|
|
|
|
Fighting TB Might Be A Matter Of 'Flipping A Switch' In Immune ResponseScientists are focusing on a new concept in fighting airborne pathogens by manipulating what is called the "switching time," the point at which a highly regulated immune response gives way to powerful cells that specialize in fighting a specific invading bug. In the case of tuberculosis, researchers are using mathematical modeling to determine whether a change to the natural switching time would result in a more effective immune response.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 6:00 pm New Fluorescent Silicon Nanoparticles DiscoveredPhysicists and astronomers have developed a new synthesis method, which has led them to the discovery of fluorescent silicon nanoparticles, and may ultimately help track the uptake of drugs by the body's cells.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 6:00 pm Brain Plasticity: Changes And Resets In HomeostasisResearchers have found that synaptic plasticity, long implicated as a device for "change" in the brain, may also be essential for stability.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 6:00 pm Breakthrough In Development Of Tiny Biological Fuel CellsResearchers have developed a successful way to grow molecular wire brushes that conduct electrical charges, a first step in developing biological fuel cells that could power pacemakers, cochlear implants and prosthetic limbs.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 6:00 pm New Fossil Primate Suggests Common Asian Ancestor, Challenges Primates Such As 'Ida'A new fossil primate from Myanmar (previously known as Burma) suggests that the common ancestor of humans, monkeys and apes evolved from primates in Asia, not Africa as many researchers believe.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 6:00 pm New Test Can Detect Both Genetic And Chromosomal Abnormalities In EmbryosOne-step screening for both genetic and chromosomal abnormalities has come a stage closer as scientists announced that an embryo test they have been developing has successfully screened cells taken from spare embryos that were known to have cystic fibrosis. The technique, known as genomewide karyomapping, was capable of not only detecting diseases caused by a specific gene mutation, in this case cystic fibrosis, but that it was also capable of detecting aneuploidy (an abnormal number of any of the 23 pairs of chromosomes) at the same time.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 6:00 pm Tumor-suppressor Recruits Help To Overcome A Barrier And Fix Cancer-causing DefectsLike a mechanic popping the hood of a car to get at a faulty engine, a tumor-suppressing protein allows cellular repair mechanisms to pounce on damaged DNA by overcoming a barrier to DNA access.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 3:00 pm Orange Juice Worse For Teeth Than Whitening Agents, Study FindsResearchers have determined that the effects of 6 percent hydrogen peroxide, the common ingredient in professional and over-the-counter whitening products, are insignificant compared to acidic fruit juices. Orange juice markedly decreased hardness and increased roughness of tooth enamel.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 3:00 pm Intense Heat Killed The Universe's Would-be Galaxies, Researchers SayMillions of would-be galaxies failed to develop after being exposed to intense heat from the first stars and black holes formed in the early Universe, according to new research. Our Milky Way galaxy only survived because it was already immersed in a large clump of dark matter which trapped gases inside it, scientists have found.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 3:00 pm Brain Section Multitasks, Handling Phonetics And Decision-makingScientists have found that a portion of the brain that handles decision-making also helps decipher different sounds.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 3:00 pm NASA: Space shuttle fueling test looks successful (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 2:45 pm Iraqi Cabinet approves BP's offer on Rumaila (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 2:19 pm Ill. cancer researcher wins $500K genetics prize (AP)AP - An 84-year-old University of Chicago researcher has won a half-million-dollar genetics prize for her pioneering work in showing that cancer is a genetic disease.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 2:17 pm Cancer: Another Threat to WildlifeWild animals get cancer too and the disease is another conservation threat.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 1 Jul 2009 | 2:05 pm India hikes petrol, diesel prices (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 2:02 pm Boat-'Bots for Brainiacs: LEGO Subs Launch Young EngineersRobots designed, built and run by Middle School and High School students compete underwater. Event hosted by the Stevens Institute of Technology, well known for its ocean-engineering programs.Source: Livescience.com | 1 Jul 2009 | 1:55 pm Sand Found to Flow Like Water (LiveScience.com)LiveScience.com - When poured, sand behaves much like water to form water-like droplets, scientists have discovered.