Science Headlines for February 10, 2009

Biologists Find Gene Network That Gave Rise To First Tooth

Scientists report that a common gene regulatory circuit controls the development of all dentitions, from the first teeth in the throats of jawless fishes that lived half a billion years ago, to the incisors and molars of modern vertebrates, including you and me.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 4:00 pm

Multivitamins Have No Impact On Risk Of Cancer Or Heart Disease In Postmenopausal Women, Study Finds

The largest study of its kind concludes that long-term multivitamin use has no impact on the risk of common cancers, cardiovascular disease or overall mortality in postmenopausal women.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 4:00 pm

Constant Compressions Critical To CPR

Interrupting chest compressions during resuscitation reduces the chances of heartbeat return after defibrillation. New research shows that for every second of a pause in compressions there is a one percent reduction in the likelihood of success.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 4:00 pm

New Technique Images Tumor Vessel Leakiness To Predict Breast Cancer Chemotherapy Outcome

Researchers have developed a technique for determining the "leakiness" of tumor blood vessels using a simple digital mammography unit. The quantification of "leakiness" is closely correlated to the ability of a chemotherapy agent to enter the tumor, allowing the researchers to predict the agent's therapeutic efficacy.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 4:00 pm

Road Traffic Noise In Residential Areas Can Increase Risk Of Heart Attack

People living in environments with high levels of road traffic noise might be more likely to suffer myocardial infarction than people in quieter areas.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 4:00 pm

Nanotechnology Makes Supertelescopes Much More Sensitive

Nanotechnologists have succeeded in significantly increasing the sensitivity of the new supertelescopes in Chile.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 4:00 pm

DNA May Reveal Origins of Medieval Manuscripts

Researcher testing method to trace medieval texts with DNA from animal skin parchment.
Source: Livescience.com | 10 Feb 2009 | 1:48 pm

New Device Reads Minds Pretty Well (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Canadian researchers say they can glean simple preferences from a person's brain by shining near-infrared light into the noggin.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 1:40 pm

New Device Reads Minds Pretty Well

Researchers say they can glean simple preferences from a person's brain by shining near-infrared light into the noggin.
Source: Livescience.com | 10 Feb 2009 | 1:30 pm

Floating Iris Plants May Help Clean Fishery Wastewater

The feasibility of using floating vegetation to remove nutrients from fishery wastewater is being tested by scientists.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 1:00 pm

Genetic Change Prevents Cell Death In Mouse Model Of Parkinson's Disease

By shifting a normal protective mechanism into overdrive, scientists have completely shielded mice from a toxic chemical that would otherwise cause Parkinson's disease.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 1:00 pm

Newer Medication May Offer Advantages Over Agents Often Used For Sedation In ICU

Use of the sedative dexmedetomidine for critically ill patients resulted in less time on a ventilator and less delirium compared to patients administered a more commonly used drug, according to a new study.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 1:00 pm

Dramatic Rise In Sea Level And Its Broad Ramifications Uncovered

Scientists have found proof in Bermuda that the planet's sea level was once more than 70 feet higher about 400,000 years ago than it is now. This had grave ramifications for the biodiversity on the planets coastlines and small islands.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 1:00 pm

Study: Birds shifting north; global warming cited (AP)

AP - When it comes to global warming, the canary in the coal mine isn't a canary at all. It's a purple finch.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 12:55 pm

Enchanted Isles

Retracing Darwin's footsteps in the Galapagos Islands
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Feb 2009 | 12:54 pm

Dogs take all avenues to reach Westminster show (AP)

AP - The champion chow chow came from China, the smooth-coated Dachshund arrived from South Africa. The best Saluki, well, he started out long ago in a test tube. Dogs take all sorts of paths to reach the Westminster Kennel Club event. On Tuesday night, we'll see which one leads to best in show.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 12:22 pm

"Big Bang" collider startup postponed to September

GENEVA (Reuters) - The giant particle collider built to reproduce "Big Bang" conditions will now be restarted in September to allow time for repairs, not the summer as planned, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) said.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 11:17 am

Hurricane Season 2008 (weather.com)

weather.com -
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 11:05 am

Flying giant

The great Jumbo - four decades of the Boeing 747
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Feb 2009 | 10:52 am

Unmanned Russian cargo ship heads to space station (AP)

AP - An unmanned Russian cargo ship is carrying supplies and a space suit to the international space station and its three-member crew.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 9:12 am

'Arctic unicorns' in icy display

Remarkable footage of elusive narwhal is captured by a BBC team.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Feb 2009 | 9:08 am

A dangerous nuclear game

I have always had the idea that Britain was the junior partner in its dealings with the US military and nuclear establishment: that we clung to the coat-tails of US technological advance to boost our global standing as we faded from imperial pre-eminence. When politicians and experts spoke of "nuclear cooperation" between the US and UK at the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment, I assumed that we played the bit part and Uncle Sam had the starring role.

