDON (Reuters) - Many genes linked to various cancers do not appear to raise the risk of getting cancer after all, according to an analysis of hundreds of studies published on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 30 Dec 2008 | 9:17 pm Many studies needed to tie genes to cancer: study (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Dec 2008 | 9:17 pm Top 10 Discovery News Videos of 2008From dino mummies to avalanche school, enjoy our favorite videos of 2008.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Dec 2008 | 9:10 pm Vitamin supplements do not reduce cancer riskAnti-oxidant supplements do not reduce your risk of developing cancer, according to a trial involving more than 7,500 women. The researchers gave vitamins C, E, beta-carotene or placebo pills to patients and followed their progress for an average of nearly 10 years. The results showed that the supplements, either on their own or in combination, did not protect the women against cancer. Beloved of health food shops and alternative therapists, anti-oxidant pills have been marketed as preventive therapies to ward off everything from cancer to the signs of ageing. Until recently, the theory behind much of this seemed sound. Numerous studies have shown that people who eat a healthy balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables are less likely to develop cancer and one benefit of these foods is thought to be the anti-oxidant chemicals they contain. Why not get that benefit directly in a pill? Several large studies have now compared the benefits of supplement pills against placebos and have conclusively shown that the benefits of a healthy diet are not shared by vitamin pills — and in some cases they have been shown to be harmful. In the new research, Dr Jennifer Lin and her colleagues at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, gave vitamins C, E, beta-carotene or placebos to 7,627 women who were at high risk of cardiovascular disease. After an average of 9.4 years' follow-up, 624 of the women had developed cancer, of which 176 died. But these cancer cases were distributed evenly between the different treatment groups, and there was no statistical difference between the number of deaths among people taking single anti-oxidants or combinations and the group taking the placebos. "Supplementation with vitamin C, vitamin E, or beta-carotene offers no overall benefits in the primary prevention of total cancer incidence or cancer mortality," the authors wrote in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. "In our trial, neither duration of treatment nor combination of the three antioxidant supplements had effects on overall fatal or nonfatal cancer events." The results agree with those of a separate randomised controlled clinical trial of vitamin C and E supplements, published in November. That study, which involved nearly 15,000 men in the US, found no cancer prevention effect from taking the supplements. The advice from Cancer Research UK is that supplements cannot take the place of eating a healthy diet. "The best way to get your full range of vitamins and minerals is to eat a healthy, balanced diet, with a variety of fruit and vegetables. Supplements do not substitute for a healthy diet, although some people may be advised to take them at certain times in their lives." guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 30 Dec 2008 | 9:00 pm Quake strikes off Indonesia's Sumatra island: seismologists (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Dec 2008 | 8:43 pm Just a second, 2009 the Earth needs to catch up (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Dec 2008 | 8:36 pm BLOG: NASA Releases Report on Columbia DeathsColumbia's astronauts were doomed by faulty safety equipment, say NASA officials.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Dec 2008 | 7:42 pm BLOG: Sea Shepherds Vs. Whalers, on VideoNew videos reveal the dramatic tactics of anti-whaling activists.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Dec 2008 | 6:16 pm Swarm of Yellowstone Quakes Baffles ScientistsYellowstone is jostled by a host of small earthquakes for a third straight day.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Dec 2008 | 5:49 pm Warming Could Spread Tick-Borne DiseaseWith rising temps, dog ticks are more likely to bite people, and spread disease.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Dec 2008 | 5:00 pm Escaped beaver fells river treesA beaver that has been felling trees after escaping from a farm is being hunted by conservationists.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 30 Dec 2008 | 4:50 pm China claims discovery of 7,600 dinosaur bone fossils in Zhucheng is world's biggestChina claims to have found the world's biggest deposit of dinosaur bones in the old city of Zhucheng in Shandong province on the country's eastern coast. Workers digging along a 300 metre slope on the outskirts of the city unearthed a densely packed layer of fossils that could be more than 100m years old. The state news agency Xinhua said that 7,600 samples had now been discovered, mostly dating from the late Cretaceous period, the era when dinosaurs are believed to have become extinct. Zhucheng has become an important site for China's dinosaur hunters, with the world's largest remnant of the duck-billed hadrosaur discovered near the city more than 20 years ago. The city's unique importance to the world of palaeontology emerged in 1964, when oil prospectors working for the state geological bureau stumbled on a collection of dinosaur fossils during a routine dig. Xinhua said the new findings included the skull of a large ceratopsian, a beaked flying dinosaur, along with bones thought to belong to the club-tailed ankylosaurus. A number of important fossil discoveries have been made in China from a wide range of geological ages, with the remains of oviraptors, sauropods, plateosaurs, stegasaurs and hadrosaurs found in Mesozoic deposits stretching from Shandong