Use Of Pancreatic Islets Show Promise In Diabetes Research, Treatments

The use of pancreatic islets (hormone-producing cells) is increasing in diabetes research and may play an important role in future treatments, according to a new article.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2009 | 6:00 pm

Vaccine Developed For E. Coli Diarrheal Diseases That Kill Millions Of Children

Researchers have developed a working vaccine for a strain of E. coli that kills 2 million to 3 million children each year in the developing world.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2009 | 6:00 pm

Born To Be Caught: Largemouth Bass Vulnerability To Being Caught By Anglers Is A Heritable Trait

In an experiment spanning over 20 years, researchers have found that vulnerability to being caught by anglers is a heritable trait in largemouth bass.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2009 | 6:00 pm

Mimicry At Molecular Level Protects Genome Integrity

Mimicry is common in nature, where it is used as a key survival mechanism. Now scientists have discovered molecular mimicry in a genetic integrity pathway, which is implicated in many human diseases, from cancer to neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2009 | 6:00 pm

'Pleasant Touch' Decoded: Signals From Stroking Skin Have Direct Route To Brain

Nerve signals that tell the brain that we are being slowly stroked on the skin have their own specialized nerve fibers in the skin. The discovery may explain why touching the skin can relieve pain.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2009 | 6:00 pm

Weather: People's Misperceptions Cloud Their Understanding Of Rainy Weather Forecasts

If Mark Twain were alive today he might rephrase his frequently cited observation about everyone talking about the weather but not doing anything about it to say, "Everyone reads or watches weather forecasts, but many people don't understand them."
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2009 | 6:00 pm

Test Quickly Assesses Whether Alzheimer's Drugs Are Hitting Their Target

A test developed by physician-scientists may help quickly asses whether certain Alzheimer's drugs are hitting their target.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2009 | 3:00 pm

Brain's Cognitive System Processes Vowels And Consonants At Different Speeds

The brain distinguishes between vowels and consonants differently, according to new research. Neuronal mechanisms change when they are processed and, when it comes to lexical access; both have a different status in our mind, thus contributing differently to this basic process of visual word recognition.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2009 | 3:00 pm

Factors Other Than Genes Could Cause Obesity, Insulin Study Shows

Researchers have uncovered new evidence suggesting factors other than genes could cause obesity, finding that genetically identical cells store widely differing amounts of fat depending on subtle variations in how cells process insulin.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2009 | 3:00 pm

Stem Cell Transplantation Helps Patients With Diabetes Become Insulin Free

The majority of patients with type 1 diabetes who underwent a certain type of stem cell transplantation became insulin free, several for more than three years, with good glycemic control, and also increased C-peptide levels, an indirect measure of beta-cell function, according to a new article.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2009 | 3:00 pm

Strange 1761 Atmospheric Phenomenon Explained

Unusual atmospheric phenomena were recorded worldwide in 1761, unexplained at the time.
Source: Livescience.com | 15 Apr 2009 | 1:09 pm

North America's First Compostable Hot Cup Lid Released

You can now breathe a sigh of relief when you reach for that hot cup lid for your morning coffee.
Source: Livescience.com | 15 Apr 2009 | 12:55 pm

Sports Drinks Might Work Even If Spat Out

They might help even if you spit them out.
Source: Livescience.com | 15 Apr 2009 | 12:43 pm

Three Subgroups of Neanderthals Identified (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - We tend to think of Neanderthals as one species of cavemen-like creatures, but now scientists say there were actually at least three different subgroups of Neanderthals.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 15 Apr 2009 | 12:27 pm

Meet your cousin, the garden snail

A gene shared by birds, fish, reptiles, people – and snails – reveals the fundamental relatedness of all living creatures

In this, my inaugural column, I face a bit of a problem: I was heavily promoted by the editor when he introduced the Guardian's new online science columnists, and so I feel the need for a particularly dramatic and exciting subject. Fortunately, some recent science news provided me with one, courtesy of a paper by Grande and Patel in Nature:

Snails have nodal!

I know, you're positively floored. Amazing! Enthralling! Say no more; the implications are simply awesome.

Then I bounced the idea off my wife, who is usually more down-to-earth than I am, and she seemed to think I needed to provide a tiny bit more exposition, so I will oblige … but trust me, this is wonderfully interesting news.

Look at yourself in the mirror. You're probably mostly symmetrical: one eye and one ear on each side of your head, features that are at least roughly even, and any lopsidedness is most likely due to postnatal wear and tear.

Deep inside you, though, you are profoundly asymmetrical, and that asymmetry is essential for your well-being. The speech centres of your brain are mostly on the left side, the left side of your heart is larger and more muscular than the right, your stomach coils to the right and the bulk of your liver is on the left, and your large intestine loops just so, with your appendix on the right. With a few medically interesting exceptions, we all have guts consistently skewed in a particular orientation.

This asymmetry is established in the embryo. Beating microscopic hairs called cilia set up counter-clockwise currents that deflect sensors on the left side, which then switch on specific genes (one called nodal, in particular) on just the left side, which in turn activate other genes that bias the formation of organs to one side or the other.

Nodal acts as a little flag thrown up early in development to tell cells whether they are on the left or right side. Nodal also seems to be a universal signal in animals with backbones, the familiar fish, reptiles, birds and mammals, and is used in similar ways in all of those animals.

It was not, until now, found in animals such as molluscs and insects and nematodes, suggesting that perhaps they used a very different mechanism … an idea that we now have to rethink.

Look at a familiar garden snail. Snails are obviously asymmetrical — you don't even need to dissect them to see that. They have a coiled shell on their backs that, in some species, has a left-handed twist, while in other species it makes a right-handed spiral. What genetic mechanisms do these animals use to produce a consistent asymmetry?

This is the surprise: they use the same molecule we do, a copy of nodal. Snail nodal is expressed asymmetrically in the embryo and is crucial for generating adult asymmetries as well.

Doping snail embryos with a chemical that blocks the action of nodal prevents the formation of a coiled shell, yielding strange embryonic snails with perfectly straight, cone-shaped shells.

Obviously, our gene is not exactly the same as theirs — the snail gene has differences in sequence, and is activated on the right side instead of the left, and uses a different trigger than currents from beating hairs.

But it's still an astonishing similarity: a common gene that takes action in some of the earliest stages of development. And it works in animals as far apart in evolution as a snail and a human.

