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What Is The Risk Of Obesity While Taking Antidepressant Drugs?Major depressive episode (MDE) does not appear to increase the risk of obesity. The cross-sectional associations that have been reported in this study, albeit inconsistently, in the literature probably represent an effect of obesity on MDE risk. Pharmacologic treatment with antidepressants may be associated with an increased risk of obesity, and strategies to offset this risk may be useful in clinical practice.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 3:00 am Thirst For Blood Sparks Toxic Algal BloomsThe blooming of toxic algae that occurs during the summer conceal a fight for life and death. Scientists now propose that algal blooms are created when aggressive algae kill and injure their competitors in order to absorb the nutrients they contain.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 3:00 am Tunnel Vision: Border Patrol Agents To Spot Tunnels With Advanced Ground-penetrating RadarThey're digging tunnels along the US border at a fast and furious pace, but not a single one of them has ever been discovered by US border patrol agents using technology. That's going to change.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 3:00 am Mouse Model Of Parkinson's Reproduces Nonmotor SymptomsNonmotor symptoms of Parkinson's include digestive and sleep problems, loss of sense of smell and depression. A mouse with a mutation in a gene responsible for packaging neurotransmitters like dopamine and norepinephrine reproduces the major non-motor symptoms as well as motor symptoms. The finding sheds light on nonmotor symptoms' causes and their relationship with the neurodegeneration seen in Parkinson's.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 3:00 am New Take On Growth Factor Signaling In Tamoxifen ResistanceDifferences in growth factor (GF) signaling may cause the poor prognosis in some breast cancer cases. A new study suggests that some estrogen receptor-positive breast cancers respond poorly to tamoxifen because of increased GF signaling.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 3:00 am New Lasers Drive Powerful ApplicationsTelecoms, healthcare and display technology will be the major beneficiaries of a new generation of semiconductor lasers developed in a massive research effort. Better cancer treatment, wider bandwidth and smaller, better displays could be on their way.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 3:00 am Natural-born Divers And The Molecular Traces Of EvolutionWhen the ancestors of present marine mammals returned to the oceans, their physiology had to adapt radically. Scientists have been studying how myoglobin, the molecule responsible for delivering oxygen to the muscles during locomotion, has been modified in seals and whales to help them cope with the needs of a life at sea.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 12:00 am Study Of Flower Color Shows Evolution In ActionScientists at UC Santa Barbara have zeroed in on the genes responsible for changing flower color, an area of research that began with Gregor Mendel's studies of the garden pea in the 1850's.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 12:00 am Health Benefits Of Molecule Associated With Male Sexual Arousal ExaminedA new study examines how molecules producing erections may change the way we think and hear.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 12:00 am Carb Synthesis Sheds Light On Promising Tuberculosis Drug TargetA fundamental question about how sugar units are strung together into long carbohydrate chains has also pinpointed a promising way to target new medicines against tuberculosis.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 12:00 am Majority Would Choose 'Green' Car vs. 'Dream' CarMost would pick an environmentally even if they could afford the gas guzzler.Source: Livescience.com | 30 Jun 2009 | 2:01 pm Acetaminophen Not So InnocuousThe painkiller is the leading cause of liver failure in the United States.Source: Livescience.com | 30 Jun 2009 | 1:51 pm Mobile pollution sensors deployedCyclists, buses, cars and even pedestrians become mobile pollution detectors in a UK-based scientific project.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 30 Jun 2009 | 1:37 pm What Supersonic Looks Like (LiveScience.com)LiveScience.com - The breaking of the sound barrier is not just an audible phenomenon. As a new picture from the U.S. military shows, Mach 1 can be quite visual.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Jun 2009 | 1:35 pm What Supersonic Looks LikeScientists refer to it as a vapor cone, shock collar, or shock egg or a Prandtl–Glauert singularity.Source: Livescience.com | 30 Jun 2009 | 1:10 pm L.A. Traffic Causing Premature Births: StudyMoms exposed to high levels of traffic exhaust are at high risk of giving birth prematurely.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Jun 2009 | 12:19 pm Daily sex makes for healthier spermLONDON (Reuters) - Having sex every day improves the quality of men's sperm and is recommended for couples trying to conceive, according to new research.Source: Reuters: Science News | 30 Jun 2009 | 12:11 pm Predatory Dingoes Promote DiversityAlthough perceived as invasive predators, dingoes actually protect biodiversity.