Scientists solve enigma of Antarctic 'cooling'

Scientists have solved the enigma of the Antarctic apparently getting cooler, while the rest of the world heats up.

New research shows that while some parts of the frozen continent have been getting slightly colder over the last few decades, the average temperature across the continent has been rising for at least the last 50 years.

In the remote and inaccessible West Antarctic region the new research, based on ground measurements and satellite data, show that the region has warmed rapidly, by 0.17C each decade since 1957. "We had no idea what was happening there," said Professor Eric Steig, at the University of Washington, Seattle, and who led the research published in Nature.

This outweighs the cooling seen in East Antarctica, so that, overall, the continent has warmed by 0.12C each decade over the same period. This matches the warming of the southern hemisphere as a whole and removes the apparent contradiction.

The issue, which had been highlighted by global warming sceptics, was an annoyance, said Steig, despite the science having been reasonably well understood. "But it has now been killed off," he said.

Gareth Marshall, climatologist at British Antarctic Survey, commented: "This work allows us to look at the continent as a whole, which we have not been able to do before with confidence. It fills a big hole in the data in West Antarctica – it is the final piece in the jigsaw."

The rapid warming now revealed in the west concerns some scientists. The new analysis suggests the West Antarctic ice sheet, like that in Greenland, is precariously balanced, said Professor Barry Brook at the University of Adelaide. "Even losing a fraction of both would cause a few metres of sea level rise this century, with disastrous consequences," he said.

It was well known that a small part of Antarctic was warming – the peninsula that protrudes northwards towards South America and is the site of many research stations. But researchers knew that East Antarctica had cooled a little in recent decades and thought that might be the case across the continent's great mountain range in West Antarctica.

Temperature records have been taken on the ground since the first weather stations were built in 1957. But all but two of the 42 are very close to the coast and therefore give no information on the vast interior of the continent. Satellite data, in contrast, can take the temperature of the entire region by measuring the intensity of the infrared radiation reflected from the snow pack and has been available since 1980.

Steig's team found the mathematical relationships between the weather station data and satellite data, tested them, and then used them to go back in time to estimate temperatures across the continent back to 1957. Their statistical model has now been validated by an ice core drilled into the Rutford ice stream in West Antarctica by the British Antarctic Survey, from which temperature records can be measured. That independent work also came up with a warming of 0.17C a decade for the region, and stretched the trend back to at least 1930.

The cooling seen in East Antarctica is caused in part by the ozone hole that opens each year in the atmosphere. The ozone hole causes an increase in westerly winds which, by a complex interaction of wind, sea and ice, results in lower temperatures in the east. Emissions of ozone-destroying gases have now almost been eliminated and the hole is expected to recover by mid-century. When that happens, there will be a rapid catch up of temperatures, says Marshall.

The 2007 report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that the impact of greenhouse gas emissions could be seen on every continent bar Antarctica. The new work, along with another recent study, now clearly shows that the rising temperature of the continent cannot be explained by natural climate variation alone.

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 23 Jan 2009 | 6:00 pm

New Sperm Shaker Set To Improve IVF Success Rates

Scientists have developed a ground-breaking method for testing the quality of a sperm before it is used in IVF and increase the chances of conception.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Jan 2009 | 7:00 pm

Humans And Mice Express The Same Olfactory Preferences

Humans and mice are attracted by the same odors. This has been revealed for the first time by a team of French researchers, whose work confirms that olfactory preferences are not solely determined by experience or culture, but also by the structure of the odorant molecule. It will undoubtedly enable a clearer understanding of the neuronal mechanisms coding for olfactory perception. More immediately, it may be possible to predict human olfactory preferences based on those observed in the mouse.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Jan 2009 | 7:00 pm

Vision Tests For Older Drivers Not Proven To Prevent Crashes

Recent automobile accidents with tragic results have prompted questions about the eyesight of elderly drivers, but researchers say they are unable to determine whether vision tests actually lead to fewer fatal crashes.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Jan 2009 | 7:00 pm

Experimental Topical Microbicide Offers Convenient, Long-lasting Protection Against Genital Herpes, Study Suggests

A topical microbicide that silences two genes can safely protect against genital herpes infection for as long as one week, according to a new study.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Jan 2009 | 7:00 pm

