Traditional Risk Assessment Tools Do Not Accurately Predict Coronary Heart Disease

The Framingham and National Cholesterol Education Program tools do not accurately predict coronary heart disease, according to a new study.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 16 Jan 2009 | 5:00 am

Safe New Therapy For Genetic Heart Disease, Clinical Trial Suggests

A new clinical trial suggests that long-term use of candesartan, a drug currently used to treat hypertension, may significantly reduce the symptoms of genetic heart disease.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2009 | 4:00 pm

Possible New Alzheimer's Treatment? Destroying Amyloid Proteins With Lasers

Researchers have found that a technique used to visualize amyloid fibers in the laboratory might have the potential to destroy them in the clinic. The technique involves zapping the fluorescently-tagged fibers with a laser, which can inhibit their growth and degrade them.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2009 | 4:00 pm

Job Strain Associated With Stroke In Japanese Men

Japanese men in high-stress jobs appear to have an increased risk of stroke compared with those in less demanding positions, according to a new report.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2009 | 4:00 pm

Swings In North Atlantic Oscillation Variability Linked To Climate Warming

Using a 218-year-long temperature record from a Bermuda brain coral, researchers have created the first marine-based reconstruction showing the long-term behavior of one of the most important drivers of climate fluctuations in the North Atlantic.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2009 | 4:00 pm

Auto Gear-Change Bicycle: Computer Controlled Bicycle Gear Changes Optimize Power, Comfort

Researchers in Taiwan are designing a computer for pedal cyclists that tells them when to change gear to optimize the power they develop while maintaining comfort.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2009 | 4:00 pm

Clothing To Crow About: Chicken Feather Suits And Dresses

In the future, you may snuggle up in warm, cozy sweats made of chicken feathers or jeans made of wheat, enjoying comfortable, durable new fabrics that are "green" and environmentally friendly. Researchers in Australia are reporting that new advances are paving the way for such exotic new materials — made from agricultural waste or byproducts — to hit store shelves as environmentally-friendly alternatives to the estimated 38 million tons of synthetic fabrics produced worldwide each year.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2009 | 4:00 pm

Ovarian Cancer: Obese And Non-obese Patients Have Same Overall Survival

A new study showed that when actual body weight was used in chemo dosing for epithelial ovarian cancer, the overall survival is 40 months for non-obese patients and 47 months for obese patients, not a significant difference. Similar outcomes are seen in obese and non-obese cancer survivors being monitored for recurrence of their ovarian cancer, the study authors said. Earlier studies found obesity as a negative indicator.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2009 | 1:00 pm

Of Mice And Peanuts: A New Mouse Model For Peanut Allergy

Researchers report the development of a new mouse model for food allergy that mimics symptoms generated during a human allergic reaction to peanuts. The animal model provides a new research tool that will be invaluable in furthering the understanding of the causes of peanut and other food allergies and in finding new ways to treat and prevent their occurrence.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2009 | 1:00 pm

Can You See Me Now? Flexible Photodetectors Could Help Sharpen Photos

Distorted cell-phone photos and big, clunky telephoto lenses could be things of the past.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 Jan 2009 | 1:00 pm

Elephant troubles

No-one wins when humans and elephants fight
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Jan 2009 | 12:51 pm

Shocking cold wave drops temps to 40 below zero (AP)

AP - Temperatures crashed to Arctic levels Tuesday as a severe cold wave rolled across the upper Midwest on the heels of yet another snowstorm, closing schools and making most people think twice before going outside.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Jan 2009 | 12:44 pm

Ancient bird dung gives clues to pre-human New Zealand

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Researchers have managed to get a peek into pre-human New Zealand after finding feces of giant extinct birds buried in caves and rock shelters in remote areas across southern New Zealand.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 14 Jan 2009 | 12:01 pm

Mass. governor unveils big push for wind power (AP)

AP - Wind turbines would increasingly dot the Massachusetts landscape under a plan unveiled by Gov. Deval Patrick to ramp up the state's reliance on wind power over the next dozen years.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Jan 2009 | 11:30 am

Possible mammoth tusk found on SoCal island (AP)

AP - A complete tusk believed to belong to a prehistoric mammoth was uncovered on Santa Cruz Island off the Southern California coast, researchers reported Tuesday. If the discovery is confirmed, it would mean the tusked beasts roamed 62,000-acre Santa Cruz Island more widely than previously thought.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Jan 2009 | 11:27 am

Anya Ustaszewski: I don't want to be 'cured' of autism, thanks

I am not a savant or genius. I'm no good at maths or science, so I don't meet the criteria of the special gifts that might be lost if prenatal testing enabled parents to terminate foetuses deemed likely to develop autism. But I find it disturbing that no one yet seems to have seen fit to seek the opinion of individuals on the autistic spectrum.

