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Superconducting Chips To Become RealityMost chemical elements become superconducting at low temperatures or high pressures, but until now, copper, silver, gold, and the semiconductor germanium, for example, have all refused superconductivity. Scientists have now able to produce superconducting germanium for the first time. Furthermore, they could unravel a few of the mysteries which come along with superconducting semiconductors.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2009 | 6:00 pm Impossible Crystal: Crystallization At The Molecular LevelMolecules with five-fold symmetry arrange themselves on a surface as a two-dimensional crystal, although theoretically this ought not to be possible. Recently researchers in Switzerland have taken the first steps to a better understanding of this "impossible" behavior by monitoring the complicated crystallization process with a scanning tunnel microscope.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2009 | 6:00 pm Magnetic Tremors Pinpoint The Impact Epicenter Of Earthbound Space StormsUsing data from NASA's THEMIS mission, researchers have pinpointed the impact epicenter of an earthbound space storm as it crashes into the atmosphere, and given an advance warning of its arrival.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2009 | 6:00 pm How Many Scientists Fabricate And Falsify Research?It's a long-standing and crucial question that, as yet, remains unanswered: just how common is scientific misconduct? A new study finds the first meta-analysis of surveys questioning scientists about their misbehaviors. The results suggest that altering or making up data is more frequent than previously estimated and might be particularly high in medical research.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2009 | 6:00 pm Cottonseed-based Drug Shows Promise In Treating Severe Brain CancerAn experimental compound showed good results for months in patients with glioblastoma multiforme, researchers say. After undergoing other treatments, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, the trial patients' brain cancer had begun to grow again prior to starting on the current clinical trial.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2009 | 6:00 pm Completely Different Way Of Looking For A New AntibioticResearchers have built a method of looking for molecules that will disturb the balance between them, offering a completely different way of looking for a new antibiotic that would be active against the cell wall.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2009 | 6:00 pm Activated Stem Cells In Damaged Lungs Could Be First Step Toward CancerStem cells that respond after a severe injury in the lungs of mice may be a source of rapidly dividing cells that lead to lung cancer, according to a new research.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2009 | 3:00 pm Daily Alcohol Intake Can Lead To Binge DrinkingSipping wine, beer or spirits three to four times per week increases the risk of binge drinking, particularly among young men, according to a new study. Researchers analyzed the drinking habits of Canadians and found that frequent alcohol consumption can lead to binge drinking among all gender and all age groups.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2009 | 3:00 pm Planet-Hunting Method Succeeds: Jupiter-like Planet Found Orbiting One Of Smallest StarsA long-proposed tool for hunting planets has netted its first catch -- a Jupiter-like planet orbiting one of the smallest stars known. The technique, called astrometry, was first attempted 50 years ago to search for planets outside our solar system, called exoplanets. It involves measuring the precise motions of a star on the sky as an unseen planet tugs the star back and forth.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2009 | 3:00 pm Immunologists Identify Biochemical Signals That Help Immune Cells Remember How To Fight InfectionImmunology researchers have discovered how two biochemical signals play unique roles in promoting the development of a group of immune cells employed as tactical assassins.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 29 May 2009 | 3:00 pm Russian rocket docks at space station (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 May 2009 | 12:51 pm African officials ask for climate change funding (AP)AP - Africa contributes little to global warming but suffers disproportionately from its effects, the continent's environment ministers said Friday, calling for more money and support from rich nations ahead of a landmark climate conference.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 May 2009 | 12:49 pm Crew doubles aboard space stationThe International Space Station crew is set to double after a capsule carrying three astronauts docked at the outpost.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 29 May 2009 | 12:37 pm Greenland Ice Melt May Threaten NortheastThe melting Greenland Ice Sheet could spell trouble for the northeast U.S.