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Jun 2009 | 12:09 pm Mechanical mandible aids researchA robot jaw, designed to mimic the action of the human mouth, has been developed by a team of scientists at Bristol University.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 30 Jun 2009 | 11:47 am Exclusion zone for special whaleAustralian authorities warn the public to stay away from a rare white humpback whale named Migaloo that has appeared off the east coast.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 30 Jun 2009 | 11:40 am Iraqi oil licensing round runs into trouble (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Jun 2009 | 11:21 am Britain's BP, Chinese oil firm win Iraq deals (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Jun 2009 | 11:15 am Most complete Earth map publishedThe most complete terrain map, covering 99% of the Earth's surface, has been published and will be free to use.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 30 Jun 2009 | 11:07 am Huge declines in woodland birdsThe numbers of 18 woodland bird species in the UK, including nightingales, have plummeted, according to a 30-year survey.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 30 Jun 2009 | 10:51 am Practice makes perfect: daily sex improves quality of spermHaving sex every day improves sperm quality and could boost the chances of getting pregnant, research finds.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 30 Jun 2009 | 10:04 am Indian warships get a breath of fresh air (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Jun 2009 | 9:50 am The Nation's weather (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Jun 2009 | 9:50 am Indonesia premier hopefuls accused on environment (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Jun 2009 | 8:49 am U.S. joins International Renewable Energy Agency (Reuters)Reuters - The United States joined the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) on Monday as part of the Obama administration's commitment to developing a new energy policy, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Jun 2009 | 5:23 am Swine Flu: Just the Latest Chapter in a 91-Year Pandemic Era
The current strain of H1N1 influenza, or swine flu, has people scared because it’s a novel virus that most of the population has never been exposed to. But as a group, H1N1 viruses aren’t new. They’ve been circulating since 1918, when a new strain appeared simultaneously in pigs and humans and killed 40 to 50 million people in a single year. Over the past 91 years, the virus has jumped back and forth between humans, pigs and birds – and possibly even been resurrected from a laboratory freezer. Taking a historical view of the swine flu is critical to our understanding the current pandemic, and future outbreaks, argue scientists in two perspectives published Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine. “Ever since 1918, this tenacious virus has drawn on a bag of evolutionary tricks to survive in one form or another, in both humans and pigs, and to spawn a host of novel progeny viruses with novel gene constellations,” wrote scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in one perspective. They say we’ve been living in a “pandemic era.” From 1918 to 1957, H1N1 viruses circulated every year as the seasonal flu. Then, in 1957, a new flu virus, H2N2, appeared on the scene and H1N1 disappeared. “When a new strain comes out, it overwhelms the population,” said Shanta Zimmer, an infectious disease expert at the University of Pittsburgh and a co-author of the other perspective. “Because people had no existing immunity, the new virus replicated and H1N1 got immunologically squeezed out.” Nineteen years later, H1N1 resurfaced on a military base in Fort Dix, New Jersey, where it infected 230 soldiers and killed one. Although the 1976 outbreak was quickly contained and never made it off the base, fear of a worldwide pandemic prompted a massive research campaign and immunization program.
Zimmer calls the H1N1 epidemic that followed “a self-fulfilling prophecy.” In November 1977, the strain showed up in Hong Kong, the Soviet Union, and northeastern China. But when scientists examined the genetic make-up of the 1977 virus, it didn’t look like versions from the most recent outbreaks. Instead, it resembled a strain from 1950– which according to the University of Pittsburgh researchers, probably came from a laboratory freezer. “From 1957 to 1977 we didn’t see any H1N1,” Zimmer said, “just H2N2. Then it reemerged in 1977, kind of out of the blue. It’s circumstantial evidence, but the sudden reemergence coupled with the virus’ genetic profile makes us think it came from the accidental release of a 1950 strain.” Of course, there could be other explanations for the mysterious reappearance. Flu surveillance was not nearly as robust in the 1970s as it is today, said epidemiologist Ian Lipkin of Columbia University, a member of the World Health Organization’s surveillance network. “There could have been strains circulating that we didn’t know about,” he said. “It’s fine to speculate, but based on genetics alone, we don’t know for sure that it came from a lab.” Scientists also recently confirmed that flu viruses can survive in frozen lakes, which could be another reason why old viruses sometimes reappear suddenly.