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 1:41 pm Biogen Buys Rights to Acordaâs MS Pill Outside U.S. (Bloomberg)Bloomberg - July 1 (Bloomberg) -- Biogen Idec Inc., the worldâs largest maker of drugs for multiple sclerosis, will pay as much as $510 million for rights to market Acorda Therapeutics Inc.âs experimental MS pill outside the U.S.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 1:39 pm U.S. Society Ignoring Serious Boy ProblemsBoys' issues are serious and less addressed than those of girls, says a new article.Source: Livescience.com | 1 Jul 2009 | 1:28 pm Canada worst, Germany best on climate change: report (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 1:11 pm Sand Found to Flow Like WaterWhen poured, sand behaves much like water to form water-like droplets.Source: Livescience.com | 1 Jul 2009 | 1:11 pm NASA Performs Critical Space Shuttle Fueling Test (SPACE.com)SPACE.com - NASA began a critical fueling test on the space shuttle Endeavour early Wednesday to see if new repairs have plugged a potentially dangerous hydrogen gas leak that thwarted two recent launch attempts.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 12:45 pm Gravity's Imprint Sought in Big Bang GlowScientists begin a search for gravitational waves stemming from the Big Bang.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 1 Jul 2009 | 12:25 pm WWF urges action to protect Borneo rhino's habitat (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 11:06 am G8 summit to seek 80% emissions cut by 2050 (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 10:43 am Is this ant mega-colony set for world domination?Argentine ants living on three continents belong to the same colony, the largest of its kind ever known.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 1 Jul 2009 | 10:41 am Herschel captures galaxy imageThe European Space Agency releases a stunning image of the spiral "Whirlpool Galaxy".Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 1 Jul 2009 | 10:21 am UK 'yet to embrace space tourism'Virgin Galactic boss Will Whitehorn says the UK needs a proper regulatory framework to expand private spaceflight activity in the country.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 1 Jul 2009 | 3:18 am 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 | 1 Jul 2009 | 1:28 am Solar orbiter Ulysses ends mission after 18 yearsLOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The interplanetary space probe Ulysses officially ceased operations on Tuesday after an 18-year voyage of roughly 5.5 billion miles (8.85 billion km) and nearly three complete orbits around the sun, NASA said.Source: Reuters: Science News | 1 Jul 2009 | 1:12 am Tags to help solve puffin declineScientists hope hi-tech tags will help reveal why puffin numbers at one of the UK's key colonies has fallen by a third.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 1 Jul 2009 | 12:50 am Wind 'can revolutionise UK power'Britain can massively expand wind power by 2030 without suffering power cuts, a report says.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 1 Jul 2009 | 12:20 am Hi-tech puffins to monitor decline in seabird populationsStubby seabird with comedy beak to help scientists investigate steep decline in seabird populations across Britain Short, stubby and gifted with a distinctive comedy beak, the puffin is an iconic bird. But seabird may also be the bellwether for a crisis in the seas around Britain. The puffin now has a new role, helping scientists investigate the causes of a steep decline in seabird numbers across the British Isles using miniaturised digital tracking devices, including one borrowed from in-car satellite navigation systems. Data for last year shows puffin numbers suddenly and sharply crashed. Scientists found that on the most significant North Sea colonies, puffin populations fell by a third or more. Adult puffins were malnourished, with large numbers washed up dead along the UK's coast. Confronted by other evidence of a significant change in the North Sea's health, which has led to declines of up to 40% in seabird numbers in just eight years, conservationists have begun a series of urgent studies into its possible causes. Many believe climate change is the main culprit. On the Farne islands, a low-lying archipelago off the Northumberland coast 50 miles north of Newcastle, puffins are now being fitted with equipment which should help plug large gaps in scientific knowledge about the species and, in turn, other threatened seabirds. Scientists will use three different devices on up to three dozen puffins: GPS monitors; "geo-locators" which work differently; and time and depth recorders. They will monitor how and where they feed and behave once they leave their burrows on the Farnes, and track their movements while they winter at sea. Each puffin will carry only one small device which