But recent documents appear to show that it has not been a one-way street, and that Britain has had valuable capabilities that the US has been able to exploit. How reassuring to know that the US has been able to benefit from the billions of pounds that we spend on Aldermaston. But is that really what we want to spend our money on?

This revelation actually raises an enormous number of questions – of legality, of independence, of cost. But transparency and political accountability are absolutely fundamental here – who is actually making the decisions about Britain's nuclear weapons?

John Harvey, from the US national nuclear security administration, states that the US and UK have a new deal for cooperating on US plans for a new Reliable Replacement Warhead. But President Obama has said they will stop the development of new nuclear weapons. Our own government has stated that no decision has been taken on whether or not Britain will have a new nuclear warhead. Are the military establishments living in a parallel universe where they just plough on with their weapons programmes, willy-nilly? Or is our government pulling the wool over our eyes? Certainly the level of building and spending at Aldermaston indicates that a new nuclear weapon is in the offing, but our government has consistently denied it.

Most alarming, Harvey also stated that the recent steps to amend the US/UK mutual defence agreement to allow for broader cooperation than in the past. The MDA, signed in 1958, is already the world's most extensive nuclear sharing agreement. What on earth is it going to be extended to? We don't know, as apart from vague public statements, the vital "security annex" has never been published. And who has been told of the implications of the extended treaty? Certainly not parliament or Congress, who were never informed of the link to new nuclear warheads.

All the trends in global public and political opinion are away from nuclear weapons. Obama is working towards bilateral reductions with Russia, wants to remove nuclear weapons from hair-trigger alert, and wishes to renew the Start treaty, due to run out later this year. Britain's own government has restated its commitment to its disarmament obligation under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and has said it is setting up a summit to discuss disarmament with the nuclear weapons states.

So what is going on here? The government cannot ride two horses at once. Secretly pursuing new nuclear weapons is hardly going to help create the political conditions for nuclear disarmament. We now know that the secret "security annex" of the MDA was revised in 2004 specifically to allow the UK to be included in the Reliable Replacement Warhead programme – the full facts of this deal need to be exposed and put before parliament.

Someone needs to tell the government that it is playing a double game on nuclear weapons is duplicitous and dangerous.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 10 Feb 2009 | 9:00 am

Scientists Heartened at Prospect of End to Stem Cell Ban (HealthDay)

HealthDay - MONDAY, Feb. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers are rejoicing over President Barack Obama's anticipated lifting of the eight-year ban on embryonic stem cell research imposed by his predecessor, President George W. Bush.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 4:48 am

Grandma's moistening kettle may have held off flu (AP)

AP - Grandma may have been right about keeping a teakettle warming on the stove in winter to moisten the air.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 4:41 am

Study Suggests Multivitamins Don't Work

Long-term multivitamin use has no impact on the risk of mortality in postmenopausal women.
Source: Livescience.com | 10 Feb 2009 | 4:08 am

FDA Issues Serious Reality Check on Diet Pills

FDA finds several dozen products sold as weight-loss supplements contain potentially harmful drugs.
Source: Livescience.com | 10 Feb 2009 | 3:12 am

Latest Celebrity Rant: Conan Goes Off on Boron

When a reporter at the New York Times made a little mistake in an article about Boron, Conan O'Brien was furious. On his show, Late Night, he launched into a hilarious rant about the fifth element.

Last Monday, Kenneth Chang described a new type of Boron crystal that was discovered by Artem Oganov and his team of geoscientists. But the seasoned science journalist got one detail wrong: Including the newly discovered substance, the element can take on four different forms, but Chang had incorrectly stated that there are only three.

"Dr. Oganov informed me of my mistake Monday evening, a few hours after the science section went to press," said Chang on the Tierney Lab blog. "The Web version of the story was quickly fixed, and everyone who read the story on nytimes.com last Tuesday got the correct boron news."