As bad as a “pandemic era” sounds, Zimmer says that the fact that H1N1 flu strains have been around for so long may explain why the 2009 pandemic hasn’t hit as hard as scientists first feared. “Genetic components of the new pandemic strain that have their roots in the original 1918 virus, and that’s part of the hope,” she said. “We don’t understand yet how much immunity there’s going to be, but the fact that it’s been less devastating than we feared may be a factor that’s related to pre-existing immunity.” See Also:
Image: Flickr/joshc
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 30 Jun 2009 | 12:53 am Ladybird 'risk to 1,000 species'The invasive Harlequin ladybird is putting native ladybirds and over 1,000 species in the UK in peril, according to scientists.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 30 Jun 2009 | 12:41 am Great Lakes wolves returning to endangered list (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Jun 2009 | 12:22 am Hadrosaur chowdown grind, grind, grind (AP)AP - Think you grind your teeth? Pity the ancient hadrosaur. Their jaws weren't hinged in the same way as modern people and animals, and researchers have long wondered how these ancient animals handled food.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 Jun 2009 | 11:16 pm Invading ladybirds breed up ecological storm for UK speciesA voracious predator, the Asian harlequin ladybird has spread across the UK since its arrival from continental Europe in 2004 Millions of very hungry ladybirds are poised to create ecological havoc for hundreds of Britain's native species, scientists warn today. Experts said the anticipated warm summer would provide the perfect conditions for the Asian harlequin ladybird to breed and prepare for a springtime assault. "They are creating a huge genetic stock ready for next year," said Helen Roy, a scientist with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. The insect, a voracious predator, has spread across the UK since its arrival from continental Europe in 2004. The bugs have been spotted as far north as Orkney, though they remain strongest in south-east England, where they have overrun many of London's parks. "We believe that the negative impacts of the harlequin on Britain will be far-reaching and disruptive, with the potential to affect over a thousand of our native species," she said. "It's a big and voracious predator, it will eat lots of different insects, soft fruit and all kinds of things." Unlike British ladybirds, such as the most common seven-spot, the harlequin does not need a cold winter for adults to reach sexual maturity, and so be able to breed. "That gives them a massive advantage," Roy said. The ladybird, originally from Asia, was introduced to Holland and other European countries to control aphids on crops. From there, it crossed the English Channel on the wind, or hidden on fruit and flowers. A public survey launched in 2005 has tracked its progress using some 30,000 online records. Roy said the results revealed a "staggering expansion". Scientists fear the harlequins will push out natural rivals through competition for food. They can munch through more than 12,000 aphids a year, as well as feed on other species such as lacewing larvae. The harlequin has even been recorded eating the large caterpillar of a brimstone butterfly. Scientists from five organisations will present the latest findings on the spread of the harlequin this week at the Royal Society summer exhibition, and warn its arrival will mean "one winner, 1,000 losers". Scientists are exploring whether harlequin numbers could be controlled using their few native enemies, such as fungal disease, male-killing bacteria and parasitic wasps and flies. One idea is to encourage the transmission of a sexually transmitted mite that makes some ladybirds infertile. The researchers said people should not take matters into their own hands. Vigilante action against the harlequin invaders would make no difference to the overall population and could inadvertently kill similar-looking native species. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 29 Jun 2009 | 11:05 pm Obituary: Jean DaussetFrench immunologist, a Nobel prizewinner for his work on the human genome Few people have contributed as much to science and the human good as Jean Dausset, who has died aged 93. In 1980 he shared the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine with Baruj Benacerraf and George Snell for his work on tissue-typing, which allows the best matching of donor and recipient in organ-transplantation. Dausset discovered the genes that form the human major histocompatibility complex, now known as HLA, work that was fundamental to the human genome project, which maps the entire range of genes in human beings. In 1952 Dausset discovered that white blood cells were agglutinated by antibodies from patients who had received blood transfusions, and realised this was due to genetic differences between donor and recipient. He described the first leukocyte antigen, now called HLA-A2, in 1958. He realised that the human HLA system was similar to the H-2 gene system in mice, which had been identified by Snell shortly before, and thus that mice could be used as an experimental model for human immunogenetics. By