A single gene is a small thing, but it is yet another piece in the growing body of data that reveals the fundamental relatedness of all living creatures.

A snail is a strange-looking beast, at least to us, but right down at the core of its biology it is built with the same toolbox of genes that we use, and we share a common ancestry with it. A very distant ancestry, for sure — our last common ancestor lived over 600,000,000 years ago — but it should at least give you pause as you're exterminating the little pests in your garden this summer.

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 15 Apr 2009 | 12:25 pm

Colbert lost in space when NASA names station node

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - NASA on Tuesday named its new living quarters on the International Space Station "Tranquillity," denying television comedian Stephen Colbert his attempt to get the new Node 3 named after himself.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 15 Apr 2009 | 12:02 pm

Colbert lost in space when NASA names station node (Reuters)

Reuters - NASA on Tuesday named its new living quarters on the International Space Station "Tranquillity," denying television comedian Stephen Colbert his attempt to get the new Node 3 named after himself.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 15 Apr 2009 | 12:02 pm

Statins cut stroke risk by a fifth, study finds

LONDON (Reuters) - Cholesterol-lowering drugs cut the risk of strokes by about a fifth, according to a pooled analysis of 24 past clinical studies involving 165,000 people.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 15 Apr 2009 | 11:53 am

Bumper brood

World's rarest parrot is now not quite so rare
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 15 Apr 2009 | 11:32 am

Warming pushes birds to migrate farther (AFP)

AFP - Climate change will force bone-weary birds migrating to Europe from Africa to log extra mileage, with possibly devastating consequences, according to a study released on Wednesday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 15 Apr 2009 | 10:54 am

Shedding light on exoplanet hunt

Measurements of light reflected off the Earth show how to look for evidence of oceans on exoplanets.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 15 Apr 2009 | 10:00 am

Experts identify compound that may fight bird flu

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Scientists in Hong Kong and the United States have identified a synthetic compound which appears to be able to stop the replication of influenza viruses, including the H5N1 bird flu virus.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 15 Apr 2009 | 9:56 am

New nuclear site options unveiled

A list of 11 sites where industry and the government think new nuclear power stations are feasible is published.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 15 Apr 2009 | 7:14 am

Stem Cells Buy Freedom From Insulin for Type 1 Diabetics (HealthDay)

HealthDay - TUESDAY, April 14 (HealthDay News) -- A particular type of stem cell transplantation using the patient's own cells led to short-term freedom from insulin injections in 20 of 23 patients newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes participating in an experimental protocol in Brazil.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 15 Apr 2009 | 3:51 am

Ants inhabit 'world without sex'

A species of ant in the Amazon has abandoned sex and become female-only, say researchers - the first such species discovered.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 15 Apr 2009 | 1:51 am

Paleontologist pleads guilty to stealing bones (AP)

AP - A famed paleontologist who discovered the world's best preserved dinosaur pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing dinosaur fossils from federal land in Montana.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 15 Apr 2009 | 1:32 am

Report From Antarctica: Geoengineering the High Seas

ABOARD THE AKADEMIK IOFFE, Drake Passage — Located at the southern confluence of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the Drake Passage is infamous for its gargantuan waves, powerful winds and intense storms, as well as its place in history. But perhaps equally intriguing is its potential as a venue for a massive geoengineering experiment.

The Southern Ocean, which includes the majority of the Drake, is high in nutrients, but low in chlorophyll — an indicator of biological activity. While there are plenty of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous in the water column, a relative lack of other nutrients is likely limiting planktonic growth. The primary suspect for the missing ingredient is iron, which makes the area a tempting place to experiment with iron-seeding to stimulate biological activity that would soak up atmospheric carbon dioxide, and potentially help mitigate climate change.

But there are also clear dangers in tinkering with poorly understood global systems. "There is no control experiment for a large scale perturbation of the Earth," said MIT engineer Janelle Thompson. "At what point does a scientific experiment become geoengineering?"

The Drake passage is a 500-mile stretch of water that separates the Antarctic Peninsula from the rest of the world's land, named for Sir Francis Drake, who hunted for an easy route to the Pacific to pillage the treasure of unprotected ships in the 16th century. Of course, the Drake Passage turned out to be far from easy, and hundreds of ships over the centuries have been impaled on the craggy shores of Tierra del Fuego.

On our voyage south from Ushuaia, Argentina, our Russian research vessel encountered the strongest storm of the season, complete with 40-foot swells, near-hurricane-force winds, and seas so rough we had to admit defeat and halt all forward movement. The Drake's ferocity stems from the cold air flowing down from frigid Antarctica, the world's highest continent, and its unusual geographical position, surrounded by vast stretches of ocean over which strong winds and big waves build and then crash on the southern tip of South America.

The reason for the region's low biological activity relative to the high levels of some nutrients is a little harder to pin down. Oceanographer John Martin first proposed the "iron hypothesis" in the late 1980s. He believed that the addition of iron into high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll regions would stimulate enormous plankton blooms, and he set out to prove it. Indeed, by sprinkling a relatively small amount of iron over parts of the Pacific Ocean, Martin and his team showed that significant biomass growth could be artificially and effectively induced.

This exercise would be little more than an academic curiosity if it weren't for the fact that plankton blooms suck vast quantities of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. The idea is that these plankton are then either consumed or left to accumulate on the ocean floor, effectively creating a path for long-term carbon storage.

Martin's experiments left a controversial question on the table: Should we attempt to lower atmospheric carbon dioxide levels by seeding ocean areas like the Drake with iron? A number of subsequent experiments have proven the iron hypothesis over increasingly large swaths of ocean, but several issues remain unresolved. MIT's Thompson points out that localized tests fail to capture ecosystem-wide consequences. And as these experiments grow they get closer to being considered geoengineering, which has become something of a dirty word.

"It is increasingly difficult for scientists to get permission to do this work," she said. The entire ocean need not be seeded, Thompson argues, but scientists should seek to understand the full consequences of this potentially disruptive procedure.

Stalled academic investigations leave private sector companies as the main actors in oceanic iron seeding. Planktos Science, for instance, has run a number of "eco-restoration" projects, most recently in the Indian Ocean. Its operations generally introduce around 50 tons of iron over 4,000 square miles, a level of dilution that is far below natural iron-seeding events such as continental dust being blown out to sea.

