Science Headlines for March 18, 2009

Robot Sub Searches For Signs Of Melting 60 Km Into An Antarctic Ice Shelf Cavity

Autosub, a robot submarine built and developed in the UK, has successfully completed a high-risk campaign of six missions traveling under an Antarctic glacier. Autosub has been exploring Pine Island Glacier, a floating extension of the West Antarctic ice sheet, using sonar scanners to map the seabed and the underside of the ice as it juts into the sea. Scientists hope to learn why the glacier has been thinning and accelerating.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 6:00 pm

Vitamin D May Not Be The Answer To Feeling SAD

A lack of Vitamin D, due to reduced sunlight, has been linked to depression and the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder, but new research shows there is no clear link between the levels of vitamin D in the blood and depression.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 6:00 pm

More Evidence That Intelligence Is Largely Inherited: Researchers Find That Genes Determine Brain's Processing Speed

A new type of brain imaging scanner shows that intelligence is strongly influenced by the quality of the brain's axons or wiring that sends signals throughout the brain. The faster the signaling, the faster the brain processes information. And since the integrity of the brain's wiring is influenced by genes, the genes we inherit play a far greater role in intelligence than was previously thought.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 6:00 pm

Engineer Devises Ways To Improve Gas Mileage

A mechanical engineer is developing techniques that will lessen our monetary pain at the pump by reducing the drag of vehicles. Drag is an aerodynamic force that is the result of resistance a body encounters when it moves in a liquid or gaseous medium (such as air). Reduction in drag means less fuel would be required to overcome the fluid resistance encountered by the moving vehicle.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 6:00 pm

Scientists Discover Why A Low GI Meal Makes You Feel Full

Eating a meal with a low GI (glycemic index) increases gut hormone production which leads to suppression of appetite and the feeling of fullness. Researchers studied the effects of a low versus high GI meal on levels of gut hormones. This is the first study to provide clues as to how a low GI meal produces satiety.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 6:00 pm

Goodbye Needle, Hello Smoothie: New Generation Oral Vaccine Uses Dairy Probiotics To Protect Against Disease

Instead of a shot, someday getting vaccinated against disease may be as pleasant as drinking a yogurt smoothie. A researcher has developed a new oral vaccine using probiotics, the healthy bacteria in dairy products. He has successfully used the vaccine to create immunity to anthrax. He also is developing a breast cancer vaccine using probiotics and vaccines for various infectious diseases. Delivering the vaccine to the gut produces the most robust immune response.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 6:00 pm

Low Vitamin D Levels Associated With Several Risk Factors In Teenagers

Low levels of vitamin D were associated with increased risk of high blood pressure, high blood sugar and metabolic syndrome in teenagers. The highest levels of vitamin D were found in whites, the lowest levels in blacks and intermediate levels in Mexican-Americans.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 3:00 pm

Clues To A Secret Of Life Found In Meteorite Dust

NASA scientists analyzing the dust of meteorites have discovered new clues to a long-standing mystery about how life works on its most basic, molecular level.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 3:00 pm

Brain Abnormality Found In Boys With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Researchers trying to uncover the mechanisms that cause attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder have found an abnormality in the brains of adolescent boys suffering from the conditions, but not where they expected to find it.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 3:00 pm

Engineering Flu Vaccines: New Method Could Improve Vaccines For Both Seasonal Flu And Bird Flu

Scientists have developed a new computerized method of testing the effectiveness of both bird flu and seasonal flu vaccines. Tests suggest the computerized approach can better identify vaccines that are effective against multiple flu strains. Data from bird flu outbreaks and more than 30 years of seasonal flu records were used to confirm the findings.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 3:00 pm

CO2-Sucking Rocks Explored to Slow Warming

Geologists consider injecting rocks with carbon dioxide to slow global warming.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 18 Mar 2009 | 2:40 pm

Glaucoma Drug Makes Eyelashes Longer, Thicker

From the company that gave us Botox comes a new lash-boosting eyedrop.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 18 Mar 2009 | 2:22 pm

'Star Wars' Laser Kills Mosquitoes (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Physicists have created a laser weapon that targets mosquitoes. It is hoped that by finding an effective weapon against mosquitoes, the incidence of malaria could be reduced. Today, malaria kills about one million people every year around the world.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 1:26 pm