grafting skin from volunteer donors to volunteer recipients he worked out the complex relationship between tissue compatibility and graft survival, and found that the closer the tissue types, the better the chances of success. He researched the role of the gene HLA-G in immune tolerance, including that of pregnancy, which is the only circumstance in which the human body can tolerate immunologically different tissue. Dausset was the founder of both France-Transplant, which brings together those needing organs with matching donors, and France Greffe de Moelle, which provides bone marrow transplants. In 1984, thanks to substantial donations generated by his Nobel prize, he founded the Centre d'Etude du Polymorphisme Humain (CEPH), becoming its president; when he retired in 1993 it was renamed the Fondation Jean Dausset-CEPH. This non-profit organisation, now funded mainly by the French government, has been a key contributor to human genome studies through its contributions of the DNA from 61 large families that Dausset and his team had been studying. Dausset was a team worker, international collaborator, and leading light of HLA research workshops, bringing rival groups together to share information and share tissue-type resources. Although he nominally retired at 77, he continued to work. In recent years, with Professor Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, of Stanford University in California, he developed a widely used DNA resource for world populations, which has enabled the tracing of relationships between different gene pools. "He was", said Sir Walter Bodmer, who knew him for more than 40 years, "one of the first to look for significant associations between the HLA types and disease. This later became the model for many studies on genetic susceptibility. In addition, he stimulated the development of a common nomenclature for markers on blood cells." This made it possible to map the human genome, and knowledge of these markers, which was shared internationally, enabled researchers to localise various disease genes on their chromosomes. This was the first step towards cloning and identifying them, thus providing a breakthrough in medical genetics and an underpinning for the genome project. Dausset was born in Toulouse during the first world war, the son of a distinguished rheumatologist and a nurse, and grew up in Biarritz and Paris. His medical studies in Paris were interrupted by the second world war, and he was conscripted in 1939. He served in north Africa, where the blood transfusions he gave were his introduction to immunohaematology. He did his first experiments, on blood platelets, while training in Algiers. He returned to liberated Paris in 1944 to run collections for the French blood-transfusion service. In 1948 he went to Boston Children's hospital and Harvard Medical School for a time. On his return to Paris he became interested in new haematology-immunology findings about red cells, and used the methods to study similar phenomena in white cells. Concerned with the state of medical education in France, he spent three years advising the French education ministry while continuing his laboratory research. His advice led to the introduction of full-time salaried careers for doctors in French hospitals, and the appointment of professors of medical sciences who were given clinical responsibilities. In 1958 he became associate professor of medicine at Paris University, becoming professor of immunohaematology in 1963 and head of the immunology department at Hôpital Saint-Louis. In 1968 he became director of the transplantation immunogenetics research unit of the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm, the French equivalent of the Medical Research Council). He published 670 research papers over seven decades, the last in 2008, and wrote several books, including Histocompatibility (1976), with Snell and Stanley Nathenson; HLA and Disease (1977) with Arne Svejgaard; and an autobiography, Clin d'Oeil à la Vie (1998). Dausset was the recipient of many honours and awards, including the Gairdner foundation prize in 1977 and the Koch foundation prize in 1978. His passions in life were his work, his family, and art; many of his friends helped endow the Fondation Jean Dausset-CEPH. He married Rose Mayoral in 1963. She survives him, along with their son and daughter. • Jean-Baptiste Gabriel Joachim Dausset, immunologist, born 19 October 1916; died 6 June 2009 guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 29 Jun 2009 | 11:01 pm Meet Dento-Munch, the Robot That Bites