Blocked Protein Prevents Lupus In Mouse Model

Mice from a strain that ordinarily develops systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but bred with a deficiency in receptor for the protein Interleukin 21, stayed healthy and exhibited none of the symptoms of the disease, researchers report.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Jan 2009 | 7:00 pm

Electronics Created With Printer Significantly Improved

Electronic systems designed to perform simple functions, such as monitor the temperature on a yogurt pot, mustn’t cost much: This is where printed electronics are at an advantage. Researchers are now significantly improving the properties of printed circuits.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Jan 2009 | 7:00 pm

Low Glycemic Diets Help Diabetics Control Blood Sugar, Review Suggests

Following a low glycemic index diet helps people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes to improve their blood glucose (blood sugar) control significantly, according to a new review.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Jan 2009 | 4:00 pm

MRSA’s 'Weak Point' Visualized By Scientists

An enzyme that lives in MRSA and helps the dangerous bacterium to grow and spread infection through the human body has been visualized for the first time.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Jan 2009 | 4:00 pm

Growing Years Cut Short For Toddlers From Poor Families

Continuous poverty during toddler years can curb the height of children by the time they reach kindergarten, even in industrialized countries, according to new research from the University of Montreal. Regardless of hereditary factors such as maternal height and education level, according to the finding, children from poor families are more likely to be shorter than their peers.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Jan 2009 | 4:00 pm

'Super-Neptune' Exoplanet Discovered

Astronomers have discovered a planet somewhat larger and more massive than Neptune orbiting a star 120 light-years from Earth. While Neptune has a diameter 3.8 times that of Earth and a mass 17 times Earth's, the new world (named HAT-P-11b) is 4.7 times the size of Earth and has 25 Earth masses.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Jan 2009 | 4:00 pm

Scientist: New fault could mean major Ark. temblor (AP)

AP - A previously unknown fault in eastern Arkansas could trigger a magnitude 7 earthquake with an epicenter near a major natural gas pipeline, a scientist said Wednesday. Haydar Al-Shukri, the director of the Arkansas Earthquake Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said the fault is separate from the New Madrid fault responsible for a series of quakes in 1811-12 that caused the Mississippi River to flow backward.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Jan 2009 | 5:39 am

Missed a mussel?

Highlands stocks reintroduced but it's a secret where
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Jan 2009 | 5:14 am

Fingering a killer

The British forensics which may solve an American murder
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Jan 2009 | 1:44 am

Cleaner air 'adds months to life'

Cuts in air pollution in US cities have added an average of five months of life to their inhabitants, research suggests.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Jan 2009 | 12:31 am

Bomb test 'guinea pigs' fight for redress in court

Thousands of British servicemen were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation during nuclear tests in the 1950s due to the "cavalier attitude" of their commanders, the high court was told yesterday.

The case linking exposure to radiation during the tests, carried out between 1952 and 1958 in the South Pacific and Australia, and subsequent illnesses including cancer, was now conclusive, and the government should provide compensation, said Ben Browne QC, representing 998 ex-servicemen present at the tests.

In total, 25,000 members of the armed forces from the UK, Australia and New Zealand were stationed near the blast sites, many as "guinea pigs", Browne told the court, which was packed with more than 70 veterans and their relatives, with others forced to wait outside.

The government maintained that few, if any, military personnel had been exposed. This was not the case, said Browne. "We will be able to demonstrate that the government's case is wrong ... relying on the government's own documents," he said.

Official papers showed that the scientists of the time "did not really know what they were doing and that, because of that, men were poisoned with radiation. Few, if any, had any choice. They were just told it would be the greatest fireworks display that the world had ever seen."

The tests came at the height of the cold war, as Britain scrambled to develop its nuclear arsenal. Tests took place on the Monte Bello islands off north-west Australia; Maralinga, in South Australia; and Christmas Island in the Pacific. If the Ministry of Defence loses the case, it could face a bill running to millions of pounds. It argues that the claimants waited too long before demanding compensation.

But the ministry was unjustly seeking to "hide behind the time bar", Browne argued. "Time and again governments have said veterans must wait for compensation since science does not establish a link. Yet when that science finally does become available, the MoD now says that all these claims are far too late."