will be attached with super-strength glue onto its back. Food is a critical issue: zoologists believe last year's population slump – when numbers plummeted on the Farnes from 58,000 in 2003 to just 38,000 - is closely tied to a collapse in their main food source, the sandeel. Populations of the slender, silvery fish, whose availability may be crucial to the puffins' long-term survival, have been in decline since the 1990s because of heavy trawling for fishfarm feed and exposure to the changes in plankton distribution brought about by rising sea temperatures. Puffins nest in dark, dry burrows that the birds carve out each spring from the soft, sandy earth, shaded by sea campion, nettles and coarse, hardy grasses. Their behaviour on land and within sight of the islands is well understood. However at sea, scientists have been largely guessing. Dr Richard Bevan, a zoologist with Newcastle university who is leading the National Trust research on the Farnes, said: "All we can record at the nests is the number of chicks, how quickly the chicks are growing and the numbers that fledge, but what we don't know is what they do as soon as they fly away. "Puffins can theoretically be foraging anywhere within a 60km radius of the islands, which is a huge area for us to cover. But the further they have to forage the more energy they use, and the intervals between when they feed their chicks will increase, so chicks will be fed less and are less likely to do well." The results of the hi-tech monitoring will help conservationists establish whether puffins have regular feeding grounds and allow them to protect those places. Evidence that puffins spread across a wide area would present a more difficult problem, perhaps increasing pressure for a more substantial conservation effort. That information will also help protect the significant Arctic tern, sandwich tern, guillemot and shag colonies on the Farnes, which are home to approximately 160,000 adult seabirds and their offspring. This research could prove crucial. Last month, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, the UK's most authoritative conservation research agency, reported that about 600,000 seabirds had been lost since 2000, 9% of the total population. There are now 40% fewer black-legged kittiwake – another bird that feeds on sandeels – and 33% fewer European shags breeding in the UK than 40 years ago. On Shetland, globally significant colonies have collapsed. Yet this year's research so far has given Bevan and the trust grounds for optimism. Their trawls for sandeels around the Farnes suggested the tiny fish were, this year at least, relatively abundant. Puffins are flying in – their short wings urgently flapping 400 times a minute, with sandeels dangling from their beaks. Bevan believes last year's population crash may be explained by unusual north-easterly winds during last year's breeding season, which may have cooled the seas at the wrong time. Herring – a fish which competes for sandeels – were also abundant, and may have out-eaten the puffins. Last year's population crash may be a blip, not a trend. But it does indicate there are changes in the marine environment which scientists do not yet understand, Bevan added. "It's a warning sign. I'm willing to bet that this year numbers would be up from last year, but not up to pre-2008 levels. The problem is, we don't know what's happening out there. There's a change in the ecology of the North Sea. What the implications are of that, we have no idea." Seabirds in troubleBlack-legged kittiwake Its numbers have fallen by 35% since 2000 due to declines in sand eels caused by overfishing and climate change. Breeding success has fallen markedly on the North Sea. Herring gull One of the UK's best known gulls, notorious for scavenging from trawlers and city dumps, but is a new entry to the UK "red list" of threatened birds because its numbers are sharply falling, down by 69% since 1969 and 33% since 2000. Arctic skua This relatively rare inshore seabird was put on the UK's "red list" of threatened species this year as its numbers are declining rapidly: 2,100 were counted in 2002, but it has declined by 57% since then. Seabirds on the upGreat skua Its numbers have rocketed by nearly 400% since 1969 and by 56% in the last eight years alone - but at the expense of others. The large scavenger has outmuscled the herring gull for trawler discards and preyed on Arctic skuas. Cuts in discarded fish suggest it will increasingly have to steal food from other seabirds to survive. 