As someone on that spectrum, I strongly oppose any kind of "cure" for autism; I also oppose prenatal testing and the eugenic elimination of autistics, as well as any research that could lead to these outcomes.

The autistic rights movement, which is allied to the wider disability rights movement, believes that people on the autistic spectrum are disabled more by society than by their autism. Like many members of this movement, I consider autism to be a part of natural human variation that should be accepted and respected, as with any other human difference.

Sadly, autism is often portrayed as a tragedy for both individuals on the spectrum (who are often said to be "suffering" from autism) and also their families. Interestingly, the organisations and individuals who disseminate and promote this image tend to be celebrity-seeking professionals who are seeking a lucrative "cure" for autism, or families who due to inadequate support and access provision see autism as the enemy, the cause of all their problems and something that should be minimised or eliminated.

Far more time and attention is given to parent-led organisations (in particular the National Autistic Society) and very little to user-led groups. The autistic rights movement is almost completely ignored.

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen wrote in a recent article:

Caution is needed before scientists embrace prenatal testing so that we do not inadvertently repeat the history of eugenics or inadvertently 'cure' not just autism but the associated talents that are not in need of treatment.

So my autism should be "cured", but the bits that society thinks it can find a use for should be kept? I find this incredibly insulting. My autism is part of who I am. It is not something "extra" that can be taken away from me to suit the agenda of an intolerant society. My abilities, challenges and perception of the world all go hand in hand. If I were to be "cured" of my autism, the person that I am would cease to exist.

To be frank, it makes me quite angry that little has been done to address the challenges autistics face. The world can be a frightening, painful, distressing and confusing place if you are autistic. There are, however, adaptations that can be made to the built environment, to ways of communicating and to society's attitudes that can go quite some way to relieving these challenges.

Despite the Disability Discrimination Act, little has been done to help make society more accessible for autistics. Legislation is mainly aimed at people with mobility impairments and those who are visually impaired or hard of hearing. When it comes to the autistic spectrum, the DDA is only of very limited use.

There are many things that can and should be done: they include changes to legislation to ensure that buildings are "autism friendly" such as a legal requirement for low arousal design, changes to noise legislation to reduce the sensory overload that is often experienced by autistics, especially those with hypersensitive hearing. Less visual clutter, better anti-discrimination laws and a legal right to assistive technology and communication devices would also help us.

The government has done little to improve access for autistics, or to change negative attitudes towards us. Instead, officials, professionals and parents alike are ready to consider eliminating us from existence.

What kind of a message does this send? Conform to neuro-typicality or we will eugenically wipe you out?

Autistics have not been listened to or given a proper chance to be accepted, understood and to thrive. Let's face it, it's much easier (and probably cheaper) to get rid of us than to support, help and (dare I say it) embrace us. So I think it imperative that individuals on the autistic spectrum are involved at all levels in the debate on pre-natal testing.

This should include people at various points on the spectrum, from "high functioning" to so-called "low functioning" autistics such as Amanda Baggs, who also supports the autistic rights movement.

In his excellent and moving essay Don't Mourn for Us, Jim Sinclair writes:

When parents say, 'I wish my child did not have autism', what they're really saying is, 'I wish the autistic child I have did not exist, and I had a different (non-autistic) child instead'.

This is what we hear when you pray for a cure. This is what we know, when you tell us of your fondest hopes and dreams for us: that your greatest wish is that one day we will cease to be, and strangers you can love will move in behind our faces.

Rather than pursuing a "cure", or subjecting autistics to "therapies" whose goal is to make them appear and act as neuro-typical as possible, the government professionals and parents should devote time, effort and funds towards supporting autistic individuals in developing strategies to manage the difficulties they face, to improve their skills and to make progress and fulfil their true potential.

It is also important to work towards curing the sometimes-distressing co-morbidities of autistic spectrum differences, such as intestinal disorders and epilepsy.