NASA has detected a 25 percent decrease in ocean iron deposition over the last 30 years, and Planktos believes it's only helping to make up for this decline. Both Planktos and Climos, another iron-seeding company, have extensive scientific oversight, and they appear to be moving deliberately but cautiously toward more extensive demonstrations.

On our way back to civilization, heading north across the Drake Passage once again, we were blessed with "Drake Lake" conditions, and a gentle rocking motion prevails. Up on deck, the biological changes were visible as we moved from the productive green-tinted waters of the Antarctic to the sterile blue-gray swells of the Drake.

But while we concern ourselves with the elements above water, iron-seeding proponents are gearing up for a storm over events below water. If they're right, this region could be key to effective climate-change mitigation.

—Jeff Marlow for Wired.com

Top image: United States Antarctica Program, adapted by Wired.com. Middle image: Jeff Marlow

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 15 Apr 2009 | 12:18 am

Three Subgroups of Neanderthals Identified

say there were actually at least three different subgroups of Neanderthals.
Source: Livescience.com | 15 Apr 2009 | 12:16 am

Inbreeding: Downfall of a Dynasty

Geneology, historical texts point to inbreeding as cause of dying out of Spanish Habsburg dynasty.
Source: Livescience.com | 15 Apr 2009 | 12:15 am

Honda's Robolegs Help People Walk

Honda's walking assist devices, which make people move a bit like the ASIMO robot,  made their United States debut Tuesday in New York City.

Combining sensor-driven motors and weight-bearing chassis, the devices guide strides and support body weight. Though derived from technologies pioneered during the ASIMO's quarter-century of development, their use could be deeply human, boosting manual laborers or assisting people unable to walk without help.

"Japan is a country with an aging society. We want to do something for them," said Ken Yasuhara, assistant chief engineer of Honda's Research Division 2.

The systems were announced by Honda last year, and enter an increasingly crowded field of prototype assisted locomotion devices.

But unlike Cyberdyne's HAL and Amit Goffer's ReWalk, Honda's systems are light and mobile enough to envision in everyday life. Unlike the Sister Kenny Foundation's Lokomat, they're not tethered to a treadmill.

The devices are still in the research stage, and Honda has not yet formalized plans to go commercial. If they do, the market could be large, and not only in Japan. The number of Americans aged 65 and older is expected to double by 2030. More than 17 million report difficulty climbing stairs or walking a quarter-mile.

Each of Honda's devices assist in a different aspect of walking. The first, consisting of a hip harness equipped with sensors that drive a motor attached to two leg-supporting braces, guides stride length and stability.

An internal study of the stride-guider's effect on elderly walkers suggests a therapeutic use, training people to walk more efficiently and stimulating atrophied muscles. "The user learns to walk with a wider stride, even when the device is not being used," said Kiyoshi Oikawa, chief engineer of Research Division 2.

The second device consists of a stylized saddle connected by motor-driven mechanical legs to sensor-implanted shoes. The sensors guide the motors, contracting and extending jointed legs to help support the wearer's body weight.

In tests, about one-fifth less exertion was needed to climbing stairs or crouching. Though not yet sufficient to the demands of people with severely weakened muscles, future systems could provide more support.

The prototypes are tailored to relatively slender and short Japanese specifications, but Yasuhara said they could be easily expanded. 

"You can make a bigger size," said Yasuhara. "The size is not a crucial part in the development. The principle is the same.

In November 2008, Honda started limited tests of the systems on assembly lines in one of their factories. 

"This is just the beginning," said Yasuhara.

See Also:

• Robot Makes Scientific Discovery All by Itself
• Autonomous Robots Invade Retail Warehouses
• I, Nanny: Robot Babysitters Pose Dilemma
• Toy Robot Intended to Save Humans From Evil, Future Bots

Image & Video: 1. Honda  2. YouTube/WatchTokyoDV  3. YouTube/Wired, taped by Jun Asihara, Honda Research Division 2 chief engineer.

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

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 14 Apr 2009 | 11:15 pm

Birds face longer migration

Journey could increase by 250 miles, posing serious threat to many species

Migrating birds such as the garden warbler and whitethroat will face longer journeys because of climate change, experts warned today.

A team of scientists led by Durham University has demonstrated that while the birds' breeding ranges are likely to shift northwards, their wintering areas will not, thus increasing the length of their journeys by up to 250 miles. The study, published in the Journal of Biogeography, has serious implications for many of the birds returning this month to Britain to breed.

The research team used computer simulation models similar to those used by weather forecasters to analyse how climate change might affect the migration patterns of European Sylvia warblers.

Every year these tiny birds – some weighing as little as 12g – travel thousands of miles northwards from their African winter-quarters to breed in Europe and Asia. Up to 500 million birds undertake this epic journey to take advantage of the long summer days and glut of insect food in temperate latitudes.

But as climate change leads to rises in spring and summer temperatures, some of these long-distance migrants are responding by shifting their breeding ranges further north, making their return journey each spring even longer than before. In future, when they return to Africa in autumn, the predicted southward extension of the Sahara Desert may also eventually increase their travel distance.

Dr Stephen Willis of Durham University, who co-ordinated the study, stressed the problems this additional mileage will pose. "From 2071 to 2100, nine out of the 17 species we looked at are projected to face longer migrations, particularly birds that cross the Sahara desert. The added distance is a considerable threat," he said.

Different birds follow different migration strategies, with some species covering the distance in short hops. Others, such as the sedge warbler, fatten up and almost double their body weight before making the journey across the Sahara and Mediterranean Sea in a single leap. But whichever way they travel, longer journeys will make enormous demands on their energy resources, which they may not be able to meet.

Professor Rhys Green of the RSPB, who co-authored the research paper, believes that this increase in distance – though relatively small compared with the total journey the birds undertake – is likely to cause major problems. "Anything that makes those journeys longer or more dependent on vulnerable pit-stop habitats used for refuelling on migration could mean the difference between life and death," he warned.

There is evidence that short-term climatic effects have caused problems in the past. For example, the prolonged drought in the Sahel Zone of western Africa during the late 1960s led to a massive 90% fall in the British population of whitethroats in a single year, from 1968 to 1969. Although numbers later recovered, the species remains highly vulnerable to sudden environmental change.

Some species, however, may already be beginning to adapt their migration patterns as a result of climate change. The chiffchaff, which normally migrates to Iberia and North Africa rather than crossing the Sahara, now regularly overwinters in Britain, especially in the milder areas of the south and west. Meanwhile the German and Austrian populations of the blackcap, one of the species followed in the study, now migrate west instead of south to spend the winter here in the UK.