But the error made its way into the printed newspaper, and The Times quickly issued a correction. That modest announcement sparked a hilarious reprimand on late night television — in the form of a lecture by Professor O'Brien.

Chang wondered if there will be more science lessons when O'Brien takes over as host of The Tonight Show. I sure hope so — unless it's at my expense.

See Also:

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 10 Feb 2009 | 1:08 am

Browner says stimulus bill a boost for green jobs (AP)

AP - Carol Browner, the White House energy and climate director, says prompt approval of the economic recovery package is needed to stem a rising tide of job losses in the fledgling wind and solar energy industries.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Feb 2009 | 12:19 am

Herbal remedies for arthritis mostly ineffective, says study

Many herbal medicines and other complementary therapies do nothing to help people with rheumatoid arthritis, according to a report published today.

A review of published data on natural remedies found the majority were completely ineffective at relieving patients' symptoms, or had only tentative evidence to suggest they worked.

Almost half of the UK population tries complementary medicine at some point in their lives, and more than £450m a year is spent on herbal remedies, homeopathy, osteopathy, acupuncture and similar treatments. Among people with arthritis and similar conditions, the figure is nearer 60%, doctors said.

In the report, compiled by the charity Arthritis Research Campaign, doctors reviewed medical research on more than 50 remedies sold as treatments for rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis or fibromyalgia, a condition that causes pain in the muscles and connective tissues.

Each therapy was ranked from one to five, with one indicating the treatment has no effect, and five meaning there is good evidence that it works. Only fish oil, which is sold for rheumatoid arthritis, received the top ranking of five, while 17 of the remaining 20 treatments were deemed completely ineffective or had too little evidence to support their efficacy. Among them were extracts of elk antler velvet and green-lipped mussels.

"We get more calls about complementary therapies than any other topic ," said Alan Silman, medical director for the Arthritis Research Campaign. "Our report is to empower people, and it shows these treatments are not all good or all bad. With some you're wasting your time and money, but there are a number which, compared to doing nothing, are beneficial."

Fish oil, which is derived from the tissues of fatty fish, is believed to work by reducing inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Alternative therapies for patients with osteoarthritis fared only slightly better, with three in 28 natural remedies backed up by either strong or moderate evidence. The most effective, capsaicin gel, has been shown to reduce pain among osteoarthritis patients. A therapy called phytodolor and the nutritional supplement S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAMe), both received a four for effectiveness. Glucosamine, one of the most widely taken products, worked in some trials but not others.

Silman said patients often took complementary therapies alongside prescription medicines. Few studies had been done to see if natural remedies were more effective than prescription drugs, he added.

The report also ranked the safety of therapies, using a traffic light system of green, amber and red lights. Only one red traffic light, indicating serious reported side-effects, was issued - against a Chinese herbal medicine called thunder god vine for rheumatoid arthritis.

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Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 10 Feb 2009 | 12:01 am

Justice must be absolute

Justice is not time limited. It is an absolute. When a grievous wrong is done, those who have suffered need respect and help throughout their lives, not just while the rest of us can be bothered to pay attention. Yet most forget too easily, and so one wrong is followed by another.

This is what has happened to the victims of thalidomide, a drug whose devastating side-effects were discovered after its prescribed use for the prevention of morning sickness in the 60s and 70s: nearly 500 babies were born without arms or legs, or were deaf, blind or suffering from autism.

It took a decade of legal wrangling before they were given any compensation. Now, as the thalidomide generation enter their 40s and 50s, cases are emerging of women whose deformities are causing increasing pain and difficulties with advancing age.

They face a host of new problems as their bodies suffer from the wear and tear that the overuse of certain muscles has caused. The money that seemed adequate in the 70s is simply no longer enough. But again, the demand for adequate compensation is being resisted.

Has the shock of seeing pictures of deformed and stunted limbs worn off? Or do people somehow feel the matter is closed? Both would seem understandable. In the 70s, the public were inundated with shocking pictures and stories in the press. Some of Britain's best journalists, led by the Sunday Times's brilliant Harold Evans, and a few politicians and campaigners set out to imprint the horror of thalidomide into the national mind. For it was the fact that this man-made disaster was hidden away for years that made its continuation possible.