The latest science emerged several years ago when New Zealand's government commissioned research for its own inquiry into compensation. New Zealand, the US, France and Canada have already paid compensation to their nationals involved in nuclear testing.

The case was not that the harm to health was deliberate, merely negligent, coming from a "cavalier attitude", Browne said. One early bomb, he said, had an explosive yield about 70 times higher than some estimates. "In another, the scientists responsible were said to be 'nonplussed with the amount of radioactivity registered'. They were 'most apologetic'," he said.

Before the hearing, dozens of veterans and their relatives stood outside the high court carrying banners, one saying: "Come clean, MoD."

'I saw the bones in my fingers'

Trevor Butler, aged 70, and from Hull, served with the Royal Engineers on Christmas Island

"We rose early and paraded after breakfast and were taken to a designated - as they said - safe area for the first hydrogen bomb test. We were told to sit on the ground, cover our eyes with our hands. When it dropped there was a blinding flash and you could see the bones in your fingers. Then there was the heat and the blast.

"When the blast came one of my colleagues stood up and it bowled him off his feet. That was 30 miles away - it just picked him up and bowled him over. When the heat came on my back it felt like all the blood was bubbling in my veins. I learned that that's how a microwave works.

"I was there to see two H-bombs and three atom bombs. We were given no warnings. We were told we were just there as Royal Engineers building roads, railways, radio masts.

"Within two years I was blind in my right eye. I've got spondylosis of the spine and I've now only got 30% kidney function. I'm positive this is all because of the test.

"I just want the government to come clean. We felt we were being used as guinea pigs. They were prepared to sacrifice lives. What a pity."

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 22 Jan 2009 | 12:01 am

Bread and droppings: Pest control group warns of rat contamination

If you are about to bite into a slice of wholemeal toast at the breakfast table or tuck into your favourite lunchtime sandwich, it may be as well to look away now. Pest control experts yesterday warned that your loaf of bread could have been spiced up with some unwanted extras - rat hairs, urine and even droppings.

The glut of wheat following last year's bumper harvest together with a surge in the rat population is being blamed for the possibility that rodents have contributed a little something to your sandwich.

According to the National Pest Technicians Association the rat problem is the worst for 30 years, and wholemeal bread is more at risk because it is less processed than white. Farmers' representatives and the milling industry dismissed the claims as scaremongering, arguing that wheat for human consumption was stored very carefully and deliveries of wheat were minutely inspected before they were used to bake bread, biscuits or other products.

The NPTA is alleging that because so much wheat was produced some British farmers are struggling to store it securely, while recent mild winters have caused the number of rats to increase by more than 20%. NPTA director Peter Crowden said the rat problem was the worst he had seen in 30 years. "There's a lot of grain in a 30-tonne lorry and they don't test it all. And what about the rats urinating over it all as they run through?"

Crowden said he had seen rats and evidence of rats in wheat storehouses this winter. He called on the government to tackle the rat population, which he put at between 30 million and 40 million in the UK. He insisted he was not exaggerating the problem to frighten consumers and farmers and thus further NPTA interests.

However, Guy Gagen, chief arable adviser for the NFU, said he would be "very surprised" if rat hairs or droppings did get into bread. He said farmers who produced crops for human consumption were members of a rigorous assurance scheme. Inspectors made sure rodents were kept at bay. Gagen said wheat intended for human consumption tended to be stored in metal containers that could be tightly secured.

Martin Savage, trade policy manager of the National Association of British and Irish Millers, said he was "perplexed" at the claims. "This could provoke a food scare and it's absolute nonsense," he said, though he accepted the rat population was on the up - he had come across one farmer who had got through a quarter of a tonne of poison since the last harvest.

Crowden insists he has got it right. "They want to come out with me if they don't believe it." But even if droppings are getting through, Crowden does not believe it will do you any harm. "We've all got a bit namby-pamby, haven't we? It won't actually hurt you. It just isn't very nice."

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 22 Jan 2009 | 12:01 am

Scientists open doors with the power of the mind

A mock-up of a home controlled by the power of thought has been successfully piloted by a hospital in Italy, promising new levels of independence for the severely disabled.

Scientists showed that people could open doors or operate lights, a telephone, a small robot and even a robotic hand by wearing a strip of electrodes on their head to pick up brainwaves that signal "interest" and send them to a computer that interprets them as desired actions.