If other species can follow suit by changing their migration patterns they may be able to survive. "Some species may be able to adapt and change, for example by adopting shorter migration routes, if they can find enough food at the right time," said Willis.

"Bird migrations are incredible feats of stamina and endurance but, as temperatures rise and habitats change, birds will face their biggest challenge since the Pleistocene era."

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 14 Apr 2009 | 11:05 pm

DNA's story: from the lab to the dock

It was at about five past nine on a Monday morning 25 years ago that Alec Jeffreys took out a sheet of film from a developing tank that had been left slowly processing over the weekend - and noticed something that would change the face of police investigation.

Standing at the lab bench along the wall of what is today his office on the University of Leicester campus, he saw something blindingly obvious.

Tests on blood samples provided by a lab technician and her parents showed both similarities and differences in the family's DNA. Within about half an hour, he realised the possible scope of DNA fingerprinting, which uses variations in the genetic code to identify individuals.

"When I first told an informal lunchtime seminar that it could be used to identify rapists, a considerable number of people in the audience thought it was a dotty idea and burst out laughing," he said. "This was such a bizarre concept that you could take DNA and apply it to real life."

That September 1984 discovery was, Jeffreys stresses, an accidental result of "blue skies research". The first results were a mess, he said, and led to two concerns. Could the technology be improved to the point where it was of practical use? And "would anyone take a blind bit of notice?" Both concerns were answered within months. A report in Nature was picked up in the press and Jeffreys was contacted by a lawyer with a tricky immigration case in spring 1985.

The dispute involved a family of UK citizens originally from Ghana. When the youngest son returned to the UK it was alleged that his passport had been tampered with. Immigration officials claimed the boy was not a member of the immediate family, and as a result he was not granted residency. However, the DNA was conclusive: the boy had the correct profile of familial DNA that matched with the other children of that nuclear family. The Home Office dropped the case.

The publicity led to a storm of immigration casework and an invitation from the Home Office to continue research. Jeffreys was approached for help in paternity suits. "We were responding to demand. We had not realised that there were so many people desperate for fairly definitive identifying DNA tests. If you have a new technology and are asked to apply it to a kid where there is a real threat of deportation, I think you are morally obliged to do it."

The technology grabbed headlines following the rapes and murders in Narborough, Leicestershire, of schoolgirls Lynda Mann, in 1983, and Dawn Ashworth, in 1986. A local man, Richard Buckland, confessed to killing Dawn. "Prove he murdered Lynda as well," the police asked Jeffreys, who took semen samples from the girls' bodies and blood from Buckland. The results showed Dawn and Linda had been raped by the same man but not Buckland. Colin Pitchfork was eventually caught trying to avoid taking the test after police asked all local men to give a sample. He admitted his guilt - later confirmed by DNA fingerprinting - and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

DNA swabs taken in minor crimes have pinpointed murderers. Steven Wright, who murdered five women in Ipswich in 2006, was caught because his DNA profile was added to the national database after he was convicted of stealing £80 years earlier.

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 14 Apr 2009 | 11:01 pm

Obituary: Sir John Maddox

Sir John Maddox, who has died aged 83, was a formidable editor of Nature, for two terms, 1966-73 and 1980-95; a cogent and felicitous writer; and a fervent advocate for the scientific enterprise. He was equally comfortable and influential in the world of journalism, whose skills he honed during an earlier career as science correspondent of this newspaper, from 1955, when it was the Manchester Guardian, until 1964.

Throughout his life John firmly but courteously argued not only for objectivity and good manners within science, but also for the superiority of rationality over hunch or prejudice in its social discourse and practical applications. This made him the scourge of many environmentalists, anti-scientists and believers in hocus-pocus.

Born in Penllergaer, near Swansea, John went to Gowerton boys' county school, Christ Church, Oxford, where he read chemistry, and King's College London, where he turned to physics. He became a lecturer in theoretical physics at the University of Manchester before working for the Manchester Guardian (later the Guardian). After short periods at the Rockefeller Institute, New York, and at the Nuffield Foundation as co-ordinator of its Science Teaching Project, he was appointed editor of the weekly research journal Nature in 1966.

There were those who believed a more pompous person was required to safeguard the journal's austere traditions. John was not pompous. The voice that could give this impression on radio was, in conversation, punctuated by puckish chuckles and peppered with indiscretion. More importantly, he was just the person to restore the authority and liveliness of "the world's premier scientific journal", which had lost some of its lustre in the mid 20th century. He was conscious that, under its first editor, Norman Lockyer, in the late 19th century, Nature had not only carried the best science, but purveyed gossip also, together with strong leadership on public issues.

In 1970 John became managing director of Macmillan Journals (owners of Nature) in addition to his editorship. Although he did much to reinvigorate the journal, he left in 1973 in the wake of an unsuccessful move to thrice-weekly publication. From 1972 to 1974, he chaired Maddox Editorial, whose ventures included an excellent but premature European Gazette. Reappointed editor of Nature in 1980, after five years as director of Nuffield, he returned to his earlier agenda. Circulation doubled, while the cachet for authors grew in tandem with the journal's impact through citations. The only complaints came from molecular biologists, who felt there was too much radio astronomy - and the reverse.

John was happy to admit that fashion played a role alongside scientific weight in the acceptance of papers, as did his journalistic nose for a good story. In an interview for the Scientist in 1988, I chided him that he exercised a strict embargo policy because, just like a newspaper editor, he loved "scoops". He accepted the criticism head-on. "Absolutely. We try to keep the news to ourselves, to make Nature more interesting for our readers," he said. "Editors ought to be more willing to admit this sort of motive."

Two episodes brought Nature particular notoriety. The first was in 1981 when an editorial under the headline "A book for burning?" criticised A New Science of Life by Rupert Sheldrake. "Well on the way to being a point of reference for a motley crew of creationists, anti-reductionists, neo-Lamarckians and the rest", the book purported to explain how living things were shaped by "morphogenetic fields". For Nature, this was a gratuitous absurdity. But what Sheldrakeans most resented was the odious reference to the bonfire. They overlooked the editorial's conclusion: that the book "should not be burned, but, rather, put firmly in its place among the literature of intellectual aberrations".