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 | 30 Jun 2009 | 11:05 pm Vegetarians less likely to develop cancer• Striking difference found in risk of disease in blood For years, they have boasted of the health benefits of their leafy diets, but now vegetarians have the proof that has so far eluded them: when it comes to cancer risks, they have the edge on carnivores. Fresh evidence from the largest study to date to investigate dietary habits and cancer has concluded that vegetarians are 45% less likely to develop cancer of the blood than meat eaters and are 12% less likely to develop cancer overall. Scientists said that while links between stomach cancer and eating meat had already been reported, they had uncovered a "striking difference" in the risk of blood cancers including leukaemia, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma between the groups. The study looked at vegetarians, fish eaters and people who ate meat. Co-author Naomi Allen, from the Cancer Research UK epidemiology unit at Oxford University, said: "Previous research has found that processed meat may increase the risk of stomach cancer, so our findings that vegetarians and fish eaters are at lower risk is plausible. But we do not know why cancer of the blood is lower in vegetarians." She said the differences in cancer risks were independent of other lifestyle factors including smoking, alcohol intake and obesity. However, Allen urged caution over the interpretation of the findings. "It is a significant difference, but we should be a bit cautious since it is the first study showing that the risk of cancer of the blood is lower in vegetarians. We need to know what aspect of a fish and vegetarian diet is protecting against cancer. Is it the higher fibre intake, higher intake of fruit and vegetables, is it just meat per se?" The study also reported that the total cancer incidence was significantly lower among both the fish eaters and the vegetarians compared with meat eaters. The study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, is part of a long-term international study, the European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition (Epic). Today's findings were based on a study of 61,000 people who scientists followed over 12 years. During this time, 3,350 participants were diagnosed with cancer. Of those, 68% (2,204) were meat eaters, 24% (800) were vegetarians and 9.5% (300) ate fish but no meat. They found that 180 meat eaters developed blood cancers, while 49 vegetarians developed the diseases and 28 fish eaters. They found the risk of being diagnosed with cancers of the stomach, bladder and blood was significantly lower in vegetarians than in meat eaters but, in contrast to earlier work, they found the rate of bowel cancer was slightly higher among vegetarians than meat eaters. A spokesman for BPEX, the British pig executive, questioned the methodology of the study: "We are unable to take a view on this because there is mixed evidence based on the compounding factors to do with lifestyle that come into it." Richard Lowe, the chief executive of Eblex, the English beef and lamb executive, said: "We think that the link between diet and cancer is complex and as scientists themselves say, more research is needed to see how big a part diet plays." The Oxford research is the latest in a series of reports to discourage too much meat in the diet. Last year, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – which last year earned a share of the Nobel peace prize – urged giving up meat at least once a week as a way of combating global warming. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation has estimated that meat production accounts for nearly a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions. Two years ago, the World Cancer Research Fund found a link between red and processed meat and bowel cancer and recommended that the average amount of meat eaten should be no more than 300g a week. In Britain, the current meat intake is about 970g a week for men and about 550g a week for women. In 2005, the Epic study, funded by the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, concluded that eating just two portions of red meat a day – the equivalent of a bacon sandwich and a fillet steak – increased the risk of bowel cancer by 35%. It found that eating fibre, in the form of vegetables, fruit and wholegrain cereals, lessened the risk of cancer and that fish, eaten at least every other day, was also protective. Annette Pinner, chief executive of the Vegetarian Society, said: "It is widely recognised that a third of cancers are directly related to diet and what's interesting in this study is the findings on blood cancers. We wouldn't claim vegetarianism is a panacea for cancer but it is a step in the right direction." 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 | 30 Jun 2009 | 11:05 pm Alan Pickup's SpacewatchNasa is to refuel the external tank of Endeavour today to discover whether efforts to fix a fuel leak have been successful. The leak frustrated two earlier attempts on June 13 and 17 to launch the shuttle on an assembly mission to the International Space Station (ISS); a third attempt may be scheduled for about 00:39 BST on July 12. The ISS itself is now a spectacular sight later in the night as it soars across our sky, sometime passing overhead at London's latitude. For Manchester it may climb only a little more than 60° in the S, while from Edinburgh its best is only 35° or so. Our BST predictions use asterisks to flag the directions in which it emerges from eclipse in the Earth's shadow. 