Most of all, society's attitude towards autism needs to change. Our communication style and any non-harmful autistic behaviours should be respected and accommodated. The physical environment should be adapted to be more accessible in order to allow us realistic opportunities for inclusion, and to enable us to be as independent as we can.

Listen to us. Get to know us. Respect us. Include us. Don't put all the onus on us to fit in to your world – meet us half way. And most of all, don't eliminate us just because we're different.

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 14 Jan 2009 | 10:00 am

Pipe dream?

Will Americans always buy gas guzzlers?
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Jan 2009 | 9:27 am

Feeling pretty? Hormones may lead to more...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Women with high levels of estrogen not only look and feel prettier -- but they may act on those feelings by moving from man to man, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 14 Jan 2009 | 9:22 am

Life is tweet: first bird had hearing like an emu's (AFP)

AFP - Archaeopteryx, the first known bird, had a hearing range similar to the modern-day emu's, according to a new study that boosts the avian claims of this descendant of the dinosaurs.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Jan 2009 | 8:52 am

Video: Skycar embarks on epic journey

A British team has invented a flying car which is setting off from London to Timbuktu today

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 14 Jan 2009 | 8:37 am

Hallucinations more common in people who drink lots of coffee

People with a high caffeine intake are more likely to hallucinate than those who drink little coffee, research suggests.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Jan 2009 | 4:23 am

Moonstruck: Englishman credited with first map of Earth satellite

An exhibition of maps proves an Englishman saw the moon through a telescope months before Galileo, say experts.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Jan 2009 | 3:12 am

NASA funding boost could create jobs: Griffin (Reuters)

Reuters - More money for NASA in any an economic stimulus package would create jobs now and shore up the U.S. leadership in aerospace, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said on Tuesday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Jan 2009 | 3:01 am

Black abalone latest endangered species in Pacific (AP)

AP - The federal government is giving endangered species protection to the black abalone, a Pacific Coast mollusk that is being pushed to extinction by overfishing, disease and changing ocean conditions.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Jan 2009 | 1:26 am

Caffeine Can Cause Hallucinations (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - People who take in the caffeine equivalent of three cups of brewed coffee (or seven cups of instant) are more likely to hallucinate, a new study suggests. The researchers found that people with a caffeine intake that high, whether it came from coffee, tea, chocolate or caffeinated energy drinks or pills, had a three-times-higher tendency to hear voices and see things that were not there than those who consumed the equivalent of a half-cup of brewed coffee (or one cup of instant coffee). ...
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Jan 2009 | 12:50 am

Caffeine Can Cause Hallucinations

Drinking the caffeine equivalent of seven or more cups of instant coffee increases your chances of hallucinating.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 Jan 2009 | 12:32 am

World 'needs radical cuts' on CO2

More carbon dioxide needs to be absorbed than emitted by 2050 in order to prevent catastrophic climate change, a report says.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Jan 2009 | 12:30 am

Challenge to plant methane link

The recent finding that plants are a major source of the greenhouse gas methane is challenged by new research.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Jan 2009 | 12:24 am

Marcel Berlins: Newton and Einstein may have been autistic. But is their genius an argument against a screening test?

The prospect of a screening test on a pregnant woman predicting her child's autism is not far away, and Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, leader of the Cambridge University research team that developed the test, has called for an ethical debate on its desirability. My first reaction was puzzlement. Why a debate? We have had the test for Down's syndrome for many years. It seems to be generally accepted without controversy. No expectant mothers are obliged to have it, and many, even those at some risk because of their age, choose not to. Those that do take it have the choice, if it proves positive for Down's, between terminating the pregnancy or bearing the child. It is, of course, an agonising decision, but I'm not sure it raises special ethical issues.

Why should the autism test be treated differently? It is a different kind of condition, says Professor Baron-Cohen, often linked with talent. "What would we lose if children with autistic spectrum disorder were eliminated from the population?" It is a philosophical question, which stakes the claim of society to be involved in the debate, and not just the parents of the unborn child.

I don't normally like to use the slippery-slope argument, but it is apposite for issues arising from the bewildering speed of medical advances. Screening for Down's syndrome has become commonplace; a test for autism is imminent. There is no doubt that more and more tests will be found for more and more conditions, many of them far less life-threatening or seriously affecting quality of life than the ones we now give priority to. Where would we stop in offering pregnant women tests?