The second notoriety came in 1988 when John decided to publish a paper by a French scientist, Jacques Benveniste, and colleagues which appeared to lend credibility to homeopathy. It seemed to show that a substance could retain a particular biological activity even when it was diluted in water to a point where no molecules of the original material remained.

But Nature warned, in the same issue, that "there are good, and particular reasons why prudent people should, for the time being, suspend judgment" about the experiments. John later visited Paris to observe Benveniste's work, taking with him a specialist in errors in the scientific literature. Even more controversially, he was accompanied also by James Randi, whose perspective as a magician might reveal conscious or unconscious bias in the experiments. The trio jointly concluded that there was no substantial basis for the claim in the original article.

There were echoes in the Benveniste affair of the clamour John aroused in 1972 when he attacked gloomy prognostications that were fashionable amid the rise of environmentalism in Britain. While accepting and endorsing genuine, well-founded planetary concerns, he criticised others as "either innocent misrepresentations of imperfectly known facts or irresponsible exaggerations which may cause unnecessary public alarm and divert attention from really important problems". Over 30 years later, it is hard to disagree with his diagnosis, delivered in the provocatively titled The Doomsday Syndrome (1972).

Though frustrated by facile attacks on science, John was equally sure that strong regulation was required in the public interest. For this reason, he was delighted to serve from 1976 to 1980 as a member of the Genetic Manipulation Advisory Group, the UK's first committee controlling what we now call genetic modification. He was also a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (1976-81).

He was knighted in 1995, five years after being elected an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society, and was equalled pleased to be elected a member of the Crickadarn and Gwenddwr community council in Powys, South Wales, where he and his wife Brenda had their Welsh home.

The words used by Richard Dawkins to commend John's last book, What Remains to be Discovered, published in 1998, form a splendid epitaph for this deeply serious, occasionally mischievous man: "Having stood godfather to so much recent science, no single individual is better placed to map out what remains to be discovered. John Maddox may be the last great scientific polymath."

He is survived by Brenda, whom he married in 1960, and their son and daughter, as well as a son and daughter by his earlier partner, Nancy Fanning King.

• John Royden Maddox, editor, writer and broadcaster, born 27 November 1925; died 12 April 2009

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 14 Apr 2009 | 11:01 pm

Spacewatch

The launch of the European Space Agency's Herschel and Planck spacecraft has been postponed for further checks on Herschel, the far infrared and sub-millimetre observatory that I highlighted here last time. Their launch is now planned for 6 May, just six days before the shuttle Atlantis is due to lift off on the fifth and final servicing mission to the Hubble space telescope.

At 1,900kg and a little more than half as massive as Herschel, Planck is to map the cosmic microwave background, a radiation that fills the universe and is strongest at microwave frequencies, corresponding to a so-called black-body temperature of 2.7∞K.

This is regarded as the red-shifted relic of the cooling fireball of the big bang, dating from the epoch perhaps 400,000 years after the explosion when the first stable atoms formed and the universe turned from opaque to transparent. The universal temperature at the time was about 3,000∞K.

Earlier spacecraft, particularly COBE and WMAP, have surveyed the radiation, finding minuscule variations in its temperature between one part of the sky and another. While some of this may be due to the radiation being influenced by hot gas or massive objects during the (more than) 13bn years it has taken to reach us, another part must be due to an anisotropy or "clumpiness" in the earliest universe. Planck's more precise measurements should provide crucial evidence on how the universe has evolved since the big bang.

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 14 Apr 2009 | 11:01 pm

Energy drinks give you a boost even if you spit them out

Cyclists recorded faster times in a trial when they rinsed their mouths out with the carbohydrate drinks but didn't swallow

Sports drinks can boost athletic performance even if they are spat out and not swallowed, scientists have found.

Cyclists who took part in a time trial recorded significantly faster times if they periodically rinsed their mouths with an energy drink throughout the event, researchers said.

The same group of cyclists failed to perform any better when they swilled a placebo drink laced with an artificial sweetener.

High energy drinks are rich in carbohydrates and are used by endurance athletes to replace glycogen, a form of glucose that is stored in the body to release energy.

Researchers believe that chemical receptors in the mouth respond to carbohydrates in the drinks by sending signals to the brain that make exercise feel easier. As a result, athletes are able to work their bodies harder.

"Much of the benefit from carbohydrate in sports drinks is provided by signalling directly from mouth to brain rather than providing energy for the working muscles," said Ed Chambers, who led the study at the University of Birmingham.

In the exercise, eight endurance-trained cyclists were asked to take swigs of either a glucose drink, a maltodextrin carbohydrate drink, or an artificially sweetened placebo, roughly every eight minutes. After rinsing their mouths, the cyclists spat the drink into a bowl. Neither the cyclists nor the scientists knew beforehand which drink each athlete would be given.

In a report in the Journal of Physiology, Chambers writes that cyclists were on average 2-3% faster when given the sports drinks, even though they did not ingest them. In tests of a glucose-rich drink, cyclists recorded an average time of 60.4 minutes in the time trial compared with 61.6 minutes on placebo. When they swigged the carbohydrate drink, they averaged 62.6 minutes versus 64.6 minutes on placebo.

Brain scans of the cyclists showed that glucose and maltodextrin triggered reward or pleasure circuits in the brain that were not activated by the artificial sweetener. The circuits are thought to reduce the athletes' perceptions of how much effort they are putting into the exercise, allowing them to work harder for longer.

The study builds on what is called the "central governor hypothesis", which asserts that it is not the muscles, heart or lungs that limit a person's performance, but the brain.

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 14 Apr 2009 | 11:00 pm

Twitter, Facebook Won't Make You Immoral — But TV News Might

A new study on the neurobiology of admiration and compassion raises some intriguing questions about the effects of media consumption. It's too soon to say that Twitter and Facebook destroy the mental foundations of morality, but not too soon to ask what they're doing.

In the paper, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 13 people were shown documentary-style multimedia narratives designed to arouse empathy. Researchers recorded their brain activity and found that empathy is as deeply rooted in the human psyche as fear and anger.

They also noticed that empathic brain systems took an average of six to eight seconds to start up. The researchers didn't connect this to media consumption habits, but the study's press release fueled speculation that the Facebook generation could turn into sociopaths.

Entitled "Can Twitter Make You Amoral? Rapid-fire Media May Confuse Your Moral Compass," it claimed that the research "raises questions about the emotional cost —particularly for the developing brain — of heavy reliance on a rapid stream of news snippets obtained through television, online feeds or social networks such as Twitter."