Demonstrating the system in the Fondazione Santa Lucia research hospital in Rome, Professor Fabio Babiloni said this was one of the first lab-based mock-ups in the world to successfully test this form of home automation - or "assistive domotics" - by mind control.

He predicts that within three years such a system would be of practical benefit to the severely disabled.

"The progress in developing brain computer interfaces (BCI) has grown very rapidly in the last few years to the point where we are capable of 85% accuracy in the computer interpreting a subject's desired action, such as turning a wheelchair or switching home appliances on or off," says Babiloni. "The type of brainwave we pinpoint is common to nearly all people when making this 'focusing interest' thought."

Nor is much training required. "A 10-minute familiarisation session is usually enough," says Babiloni.

That is because the brain wave that is produced when we "show interest", for example when we focus on a light switch, is well mapped, distinct and almost uniform from person to person.

To demonstrate, one of the Santa Lucia team wore a fabric headset connected to the BCI and could open doors, switch on a fan or adjust lights by concentrating on a menu on a monitor. Two to three attempts are usually needed for each action.

Other applications, apart from gaming and use in a smart home for the exceptionally lazy, is in space, says Babiloni: mind-controlled devices would be a boon to muscle-wasted astronauts.

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 22 Jan 2009 | 12:01 am

Gaddafi says looking at oil firm nationalization (Reuters)

Reuters - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said on Wednesday his country and other oil exporters were looking into nationalizing foreign firms due to low oil prices and suggested Tripoli might not stick to OPEC production quotas.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Jan 2009 | 11:08 pm

Interim NASA Chief Takes Charge Until Obama Settles on Successor (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - WASHINGTON - Mike Griffin gave his last speech as NASA administrator to his staff before departing Washington on a ski vacation on Jan. 16, leaving Associate Administrator Chris Scolese to run the agency until U.S. President Barack Obama settles on a successor.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Jan 2009 | 10:45 pm

College Remains Key to Prosperity (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - As more parents and students worry over how to pay tuition in the current economy, it's still more true than ever that going to college will increase your income, a sociologist says.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Jan 2009 | 10:00 pm

Can Obama Save the Planet?

The new president promises to tackle global warming. It possible? Necessary?
Source: Livescience.com | 21 Jan 2009 | 9:57 pm

Scientists develop test for melamine in milk

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. researchers have developed a quick way to test milk for the presence of melamine, an industrial chemical found last year in milk in China that killed at least six children and made thousands sick.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 21 Jan 2009 | 9:52 pm

College Remains Key to Prosperity

It's more true than ever — to college will increase your income, a sociologist says.
Source: Livescience.com | 21 Jan 2009 | 9:38 pm

Russia: No More Space Tourists After 2009

American Charles Simonyi will be the last space tourist to fly on a Soyuz spacecraft.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 21 Jan 2009 | 8:45 pm

Study: Antarctica joins rest of globe in warming (AP)

AP - Antarctica, the only place that had oddly seemed immune from climate change, is warming after all, according to a new study. For years, Antarctica was an enigma to scientists who track the effects of global warming. Temperatures on much of the continent at the bottom of the world were staying the same or slightly cooling, previous research indicated.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Jan 2009 | 8:35 pm

Researchers develop new semiconductor ink

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. researchers have developed a new type of semiconductor ink that brings companies a step closer to making bendable computer screens or inexpensive sensor tags to help retailers keep track of their inventory.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 21 Jan 2009 | 8:30 pm

New cream disables herpes virus: study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers say they have developed a cream that might prevent herpes infection for as long as a week -- a potentially big step in protecting women from the sexually transmitted infection.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 21 Jan 2009 | 8:10 pm

Antarctica is warming, not cooling: study

ROTHERA BASE, Antarctica (Reuters) - Antarctica is getting warmer rather than cooling as widely believed, according to a study that fits the icy continent into a trend of global warming.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 21 Jan 2009 | 7:15 pm

Astronauts board shuttle for launch rehearsal

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Seven astronauts due to blast off next month to work on the International Space Station climbed inside their spaceship on Wednesday for a dress rehearsal for launch.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 21 Jan 2009 | 7:07 pm

Antarctic Warming Is Continent-Wide

No region of Antarctica is safe from climate change, suggests new research.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 21 Jan 2009 | 7:00 pm

New evidence on Antarctic warming

The continent of Antarctica is heating up in step with the rest of the planet, according to a new analysis.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Jan 2009 | 6:26 pm

Antarctica Is Warming: Climate Picture Clears Up

New compilation of Antarctic temperatures how that whole continent is warming, not cooling as previously thought.
Source: Livescience.com | 21 Jan 2009 | 6:04 pm

Massive collision may have sent the moon into a spin

The man in the moon may once have faced out to space, until a chance collision with a giant asteroid billions of years ago, scientists have found.