Designed at the University of Bristol, the machine, pictured, has 6 degrees of freedom of motion. This makes it more like your own jaws and teeth than previous simulators of the chewing experience. The Dento-Munch uses motion-capture information recorded during actual human gnoshing to guide its movement. “We are able to capture real human data — bite force data and motion data — and we feed this data into the chewing robot and then it can do basically the same thing that we do,” said Daniel Raabe, a mechanical engineering postdoc at Bristol. That’s important because while dentists use all sorts of materials in crowns, artificial teeth and bridges, it’s hard to simulate the complex stresses that they undergo while you chew your liver and onions. The team of dentists and engineers have been working on the robot for a couple of years, but it makes its public debut Tuesday at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in London. Raabe and his colleagues will also be presenting their academic work on the robot’s performance at a dentistry conference in September. While humans have learned a lot about enamel, the hard outer coating of the tooth, and dentin, the more complex stuff that composes the insides of your teeth, we can’t perfectly emulate them. As a result, we use materials that we know how to make: gold, cements, resins, porcelains. Scientists measure the properties of those materials outside the mouth and test them in a variety of settings, but the process can be slow going. How do you know that a material will survive in the unique environment of the human mouth? The robot, if it proves able to realistically simulate millions of bites, could speed the process of testing new dental materials. The Dento-Munch has six actuators that allow it make realistic chewing motions. Even better, there’s a compartment for artifical saliva to more properly simulate the “human oral environment.” But that environment is incomplete without the reason that humans chew in the first place: food. The bot can accept many different kinds of input to crush and grind. “You can use corn flakes, for example,” Raabe said. “But this depends. You could use the robot for many different wear studies depending on the subjet you are interested in.” 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 | 29 Jun 2009 | 11:00 pm Increasing Dust Accelerates Mountain SnowmeltGreater dust accumulation as a result of climate change speeds up mountain snowmelt.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Jun 2009 | 10:45 pm NASA Satellite Maps 99% of Earth’s Topography
The elevation of nearly every place on Earth is now available, thanks to a NASA satellite mission. By analyzing 1.3 million images collected by a Japanese instrument aboard the spacecraft, the agency created a topographic map covering 99 percent of the globe in a giant grid of measurements. Each point is spaced 98 feet apart. “This is the most complete, consistent global digital elevation data yet made available to the world,” said Woody Turner, a NASA scientist who worked on the project, in a press release. “This unique global set of data will serve users and researchers from a wide array of disciplines that need elevation and terrain information.” The map is available as a 26-megabyte TIF or you can download the data yourself from NASA. It’s a big improvement on the previous best topographic map publicly available, which was produced by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, and surveyed 80 percent of the world. The Obama administration has told NASA it would like to see more earth science, in addition to standard planetary exploration and astrophysics. In its latest budget, the agency requested $1.2 billion more for studying our own planet [pdf] than it had previously projected. The changes reflect the “significant commitment to Earth Science on the part of the new Administration.” The agency currently has 15 satellites monitoring the globe and pumping out ever higher-resolution data about the processes that drive global change. One significant loss of the Earth Science program was the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, which was supposed to deliver key data for studying climate change. Its launch failed in February, resulting in the destruction of the satellite. The elevation data can be combined with other information that NASA gathers to create stunning renderings of terrain, like the one of Death Valley pictured below.
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 | 29 Jun 2009 | 10:44 pm Uranium Found on the Moon (SPACE.com)SPACE.com - Uranium exists on the moon, according to new data from a Japanese spacecraft.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 Jun 2009 | 10:15 pm Getting Old Is Better Than ExpectedThe disparities between what younger people expect will happen as they age, and what really happens, are stark.Source: Livescience.com | 29 Jun 2009 | 9:57 pm Saving (Just the Popular) SpeciesSaving species has become a popularity contest that favors "the furry, the feathered, the famous and the edible."Source: Livescience.com | 29 Jun 2009 | 9:10 pm Study Hints at What and How Dinosaurs AteTiny scratches on fossilized dinosaur teeth suggest the animal ate low-lying grasses.Source: Livescience.com | 29 Jun 2009 | 9:00 pm The Best Michael Jackson Conspiracy TheoriesMy favorite: He faked his death and the CIA has him working with Elvis and Hoffa.Source: Livescience.com | 29 Jun 2009 | 8:41 pm BLOG: Newly-Picked Astronauts Won't Fly on ShuttleNASA taps a CIA agent, Air Force officers and MD's to join the 2009 astronaut class.