The study itself neither posed nor answered those questions, but the extrapolation was widely repeated. And while the underlying case for the extrapolation is entirely plausible, the focus on Twitter and Facebook may be a red herring.

Compared to in-depth news coverage, first-person Tweets of on-the-ground events, such as the 2008 Mumbai bombings, is generally unmoving. But in those situations, Twitter's primary use is in gathering useful, immediate facts, not storytelling.

Most people who read a handful of words about a friend's heartache, or see a link to a tragic story, would likely follow it up.

But following links to a video news story makes the possibility of a short-circuited neurobiology of compassion becomes more real. Research suggests that people are far more empathic when stories are told in a linear way, without quick shot-to-shot edits. In a 1996 Empirical Studies of the Arts paper, researchers showed three versions of an ostensibly tear-jerking story to 120 test subjects. "Subjects had significantly more favorable impressions of the victimized female protagonist than of her male opponent only when the story structure was linear," they concluded.

A review of tabloid news formats in the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media found that jarring, rapid-fire visual storytelling produced a physiological arousal led to better recall of what was seen, but only if the original subject matter was dull. If it was already arousing, tabloid storytelling appeared to produce a cognitive overload that actually prevented stories from sinking in.

Whether tabloid storytelling formats are becoming more frequent is uncertain, but anecdotal evidence suggests it's true in broadcast media.

"Quick cuts will draw and retain a viewer's focus even if the content is uninteresting," said freelance video producer Jill Bauerle. "MTV-like jump cuts, which have become the standard for many editors, serve as a sort of eye candy to keep eyeballs peeled to screen."

"The sense that we have here is that videos have become briefer," said John Lynch, director of the Vanderbilt Television News Archive. While evaluating coverage of the plane that crashed in the Hudson in January, he noticed that producers "would intersperse a little video of the plane with the reporter talking and various New Yorkers who saw the event, then go back to another shot of the plane at a different point. With a similar kind of incident 20 years ago, they would have shown footage the whole time."

If compassion can only be activated by sustained attention, which is prevented by fast-cut editing, then the ability to be genuinely moved by another's story could atrophy. It might even fail to properly develop in children, whose brains are being formed in ways that will last a lifetime. More research is clearly needed, including a replication of the original empathy findings, but the hypothesis is plausible.

"If things are happening too fast, you may not ever fully experience emotions about other people's psychological states and that would have implications for your morality," said study co-author Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, a University of Southern California cognitive neuroscientist.

But what of Facebook and Twitter, the subject of such breathless warnings?

Researching the neurological effects of different media, and the ways those media are used. In the meantime, social networking won't automatically make you or your kids immoral.

See Also:

• Digital Overload Is Frying Our Brains
• Religion: Biological Accident, Adaptation — or Both
• Neurological Roots of Compassion Run Deep

Image: Flickr/Tim Samoff

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

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 14 Apr 2009 | 10:27 pm

Germany to ban cultivation of GMO maize: Minister

BERLIN/HAMBURG (Reuters) - Germany will ban cultivation and sale of genetically modified (GMO) maize, German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner said on Tuesday.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 14 Apr 2009 | 9:55 pm

Bed bugs feast on sleeping Americans

• Bed bug cases have tripled since 2005
• Environmental Protection Agency holds event to chart strategy

America is facing a bed bug outbreak of explosive proportions - and the resistance of the blood suckers to commonly used pesticides means there is no magical cure, public health and pest control experts warned today.

Bed bug outbreaks in the US have tripled since 2005, a conference put on by the Environmental Protection Agency was told.

"It's become a trajectory. We are at the point similar to the Aids virus where everyone knows someone who has had bed bugs or have had it themselves," said Dini Miller, the urban pest management specialist for the state of Virginia.

"Right now we are kind of at a loss at what the best answer is," she said. "We didn't realise how tough they would be."

The EPA gathered experts in entomology and pest control as well as government officials to a two-day conference designed to chart a new strategy for dealing with a sudden and bewildering rise in bed bug infestations that has cut across class and region, affecting poor urban neighbourhoods and luxury resort hotels from New York City to Honolulu.

Bed bugs were once thought eliminated in the US. The conference - or summit as billed by the EPA - was told their return after nearly half a century was due to changes in pesticide use and increased resistance to pesticides by the bed bugs, as well as increased travel.

The move away from DDT towards less toxic and more targeted chemicals left America exposed to the return of their scourge. Earlier pesticides killed a broad range of insects. While they might have been marketed for cockroaches, they also wiped out bed bugs and other pests.

That left relatively few available formulations designed specifically for bed bugs. The narrow range made it easier for the bugs to build up resistance.

"Generally I can guarantee that they will be tolerant to at least one or more of the things that are being used against them," said Harold Harlan, the leading bug expert for the US military. "They've been exposed to chemicals so they are more resistant to chemicals."

Bed bugs do not transmit disease, but the bites can become infected – which they do in about 30% of those bitten, leaving them scratching red raised welts.

The tiny reddish-brown insects were once practically unheard of in the US. In the late 60s university entomologists were complaining about the scarcity of research samples. But by 2004, the bed bugs were back.

Since 2005, bed bug outbreaks have tripled across America, according to a survey of 800 pest control firms across the country. Bed bug control now makes up a rapidly rising share of the business.

In the north-eastern United States, especially New York City, pest control companies now make 9% of their earnings from trying to clear out bed bugs, Bob Rosenberg of the National Pest Management Association told the conference.

The scourge has also spawned its own subculture of victims, or more properly hosts.

The bitten, who may once have kept quiet out of shame, are turned activists, setting up tracking outbreaks, and personal accounts of infected bites and other horrors.

The infestations have gone beyond New York, with regular and persistent outbreaks reported in Honolulu, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Chicago, Houston and Miami. They are also concentrated in poor neighbourhoods, where people can not afford to call in the exterminators or to replace or professionally clean bedding and soft furnishing.

Commercial poultry farms, especially those where birds are allowed to roam around the hen house floor, are another newly discovered source.

Pesticides alone are unlikely to wipe the bed bugs out - and it's unrealistic to expect all those affected to treat or destroy infested furnishings. That means Americans can expect to co-habit with bed bugs for some time.

"The fact that we got rid of them for 50 years in the United States is now looking miraculous," she said.