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 May 2009 | 12:15 pm Hopes pinned on finance at U.N. climate talks (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 May 2009 | 12:09 pm Why We'll Always Fear Snakes (LiveScience.com)LiveScience.com - My daughter has a snake, a tiny 8-inch-long, innocuous corn snake, and I hate that thing. I have seen it, and once, in the name of pretending to be a good mother, I actually touched it. But I hope to never see or touch it again as long as I live. As an anthropologist, I know that most people around the globe hate snakes (and yes, I know there are people like my daughter who love these disgusting reptiles, but really, they are freaks, all of them except my daughter). ...Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 May 2009 | 11:10 am Why We'll Always Fear SnakesMy daughter has a snake, a tiny 8-inch-long, innocuous corn snake, and I hate that thing.Source: Livescience.com | 29 May 2009 | 11:01 am Russia signs deal to ferry astronauts in 2012 (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 May 2009 | 10:19 am Beavers return after 400-year gapBeavers brought over from Norway for a reintroduction programme have been released into the wild in Argyll.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 29 May 2009 | 10:01 am The Nation's Weather (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 May 2009 | 9:24 am Carbon capture technology testedCarbon capture technology is tested for the first time on a working UK power station, at Longannet in Fife.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 29 May 2009 | 8:51 am Season's 1st tropical depression forms in Atlantic (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 May 2009 | 8:50 am NASA: Next Space Shuttle Launch May Be Delayed (SPACE.com)SPACE.com - WASHINGTON - Fresh on the heels of a successful flight to the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA is again gearing up to launch a space shuttle into orbit, but bad weather could delay the June spaceflight, mission managers said Thursday.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 May 2009 | 4:23 am Natural gas in the Arctic is mostly Russian (AP)AP - Nearly one-third of the natural gas yet to be discovered in the world is north of the Arctic Circle and most of it is in Russian territory, according to a new analysis led by researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 May 2009 | 3:49 am China volcano may have caused mass extinction (AP)AP - A mass extinction some 260 million years ago may have been caused by volcanic eruptions in what is now China, new research suggests.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 May 2009 | 3:48 am Malaria parasites 'resist drugs'International scientists say research in Cambodia shows the first signs of resistance to the world's best anti-malaria drug.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 29 May 2009 | 3:36 am Arctic survey reveals mineral riches• Region could contain 30% of the world's gas reserves The battle for the Arctic's hidden mineral riches is likely to intensify after a survey revealing the energy reserves present beneath the ice. A map of potential oil and gas reserves in the region, published today in Science, shows that about 30% of the world's unexploited gas and 13% of oil lie under the seas around the north pole. Billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of gas lie within the Arctic circle, where, until now, permanent ice has prevented drilling. The report is likely to further stoke international competition for mineral, tourism and shipping rights in the region. Exploration and drilling for oil and gas have become easier as climate change forces the ice to retreat, and all countries with borders inside the Arctic circle are fighting to claim their share. "For better or worse, limited exploration prospects in the rest of the world combined with technological advances make the Arctic increasingly attractive for development," said Paul Berkman of the Scott polar research institute at the University of Cambridge, who specialises in the politics of the Arctic. Russia filed its claim with the UN in 2001 but it is being contested by Canada, Denmark, Norway and the US. In 2007, Russian sailors used a submarine to plant a flag on the sea bed beneath the north pole in an area also claimed by Denmark, thanks to its sovereignty of Greenland. Earlier this month, Russia said it would be prepared to use military force to protect its claims in the Arctic. The map in Science pulls together partial assessments of the region carried out by many different countries and puts the information in the public domain for the first time. It shows that most of the oil is likely to be found under shallow water and there is probably about 90bn barrels in total. For comparison, at the end of 2007, the world's proven oil reserves stood at 1,238bn