A study of the heavily cratered surface has revealed evidence of a huge impact early in the moon's history that may have been powerful enough to set it spinning, making its far side periodically point towards Earth.

Today, the orbit of the moon is such that it always shows the same face – the near side – to people looking up from Earth. While the moon does have a "dark side", the side in shadow is constantly moving, depending on the relative position of the sun.

In the study, scientists at the Paris Institute of Earth Physics in France analysed the age and locations of 46 craters formed by asteroids thumping into the moon's surface.

Computer simulations show that if the same face had always pointed towards us, the moon's western hemisphere as seen from Earth should be pocked with around a third more craters than the eastern hemisphere, because the west faces the moon's direction of travel – the same reason running in the rain will get your front wet more than your back.

But to their surprise, researchers Mark Wieczorek and Matthieu le Feuvre found that the craters in the western hemisphere were among the youngest on the moon, while those in the eastern hemisphere were much older. The finding, reported in New Scientist magazine, suggests that the eastern flank was once pummelled by asteroids far more than the west.

"The simplest interpretation of [our] observations is that the oldest lunar impact basins formed when the present-day 'nearside' of the moon was directed away from the Earth and that a single impact subsequently reoriented the moon about its spin axis by 180 degrees," the authors write in the journal Icarus.

The scientists believe that a large asteroid could have slammed into the moon and set it spinning, so that for tens of thousands of years it would have appeared to rotate in the night sky.

Craters on the moon that could have been formed by such a large collision have been dated to around 3.9bn years, soon after it formed from debris knocked off Earth by an even larger cosmic collision.

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 21 Jan 2009 | 6:00 pm

Evolution: Charles Darwin was wrong about the tree of life

Charles Darwin's iconic "tree of life", which shows how species are related through evolutionary history, is wrong and needs to be replaced, according to leading scientists.

The great naturalist first sketched how species might evolve along branches of an imaginary tree in 1837, an idea that quickly came to symbolise the theory of evolution by natural selection.

But the advent of modern genetics has revealed that representing evolutionary history as a tree is misleading, with scientists claiming that a more realistic way to picture the origins and inter-relatedness of species would be an impenetrable thicket.

"We have no evidence at all that the tree of life is a reality," Eric Bapteste, an evolutionary biologist at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris, told New Scientist magazine.

Genetic tests on bacteria, plants and animals increasingly reveal that different species crossbreed more than originally thought, meaning that instead of genes simply being passed down individual branches of the tree of life, they are also transferred between species on different evolutionary paths. The result is a messier and more tangled "web of life".

Microbes swap genetic material so promiscuously it can be hard to tell one type from another, but plants and animals regularly crossbreed too, and the offspring can be fertile. According to some estimates, 10 per cent of animals regularly form hybrids by breeding with other species.

Last year, scientists at the University of Texas at Arlington found a strange chunk of DNA in the genetic make-up of eight animals, including the mouse, rat and the African clawed frog. The same chunk is missing from chickens, elephants and humans, suggesting it must have become wedged into the genomes of some animals by crossbreeding.

The findings mean that to link species by Darwin's evolutionary branches is an oversimplification. "The tree of life is being politely buried," said Michael Rose, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Irvine. "What's less accepted is that our whole fundamental view of biology needs to change."