Hungry and cold

Arctic team survives on half rations as resupply flights fail
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 18 Mar 2009 | 1:23 pm

ISS, Discovery crews meet, get down to business (AFP)

AFP - Soaring through space, Discovery's astronauts greeted colleagues from the International Space Station after the shuttle docked to deliver the ISS' first Japanese crewmember and key parts to finish the station's construction.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 1:06 pm

Sci-fi reality

Science fiction's relationship with science fact
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 18 Mar 2009 | 12:55 pm

Closing arguments Wed. in circus elephant trial (AP)

AP - Animal rights activists and the Ringling Bros. circus are getting their final say in a seven-year court battle over treatment of elephants under the big top.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 12:37 pm

Discovery docks for power mission

Nasa's space shuttle Discovery joins up with the International Space Station to extend its electricity generation capacity.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 18 Mar 2009 | 12:18 pm

Moderate quake hits off Indonesia: officials (AFP)

AFP - A moderate, 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi Wednesday, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage and no tsunami warning.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 11:43 am

Fife aquarium breeds deadly frogs

A frog so poisonous it can kill as many as 200 people is successfully bred at a Fife aquarium.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 18 Mar 2009 | 11:40 am

UN accuses EU over climate change

The UN's climate change chief accuses the EU of shifting the goalposts in global talks on climate change.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 18 Mar 2009 | 11:35 am

'Armed' chimps raid beehives

How chimps armed with clubs plunder beehives for honey.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 18 Mar 2009 | 11:06 am

Cochlear implant surgery safe for seniors

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The risk of complications from general anesthesia is not especially high for elderly patients having a cochlear implant inserted to correct deafness, according to a new report.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 10:32 am

Study shows benefit of finding second tumor early

LONDON (Reuters) - Early detection of a woman's second breast cancer can cut her risk of premature death in half, researchers said on Wednesday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 10:31 am

Rare vine in Hawaii designated endangered species (AP)

AP - A rare Hawaii vine has been added to the endangered species list, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday. It's the second species to be classified as endangered by the Obama administration. The first was the reticulated flatwoods salamander, an amphibian native to south Georgia, north Florida and coastal South Carolina. It was put on the list last month.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 7:46 am

Shuttle, station crews join to install solar wings (AP)

AP - The 10 astronauts aboard the linked space shuttle and space station are joining forces to install a new set of solar wings.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 7:29 am

Space shuttle crew boards station for 8-day visit

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The U.S. space shuttle Discovery arrived at the International Space Station on Tuesday to deliver its final pair of solar wing panels and the first Japanese astronaut to live aboard the station.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 18 Mar 2009 | 4:04 am

Beavers 'could thrive in England'

Beavers would bring many benefits to England, a conservation body's report on their reintroduction says.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 18 Mar 2009 | 2:22 am

Darwin gets a late birthday present

Tonight sees the unveiling of a belated 200th-birthday present to Charles Darwin in London's Natural History Museum - a sculpture consisting of a 5mm section of a 200-year-old oak tree, including trunk, roots and branches, installed on the ceiling. Sculptor Tania Kovats dreamed up her work in a camper-van in Patagonia (on a trip round South America, during which she used Darwin's The Voyage of the Beagle "as a travel guide - and a surprisingly fresh one"). The tree comes from a sustainable plantation on the Longleat estate, and piecing it together was full of challenges - "like a very large jigsaw puzzle, with the grain of the wood as a clue," says Kovats. It opens to the public tomorrow.

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Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 18 Mar 2009 | 1:05 am

Rare Trove of Army Medical Photos Heads to Flickr

An archivist has begun a massive project to make public a newly digitized collection of unique and sometimes startling military medical images, from the Civil War to Vietnam, without the Army's blessing.

This previously unreported archive at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C., contains 500,000 scans of unique images so far, with another 225,000 set to be digitized this year.

Mike Rhode, the museum's head archivist, is working to make tens of thousands of those images, which have been buried in the museum's archive, available on Flickr. Working after hours, his team has posted a curated selection of almost 800 photos on the service already, without the express permission of the Army.

"You pay taxes. These are your pictures," Rhode said. "You should be able to see them."

The collection includes images of injured veterans, medical treatments (like the hernia operation above), the first airplane crash investigation, and public health warnings about the dangers lice posed to World War II soldiers.