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Jun 2009 | 7:39 pm Swine flu epidemic running as predicted, despite surge in casesThe third death, the fact that the victim was a child, and an apparent surge in diagnoses of swine flu by 1,604 since Friday may make it seem as though the epidemic has reached a worrying new phase – but the pattern is exactly as experts had predicted. The three who died had been ill, and were vulnerable with damaged immune systems. The surge in cases is not as big as it seems, because the 1,604 includes the weekend as well as Monday's new cases. But there are now around 500 a day instead of a few dozen. As the numbers of infected grow, the danger to the frail, ill and infirm increases. But that does not mean this strain of flu has become any more virulent. As the Department of Health reiterates with every daily bulletin: "The cases of swine flu found in the UK have so far been generally mild in most people, but are proving to be severe in a small minority of cases." Although containment is still possible in some areas of the country, the new cases diagnosed each day will continue to rise. New cases in London and Birmingham, the country's two biggest population concentrations, each now outnumber Scotland, which for some time had the most. The strategy in all three places is now to mitigate the spread rather than try to stamp it out or contain it. There is no point in closing schools and handing out the antiviral drug Tamiflu to all children if they are as likely to catch it playing in their own street as in the playground. Giving the drug to all, now that so many are affected, would be potentially damaging in any case, because the more widely it is used, the more chance there is that the flu virus will become resistant to it. The biggest concern for public health experts is that the flu will die down and then return in an altered and more dangerous form in the winter. The one positive side of the rapid spread of infection is that those who get it now may have some degree of immunity. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 29 Jun 2009 | 6:52 pm Louisiana Coast Still Vulnerable to ErosionResearchers believe Louisiana will lose up to 5,212 square miles of coastline by 2100.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Jun 2009 | 6:30 pm Joint Mars plan on talks agendaThe US and European space agencies are to discuss the potential for mounting joint missions to Mars.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 29 Jun 2009 | 5:10 pm Your Tales of Tough Scientists
For a bunch of laboratory-bound nebbishes and geeks, scientists can be pretty tough. Exhibit A is Jerri Nielsen, who while isolated at a South Pole research station biopsied her own breast cancer. Because winter weather made rescue risky, she treated the disease herself for seven months until it was warm enough for a plane to land. Nielsen passed away last week, and her toughness and self-reliance were venerated in obituaries around the world. But what about those researchers whose feats have gone unrecorded by the press, or don’t show up at the top of a Google search on scientific courage? Wired Science invites you to submit your own stories of brave scientists. We’re not looking for accounts of climbing into volcanoes or flying at the edge of hurricanes, where daring researchers go looking for danger. We want tales of courage and selflessness in people who rose to the challenge when danger found them, and have gathered dust in history books or gone untold altogether. Tell your stories in the comments section. Image: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Brandon Keim’s Twitter stream and reportorial outtakes; Wired Science on Twitter.
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 29 Jun 2009 | 4:30 pm Analysis of Climate/Energy BillIt'll definitely affect what we do and how we do it a decade from now.Source: Livescience.com | 29 Jun 2009 | 4:18 pm SLIDE SHOW: Lights Out for Solar ProbeTake a look at some milestone events in the Ulysses spacecraft's 19-year life.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Jun 2009 | 4:05 pm Earning stripesPressure on wild tigers: does farming help?Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 29 Jun 2009 | 3:36 pm Coal-hungry China recruits algae to combat climate changeChinese firm behind ambitious plan to breed microalgae in greenhouse with the potential to absorb carbon emissions The garish gunk coursing through a greenhouse filled with transparent pipes appears to belong on the set of a particularly slimy episode of Star Trek. Multiplying rapidly as it flows through tubes, stacked 14 high in four long rows, the organism thickens and darkens like the bioweapon of a deranged scientist. But this is not a science fiction horror story, it is one of humankind's most ambitious attempts to recruit algae in the fight against climate change. Developed by a groundbreaking Chinese firm, ENN, the greenhouse is a bioreactor that breeds microalgae, one of the fastest growing organisms on the planet, with carbon captured from gasified coal. China is the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, largely because it relies on coal for 70 per cent of its power. Almost none of the carbon dioxide is captured, partly because there is no profitable way of using it. Algae may be the answer. The organism can absorb carbon far more quickly than trees, a quality that has long attracted international scientists seeking a natural method of capturing the most abundant greenhouse gas. At ENN's research campus in Langfang, an hour's drive from Beijing, scientists are testing microalgae