Or are we prepared to accept, or even welcome, a less diverse society that has rid itself of autistic children and, in time, of sufferers from other conditions difficult to cope with by the sufferer, his or her immediate entourage, or the medical profession? It's a sustainable argument that losing the tiny proportion of the population made up of autistic children will not have much effect on diversity; but the slippery slope results in many other potentially sick children not being born.

What I can not accept is the argument put forward on behalf of autism alone, and no other condition - that among those autistic children not born, because their mothers had the test and decided to terminate, there might be brilliant autistic savants who would make an important contribution to society. It is being asserted - I have yet to see any supporting evidence - that Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton were autistic; their mothers, in modern circumstances, might not have had them. The logical corollary of that approach is to refuse to offer the test to all pregnant women, just in case they were in danger of bearing an autistic child who would be among the exceptionally gifted 1% or 2%.

If we take up Baron-Cohen's call for a debate, we will have to decide between three elements: the autistic person's predicted quality of life (though the test may not be that precise); the feelings of the parents who may suffer far more than their child; and the view of society as to its diminished diversity if we continue to prevent the birth of the imperfect. The last should be the least listened to.

Yes, all right, Berry Gordy's Tamla Motown label was exciting and innovative, the first to be run by a black entrepreneur, who brought you the Supremes, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, but poor Detroit, look at it now etc etc. The label is celebrating its 50th birthday amid much nostalgic publicity and, as an admirer, I don't begrudge it its renewed moments of glory. But spare a thought for the forgotten other genius of early 60s American popular music. Or rather, not so
much forgotten as remembered for another reason: Phil Spector is currently being retried for murder. But if I had to take to a desert island discs chosen only from Spector or Gordy, most would be from the former's stable. Sure, Motown's golden years went on longer, but Spector produced the more memorable music, led by the Crystals' incomparable, unsurpassed Da Doo Ron Ron.

Two competing world championships of darts were
decided over the past two weeks, each claiming to have provided the real world's best. Inevitably, the traditional debate accompanied the action: is darts a sport or a game?

I have the answer. What's the difference in principle between archery and shooting, both Olympic sports, on the one hand, and darts on the other? All three are based on scoring points by accurately propelling a missile - arrow, bullet, dart - into a target. The main difference is that the first two require a weapon, while darts employs the human arm, surely making it more, not less, of a sport. Silly people argue that darts can't be a sport because many of its players are not necessarily slim or physically fit, nor unknown to drink. John Daly, winner of the British Open, fitted those categories, and no one is saying golf isn't a sport. As in shooting, archery and golf, success at darts requires hours of practice and self-discipline. And at least you can tell who has won, without controversy, unlike those so-called sports where results can depend on a tenth of a point here or there delivered by judges not always free from, let's say, influences. Anyway, darts is a sport because it is covered on the sports pages of this and other newspapers.

But then, so is chess.

This week Marcel saw an exhibition at the Grand Palais, Paris, of the works of the German expressionist Emil Nolde: "Some spectacular paintings, but he's not quite first division." Marcel saw Steven Soderbergh's Che: Part One: "Entertaining enough, but I was disappointed that the film seemed so uninterested in what drew a middle-class Argentinian to join the Cuban struggle."

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 14 Jan 2009 | 12:01 am

New soil map for African farmers

Farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are set to benefit from the world's largest detailed digital map of soil nutrient quality.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 13 Jan 2009 | 9:45 pm

Acceptable risk?

Europe's rows over safe balance in pesticide debate
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 13 Jan 2009 | 8:28 pm

Smoking when pregnant affects thyroid for both: study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Here's another thing that smoking while pregnant can do -- it can damage both the mother's and the baby's thyroid function, British researchers reported on Tuesday.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 13 Jan 2009 | 8:28 pm

God's Role in Presidential Inaugurations and Beyond

Barack Obama will place his hand on the Bible and swear an oath to serve the United States.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Jan 2009 | 8:15 pm

IBM team boosts MRI resolution

Researchers at IBM demonstrate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with a resolution 100 million times finer than the conventional type.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 13 Jan 2009 | 8:02 pm

Home Wind Turbines Prove Ineffective

Home wind turbines generate less than a five percent of a household's needs, a survey finds.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Jan 2009 | 6:43 pm

Rival stem cell technique takes the heat out of hybrid embryo debate

Controversial research into the use of "hybrid" human-animal embryos to make stem cells is in danger of stalling because of a lack of funding, British scientists claim.