War: Captured and Freed

A gallery of images from the
National Museum of Health and Medicine

While making archives like this one accessible may seem like common sense, many unique collections of photographs, data, and documents remain locked up inside inaccessible archives. The vast majority of the Library of Congress' collections, for example, remain offline.

There used to be a reason for keeping these materials away from the public: They were physical artifacts that were degraded by regular handling. It made sense to preserve them for serious researchers.

Now, though, with the advent of cheap scanning, storage and bandwidth, the barriers to making public domain materials actually available to the public have disappeared. That is, except for organizational inertia and cash.

The organization that runs the NMHM — the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, funded by the Department of Defense — hasn't signed off on Rhode's plan to bring medical history photos to the people.

"The Army does not appreciate people using Army resources for sites that they don't consider to be related to your job," Rhode said. Flickr, like many social media sites, is blocked by the Army.

Still, Rhode is continuing to push to get the photos, a precious resource, into the light of the internet.

"We have pictures from all types of military conflicts and all different types of medicine and issues in medicine," Rhode said. "We love the stuff that we're able to play with and want to bring it to everyone else in the world."

Sara Piasecki, the head of historical collections and archives at the Oregon Health Sciences University History of Medicine Library, said that the NMHM collection is unique and better funded than most medical-history resources.

"A lot of the funding agencies are focused on humanities studies, but they almost never include medicine," she said. "That's why the stuff they're doing out in Washington is so important. You don't often get to see those kinds of archives."

For example, one set of photos — some of which are collected in a Wired.com gallery — was taken by the Museum and Medical Art Service, a little known branch of the military that tried to document World War II for future reference and education. Thanks to assistant archivist Kathleen Stucker, you can now peruse dozens of pictures from that effort on Flickr.

"We believe in the idea of the museum," Rhode said. "We're going above and beyond."

But it would certainly accelerate their efforts to open the archive to the public if the Army allowed Rhode's team to use the social media tools that have been built for this purpose.

We'll be following up on if — and how — this archive is made publicly available through our How-To Open Up Government Data wiki. If you know of similar efforts, let us know.

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 | 18 Mar 2009 | 12:16 am

Chernobyl 'shows insect decline'

Scientists find the signal of a decline in the numbers of insects in Chernobyl's exclusion zone, 20 years after the nuclear accident.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 18 Mar 2009 | 12:08 am

Beavers could be reintroduced to UK

Landowners claim dam-building increases chances of flooding, while conservationists say mammal increases biodiversity

Beavers could be successfully re-introduced to England and could help restore and conserve rivers and floodplains, according to the government's ecological advisers. But convincing landowners and other countryside groups of their benefits could mean it is many years before the furry mammals and their distinctive dams are seen again in the wild.

A major scientific study of all English rivers has identified the New Forest in Hampshire, Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, the Peak District, the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire, the Weald of Kent and the Lake District as the six areas with the most suitable habitats. Beavers need 2km lengths of river away from human populations, water at least 60cm deep and ideally, willow and poplar trees on the river bank.

Despite their notoriety for nibbling their way through trees to create their immense dams, according to the report by Natural England and conservation charity People's Trust for Endangered Species, they could have a significant, but largely positive effect on English rivers and wildlife. Studies from all over the world have shown that they can increase the variety of plants, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians, as well as mammals such as water voles, otters and shrews. Their dam-building habit can also increase flooding, damage crops and may affect some fish populations.

Beavers were a natural part of the British countryside until they were hunted to extinction for their fur and the secretion from their scent glands that was believed to have medicinal properties. They mostly died out in the 16th century although there is evidence some hung on until the 18th century in some northern rivers. Several beavers are to be introduced to a remote part of Scotland in May following a 10-year long battle between conservationists and landowners, and there are plans to reintroduce them in Wales.

Reintroductions have been successfully made in most mainland European countries but the report says there needs to be needs to be wide public consultation before going ahead in England. "There is a strong feasibility that beavers could do well in England. But they are not going to come for some time. Reintroducing them is time consuming and expensive. They could have a range of environmental benefits but could only be reintroduced under the right conditions," said Tom Tew, Natural England's chief scientist.

No formal applications have been made to Natural England to release any, but a number of conservation groups are known to be interested. Polls suggest that the public would be in favour, but many landowers and farmers are dubious.