barrels and annual consumption was about 30bn barrels. Donald Gautier of the US Geological Survey, who led a team of researchers to produce the map, said the amounts were relatively small compared with the rest of the world's total fossil fuel production. "I think one should be cautious in jumping to the conclusion that it immediately extends world production by three years," he said. "There's nothing we see in the Arctic which suggests the pre-eminence of the oil resources of the Gulf states would be shifted." For natural gas, the picture is different. "Gas is heavily concentrated in Russian territory and they're already the world's largest producer of gas," said Gautier. "These findings suggest that future pre-eminence of Russian strategic control of gas resources is likely to be extended." The researchers said while their map was an accurate estimate of the potential geological resource in the Arctic, they had not considered the practical or economic case for whether the oil or gas would be recoverable. Berkman, who will speak on the political challenge of the Arctic at a meeting at the Royal Society in London next week, said energy resources happened to be at the top of international considerations at present but additional commercial prospects would soon arise. "Shipping is an important resource and potential for more efficient and economic access through the Arctic would have a tremendous economic implication for trade normally," he said. "The potential for fisheries would also have significant implications." The biggest challenge for governments, he said, was the potential for discord. "They need to envision strategies to defuse international tensions. At the moment, there are a lot of assertions going on by different nations about their interests." One way to face the problem, he said, was to focus on common interests in the region, such as environmental protection and peace. But Berkman was concerned that no forum for international dialogue had been developed. The US team produced the map by gathering data from geological surveys carried out by scientists from Germany, Canada, Denmark and Norway. By mapping sedimentary rocks, which are the type most consistent with finding oil and gas, and comparing these rocks with proven fossil fuel deposits around the world, the researchers were able to calculate an assessment for the resources in the Arctic. Gautier said the map was only an early estimate for the minerals around the north pole. "What we have done is gone into an unknown world and done our best to bring to bear the best geological information we can." 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 | 28 May 2009 | 11:05 pm Toothy Sharks Once Ruled TuscanyUnder the Tuscan soil lie the remains of some fearsome ancient residents.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 28 May 2009 | 11:03 pm Monkeys return alive and wellCape Canaveral (Florida), May 28 Two tiny monkeys were to-day recovered alive and unhurt from the nose cone of a Jupiter missile which was taken out of the Atlantic after a space flight of 1,500 miles. The monkeys - females named Able and Baker - are the first living creatures known to have ridden into space and returned alive in an American missile. The missile climbed 300 miles and flew at speeds of up to 10,000 m.p.h. Six and a half hours after the launching from here, the Army announced simply: "Both animals are alive and perfect, with no injuries." They were recovered from the South Atlantic near Antigua by a Naval tug after frogmen had attached lifting tackle to the cone. Scientists reported that the monkeys suffered little ill effect from the stress of the violent acceleration and a period of weightlessness for some nine minutes in their fifteen-minute journey. The monkey Able was trained before the space flight to push a morse key when a red light flashed once each second. This was tried out during the flight to show how she responded to the feeling of weightlessness, but the signals were not received. Other instruments, however, did record and relay back to earth information about the monkeys' heartbeat and breathing rate. Scientists say the monkeys did not go high enough to be seriously affected by radiation. Able, lying on her back with her knees drawn up to provide maximum resistance from forces of gravity, wore a space suit and was equipped with earphones. She reclined on a glass fibre couch in an air-conditioned chamber with a private heating and cooling system. Baker wore a helmet of moulded plastic with a soft chamois lining. She lay on a bed of two layers of rubber. She was in a small capsule lined with glass fibre and rubber for insulation. The capsule was attached to the base of the nose cone. A space administration spokesman said that Able had been confined in the nose cone for 77 hours before the rocket was fired. "We were sorry it had to be so long, but it couldn't be avoided," he said. "Able was fed a saline and glucose solution during this period and she was perfectly happy. She was used to confinement." The spokesman gave an assurance that neither of the monkeys would be cut up or sacrificed in any way to scientific research. They would be returned to the hospitals where they were trained for a long period of observation. 