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 14 Apr 2009 | 9:37 pm

$10 million prize seeks to transform U.S. healthcare

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Organizers of the X Prize, who have set up contests for space travel, DNA research and super-efficient cars, said on Tuesday they are offering $10 million to the winner of a contest to transform the health of people in a small U.S. community.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 14 Apr 2009 | 8:34 pm

Solar Storm’s Anatomy Probed in 3-D

Twin STEREO spacecraft get three-dimensional view of coronal mass ejection.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 Apr 2009 | 8:01 pm

Scientist: First cloned camel born in Dubai (AP)

AP - A scientist says the world's first cloned camel has been produced in the desert emirate of Dubai. Nisar Ahmad Wani, a senior reproductive biologist at the government's Camel Reproduction Center, says the cloned camel is a six-day-old, one-humped female called Achievement or Injaz in Arabic.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Apr 2009 | 7:06 pm

Obamas' Dog Moves Into White House

The Obamas are greeting a new member of the first family today.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 14 Apr 2009 | 7:04 pm

SLIDE SHOW: Top 10 Glacier Surprises

Browse through these images to learn some surprising facts about glaciers.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 14 Apr 2009 | 7:04 pm

Smiles Predict Marriage Success

Scientists have found that the success rate for marriage is connected to how much people smiled in old photographs.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 Apr 2009 | 6:47 pm

Study: Cuts in greenhouse gas could lessen warming (AP)

AP - A new scientific study finds that the absolute worst of global warming can still be avoided if the entire world cuts emission of greenhouse gases the way President Barack Obama and Europe want.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Apr 2009 | 6:46 pm

Nasa Sun probes watch over Earth

Scientists say they have demonstrated the principle of a very effective early warning system that would give notice of huge eruptions on the Sun.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Apr 2009 | 6:15 pm

Ancient medicines were alcoholic

Bottles discovered in an Egyptian pharaoh's tomb test positive for traces of 5,000 year-old medicinal wine.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Apr 2009 | 5:22 pm

Iraqi VP to discuss Total oil deal in Paris (AFP)

AFP - Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi said Tuesday he will meet executives from the French energy giant Total to discuss a multi-billion dollar oil deal during a working visit to France.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Apr 2009 | 4:40 pm

Black Hole Creates Spectacular Light Show

A jet of gas spewing from a huge black hole has mysteriously brightened, flaring to 90 times its normal glow.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 Apr 2009 | 4:39 pm

Labs compete to build a living machine

An international competition aims to turn the building blocks of life into useful technology

Scientists at more than a hundred labs around the world will be gearing up this week for a competition to build the best machine. There is only one condition. All the parts must come from living organisms.

To the scientists involved, the competition is an exercise in extreme, not to say minuscule, DIY. Instead of hinges and door knobs, they must use the microscopic components found inside biological cells. Instead of screwdrivers and hammer-drills, the tools of the trade are those of the genetic engineer.

The aim of the competition, now in its sixth year, is to take the basic building blocks of life and turn them into useful technology. Along the way, scientists hope to create the biological equivalent of a hardware store, in which strands of DNA and cellular machinery will line the shelves, ready to be pieced together by anyone with the know-how.

"Our mission has been to see if we can use biological parts to build things and operate them. A lot of people said it's too complex and can't be done, but every year we have systems that show it can work," said Meagan Lizarazo, a former biologist and assistant director of the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston.

This week, the last of the teams, most of whom are students, will register for the competition. From June, they will spend three months building their machines from components ordered from MIT's registry, which already contains around 3,200 biological spare parts. The parts are refered to as "biobricks", which explains why the trophy for first prize, to be awarded in the first week of November, is a metal lego brick the size of a shoebox. Any new parts the scientists use must be deposited in the public registry when the competition is over.

By pitting the world's best up-and-coming scientists against one another, the competition's organisers aim to accelerate progress in what has become a powerful and controversial field known as synthetic biology. One leading advocate of the technology is the American scientist and entrepreneur Craig Venter, who hopes not only to make bugs that produce hydrogen for environmentally friendly vehicles, but to create new life from scratch.

Critics of the field raise concerns that scientists could make dangerous new organisms by accident, or that the knowledge could fall into the hands of terrorists, who could resurrect long-contained viruses, or fashion more deadly strains.

The competition has already produced some promising ideas. Last year, a team led by Roland Eils at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, re-engineered Escherichia coli bacteria so that instead of swimming towards food, they homed in on substances released by dangerous pathogens. When they get close, the bacteria turn themselves into microscopic suicide bombers by churning out a natural toxin, killing both themselves and the pathogens around them. The team's entry was called "E.colicense to kill."

Since then, the team has created E. coli that hunt down cancer cells, and have used them to destroy tumours in mice. This year, Eils says the team is considering building a machine out of parts taken from human cells for the first time.

A previous entry from scientists at Edinburgh University involved bacteria that could detect arsenic in contaminated water supplies. In a freeze-dried form, the bacteria can be used in water testing kits for use in Bangladesh, where arsenic in water from bore holes has killed countless people.

The competition began in 2004 with only five entrants. A year later, it went international and attracted 13 teams. This year, more than 100 teams from all over the world have already signed up. The teams come from all over the world, with entrants from Mumbai and Beijing, Tokyo and Melbourne, Stanford and Sheffield.

Paul Freemont, who co-founded the Institute of Systems and Synthetic Biology at Imperial College London, is heading one of Britain's best hopes this year, but confesses his team has yet to decide what to build. One of the ideas would involve using vats of bacteria to make clothing. They have already shown that they can control the movement of bacteria by switching the motors that drive their whip-like tails on and off at will.

"Our team is due to meet in a few weeks' time and they will start with a blank sheet of paper," said Freemont. "They've got to brainstorm from scratch, and that makes it a really interesting way of doing research."

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 14 Apr 2009 | 4:32 pm

Bedbugs on the Rebound, Feds Take Note

Facing rising complaints about bedbug infestations, the EPA hosts a summit on the pest.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 14 Apr 2009 | 4:30 pm

Germany deals blow to GM crops

Agriculture minister Ilse Aigner joins European mutiny over genetically modified crops by banning corn variety MON 810

Germany has thrown its weight behind a growing European mutiny over genetically modified crops by banning the planting of a widely grown pest-resistant corn variety.

Agriculture minister Ilse Aigner said there was enough evidence to support arguments that MON 810, which is the only GM crop widely grown in Europe, posed a danger.