"The English countryside has changed enormously since beavers were last seen here in large numbers," said the Country Landowners Association president Henry Aubrey-Fletcher. "We have a landscape unlike that of much of the rest of the world — one that has been actively farmed for hundreds of years.

"Our biggest concern is where the beaver would fit into today's modern, working English countryside. Beavers will destroy crops — particularly wheat and maize. Dams will restrict movement and migration. Beavers will damage woodlands by felling some trees and gnawing the bark away from others. And beaver burrows will damage river banks and their dams will increase the risk of flooding."

Andrea Graham, the National farmers Union Countryside adviser, said consultation with stakeholders would be crucial. "We recognise that European beavers may benefit river habitat creation and biodiversity, [but] we are concerned that beaver sites may conflict with future planning or development. They should receive no statutory protection like badgers."

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Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 18 Mar 2009 | 12:05 am

Obituary: David Snow

David Snow, who has died aged 84, was one of the most distinguished and popular ornithologists of the last 60 years. A major part of his work was the study of tropical, fruit-eating and nectar-feeding birds, which took him, and his wife Barbara, to many parts of central America.

He was a founder and director of the Charles Darwin research station in the Galápagos islands (1963-64) where he helped to develop programmes to protect the islands' giant tortoises and, with Barbara, pioneered studies of three of the world's rarest birds: the lava gull, the nocturnal swallow-tailed gull and the flightless cormorant.

Snow was born in Windermere, Cumberland, the second of four children of a preparatory school headteacher. During his childhood, he developed a love of walking, cycling and sketching, while acquiring from his father a small library of bird books, a key work being EM Nicholson's How Birds Live (1929), which opened up to him the wider environmental value of birdwatching. His father also gave him a pair of pocketable first world war German Goerz binoculars. Trips to places such as Scolt Head island, in north Norfolk, and Skokholm island off the south-west tip of Pembrokeshire, south Wales, were relished.

In 1938, he entered Eton college, where he first read Charles Darwin and continued his bird interests. The nearby birding hotspot of Slough sewage farm was a favourite destination, and resulted in muddy shoes in chapel on Sunday evenings.

During the second world war, Snow served in destroyers and a sloop on anti-submarine patrols. He maximised his ornithological shore leave by having his bicycle sent ahead by train to suitable British ports. In 1945 his anti-submarine frigate, the Veryan Bay, was detailed for the British Pacific fleet, but Japan's surrender meant more time for exploring, by bicycle, such countries as Malta, Ceylon and Borneo en route to Australia, where he spent two weeks on a sheep station 500 miles inland.

Having gained, before the war, a classical scholarship to New College, Oxford, he arrived there in 1946, and switched to zoology. In 1949, he led an undergraduate expedition to São Tomé and Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea off west Africa.

He then became a doctoral student and demonstrator in the university's Edward Grey Institute, where his thesis was on the ecology and variation of the tit species of Europe and north-west Africa. This involved a solo winter motorcycle journey through France, Tunisia and Morocco in 1950, repeated by car with a friend in the summer of 1951, as well as two trips to Swedish Lapland, where temperatures fell to minus 37 degrees centigrade, but he did manage to use his skis. Between times, he fitted in visits to the Pyrenees, Libya and Spain to watch migration. Postdoctoral research in Oxford's botanic garden led to A Study of Blackbirds (1958).

In 1957, he began work at the William Beebe tropical research station in Trinidad and, in 1958, married Barbara Whitaker. Between them, they pioneered studies on such species as hermit hummingbirds, the bearded bellbird and the extraordinary cave-dwelling oilbird which emerges at night to feed on fruit, navigating by echo-location, using audible clicks.

His Trinidad studies spawned visits to Guyana (1960), Venezuela (1976 and 1978) and Colombia (1978). Two books followed: The Web of Adaptation (1976) dealt with bird studies in the American tropics, and, in 1982, The Cotingas examined bellbirds, umbrella birds and other species. He was awarded a second Oxford doctorate in 1976.