Even then, with journalists, politicians and the involvement of some of the parents, like David Mason, the father of a thalidomide child, the response was slow and halting. Gradually the campaign became more emotional. As I said in a parliamentary debate at the time: "Adolescence is a time for living and laughing, for learning and loving. But what kind of adolescence will a 10-year-old boy have when he has no arms, no legs, one eye, no pelvic girdle and is only 2ft tall?"

The first campaign resulted in a great victory: the compensation offer made by the manufacturer was increased tenfold. But it failed to take full account of any future problems arising directly from thalidomide, which we are now witnessing. Newspapers have recently reported cases of women whose deformities are causing increasing pain and difficulties with advancing age.

The awards that seemed enough three decades ago can no longer be regarded as being so, as movements become more restricted and the costs of mobility mount. The proper way to assess requirements is by making comparisons with an unaffected person's life; even when allowance is made for the payments to cover extra costs such as special housing and adapted vehicles, there remains the daily struggle to cope. It isn't easy to evaluate these issues, but they must be taken into account.

Alan Johnson, the health secretary, has been quoted as saying he is "not persuaded of the case" for financial assistance. We have heard that before. Diageo, which has taken over from the drug's original manufacturer Distillers, has increased contributions to the Thalidomide Trust, but the amount victims receive remains small compared with current compensation rates.

The best solution is for state help. This would solve all the problems at a stroke. It's hard to believe that, more than 30 years on, we have to fight again to win justice for these totally innocent victims. In parliament, and in the media, the campaign must begin again.

• Lord Ashley was Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent South from 1966 to 1992

comment@guardian.co.uk

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 10 Feb 2009 | 12:01 am

Adviser says sorry over ecstasy article

The government's drugs adviser last night apologised for saying that the risk in taking ecstasy was no worse than in riding a horse. Home secretary Jacqui Smith had yesterday carpeted Dr David Nutt over comments that emerged 48 hours before his committee was expected to recommend downgrading the drug.

She demanded an apology and told the professor that his comments went beyond the scientific advice she expected from him. "I've spoken to him. I've told him that I was surprised and profoundly disappointed," Smith told MPs yesterday. She said they made light of a serious problem, trivialised the dangers of drugs, showed insensitivity to the families of victims, and sent the wrong message to young people.

Smith's attack on Nutt, the new chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, comes when this week it will publish a report expected to recommend downgrading ecstasy from class A to class B. Smith has made clear she will veto the council's view as she rejected its advice last year not to reclassify cannabis.

Lib Dem MP Evan Harris complained to the Speaker at Smith's attack, describing Nutt as a "distinguished scientist" unable to answer back in parliament for what was set out in a scientific publication. His article in the Journal of Psychopharmacology was written before he became chairman, but picked up in the weekend press.

Ecstasy is the UK's third most popular illicit drug with an estimated 470,000 people using it last year, including 5% of 16- to 24-year-olds. Last night, Nutt apologised saying he had "no intention of trivialising the dangers of ecstasy".

"I am sorry to those who may have been offended by my article. I would like to apologise to those who have lost friends and family due to ecstasy use," he said.

The article, "Equasy", [sic] ironically argued "equine addiction syndrome" accounted for 100 deaths a year, as against 30 a year for ecstasy use.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 10 Feb 2009 | 12:01 am

What makes the arsonists tick?

Police suspect several of the 400-plus bushfires that have devastated Victoria state in Australia are the work of arsonists. The same was true of last November's wildfires in California, and of the blazes that ravaged large areas of southern Greece two summers ago. One of the world's fastest-growing crimes (up 135% in Britain from 1990 to 2000), it is also among the least detected and the costliest: in the UK, fewer than 8% of the 100,000-plus maliciously lit fires each year end in prosecution, while arson is estimated to cost our economy some £2bn annually.

So who are the arsonists, and what drives them?

The Home Office's Arson Scoping Study defines four primary motivations: youth disorder and nuisance; malicious; psychological; and criminal. The first covers vandalism, boredom and thrill-seeking. In Britain, it accounts for 80% of all cases and is generally spur-of-the-moment, targeting empty property such as schools or abandoned cars.

Some 5% of arson cases are malicious: fires set through revenge (against a partner or family member), retaliation (against an institution or an employer), rivalry, racism, or clashes of belief. An even smaller percentage of arsonists have psychological problems; about two in every hundred convicted arsonists in Britain receive a court hospital order each year, while about 10% of those arrested are considered mentally ill. Genuine pyromania (an "unnatural fascination" with fire; deliberate and repeated fire-setting; arousal prior to the crime and intense gratification afterwards) is very rare.