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 21 Jan 2009 | 6:00 pm

BLOG: White House Pets and Pals

Which president had a pet goat? What's Sasha Obama's favorite stuffed critter?
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 21 Jan 2009 | 5:58 pm

Outer planets choice is narrowed

Scientists in the US and Europe go head-to-head with ideas to send flagship missions to the Saturn and Jupiter systems.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Jan 2009 | 5:42 pm

Robot assistant as good as human in some surgery

LONDON (Reuters) - Using a robot to operate a camera in gall bladder operations is as safe as working with a human, British researchers said on Wednesday in an analysis that underscores the effectiveness of robot technology in surgery.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 21 Jan 2009 | 5:35 pm

Climate satellite set for launch

A Japanese spacecraft is due to launch on a mission to study the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Jan 2009 | 5:35 pm

Lizard Find Suggests New Zealand Never Fully Submerged

Remains of a reptile suggests New Zealand was not once submerged.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 21 Jan 2009 | 5:28 pm

Needles, not technique, may be acupuncture key

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Acupuncture prevents headaches and migraines but faked treatments when needles are incorrectly inserted appear to work nearly as well, German researchers said on Wednesday.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 21 Jan 2009 | 5:23 pm

Love Could Doom Deadly Lampreys

Synthetic pheromones cold be used to lure the invasive species.
Source: Livescience.com | 21 Jan 2009 | 5:14 pm

Young Women Best at Spotting Cute Babies

The cutest babies could signal to mothers they need attention.
Source: Livescience.com | 21 Jan 2009 | 4:22 pm

Japan 'seeks arrest of another anti-whaling activist' (AFP)

AFP - Japan is seeking the arrest of a fourth anti-whaling activist who tried to disrupt the country's controversial Antarctic Ocean hunt in 2007, a report said Wednesday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Jan 2009 | 3:58 pm

Ancient Greek Homes Doubled as Pubs, Brothels

New evidence tells of the double life of certain homes in ancient Greece.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 21 Jan 2009 | 3:36 pm

Pair Found Adrift in Icebox Credit Survival to Bird Spat

Two claim they survived 25 days at sea in an icebox by eating bird regurgitation.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 21 Jan 2009 | 3:30 pm

Huntingdon animal test lab blackmailers jailed

Seven animal rights activists who tried to close down Huntingdon Life Sciences by blackmailing companies linked to the animal testing laboratory were jailed today for between four and 11 years.

The activists, considered key figures in the Animal Liberation Front, were sentenced at Winchester crown court for their parts in a six-year campaign involving hoax bombs and falsified allegations of child abuse.

The seven firms targeted supplied Huntingdon Life Sciences – one of the world's largest animal testing laboratories, which was founded in 1952. Their purpose was to force HLS to shut down.

Gerrah Selby, 20, Daniel Wadham, 21, Gavin Medd-Hall, 45, Heather Nicholson, 41, Gregg Avery, 45, and his wife, Natasha Avery, 39, and Daniel Amos, 22, were all members of an organisation called Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (Shac). The Averys and Nicholson were founding members of Shac and veteran activists.

They menaced adults and children at addresses in England and across Europe. Groups of extremists wearing masks would turn up at night with sirens, fireworks and klaxons.

They would daub slogans with paint on the victims' homes and cars. In some cases, families received hoax bombs, and many employees were targeted by campaigns falsely alleging they were paedophiles. The intimidation included the sending through the post of used sanitary towels said to be contaminated with HIV.

The activists plotted their campaign from their headquarters, a country cottage near Hook, in Hampshire. From the building – which police had bugged – they used encrypted emails, spreadsheets and coded messages to organise the blackmail of the companies and individuals.

The details of companies, including names and addresses of employees, were published on the Shac website. Details were removed when a firm gave in to the threats and cut all links with HLS.

Selby, Wadham, Medd-Hall and Nicholson were convicted last month. The Averys and Amos pleaded guilty to conspiracy to blackmail.

Sentencing all seven, Mr Justice Butterfield called the campaign "urban terrorism" and a "relentless, sustained and merciless persecution" that had made the victims' lives "a living hell".

The judge said he accepted that the seven had genuine deeply held beliefs that animal testing was wrong, and had the right to protest against it.

But he told the activists that companies "had the right to conduct vital biomedical research" and "the right to conduct lawful trading".

"I expect you will be seen by some as martyrs for a noble cause but that would be misplaced," he told all seven. "You are not going to prison for expressing your beliefs, you are going to prison because you have committed a serious criminal offence."

Nicholson, from Eversley, in Hampshire, received 11 years after she was convicted of conspiracy to blackmail at a trial last year. The Averys, also from Eversley, received nine years each because they pleaded guilty to the charge.