Snow was director of research at the British Trust for Ornithology and editor of its journal Bird Study (1964-68). He then became head of the Natural History Museum's bird section (1968-84) and wrote sections for Peters' Checklist of Birds of the World, edited An Atlas of Speciation in African Non-passerine Birds (1978) and had an ever-increasing involvement in Birds of the Western Palearctic (1977-94), taking on the onerous task of senior editor in 1987. Later, with CM Perrins, he distilled and updated its nine volumes into the two-volume Concise Edition (1997). Further work with Barbara led to Birds and Berries (1988).

The American Ornithologists' Union awarded them the Brewster Medal (1972) and David was awarded the Godman-Salvin Medal by the British Ornithologists' Union (1982). He edited its journal Ibis (1968-72); the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club (1991-97); and Birds, Discovery and Conservation (1992), a compilation of papers from the Bulletin's first 100 years. His autobiography, Birds in Our Life, was published in 2008.

By nature, Snow was quietly spoken, with a tremendous flair for research and skill in communicating results. A kind, shy and extraordinarily modest man of tremendous intellect and energy, he was active to the end of his life: a scholarly little note about the feeding of blackcaps wintering in his Wingrave garden appeared in the January bulletin of the Buckinghamshire bird club.

Barbara died in 2007. He is survived by two sons, Stephen and Charles, and five grandchildren.

• David William Snow, ornithologist, born 30 September 1924; died 4 February 2009

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 | 18 Mar 2009 | 12:01 am

Obese die up to 10 years early

• Worse ahead 'when fat kids turn into fat adults'
• No excuse for smoking, says Oxford scientist

Moderate obesity shortens lives by three years and the seriously obese will die 10 years before they should, according to a definitive study by Oxford University researchers.

The study, published today online by the Lancet medical journal, is an analysis of data relating to nearly one million people worldwide. It is the largest ever investigation of how obesity affects mortality.

The analysis looked at the BMI (body mass index) of nearly a million people who had been weighed and measured in 57 separate studies, mostly in Europe and North America. On the BMI scale, calculated by dividing an individual's weight in kilograms by the square of their height in metres, more than 25 is considered overweight and more than 30 obese.

People in the study - funded by the Medical Research Council, the British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK - were followed for up to 20 years, during which time 100,000 died.

The best BMI to have, the researchers found, is about 24 - the group with the lowest mortality rate. For somebody 5ft 7in (170cm) high, that would equate to a weight of about 70kg, or 11 stone.

People who were moderately obese, with a BMI of 30 to 35, which is now common, died three years earlier than they would have done at a normal weight. Severe obesity, with a BMI between 40 and 50, cut the lifespan by 10 years. That is as life-shortening as smoking - but severe obesity is still rare, affecting about 2% of the population.

Sir Richard Peto of Oxford's clinical trial service unit, who conducted the study, said efforts should be made to discourage people from piling on the pounds, which most often happens in Britain between the ages of 25 and 50. "It's very difficult to lose weight and keep it off," he said. "But stopping putting on weight is practicable."

People in their 20s with the optimum BMI of 24 would have to put on nearly a third of their body weight to be classed obese and double their size to become seriously obese. But Peto is concerned people should not get the wrong idea. Obesity kills, but only in extreme cases will it kill as fast as cigarettes.

"These are two things that you do have any choice about," Peto said. "I think smokers are getting the wrong message if they keep on smoking and think what matters is obesity. Smoking matters enormously more."

The study is the defining statement of the impact of obesity on lifespan as things are now, Peto said, but "we have got to keep this under observation".

During the earlier years of the study, there was no childhood obesity epidemic. "When we start getting fat kids turning into fat adults, we need to see what happens," he said. "Morbid obesity of 40 to 50 BMI now affects only 2% of adults in late middle age - but if it got to 20%, what would go with it?"

Most obese adults die of heart disease and stroke, although cancer figures are also rising. While obesity-related deaths from heart disease and stroke are on the increase, overall numbers have dropped. "Vascular death rates in middle age are less than half what they were in 1990," said Peto. The fall is partly due to better treatment, but more to do with the numbers who have stopped smoking.

Peto worries that people who are obese may begin to think their weight is a bigger problem than their cigarette habit. Recent stories about cancer prevention highlighted excess weight and drinking over the factor responsible for more cancers than any other single cause - smoking. "Stopping smoking works," he said. "Millions of people are alive now who wouldn't be if they hadn't stopped smoking."