Criminal arson takes in fires started to destroy evidence relating to other crimes such as theft or murder, those where the offender stands to gain financially, perhaps through insurance fraud, and those set by terrorists or other extremists.

Around half of all arsonists are males under 18; the majority of the rest are males under 30. In some countries, a small but significant proportion are firemen, who sometimes set fires to be paid for putting them out but more often do so through a misplaced desire to be seen as a hero.

Despite a great deal of research, however, arson psychology - and thus the police's ability to profile and detain suspects - remains a very inexact science: the vast majority of crimes are committed during the hours of darkness, only a tiny percentage of arsonists are caught, and human motivation is, in any case, notoriously mixed.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 10 Feb 2009 | 12:01 am

Don't smoke, it's bad for your pet's health

An anti-smoking campaign urging people to quit by stressing the health risk of second-hand smoke to their pets is being trialled in America. The campaign was launched to see whether pet-owning smokers were more likely to give up after being given information on the effect of passive smoking on cats, dogs and birds.

The trial follows a study in which people claimed they were more likely to stop smoking after being told the habit could shorten the lives of their pets.

Sharon Milberger at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit used an online survey to ask people about their motivations for giving up smoking, or for asking people not to smoke in their homes. Of more than 3,000 respondents a fifth were smokers and a quarter lived with at least one person who smoked. Nearly a third said that realising second-hand smoke could harm their pet would spur them to give up.

The results of the study, published in the journal Tobacco Control, prompted Milberger to launch the trial.

Published research suggests second-hand tobacco smoke can be as dangerous for pets as it is for the non-smoking partners of smokers. Passive smoking has been associated with lymph gland, nasal, and lung cancers, allergies, eye and skin diseases, as well as respiratory problems in cats and dogs.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 10 Feb 2009 | 12:01 am

Smokers Would Kick Habit for Pet's Sake

Smokers might care more about Fido than they do about themselves, it would seem, given a new study.
Source: Livescience.com | 10 Feb 2009 | 12:00 am

"Struggling" octuplets mom looks to God for help

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The California mother of newborn octuplets said on Monday she was counting on God to help provide for her family but acknowledged that she already was "struggling" financially to raise her first six children.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 9 Feb 2009 | 11:57 pm

Amazon forest may get drier, but survive warming

OSLO (Reuters) - Amazonian forests may be less vulnerable to dying off from global warming than feared because many projections underestimate rainfall, a study showed.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 9 Feb 2009 | 10:44 pm

Hadron Collider relaunch delayed

The Hadron Collider could be switched back on in September - a year after it shut down and months later than expected.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 9 Feb 2009 | 10:43 pm

Astronaut's Video Takes Shot at NASA Bureaucracy (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - A homemade film shot by a NASA astronaut takes a harsh look at the agency's sometimes impersonal bureaucracy in hopes of encouraging employees to keep a more open mind when confronted with dissenting opinions or new ideas.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Feb 2009 | 10:30 pm

Gut Bacteria Affect Almost Everything You Do

Bacteria living symbiotically inside human bodies may have an unexpectedly profound and wide ranging effect on basic biological functions such as development, reproduction and immunity.

In a comparison of blood from germ-free and regular mice, researchers found large differences in molecules that affect just about everything involved in living.

"I expected to find a couple of differences," said study co-author Bill Wikoff, a Scripps Research Institute biophysicist. "When we came back with hundreds of changes, it was a big surprise."

The human body contains 10 times more bacteria than human cells, with 50 trillion microbes living in the average digestive tract alone. The study of these internal bacteria is in its infancy: the Human Microbiome Project, launched to catalogue our bodies' bacterial inhabitants, started last October.

All these microbes are not just along for the ride, say scientists, but have co-evolved with human beings, providing important biochemical services in exchange for their home. Imbalances in gut bacteria have already been linked to obesity, cancer, asthma and a host of autoimmune diseases.

Though marketers of what are known as probiotics have had some success in using bugs to treat allergies and irritable bowel disease, the causal links between bacteria and disease remain largely unspecified.

"If you want to use bacteria in an intelligent way, you really need to know what affect bacteria have on the biochemistry of a person," said Wikoff.