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 | 28 May 2009 | 11:01 pm U.S. company finds "safer" way to make stem-like cellsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. researchers said on Thursday they had come up with the safest way yet to make stem-like cells using a patient's ordinary skin cells, this time by using pure human proteins.Source: Reuters: Science News | 28 May 2009 | 10:39 pm The Top 10 Utilities for Solar PowerSolar power installations at utilities across the country increased 25 percent in 2008 over the year before. The nation’s top 10 utilities now have 882 megawatts of solar capacity. As in previous years, Southern California Edison topped the total capacity ratings at 441 megawatts, mostly due to its extra large installation out in the Mojave. Pacific Gas & Electric, which serves northern California, installed the most solar this year, though, at 85 megawatts. Small, publicly-owned utilities in San Francisco and Oakland lead the watts per customer race by a wide margin. But all of those numbers are tiny in the scheme of the U.S. electricity system, which has more than one million megawatts of generating capacity. The new report from the Solar Electric Power Association [pdf] demonstrates that solar’s future remains in the future. Still, state and federal policy requiring that utilities incorporate more renewable energy and probable climate legislation are pushing a lot more solar into utilities’ plans. “This year’s report demonstrates that solar electricity is finally on the radar screen of utilities across the country,” Julia Hamm, executive director of the Solar Electric Power Association, said in a press release. “Solar plants large and small are ready for significant build-out, and the utility industry is moving towards mass adoption to meet a variety of business needs.” The utilities intend to install more than 7,500 megawatts of solar capacity within the next seven years, with most of those projects scheduled to come online in the next few years. That growth will come largely from big, centralized projects, not your neighbor’s roof. Most big projects don’t use photovoltaic panels, which convert photons directly into electrons, either. Instead, they use fields of mirrors to concentrate the heat of the sun onto a boiler that produces steam. If the early projects planned by Brightsource, Ausra, and other work out, solar advocates think variants of solar thermal technology could provide 25 percent of the world’s power by the middle of the century. See Also:
WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal’s Twitter, Google Reader feed, and book site for The History of Our Future; Wired Science on Facebook.
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 28 May 2009 | 9:09 pm Cellular Counter Brings Computer Programming to Life
In an essential step toward programming cells as precisely as computers, synthetic biologists have finally learned to count. By linking a series of protein switches, researchers made prototype cell-level counters that could eventually be used to coordinate complex sets of genetic instructions running on biomolecular machines, from disease-hunting cells to intracellular computing networks. In the electronic world, basic counting functions underlie even the most powerful supercomputers. “What we’ve done is to impose some of the controls we’ve imposed in electrical engineering onto the biological cell,” said synthetic biologist Timothy Lu at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “We hope to be able to control the cell more reliably, and have it perform more defined functions. This forms the fundamental basis for building more complicated circuits.” These genetic counters, described in a paper published Thursday in Science, join the ever-expanding toolbox available to 21st century synthetic biologists. Using computer models to explore molecular manufacturing possibilities and enzyme tweezers to assemble their their designs, they seek not merely to tweak a gene or two, but to hack and remix cells, even build them from scratch. Taking their inspiration from the engineered as much as the evolutionary world, they’ve found or fabricated the cell-level analogs of parts familiar to hobbyists at the dawn of the computer age: oscillators, toggles, units that provide basic memory, time delays, sensing and signal processing. From these components they can build dynamic, complex systems. “We cut and paste together the biomolecular components into genetic circuits, just as an electronic engineer uses a soldering gun to put together electronic components on a circuit board,” said James Collins, a Boston University biomedical engineer.