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 | 18 Mar 2009 | 12:01 am

Wolf numbers up again, but expansion slowing (AP)

AP - Federal officials say a record 1,645 gray wolves counted in the Northern Rockies this winter shows the predators' population remains strong, but is no longer expanding as rapidly as in past years.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 17 Mar 2009 | 10:31 pm

Vote for Your Favorite Dinosaur Illustration

The dinosaur illustrator has a tough job: Imagine a living creature from a meager set of bones. Working with scientists and armed with just their wits and pens, these artists strive to create the reality of the past with the artifice of the present.

It's not too much of a stretch to call dinosaur renderings an ennobled sort of science fiction of the past. Or you could say that dinosaur illustrators are a highly specialized subset of data visualizers.

Mark Twain wrote of the pterodactyl — eerily presaging the site, Fuck You, Penguin:

The less said about the pterodactyl the better. It was a spectacle, that beast! a mixture of buzzard and alligator, a sarcasm, an affront to all animated nature, a butt for the ribald jests of an unfeeling world.

Yet no matter how the creatures of yester-epoch contradict our notions of what nature is supposed to look like, the illustrators must remain faithful to what the paleontologists tell them and render it in all its glory, no matter how silly it might feel.

So, in recognition of their indispensable and imagination-sparking art, we present a Reddit poll of dinosaur illustrations.

Vote your favorite illustrations up and down — from the majestic Charles Knight paintings of the early 20th century to the nearly photorealistic CGI renderings of today. And if you've got a dinosaur rendering that's in the public domain or you've drawn yourself, feel free to submit it here.

Click here to submit your own.

Submit Your Own Favorite Dinosaur Illustrations

We'd appreciate if your submissions came in the form of "[Dinosaur name] by [artist name]". Just to keep things consistent.

You have to host the image yourself, which is a bummer. If that's tough to work out, send your artwork to alexis.madrigal[at]gmail.com.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 17 Mar 2009 | 10:30 pm

Bill would ban nonmedical drug use in U.S. livestock

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite growing public support to ban the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in food animals, a U.S. representative said on Tuesday efforts to move legislation through Congress this year could be met with resistance.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 17 Mar 2009 | 9:44 pm

Shuttle Discovery Arrives at Space Station

Discovery and its crew dock with the International Space Station.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 17 Mar 2009 | 9:32 pm

Popular Wakefulness Drug May Be Addictive

An alertness drug developed as an addiction-free alternative to amphetamines might be addictive after all.

Researchers have found that people taking modafinil experience a surge of dopamine, an important cognitive neurotransmitter. Such dopamine upswings are seen in people taking Ritalin, and are considered a chemical signature of possible addictiveness.

"It was believed that modafinil won't have a prominent dopaminergic effect and the likelihood of addiction is very low," said study co-author Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "But the potential for abuse and addiction is likely to be there."

Modafinil was approved by the FDA for treating narcolepsy and sleep disorders in 1998, but has since been used to treat depression, Parkinson's disease and fatigue. It has also become a popular stimulant, used by soldiers to stay awake and by citizens looking for a safe brain boost.

When it was approved, pharmacologists didn't know exactly how it worked, but said that unlike amphetamines and other dangerous stimulants, it didn't boost dopamine levels.

However, subsequent research on animals suggested that modafinil does affect dopamine. That suggestion is affirmed by the latest findings in humans, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. So are the cautions of neuroethicists who worry that the social pressure to take cognition-enhancing drugs could outpace scientific understanding.

An informal survey by the journal Nature found that roughly one in 10 researchers has used modafinil, also marketed as Provigil and Alertec, and non-prescription use is believed to be increasing. Other experimental cognition-enhancing drugs, such as racetams, Adrafinil and donepizil, may soon follow modafinil's medicine-to-enhancement path.

"At the moment we start seeing addictive properties of a substance that was thought to be non-addicting, red flags go up," said Judy Illes, a University of British Columbia neuroethicist. "We're no longer talking about a substance that meets safety standards."

Volkow's team gave therapeutic doses of modafinil to 10 men, then injected them with small doses of cocaine labeled with short-lived radioactive isotopes. Using an imaging technology that tracks radioactive particles in the body, they watched the cocaine go to the brain's pleasure centers, where it would normally bind with dopamine receptors.