A critical first step in figuring them out is linking bacteria to cellular processes, known broadly as metabolites. The study of metabolites is also just getting off the ground. Some are cellular byproducts, while others are physiologically critical. But though the first draft of the human metabolome — the biochemical analogue of the human genome — was completed just two years ago, scientists know it's important.

In the new mouse comparison study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, some metabolites were found only in germ-free mice. Others were found only in regular mice. Some were found in both, but in subtly different forms. The hodgepodge of results suggests that various bacteria break down, produce or otherwise tweak biochemicals.

The study "provides evidence of the profound effects of the microbiome on mammalian metabolism," said New York University microbiologist Martin Blaser. "Although the study was done in mice, the conclusions are largely generalizable to humans."

Wikoff's team didn't concentrate on specific metabolites, but a few stood out. Levels of the mood-regulating transmitter serotonin were altered, as were metabolites involved in processing drugs. The latter finding suggests that gut bacteria could be involved not just in maintaining health and disease, but processing drugs — helping to explain, perhaps, why drugs affect people in different ways.

Another tantalizing find in the bacteria-rich mice was indole-3 propionic acid, an antioxidant thought to have potential in treating Alzheimer's.

As the microbiome and metabolome projects continue, the links are likely to become clearer.

"What we've done here is just a first step," said Wikoff.

Citation: "Metabolomics analysis reveals large effects of gut microflora on mammalian blood metabolites." By William R. Wikoff, Andrew T. Anfor, Jun Liu, Peter G. Schultz,1, Scott A. Lesley, Eric C. Peters, and Gary Siuzdak. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 106 No. 6, Feb. 9, 2009.

See Also:

Image: National Institutes of Health

WiSci 2.0: Brandon Keim's Twitter stream and Del.icio.us feed; Wired Science on Facebook.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 9 Feb 2009 | 10:18 pm

LHC to Begin Collisions in Fall... Right?

The Large Hadron Collider will begin blasting apart atoms starting in October, scientists at CERN confirmed today.

The much-ballyhooed "most complex machine in the world" will officially restart in September, going through a series of tests, before it progresses to actual science experiments that could (all together now) provide new understanding about the nature of dark matter and the first few moments after the Big Bang.

That is, if it doesn't break like it did last September, mere days after it started up and a week before the first collisions were scheduled to take place. Last time around, a helium leak seriously damaged part of the tunnel track on which beams are accelerated. Psyched physicists, who've been waiting for a generation to test the sprawling ideas of theoretical physics, were forced to postpone their experiments for yet another year. Now, they've got a date to repin their hopes on.

"The schedule we have now is without a doubt the best for the LHC and for the physicists waiting for data,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. “It is cautious, ensuring that all the necessary work is done on the LHC before we start-up, yet it allows physics research to begin this year.”

Image: CERN. An LHC component "in the style of" Leonardo da Vinci.

See Also:

WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal's Twitter , Google Reader feed, and project site, Inventing Green: the lost history of American clean tech; Wired Science on Facebook.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 9 Feb 2009 | 9:49 pm

Buckets Full of Ancient Creatures Found

Sweetman discovered the new species in ancient river deposits on the Isle of Wight.
Source: Livescience.com | 9 Feb 2009 | 9:05 pm

Cell Phones Welcome in 5th-Grade Classroom

A project in Texas gives students cell phones loaded with educational software.
Source: Livescience.com | 9 Feb 2009 | 9:02 pm

Study: How Hospitals Should Work

How some hospitals create a positive place that patients appreciate.
Source: Livescience.com | 9 Feb 2009 | 8:55 pm

Europa Vs. Titan: NASA Narrows Quest for Life

In the search for life beyond Earth, two watery moons make compelling targets.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Feb 2009 | 7:30 pm

A Cool Use for Recycled Glass

Bits of repurposed glass, in jewel-like nuggets, provide a decorative accent in the yard.
Source: Livescience.com | 9 Feb 2009 | 7:26 pm

Japan scientists identify enzyme that may suppress cancer

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Scientists in Japan have identified an enzyme which appears to suppress breast cancer and they hope the finding will spur new therapies to control the second most common cancer in the world.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 9 Feb 2009 | 7:21 pm

Bugs Find Meals With Heat Sensors

Objects stand out against the background as a result not of their color, but of their temperature.
Source: Livescience.com | 9 Feb 2009 | 7:19 pm