The technique was legalised in Britain less than a year ago, and is being pursued by a handful of groups to study embryo development and untreatable conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

But funding agencies are refusing to finance the research and are instead favouring a new technique called cell reprogramming to make stem cells.

Two groups, at King's College London and Newcastle University, have had grant applications to create hybrid embryos turned down, forcing the scientists to consider putting the research on hold. Stephen Minger, who leads the team at King's, was seeking support for a project to create human stem cells that carry the genetic traits of neurodegenerative diseases.

Plans to allow scientists to make hybrid embryos prompted outrage from religious groups who claimed the research was abhorrent. After a lengthy battle, the technique was made legal in the government's new Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, though researchers are first required to obtain a licence from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority before creating hybrid embryos and must destroy them after 14 days.

Since the furore broke, however, scientists have developed a cheap and powerful new technique in which adult skin cells are reprogrammed to create cells that are almost identical to stem cells. Researchers have already used the technique to make so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells for patients with diabetes, muscular dystrophy and Down's syndrome. The work was named scientific breakthrough of the year by the prestigious US journal Science last year.

Media reports claiming that funders had refused to back hybrid embryo research for ethical reasons were rejected by stem cell scientists. "These kinds of embryos are accepted, ethical arguments wouldn't come into it at this stage," said Harry Moore, head of reproductive biology at Sheffield University. "What has happened is the field has moved on. You could argue that iPS cells are a more important area than hybrids now."

The latest figures from the Medical Research Council reflect a shift in favour of iPS cell research. The council's funding for adult stem cells, which includes iPS cells, rose sharply last year as a proportion of all stem cell research, from 46% to 61.3%. Overall, MRC funding for stem cell research rose from £23.6m in 2006/7 to £25.5m last year.

Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, chief executive of the Medical Research Council, said: "The MRC must make the best use of taxpayers' money and there is no better way to decide what should be funded than to use tried-and-tested peer review systems where scientists assess applications on their merits. This system, as operated, rules out the possibility of a personal moral view influencing the final outcome of a proposal.

"The MRC was instrumental in ensuring that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act allowed for the possibility of using admixed [hybrid] embryos in research. Clearly, we believe there may well be great potential for this avenue of research. Fighting for the right to carry out such research does not mean that it should get priority over other applications which score higher and hold more promise."

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 13 Jan 2009 | 6:15 pm

Earth's Magnetic Field Changes Climate

Yet another twist for the climate change story: Earth's pesky magnetic field.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Jan 2009 | 6:02 pm

Inauguration Weather Extremes Through History

A look at inauguration weather, from the warmest to the hottest.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Jan 2009 | 5:46 pm

Finger Length May Predict Financial Success

The length of a man's ring finger may predict his success as a financial trader.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Jan 2009 | 5:14 pm

'V-wing' turbine gets study cash

An unusual design of wind turbine is among four projects to receive the first funds from the UK's Energy Technologies Institute.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 13 Jan 2009 | 5:00 pm

As humans hunt, their prey gets smaller: study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hunting and gathering has a profound impact on animals and plants, driving an evolutionary process that makes them become smaller and reproduce earlier, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 13 Jan 2009 | 4:31 pm

Cheese Is Grosser Than Thought

Behind the heavenly taste and texture of cheese is a heap of bacteria, mammal stomach lining, pesticides and pure fat.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Jan 2009 | 4:07 pm

Brushing Teeth May Help Prevent Preterm Birth

Bacterial infections usually found in the mouth may cause most preterm births.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Jan 2009 | 3:35 pm

Ancient Amazon Warrior Statue Resurrected

Scientists are digitally recreating an ancient statue of an Amazon warrior.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Jan 2009 | 3:23 pm

How Hunting Shapes Animal Populations

Hunting practices have a big effect on animal populations -- but is it reversible?
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Jan 2009 | 3:04 pm

Removing cats to protect birds backfires on island (AP)

AP - It seemed like a good idea at the time: Remove all the feral cats from a famous Australian island to save the native seabirds.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 13 Jan 2009 | 2:18 pm

Evolution of New Brain Area Allowed Small Motor Skills

A new area of the cerebral cortex evolved to enable humans and higher primates to use tools.
Source: Livescience.com | 13 Jan 2009 | 2:12 pm

Deep Sea Fish Uses Mirrors to See

Scientists capture a deep-sea fish and find it uses mirrors to focus light in its eyes.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 13 Jan 2009 | 2:04 pm