Lu and Collins’ team used those pieces to assemble their counter, a device whose functionality is largely unappreciated by people unfamiliar with electrical engineering. By demarcating changes in units of one, counters give form to the passage of time. They make it possible to track and synchronize the flow of electrons, ultimately coordinating the complex interplay of routines on which computer systems are built. Counting mechanisms have also been identified in cells, even though their role is not entirely understood. They seem to regulate cell processes and the biomolecules, triggering actions when some signaling threshold is crossed. Counters will allow synthetic biologists “to start thinking about programming biology in time and space. It moves us into more complex types of engineering in cellular communities,” said Christina Smolke, a Stanford University biomedical engineer who was not involved in the study. Lu and Collins’ counters came in two forms, each spliced into the genome of an E. coli microbe. The first is formally known as a riboregulated transcriptional cascade counter. It consists of an alternating series of genes and pieces of RNA, a type of molecule that carries out the genes’ protein-making instructions. Lodged in each of the genes after the first, however, is another, smaller piece of RNA that prevents the gene from becoming activated. The entire system resembles a line of dominoes with blocks between them. The chemical signal designated to be counted activates the first gene in the line. It produces a protein that knocks the RNA stopper from the second gene — or, to continue with the analogy, removes the block from between the dominoes. When the next signal comes, the now-primed gene produces a protein that lifts the block from the next gene, which in turn is activated by the next signal. In the study, that third gene produced a green fluorescent protein when activated, a flashing sign that a third signal was counted. But the gene could just as easily have been used to produce a protein that performed some other function. The second counter, called a DNA invertase cascade, works in a similar manner, but is made from genes that code for a protein that both inactivates the original gene and primes the next for activation. Each step takes a few hours to conclude, rather than the 15 minutes or so required of each step in the RNA-based counter. “Other people in the field have built the basic functional components, but they’ve taken the different types of circuits and function and integrated them,” said Smolke. For now, one of the main limitations on both counter design and the field of synthetic biology is the availability of parts. On an electrical circuit board, components are fixed in place. In a cell they can migrate, and need to be intrinsically incapable of accidentally interacting with each other. This limits the selection of components, but parts libraries are expanding rapidly. Smolke’s own specialty is enzyme control, and she’s currently designing molecules that enter cells and release therapeutic compounds in response to specific chemical signals. Ultimately she hopes to control the proliferation and fate of T-cells, the front-line warriors of the immune system. Collins envisions counters that produce cell-destroying proteins. These could be used as built-in kill switches for engineered organisms released into the environment or human bodies. “You can imagine using the RNA switch and coupling it to cell division, so that after the cell had divided five or 10 or 100 times, the cell committed suicide,” he said. “The DNA switch could be coupled to light and dark cycles, so that after three or five or 10 days, it would flip the switch.” And that’s just the beginning, said Collins. “You can imagine developing counter-based proteins that could measure events on the order of seconds,” he said. “You could envision a counter that is designed not to detect multiple occurrences of the same event, but different stimuli, or a sequence of those stimuli.” See Also:
Citations: “Synthetic Gene Networks That Count.” By Ari E. Friedland, Timothy K. Lu, Xiao Wang, David Shi, George Church and James J. Collins. Science, Vol. 324 Issue 5931, May 28, 2009. “It’s the DNA That Counts.” By Christina D. Smolke. Science, Vol. 324 Issue 5931, May 28, 2009. Images: 1. Flickr/Teo 2. Science Brandon Keim’s Twitter stream and Del.icio.us feed; Wired Science on Facebook.
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 28 May 2009 | 8:33 pm Flawed Survey Says 99% of Women Don’t Like Their LooksYou just ask them, right? Wrong. Welcome to the science of polling.Source: Livescience.com | 28 May 2009 | 8:23 pm Did a Fictional Crime Inspire a Real One?What would inspire a woman to perpetrate a hoaxed abduction, like Bonnie Sweeten did?Source: Livescience.com | 28 May 2009 | 7:07 pm Warning systemQuake monitors in California prepare for Big OneSource: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 28 May 2009 | 6:57 pm Stem Cell Feat to Accelerate TransplantsTechnology for versatile transplant tissue takes a big step toward clinical use.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 28 May 2009 | 6:48 pm Studies find new weaknesses in cancerWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers using a new gene-scanning method have found a potential way to fight cancer by silencing genes that tumors need to stay alive.Source: Reuters: Science News | 28 May 2009 | 6:42 pm Synchronized Brain Waves Focus Our Attention
Separate brain regions firing in unison may be what keeps us focused on important things while we ignore distractions. A deluge of visual information hits our eyes every second, yet we’re able to focus on the minuscule fraction that’s relevant to our goals. When we try to find our way through an unfamiliar area of town, for example, we manage to ignore the foliage, litter and strolling pedestrians, and focus our attention on the street signs. Now, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have discovered that the brain’s control center syncs up to its visual center with high-frequency brain waves, directing attention to select features of the visual world. “It’s been known that the prefrontal cortex plays an important role in focusing our attention, but the mystery was how,” said neuroscientist Robert Desimone, who led the study, published in Science Friday. “Now we have some insight into how it has that focusing role — through this synchrony with our sensory systems.” This novel understanding of attention may inform future studies on disorders like schizophrenia and ADHD, in which patients are easily distracted and the prefrontal cortex is thought to be impaired. The region’s newly discovered role as a source of synchronized brain activity may be crucial to understanding these diseases.