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 | 30 Jun 2009 | 11:01 pm What does a moon man say?This article first appeared in the Guardian on 1 July 1969 What is Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, going to say as his boot sinks into the lunar dust shortly after 7 a.m. (BST) on July 21? This is currently causing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration more qualms than it would care to admit. "The Americans," so Walt Whitman once prophesied, "are going to be the most fluent and melodious-voiced people in the world - and the most perfect users of words. The new world, the new times, the new vistas need a new tongue ... what is more they will have such a new tongue ... will not be satisfied until it is evolved." The new times and the new vistas have so far produced such groovy, uptight, phrases as "sock it to me baby," "doing your thing," and "Let's get down to the nitty-gritty," but NASA is painfully conscious that these don't quite fit the occasion. After the Apollo-10 episode when a Miami Bible puncher complained about the ripe language used - the astronauts even said crikey and goddamn - space officials wish to leave nothing to chance. Telling it like it is, in one-sixth gravity, while the world watches on the telly is no easy task. The astronauts, however, are very sensitive to hints that their word power is not quite what "Time-Life," who own the rights to their stories, might wish it to be. "We are as human as anyone," says Walt Cunningham, the Apollo-7 astronaut, "but part of our discipline is to treat the most fabulous spectacles in the universe in the most matter-of-fact manner. If I were a poet or some other highly creative type, I might get so carried away by what was going on that I would surely goof on the essentials." Given this impasse, Julian Scheer, the shrewd head of NASA's public relations, hit on the idea that Commander Norman and his crew should read Genesis to the world as they circled the moon at Christmas ... But this ingenious solution only works once. If the Old Testament is out, what in heaven's name can Neil Armstrong, a blonde, chubby, blue-eyed, shy farmer's boy from Ohio say as he plants his size eleven space boot on the moon? Esquire magazine, in its current issue, asked more than 60 of the famous ranging from U Thant to Cassius Clay just this. Art Buchwald suggested Armstrong might try a select passage from "Portnoy's Complaint"; Bob Hope came up with, "I'll be damned it's made of cheese"; which at least might raise more of a smile than "All right you guys, whoever you are standing behind that rock over there, come out with your hands up!" Faced by this abysmal choice, Vladimir Nabokov insisted that the only thing was complete silence ... 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 | 30 Jun 2009 | 11:01 pm Human, Ape Ancestor Hails From AsiaA new primate fossil suggests the human and ape ancestor came from Asia.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Jun 2009 | 11:00 pm Mummified Dino Yields Skin MoleculesDinosaur soft tissue skin structures are recovered from a mummified hadrosaur.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Jun 2009 | 11:00 pm Dinosaur mummy yields its secretsA beautifully preserved dinosaur found in the US retains remarkable detail of skin cells.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 30 Jun 2009 | 10:59 pm Cheap Thrills: The Moon on a BudgetRather than a new rocket, use the old space shuttle booster setup, sans the shuttle.Source: Livescience.com | 30 Jun 2009 | 9:57 pm Make Like a Dolphin: Learn Echolocation
With just a few weeks of training, you can learn to “see” objects in the dark using echolocation the same way dolphins and bats do.
Ordinary people with no special skills can use tongue clicks to visualize objects by listening to the way sound echoes off their surroundings, according to acoustic experts at the University of Alcalá de Henares in Spain. “Two hours per day for a couple of weeks are enough to distinguish whether you have an object in front of you,” Juan Antonio Martinez said in a press release. “Within another couple weeks you can tell the difference between trees and pavement.” To master the art of echolocation, all you have to do is learn to make special clicks with your tongue and palate, and then learn to recognize slight changes in the way the clicks sound depending on what objects are nearby. Martinez and his colleagues are developing a system to teach people how to use echolocation, a skill that could be particularly useful for the blind and for people who work under dark or smoky conditions, like firefighters — or cat burglars. Most animals that use echolocation have organs that are specifically adapted to emit and receive sonar signals, but we humans have to rely on our rather clumsy mouth and ears. For instance, while dolphins use a special structure in their nose to generate up to 200 clicks per second, people can make only three or four clicks per second.