to clean up the back-end of a uniquely integrated process to extract and use coal more efficiently and cleanly than is possible today. Coal is first gasified in a simulated underground environment. The carbon dioxide is extracted with the help of solar and wind power, then "fed" to algae, which can be then used to make biofuel, fertiliser or animal feed. Foreign experts are enthusiastic. "Algae biofuels and sequestration are being tried in a bunch of places, but never with such an innovative energy mix," said Deborah Seligsohn, of the World Resources Institute, who visited ENN recently with a group of international energy executives. "It is really interesting and ambitious." Researchers at the algae greenhouse plan to scale up the trial to a 100 hectare (247 acre) site over the next three years. If it proves commercially feasible, coal plants around the world could one day be flanked by carbon-cleaning algae greenhouses or ponds. "Algae's promise is that its population can double every few hours. It makes far more efficient use of sunlight than plants," said Zhu Zhenqi, a senior advisor on the project. "The biology has been proven in the lab. The challenge now is an engineering one: We need to increase production and reduce cost. If we can solve this challenge, we can deal with carbon." The algae must be harvested every day. Extracting the oily components and removing the water is expensive and energy intensive. ENN is experimenting with different algae to find a hybrid that has an ideal balance of oil content and growth speed. It is testing cultivation techniques using varying temperatures and acidity levels. Algae tests are also being carried out at the University of Ohio. In Japan, algae is farmed at sea where it absorbs carbon from the air. Elsewhere carbon is sprayed or bubbled into algae ponds. But ENN is focusing on a direct approach. "Here we can control it, like in a reactor," said Gu Junjie, a senior advisor. "Theoretically we can absorb 100% of carbon dioxide emissions through a mix of microalgae and chemical fixing with hydrogen." This might work on a large scale in the northern deserts of Inner Mongolia, where land is cheap, plentiful and in need of fertiliser. But elsewhere, application may be limited because of the large areas of land or water needed for cultivation. "Algae is not likely to be the main solution for the carbon problem because of the amount of CO2 that needs to be consumed," said Ming Sung, Chief Representative for Asia Pacific of Clean Air Task Force. But, he said: "Algae is part of the solution and is closer to what nature intends. Being one of the simplest forms of life, all it takes is light and CO2 in salt water," The advanced algae, solar and coal gasification technology is the latest stage in the rise of ENN, which has been spectacular even by modern Chinese standards. Founded in 1989 as a small taxi company, it has branched successfully into the natural gas industry and now into the field of renewable energy. The private company now employs about 20,000 people, and owns a golf course and hotel near its headquarters in Hebei province, where a new research campus is under construction. In the short term, ENN's advanced underground coal gasification technology is likely to prove more significant than its algae work. This technique enables extraction of fuel from small, difficult-to-access coal seams, and could double the world's current coal reserves. It also avoids the release of the pollutants sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. The company is also one of only a small handful in the world capable of mass producing thin-film solar panels, which can be manufactured with less water and energy than conventional photovoltaic materials. Late last year, the World Bank's International Financing Corporation announced a US$136m loan for ENN's solar business. ENN executives have talked to the US department of energy about joint research , a sign that the transfer of low-carbon technologies is no longer a one-way street from west to east. The development of the algae technology trails the others, but Zhu says the results from the 10,000 litre algae greenhouse have been sufficiently encouraging to move ahead. For the 100 hectare test facility, ENN is looking at sites near the company's 600,000 tonne-a-year coal mine in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, where the cold winters will require a heated greenhouse, and a location on Hainan Island, where the hot weather would allow the algae to be grown more cheaply in open ponds, but further away from China's main coal deposits. With China building the equivalent of more than one new 500MW coal-fired plant every week and likely to be dependent on coal for at least two decades, the further studies planned by ENN could be crucial. Recognising the continued role of the fossil fuel in China, the European Commission proposed a plan this week to co-finance a demonstration coal plant that aims to have near zero emissions through the use of carbon capture and storage technology. If members states and the European parliament agree on the €50m plan, the facility would be operational by 2020. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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