Previous research showed that when something important (such as a street sign) catches our attention, the sign-processing neurons in the visual region begin to fire in unison. The rest of the neurons in the region fire too, stimulated by other information that hits the eye, but they chatter out of sync with one another. The synchronized firing of neurons carrying the important aspects of the visual field is thought to focus our attention to these features. “If there’s a group of people that’s chanting in the middle of a large crowd having random conversations, the chanters stand out,” Desimone said. What wasn’t known is what gets the chanters going in the first place. Neuroscientists knew the control center, known as the prefrontal cortex, was involved, but it is on the opposite side of the brain from the visual center, so it was unclear how such long-range interactions might actually operate.
When they took a closer look at their data, they found that the prefrontal region started firing 80 milliseconds after the monkeys were cued to focus on the image, while the visual cortex started firing after 130 milliseconds. The two regions, on opposite sides of the brain, then fired at a high frequency in synchrony with one another. The waves were offset by 8 to 13 milliseconds, which the authors believe may be the time it takes for a signal to travel between the two regions. “Imagine a spring between your two hands, and you’re vibrating your hands back and forth,” said Desimone. “If you time it just right, your hands are going to have a spring bouncing back and forth at a certain resonance. The neural equivalent of that is a very strong signal in the brain.” Neurons in the prefrontal cortex were essentially directing the neurons in the visual cortex to pay attention by firing with them, Desimone said. He believes this type of synchronization may be a mechanism for communication between separate brain regions. “[The results] provide a possible explanation for how attention-dependent synchrony might be brought about by the [prefrontal cortex], and how the communication between distant neurons might be facilitated by attention,” said Tirin Moore, a neurobiologist at Stanford University who was not involved with the study. “This is an important step indeed.” See Also:
Citation: “High-Frequency, Long-Range Coupling Between Prefrontal and Visual Cortex During Attention,” by G.G. Gregoriou, H. Zhou, R. Desimone. Science Vol. 324, Issue 5930. Image: Flickr/Quasic
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 28 May 2009 | 6:09 pm Rich Streams of Bacterial Life Found on SkinSkin bacteria varies based on conditions such as dry, moist and oily.Source: Livescience.com | 28 May 2009 | 6:03 pm A Supervolcano's Fallout: Mass ExtinctionThe first direct link between an eruption and mass extinction emerges in China.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 28 May 2009 | 6:00 pm Chandra Telescope Spies X-ray 'Ghost' of Black HoleX-ray remnant of early black hole eruption detected by Chandra Observatory.Source: Livescience.com | 28 May 2009 | 5:44 pm Light fantastic: California fires up laser fusion machineSuccess at National Ignition Facility could pave the way for commercial laser fusion power stations and provide a solution to world energy crisis A tentative first step towards an era of clean, almost limitless energy will take place today with the opening of a giant facility designed to recreate the power of the stars in an oversized warehouse in California. The $3.5bn National Ignition Facility (NIF) sits in a 10-storey building covering three football fields and will harness the power of lasers to turn tiny pellets of hydrogen into thermonuclear energy. If the machine works as planned, it will become the first to generate more energy than it consumes, a feat that could pave the way for commercial laser fusion power stations and an end to the world's energy security problems. The building, which has taken almost 15 years to build and commission, is due to be opened in a ceremony attended by the US energy secretary, Steven Chu, and the California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has said the facility could "revolutionise our energy future". "If they're successful, it will be a very big deal. No one has achieved a net gain in energy before," said Derek Stork, assistant technical director at the UK United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA)'s centre for fusion research in Culham, Oxfordshire. Inside the building, scientists will use the world's most powerful laser to create 192 separate beams of light that will be directed at a bead of frozen hydrogen in a violent burst lasting five billionths of a second. Each fuel pellet measures just two millimetres across but costs