Australia Wildfires Made Fierce by Climate Change

The intensity of wildfires raging in Australia is linked to climate change, say scientists.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Feb 2009 | 7:09 pm

About 30 Egyptian mummies found in ancient cache

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian archaeologists have found about 30 mummies and at least one unopened sarcophagus in a burial chamber about 4,300 years old, the government said in a statement on Monday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 9 Feb 2009 | 7:08 pm

Mummies found in newly discovered tomb in Egypt (AP)

AP - A storeroom housing about two dozen ancient Egyptian mummies has been unearthed inside a 2,600-year-old tomb during the latest round of excavations at the vast necropolis of Saqqara south of Cairo, archaeologists said Monday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Feb 2009 | 6:10 pm

Should babies have their DNA profiled?

The idea of taking genetic profiles for babies is not new. The issue was raised as a possibility in the government's genetics white paper in 2003. Back then, the thinking was that the information would reveal a person's risk of disease later in life, and potentially pave the way for treatment tailored to a patient's genetic make-up.

The issue has re-emerged in an interview with Jay Flatley, chief executive of a genome sequencing company called Illumina. It may not be surprising that someone who makes their money from mapping genomes thinks we will map more of them in the future.

But Flatley has some interesting thoughts. He sees the technology being readily available and cheap enough within 10 years to do this gargantuan task.

What stills needs to be ironed out are the social and legal issues.

When the Human Genetics Commission looked at the issue in 2005, it concluded that the idea should be shelved, at least as far as the NHS was concerned: it would cost too much; have insufficient benefits to health to be warranted; and was at least 20 years in the future.

The prospect is still intriguing though. Do people want to know their genetic make-up, and so what science makes of their risks of heart disease and dementia, from the moment they are born? Would the message from GPs be any different to health advice now: don't drink too much alcohol, don't smoke, eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, leave out the red meat and exercise a lot?

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Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 9 Feb 2009 | 5:33 pm

£1m exhibition at Charles Darwin's home marks bicentenary of his birth

Once the shy academic in the rambling house on the edge of the village published his big book, the flood gates opened: there are accounts of the Downe village postman staggering under the sacks of mail he carried every day to the home of Charles Darwin.

In June 1873 the postman was bringing something special: a gift – on public display for the first time this week – from a fellow author of a book arguably as infamous and influential as On The Origin of Species. The copy of Das Kapital, Kritik der Politischen Oekonomie, was inscribed to Darwin from "his sincere admirer, Karl Marx".

It took Darwin over three months to compose a suitable response. He finally wrote in October: "Though our studies have been so different I believe that we both earnestly desire the extension of knowledge and that this in the long run is sure to add to the happiness of mankind."

The book in its original paper cover, on loan from a Darwin descendant, is part of a £1m exhibition which English Heritage has created at the scientist's home to celebrate the bicentenary this Thursday of his birth, and the 150th anniversary of publication of his theory of natural selection.

Sharp-eyed visitors may spot what Darwin didn't admit to Marx. The ivory paper knife which he used to cut the pages of new books is also on display: the uncut pages prove conclusively that he got less than a third of the way through Das Kapital.

Darwin, with the third of his 10 children on the way, left the filth and noise of London for Kent in 1842, but found the house "ugly, looks neither old nor new". He left the house as little as possible for the rest of his life, and died in his upstairs bedroom in 1882. Though he had given up going to church after the death of his beloved daughter Annie, he wanted a grave in the village churchyard. He was by then so famous that he was buried instead in a great state funeral at Westminster Abbey, but the house and garden, and the fields, hedges, lanes and ponds around it which supplied him with endless inspiration for scientific inquiry, have now been nominated as a World Heritage Site.

The house where he roped all his children and his long suffering butler Joseph Parslow into frequently noxious experiments – he recorded in 1873 that they'd been boiling down pigeon carcasses for their skeletons, "the smell was so dreadful that it made me retch awfully" – has been a museum since the 1920s. After major restoration by English Heritage it reopened in 1998.

The new displays include the tiny notebooks, some no larger than playing cards, which he kept on the five-year voyage on the Beagle: they have now been digitised and will soon go online, allowing visitors to pore over the tiny sheets, as Darwin did for almost 20 years. Another precious loan is two of only 43 sheets of his manuscript of the Origin which survived his daughter's generosity in giving them away after his death.