Instead of binding, the cocaine continued to circulate — evidence, said Volkow, that modafinil had already swamped the receptors, just as it does in animals. And when dopamine receptors are blocked, circulating levels of dopamine increase.

Volkow cautioned against jumping to conclusions: the findings didn't quantify modafinil's possible addictiveness, and other as-yet-unidentified chemical interactions may counteract the dopamine effects. Medical literature contains isolated reports of abuse, she said, and none of addiction — but that may be because modafinil is relatively new, and researchers haven't looked to see if people were hooked.

In the future, said Volkow, drug-abuse researchers should study modafinil's effects. The FDA could require data of the sort produced by her team, which required a technology not widely used when modafinil was approved.

Even so, it's almost inevitable that the FDA will approve drugs before they're fully understood. "The clinical trial process doesn't produce 10 years of data. It's not as exhaustive as we want it to be," said Josephine Johnston, a bioethicist at the Hastings Center, a nonpartisan think tank.

"Even now, after all the years that it has been on the market, we are still learning things" about modafinil, said University of Pennsylvania neuroethicist Martha Farah. "I think this goes to show that we need a little caution and a little humility when we're messing around with our brain chemistry."

Citation: Effects of Modafinil on Dopamine and Dopamine Transporters in the Male Human Brain." By Nora Volkow, Joanna Fowler, Jean Logan, David Axeloff, Wei Zhu, Frank Telang, Gene-Jack Wang, Millard Jayne, Jacob Hooker, Christopher Wong, Barbara Hubbard, Pauline Carter, Donald Warner, Payton King, Colleen Shay, Youwen Xu, Lisa Muench, Karen Apelskog-Torres. Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 301 No. 11, March 18, 2009.

Image: Levels of cocaine binding with dopamine neurotransmitters in the brains of a control group (left) and men taking modafinil (right) / JAMA

See Also:

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

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 17 Mar 2009 | 8:00 pm

Fate of polar bears seen to depend on emissions cuts

OSLO (Reuters) - Global warming is threatening polar bears as it melts their icy Arctic habitat, Norway's environment minister said on Monday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 17 Mar 2009 | 7:05 pm

Irish Frogs Survived Ice Age

The single species of Irish frogs apparently endured that extreme climate event whereas those on Britain retreated.
Source: Livescience.com | 17 Mar 2009 | 6:58 pm

Fungus devastates 'chicken' frog

Montserrat's "mountain chicken" frog is the latest victim of the lethal chytrid fungus sweeping the world.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 17 Mar 2009 | 6:54 pm

Miniature carnivore dinosaurs roamed North America (AFP)

AFP - Meat-eating dinosaurs the size of a small chicken roamed areas of North America 75 million years ago, according to research by Canadian paleontologists.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 17 Mar 2009 | 6:45 pm

Celeb Antics Stem From Mental Illness, Says Dr. Drew

Celebrities' bad behavior is rooted in mental illness, according to "Dr. Drew" Pinsky, who is best known as the host of Celebrity Rehab and Loveline — a nationally syndicated radio show that invites listeners to call in with questions about sex and drugs.

In his latest book, The Mirror Effect (on bookstore shelves Tuesday), he spells out a theory that stars are predisposed to narcissistic personality disorder long before they become famous. Their dysfunctional behavior is rewarded by Hollywood and portrayed as normal by the press.

"As reporting on celebrity behavior becomes even more ruthless and mean-spirited, I am struck by this disconnect between how a celebrity's behavior is portrayed in the media, and the very real problems that underlie their actions," wrote Pinsky.

He argues that the media fails to acknowledge that celebrities are mentally ill when holding them up as role models, so everyday people have begun to emulate their unhealthy behavior.

In 2006, Pinsky and his co-author Mark Young published the first systematic study of celebrity psychology in the Journal of Research in Personality. The new book explains that research and how it fits into the larger context of our culture, which they argue has been soiled by shameless producers, agents and paparazzi.

The first three chapters read like a history textbook, recapping famous celebrity mishaps and an era when those unfortunate episodes were carefully hidden from the public. It gives readers a glimpse of just how conservative Pinsky really is. He seems to prefer the good old days when movie studios were able to keep Rock Hudson in the closet.

The celebrity doctor is not a fan of MySpace or Facebook either, because they allow people to seek attention by acting out like celebrities — posting provocative pictures and personal stories about irresponsible behavior.