around $40,000, because they must be perfectly spherical to ensure they collapse properly when the laser light strikes. The intense beams produce a powerful shockwave that crunches the fuel pellet at a million miles an hour, generating temperatures of around 100,000,000C. Under such extreme conditions, which are found only in the core of stars, the hydrogen atoms will fuse, producing helium and vast amounts of energy. The facility will gradually work up to full power over the next 12 months or so, but experiments are scheduled to run until around 2040. If the NIF succeeds, politicians will be under pressure to invest in the technology to develop a first generation of demonstration plants to feed fusion energy into electricity grids. Plans for a laser fusion plant have been drawn up at UKAEA in Culham. The Hiper project would use two lasers to produce power from seawater and lithium, an abundant element. "When this works, it will immediately change the future energy map for the world. One cubic kilometre of sea water has the fusion energy equivalent of whole world's oil reserves," said John Parris at the Hiper project. That would overturn concerns over energy security caused by vast amounts of the globe's oil been locked up beneath a small number of nations. The NIF facility must overcome major technical hurdles before scientists can start celebrating. The laser at the heart of the facility can only fire a handful of times a day. In between each shot, the hydrogen fuel pellet needs to be replaced. Over the coming years, scientists want to see improvements that allow the facility to run continuously. That could mean firing the laser 10 times a second, at fuel pellets that are shot mid air as they are dropped into the fusion chamber. 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 | 28 May 2009 | 5:15 pm New Giant Lemur Species DiscoveredA third species of the extinct giant lemurs has been discovered in northwest Madagascar, the first addition to the group in more than 100 years.Source: Livescience.com | 28 May 2009 | 5:09 pm BLOG: Honduras Quake From Chaotic CrustToday's Honduras earthquake was caused by a jumble of crust in the region.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 28 May 2009 | 4:15 pm Mice Given 'Human' Version of Speech GeneMice given "human speech" gene to study evolution of language.Source: Livescience.com | 28 May 2009 | 4:02 pm Rare Baby Panda Born in Thai ZooA baby panda birth makes Thailand only the third country to breed a panda in captivity.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 28 May 2009 | 3:57 pm Scientists develop new basis for H5N1 vaccine: WHOGENEVA (Reuters) - Scientists have used bird flu virus samples from Egypt to develop a new basis for a vaccine against the toxic H5N1 strain that continues to circulate, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 28 May 2009 | 3:54 pm Monkeys Become Latest Glowing AnimalsJapanese researchers took a green fluorescent protein gene, wove it into the DNA of marmosets embryos, then let the monkeys mate.Source: Livescience.com | 28 May 2009 | 3:45 pm Rare Madagascan tortoises stolenFour of the world's rarest tortoises have been stolen from a captive breeding programme in Madagascar.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 28 May 2009 | 3:23 pm Search is On for the Light of LifeNew research suggests we could detect a potential beacon from a planet full of microbes.Source: Livescience.com | 28 May 2009 | 1:38 pm Music Soothes Circumcision PainMusic may reduce pain for babies during certain procedures, research suggestsSource: Livescience.com | 28 May 2009 | 1:18 pm Brazil to debut rust-resistant soySAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil is set to begin commercial planting of a soybean variety with a gene that makes it resistant to the devastating Asian rust fungus, which is beginning to develop tolerance to conventional fungicides.Source: Reuters: Science News | 28 May 2009 | 1:12 pm Key isotope reactor down at least three monthsVANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - An aging Canadian nuclear reactor that produces a third of the world's medical isotope supply is expected to be out of operation for at least three months, officials said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 28 May 2009 | 12:59 pm Oil firms and loggers 'push indigenous people to brink of extinction''Uncontacted' tribes forced to flee armed gangs and bulldozers in forests of Peru, Brazil and Paraguay, says Survival International Five "uncontacted" tribes are at imminent risk of extinction as oil companies, colonists and loggers invade their territiories. The semi-nomadic groups, who live deep in the forests of Peru, Brazil and Paraguay, are vulnerable to common western diseases