Medd-Hall, from Croydon, south London, who was convicted at the same trial as Nicholson, received eight years. Wadham, from Bromley, south-east London, was sentenced to five years after he was convicted last year.

Selby, from Chiswick, west London, who was convicted of the charge at the same trial as the others, received four years, and Amos, from Church Crookham, Hampshire, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to blackmail, received four years.

The judge also gave indefinite asbos to the Averys, Nicholson and Medd-Hall, banning them from travelling to the firms targeted in the campaign. The others received the same asbos but for the duration of five years.

Speaking after the case, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Robbins, from Kent police, who led the £4m inquiry involving five police forces, said: "I hope today's sentences provide some comfort and a sense of justice to the individuals and the families who suffered such sustained harassment.

"While rarely causing physical harm, these offenders thrived on the fear they created through threats and intimidation."

The science minister, Lord Drayson said: "Those involved in life-saving medical research make a huge contribution to society. They deserve our thanks, support and protection. The UK is a world leader in medical advances and the government is proud of the pioneering work of our scientists and researchers."

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 21 Jan 2009 | 3:11 pm

Heat to Become Major Threat by Century's End

By the end of the 21st century, the currently hottest weather will become the norm.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 21 Jan 2009 | 2:30 pm

Spitting Cobras' Sharp-Shooting Secrets

Scientists spy on venomous cobras at target practice. How do they do it?
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 21 Jan 2009 | 2:15 pm

US science: We've had the fine words, now for action

It goes without saying that the in-tray of America's 44th president is overflowing. As he said in his inauguration speech: "Everywhere we look, there is work to be done." For some of that work at least, Obama must draw on the expertise of the strong team of science advisers he has appointed over the past month or so.

They are an impressive bunch. John Holdren, a highly-respected climate change expert from Harvard University, becomes the presidential science adviser. Then there is the Nobel prizewinning physicist Steven Chu, who becomes energy secretary, and two leading geneticists, Harold Varmus and Eric Lander, who will co-chair the president's council of science and technology advisers.

Many scientists were unimpressed with aspects of the Bush administration's approach to science. Some felt science was misrepresented and twisted to suit policy, rather than policy being determined on the basis of sound scientific evidence.

In yesterday's speech, Obama had a frank dig at the outgoing administration's science record, with the line: "We will restore science to its rightful place ... " Obama continued with a pledge to exploit technology to improve healthcare and make it cheaper.

But where will the new administration start? It is clear that Chu is going to be pivotal in the years ahead as the US seeks to break its addiction to oil. Obama said: "We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories." To be fair, it is a goal that was famously emphasised by George W. Bush in his State of the Union speech in 2006.

Before Obama was elected, I read through the plans he and Joe Biden had drawn up for science and innovation. It is an encouraging document, and one we will have to check Obama's actions against over the next few years. It is strong on boosting education in the sciences, an issue that Obama again referred to in his speech, claiming: "We will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age."

So green energy, the climate and education may be the first areas of science and technology where Obama's science-literate adminstration makes its mark. But there's plenty more besides. Obama has pledged to lift restrictions on stem cell research, but it is unclear how permissive the new research environment will be. On space policy, the administration has some tough decisions to make. Will it remain well funded given the ongoing financial crisis, and if so, will the space shuttle carry on flying until Nasa has developed a replacement?

As the man said, there is plenty of work to be done. Here's hoping his impressive band of science advisers are ready to step up to the plate.

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 21 Jan 2009 | 1:31 pm

Animal rights campaigners jailed

Seven animal rights activists who ran a blackmail campaign against firms that supplied Huntingdon Life Sciences are jailed for up to 11 years.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Jan 2009 | 1:16 pm

Bombs in paradise

How British troops were made to face nuclear blasts
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Jan 2009 | 11:38 am

Men say bird vomit saved their lives in 25 days lost at sea: report (AFP)

AFP - Two men who spent 25 days lost at sea in a giant icebox survived their extraordinary ordeal thanks to rainwater from tropical storms and fish spat out by passing birds, a report said Wednesday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Jan 2009 | 7:41 am

Acupuncture 'works' for aches

Traditional acupuncture is effective at preventing headaches, a scientific review finds - but so is a sham form.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Jan 2009 | 7:30 am