Also new is a full-size recreation, from contemporary drawings and plans of the ship, of the small cabin in which Darwin lived, worked and was miserably seasick on the Beagle, a vessel only 90 feet long. He shared it during the day with other officers, had to clear all his work off the table whenever it was needed to lay out charts, and every night had to remove a drawer to make room for his feet.

• Down House, the home of Charles Darwin, reopens on Friday 13 February.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 9 Feb 2009 | 3:54 pm

Darwin at 200: Still Evolving

On the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth, a new exhibit reflects on his life and legacy.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Feb 2009 | 3:30 pm

Tequila Growers Hurting as Industry Shifts

Changes in the tequila industry damage the environment and small farmers.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Feb 2009 | 3:15 pm

A response to my critics

The question: Where does science end and 'magic' begin?

Magic is an attempt to control and forecast natural events. Sir James Frazer distinguished two categories. First, sympathetic magic by similarity: like produces like. For example, manipulating a model of something is believed to give power over that which is modelled. Second, magic by contact or contagion: objects that were once joined together retain a mysterious connection when separated, so that a change in one can affect the other.

Science is also about controlling and forecasting natural events. Much of its power comes from making models of natural processes. Mathematical modelling gives scientists ever more power to predict and control. And many modern technologies depend on a sympathetic resonance between similar patterns of vibration at a distance. A hundred years ago, television would have been magic, and so would mobile telephones.

Second, in quantum theory, objects that were once joined together retain a connection at a distance when separated, as in magic by contact or contagion. Einstein dismissed quantum non-locality as "spooky action at a distance". But quantum entanglement is real, and is applied technologically in quantum computing.

Isaac Newton ran into the science/magic problem with gravity. The idea that the moon influenced the tides through empty space sounded like magic, and Newton was embarrassed by his failure to explain what he called the "occult" or hidden force of gravitation. His critics, mainly French, accused him of magical thinking.

John Maddox, as editor of Nature, proclaimed me a heretic for "putting forward magic instead of science." He used magic as a pejorative word for any action at a distance not yet recognised by science. Morphic resonance may indeed sound like magic, but it is a testable scientific hypothesis.

The hypothesis of formative causation implies that there is an inherent memory in nature, and that the laws of nature are more like habits. Each member of a species draws upon a collective memory and in turn contributes to it. The greater the similarity, the stronger the resonance. Organisms are generally most similar to themselves in the past, and I suggest that their self-resonance underlies individual memory. You resonate with yourself in the past, rather than store countless memories as "traces" inside your brain. Despite decades of effort and billions of dollars of research funding, these hypothetical long-term memory traces have continued to elude detection. The simplest explanation for this negative finding is that they do not exist. There is good evidence for intense rhythmic activity in the hippocampus and other regions of the brain when memories are formed and when they are retrieved. But in between they seem to disappear.

I summarise the evidence for morphic resonance and discuss 10 new tests in the new edition of my book A New Science of Life. I do not claim that the evidence is conclusive, only that the question is open. Those who assert that there is no evidence, like Susan Blackmore and Adam Rutherford, are willfully ignorant. They believe they know the truth without needing to look at the facts.

The same is true of controversies about telepathy. Sceptics like Rutherford, who accused me of "crimes against reason", rely on the claims of other skeptics, like Michael Shermer, who rely on yet other skeptics such as David Marks, who ignore any evidence that goes against their beliefs.

Adam Rutherford, who works for Nature, dismisses scientific ideas presented in books, rather than in scientific journals. He would therefore rule out Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, whose 150th anniversary we celebrate this year, as well as most of the work of Richard Dawkins. My own research is published in peer-reviewed journals (including Nature) as well as in books. My papers on the sense of being stared at, and on telepathy in people and in animals are all available online.

I have recently launched a new telephone telepathy experiment that works through mobile phones. Anyone interested can try it here.

Science is our best method for exploring what we do not understand. But for some people science has become a religion. They need authority and certainty, and want to believe that the fundamental answers are already known.

Scientific fundamentalism serves deep emotional needs, but it is counter-productive for the progress of science itself. It inhibits scientific exploration, gives science a bad name and puts young people off. Science advances through questioning dogmas, by considering new possibilities, and through open-minded enquiry.

Evolution

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 9 Feb 2009 | 3:00 pm

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