such as flu and measles but also risk being killed by armed gangs, according to a report by Survival International, which identifies the five groups as the most threatened on Earth. Sixty members of the Awá tribe are said to be fleeing from gangs of loggers and ranchers on their land near Maranhão, Brazil. "Logging roads have been bulldozed through a part of their territory, where the uncontacted groups are living. The ranchers want land to graze cattle for beef. The loggers regularly block roads to prevent government teams from entering the area to investigate," says David Hill, a Survival researcher and co-author of the report. Little is known about the group of 50 Indians who live along the River Pardo in the western Brazilian Amazon, although there is plenty of evidence for their existence, including communal houses, arrows, baskets, hammocks, and footprints along river banks. "Loggers operating out of Colniza have forced them to be constantly on the run, unable to cultivate crops and relying solely on hunting, gathering and fishing. It is believed that the women have stopped giving birth," says the report. Perenco, an Anglo-French oil company working in a proposed Indian reserve in northern Peru, is endangering several uncontacted tribes, says the report. "The company plans to send hundreds of workers into the region. In recent weeks, indigenous protesters have blockaded the Napo river in order to prevent Perenco boats from passing. In response, a naval gunboat was called in to break the blockade." One group is believed to be a sub-group of the Waorani, and another is known as the Pananujuri. Perenco denies the tribes exist. Other tribes in trouble include several living near the Envira river in the Peruvian Amazon. "They are being forced to flee across the border into nearby Brazil. Despite being provided with evidence of their existence, Peru's government has failed to accept that uncontacted Indians are fleeing from Peru to Brazil. Peru's president, Alan Garcia, has suggested the tribes do not exist," says the report. Ranchers are bulldozing land where a fifth group lives – the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode in the Chaco forest of western Paraguay. This week a Paraguayan court ruled that a company had the right to log on their land, further endangering their existence. There are believed to be more than 100 uncontacted groups in the world. They are concentrated in Latin America, and aerial photographs of one uncontacted tribe in Brazil's Acre state captured headlines a year ago. But as many as 40 could live in West Papua, where vast areas of forest and mountain have been barely explored. "They remain in isolation because they choose to, and because encounters with the outside world have brought them only violence, disease and murder. They are among the most vulnerable peoples on Earth, and could be wiped out within the next 20 years unless their land rights are recognised and upheld," said Stephen Corry, director of Survival. 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 | 28 May 2009 | 12:29 pm China to launch Mars probe atop Russian rocketBEIJING (Reuters) - China's first Mars probe is expected to be launched in the second half of this year on top of a Russian rocket, said Xinhua on Thursday, the latest milestone in the nation's ambitious space program.Source: Reuters: Science News | 28 May 2009 | 12:21 pm Peat Bogs Could Offset Sea Level RiseAbsorbent peat bogs could help blunt the impact of sea level rise, research finds.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 28 May 2009 | 12:20 pm Climate health costs: bug-borne ills, killer heatWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tree-munching beetles, malaria-carrying mosquitoes and deer ticks that spread Lyme disease are three living signs that climate change is likely to exact a heavy toll on human health.Source: Reuters: Science News | 28 May 2009 | 12:10 pm People may be able to taste wordsWe are all capable of "hearing" shapes and sizes and perhaps even "tasting" sounds, according to a study.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 28 May 2009 | 11:10 am Survival of the Fittest by Ruth PadelThe poet reads from her latest book, Darwin: A Life in Poems
Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 28 May 2009 | 11:09 am
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First, Desimone’s team recorded the activity of neurons in two monkeys while the animals focused on images on a computer screen. They found that, as expected, neurons in the visual area began firing together when the monkeys looked at the images. But they discovered that neurons in a region of the prefrontal cortex were also firing in unison, and at the same frequency as those in the visual area.