"I have come to the conclusion that genetically-modified corn from the MON 810 strain constitutes a danger to the environment," Aigner told reporters in Berlin.

Germany's move, which has immediate effect, goes against the European Commission's decision to support the lifting of bans on planting MON 810 which have been imposed by governments in France, Austria, Hungary, Greece and Luxembourg.

In the UK, the Welsh Assembly has declared the country GM-free. Supported by Britain, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden, the Commission argued last month that moves to outlaw the corn on the grounds that it is dangerous were unjust because it has been deemed safe by scientists at the European Food Safety Authority.

MON 810 was first approved for commercial use in the EU in 1998 and has been permitted as a commercial crop in Germany since 2005. More than 70 per cent of German consumers support a ban on GM crops for food.

The US biotechnology firm Monsanto which markets the maize did not return calls but industry observers said the ban by Europe's largest country with a strong agricultural lobby, was a blow to the company.

MON 810 was developed to resist a moth larva which bores into the stem of the corn and against which there is only one approved insecticide.

Monsanto has repeatedly argued that MON 810 crops are safe and has tried to encourage their use as a cheap and plentiful food. They are widely grown in the US, Latin America and China.

But opponents insist that too little is known about GM crops and their long-term genetic impact on wildlife and the food-chain.

The German ban will now be analysed by the Commission, amid fears it could trigger trade tensions with the US. Under World Trade Organisation rules, the US administration has the right to retaliate.

Nathalie Charbonneau a spokeswoman for the Commission said it would scrutinise the German decision and "decide on the most appropriate follow-up".

Lobbyists for the biotechnology industry in Germany described the decision as a setback for science and for the economy. They warned that it would prompt biotechnology companies to relocate to other parts of the world.

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 14 Apr 2009 | 4:19 pm

Hubble Monitors Spectacular Black Hole Flare

The Hubble Space Telescope captured this spectacular space fireworks display when a blob of matter within a 5,000-light-year-long plasma beam emanating from a giant black hole flared up.

The glowing clump of gas, first discovered in 1999 and named HST-1, is located in one of the most massive black holes ever discovered, in the giant elliptical galaxy M87 54 million light years away from Earth. It has been flickering recently, growing brighter and then fading over several days at a time.

Astronomers aren't sure what is causing the flickering, though it could be from the jet colliding with a dust cloud or with gas. It could also be a process akin to what causes solar flares when magnetic field lines come together. Studying the flare could help astronomers understand similar phenomena in more distant parts of the universe.

Image: NASA, ESA, and J. Madrid (McMaster University)

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 14 Apr 2009 | 4:08 pm

California Utility to Capture Solar Power in Space

Solar power beamed down from space will generate electricity for California homes as soon as 2016.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 Apr 2009 | 3:36 pm

Protest as Japan whaling factory ship returns to port (AFP)

AFP - Greenpeace activists protested Tuesday as the last of six Japanese whaling ships returned to port from a five-month Antarctic mission marked by tense standoffs at sea with militant activists.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Apr 2009 | 3:30 pm

First Cloned Camel Born in Dubai

Injaz, a female one-humped camel, was cloned from a camel that was slaughtered in 2005.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 14 Apr 2009 | 2:43 pm

Rare dolphin spits to catch its prey

Australian snubfin dolphin fires jets of water from its mouth to round up fish, WWF discovers

A rare species of Australian dolphin has been found to catch its fish prey by spitting water, according to research by WWF. The small snubfin dolphins hunt in groups and use their spitting technique to round up fish they have chased to the surface by firing jets of water from their mouths.

The unusual behaviour has only been observed in one other dolphin species, the Irrawaddy dolphin, which lives throughout south and south-east Asia.

"This is incredibly unusual behaviour, first seen in Australia off the Kimberley Coast," said WWF Australia's marine and coasts manager, Lydia Gibson. "It also confirms the snubfin dolphin is a fascinating animal, one which we know so little about."

The snubfin dolphin (Orcaella heinsohni) was discovered in 2005 and is Australia's only endemic dolphin species, meaning that it is unique to northern Australia. Virtually nothing is known about its behaviour or habits.

First sighted off the Kimberley coast near the resort town of Broome and dubbed "snubby" because of its blunt dorsal fin and rounded snout, the snubfin is struggling to survive.

New research by WWF indicates that Australia's heavily populated coastline and rapidly expanding tourist developments near environmental wonders, such as the Great Barrier Reef, could see this species disappear before it is properly understood.

Classified as near threatened by the IUCN 'red list' of endangered species, WWF's research shows the dolphin is particularly vulnerable to pollution, viruses and bacteria. It is also more likely than other dolphins to be ensnared by fishing nets because it prefers inshore estuarine habitats where river-nets are set.

"There are already development proposals – like the extension of the Townsville port – that could have major impacts on these species," said Gibson. Dying mangroves, rising sea levels, dam construction and dredging of estuaries are also pushing the snubfins to the edge of extinction, according to the WWF.

Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 14 Apr 2009 | 2:16 pm

Sex Talk at Work Hurts Bottom Line

Some women and many men enjoy good-natured flirtation and sexual innuendoes in the workplace, a new study finds. But whether they like it or not, it is likely dragging them down.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 Apr 2009 | 2:07 pm

'First camel clone' born in Dubai

Scientists in Dubai say they have created the world's first cloned camel using DNA harvested from an adult camel.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Apr 2009 | 2:06 pm

Famed Nature editor Maddox dies

Sir John Maddox, who transformed the journal Nature through two stints as its editor, has died aged 83.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Apr 2009 | 1:57 pm

Arctic team gives up on ice radar

Technical failures lead UK explorers studying Arctic sea-ice to resort to old-fashioned research techniques.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Apr 2009 | 1:39 pm

Herbal Wines Healed Ancient Egyptians

Residues from ancient Egyptian jars reveal traces of wine with herbal additives.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 14 Apr 2009 | 1:23 pm

Salmonella Vaccine Could Come From Space Studies

Astronauts use zero-g to mimic the human gut for the study of salmonella in space.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 14 Apr 2009 | 1:17 pm

Why drivers may soon be riding a 'green wave' of traffic lights

Motorists should face more sequences of green traffic lights after the government relaxed guidance on traffic flow.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Apr 2009 | 1:11 pm

Da Vinci Portrait Found in Cathedral Window

A scholar finds a portrait of Leonardo in the stained glass of a Tuscan cathedral.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 14 Apr 2009 | 12:00 pm