in the east to Xinjiang in the remote west. The caudipterix, elaborately plumaged and believed to be the evolutionary link between dinosaurs and birds, is also one of the country's most important discoveries. Until recently there was a thriving black market in dinosaur eggs, with poorly paid labourers selling off their finds to foreign collectors. Zhao Xijin, the China Academy of Sciences palaeontologist who has been leading the Zhucheng project, told Xinhua that in normal circumstances there is only a one in a million chance that a dinosaur bone will form a fossil. He said that during the late Cretaceous period Zhucheng must have been submerged under shallow water, making the region fertile enough to grow copious amounts of trees, weeds and grasses that would have enabled vegetarian species like the hadrosaur to thrive. Experts suggest that a massive population of dinosaurs marauded across China's landscape from about 235m years ago, but it is still an especially challenging environment when it comes to finding fossils. Old calcium-rich "flying dragon" bones continue to be ground up and used in traditional village remedies for muscle cramps and other minor ailments. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 30 Dec 2008 | 4:32 pm Genetics help Argentine police beat cattle rustlersLA PLATA, Argentina (Reuters) - Cattle-rustling is an age-old problem on Argentina's legendary Pampas plains, but genetic testing is helping police crack down on thieves.Source: Reuters: Science News | 30 Dec 2008 | 4:24 pm The Guardian Science Quiz 2008Test your recollection of key scientific events over the past 12 monthsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 30 Dec 2008 | 4:20 pm Science Quiz 2008: The stories behind the questionsBreakthroughs and Bust-ups: Links to Guardian articles used to compile our quizSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 30 Dec 2008 | 4:00 pm Ancient Fossil Suggests Origin of Cheetahs (LiveScience.com)LiveScience.com - A nearly complete skull of a primitive cheetah that sprinted about in China more than 2 million years ago suggests the agile cats originated in the Old World rather than in the Americas.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Dec 2008 | 3:59 pm Was the Virgin Mary genetically male?Could testicular feminisation offer an explanation for the mystery of Christ's virgin birth, wonders Aarathi PrasadSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 30 Dec 2008 | 3:33 pm SLIDE SHOW: Volcano of the YearAfter a 9,000-year slumber, Chile's Chaiten volcano woke up angry in 2008.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Dec 2008 | 3:00 pm SpaceX to NASA: Don't 'Fly Russian'A space start-up company says its cargo ship could also transport people.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Dec 2008 | 2:18 pm Polar refugeStepping back in time inside Shackleton's hutSource: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 30 Dec 2008 | 2:09 pm Green RoomOur writers respond to your commentsSource: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 30 Dec 2008 | 1:08 pm Escaped beaver eating through Cornish trees after breakout from Devon sanctuaryMoves may be afoot to reintroduce beavers to the wild, but for one determined furry favourite change was clearly not coming swiftly enough. The male rodent dodged through an electric fence at a sanctuary in Devon together with two females and made his dash for freedom. His two companions were quickly recaptured but the male is relishing his liberty on the banks of a river 20 miles away in Cornwall. The chunky 40kg animal has burrowed into the bank and is munching his way through poplar and willow trees. Derek Gow, principal of the Upcott Grange centre at Lifton in Dartmoor, where the beaver used to live, will attempt to trap it in the next few weeks. Gow said today: "It's ideal beaver country he's found himself in, so he'll be doing perfectly fine." The centre is holding four families of beavers that will be deliberately released into the wild in Scotland in 2009 after six months of quarantine. Gow is also a leading campaigner for the reintroduction of beavers into England and Wales. But he says the escape of the three beavers was a complete accident. "We didn't want this to happen. It's just one of those things," he said. "It's a pain in the arse. The law says we have to get him back so that's what we're going to do." The three escapees were being held in a watery five-acre pen at Upcott Grange. During heavy rain in October it is thought the pen's water level rose and short-circuited the electric fence, allowing the beavers to creep through. The two females did not get too far, stopping in a small oxbow lake. But the male, a Eurasian beaver originally from Germany, river-hopped all the way to a secluded spot near the village of Gunnislake and has enjoyed two months of freedom. In the past few weeks it has become obvious to locals that something unusual had found its way to the river Tamar when trees began to tumble. Gow said the beaver would be bringing down trees to get to any shoots and remaining leaves. It would also gnaw away at bark. The beaver has not been positively identified but Gow is convinced it is his escapee. "It can't be much else," he said. To catch the beaver, Gow says he will need around six traps. He has one, "but we're having the others built now. It's not the sort of thing you can go and find on the shelves of Woolworths," he said. The beaver was hunted to extinction in Britain for fur, meat and body oils. A feasibility study on reintroducing beavers to the wild, commissioned by Natural England and the People's Trust for Endangered Species, has been completed. No publication date has yet been set. • This article was amended on Wednesday 31 December 2008. We have altered the final paragraph. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsSource: Science | guardian.co.uk | 30 Dec 2008 | 1:00 pm
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