"Without appropriate monitoring, these social networking platforms are subject to abuse by those who are most vulnerable to the endless feedback loop they create," wrote Pinsky. "This is known as an urge/compulsion/reinforcement cycle, and it's very similar to what happens to those who crave drugs or other addictive substances."

After that rather stiff introduction, the book becomes a psychology lesson with celebrities as examples.

Pinsky seems fond of interpreting behavior in the light of evolution, and gave this explanation for the asinine stunts performed by Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O on the show Jackass.

"Some have speculated that such acting out may be deeply rooted in our genes, as a way to display genetic prowess and adaptability," wrote Pinsky. "In this theory, males (in particular) who survive dangerous stunts are displaying their biological capacity to survive in adversity."

In their 2006 study, Pinsky and Young found that celebrities from reality television score the highest on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. Pinsky is convinced that the producers of those shows carefully select contestants with psychological problems, because they will bring extra drama to each show.

"Having served as a consultant to several reality shows, I know what the producers are looking for in contestants," wrote Pinsky. "The standards regarding mental health are extremely fluid."

See Also:

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 17 Mar 2009 | 6:40 pm

Europe launches satellite after technical glitch

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Europe launched its most sophisticated satellite Tuesday after a technical problem caused a one-day delay at its lift-off site in Russia.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 17 Mar 2009 | 6:05 pm

Scientists gain in struggle against wheat rust (AP)

AP - Researchers are deploying new wheat varieties with an array of resistant genes they hope will baffle and defeat Ug99, a highly dangerous fungus leapfrogging through wheat fields in Africa and Asia.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 17 Mar 2009 | 6:00 pm

New Software Helps Track Endangered Tigers

Software helps scientists identify and track endangered tigers in Asia.
Source: Livescience.com | 17 Mar 2009 | 5:46 pm

BLOG: Do You Know Your Irish Animals?

See images of Ireland's surprisingly small collection of native animal species.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 17 Mar 2009 | 5:32 pm

Japanese Astronaut Testing 'Odor-Free' Clothes

Astronaut Koichi Wakata will be trying out a new line of supposedly odor-free clothes.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 17 Mar 2009 | 4:52 pm

Gravity satellite leads new wave

The Goce gravity mapping satellite is launched as part of what will become an armada of European Earth observers.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 17 Mar 2009 | 4:29 pm

Saturn Photographed with Four Moons

A new Hubble photograph captured a rare alignment of four of Saturn's moons lining up in front of their planet.
Source: Livescience.com | 17 Mar 2009 | 4:22 pm

Lightweight Metallic Glass Is Strong as Steel

A new super-glass is made from a stiff metal alloy and honeycombed with soft crystals.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 17 Mar 2009 | 3:52 pm

Embryonic Stem Cells: 5 Misconceptions (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Last week President Obama lifted restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and asked the National Institutes of Health to come up with a funding game plan within 120 days. Yet while the field of stem cell research holds great promise, hype and misconceptions cloud the picture. Here are a five such misconceptions.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 17 Mar 2009 | 3:50 pm

Ancient Instrument's Sound Revived

Researchers create a computerized version of the epigonion, an ancient Greek harp.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 17 Mar 2009 | 3:12 pm

A few U.S. states buck stem cell trend with bans

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Oklahoma politician Mike Reynolds believes the federal government has gone too far this time.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 17 Mar 2009 | 2:47 pm

'Star Wars' Laser Kills Mosquitoes

Physicists have created a laser weapon that targets mosquitoes.
Source: Livescience.com | 17 Mar 2009 | 2:31 pm

Embryonic Stem Cells: 5 Misconceptions

While stem cell research holds great promise, hype and misconceptions cloud the picture.
Source: Livescience.com | 17 Mar 2009 | 1:52 pm

Scheme to Curb Global Warming Could Backfire

Proposed geoengineering scheme would reduce light available for solar power.
Source: Livescience.com | 17 Mar 2009 | 1:51 pm

Researchers ID North America's smallest dinosaur

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Canadian researchers said on Monday they have discovered North America's smallest known dinosaur, a pint-sized predator half the size of a house cat and cousin to the ferocious Velociraptor, which roamed in what is now Alberta 75 million years ago.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 17 Mar 2009 | 1:43 pm

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