“The almost ideal sound is the ‘palate click,’” said Martinez in a press release, “a click made by placing the tip of the tongue on the palate, just behind the teeth, and moving it quickly backwards.” The palate click is better than other sounds, because it can be made in a uniform way, works at a lower intensity, and doesn’t get drowned out by ambient noise. But there are a few drawbacks to human echolocation – like cotton mouth. “The quality of the sound tends to degrade after a few minutes of constant performance,” the researchers wrote, “due to progressive dryness of the mouth.” Luckily, clicks cause less dryness than other sounds, because you don’t have to exhale to make a click – which also means the sound doesn’t interfere with breathing. Martinez isn’t the first to recognize the potential for echolocation in humans. At least two examples of blind people who have taught themselves to echolocate have made headlines in the past few years, and audiologist Peter Scheifele of the University of Cincinnati has studied these unusual cases. “Acoustically, according to laws of physics, it’s certainly possible to make a pulse that will tell you something about objects in front of you, such as fences, garbage cans or basketballs,” Scheifele said. How much detail a person can “see” with echolocation depends not only on the speed of their clicks, he said, but also on the frequency. The higher the frequency, the more precise details you can see. Scheifele has only worked with blind people who can echolocate, but he agrees that others could probably learn the skill. “My gut tells me if you can do it if you’re blind, you can do it if you can see,” he said. “Half the battle is really trying to get yourself in the groove of ‘I can do this if I try.’ We tend to be more visual animals than acoustic, and people don’t usually do it because there’s not a need for it.” See Also:
Images: 1) Flickr/ladybugbkt.
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 30 Jun 2009 | 8:53 pm Water Should Be a Human Right
Water, water everywhere, and you’re entitled to a drop. As scientists warn that the world’s fresh water supplies will soon run critically short, and companies scramble to privatize them, some researchers and activists say water should be considered a basic human right. “Access to clean water, which is essential for health, is under threat,” write the editors of Public Library of Science Medicine in an essay published Monday. In terms of intellectual coherency, the idea passes muster. Water’s just as essential to life as food, which makes an appearance in Article 25 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As of now, the World Health Organization estimates that inadequate water is responsible for nearly one-tenth of the world’s disease burden, and that six percent of all deaths could be prevented by universal access to safe drinking water and better sanitation. Of course, it’s a lot easier to declare a right than to enforce it. Despite the UN’s pledge to end hunger, nearly a billion people don’t have enough to eat. And the UN’s promise to halve the number of water-impoverished people by 2015 has a snowball’s chance in the Sahara of being met. But as the PLoS Medicine editors point out, recognizing water as a human right would at least provide a framework for dealing with water privatization. Over the last 20 years, with the help of the International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization, water has become a $500 billion global industry dominated by just three companies. According to reports published by the nonprofit Food and Water Watch, it’s been a disaster in both the United States and the developing world. “This model has proven to be a failure,” wrote Maude Barlow, senior advisor on water issues to the UN General Assembly’s president, in an essay published last year. “High water rates, cut-offs to the poor, reduced services, broken promises and pollution have been the legacy of privatization.” According to the UN, 2.8 billion people won’t have enough water to meet their basic needs by 2025. “A human rights approach to water recognizes the potential for inequity and ensures that the most vulnerable are not ignored,” write the editors. See Also:
Citation: “Clean Water Should Be Recognized as a Human Right.” By the PLoS Medicine Editors. Public Library of Science Medicine, June 30, 2009. Image: Terry Shuck/Flickr Brandon Keim’s Twitter stream and reportorial outtakes; Wired Science on Twitter.
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 30 Jun 2009 | 7:47 pm 'Classic' study of whales wins Samuel Johnson prizePhilip Hoare's Leviathan wins Britain's most important prize for non-fiction A childhood love of Melville's Moby-Dick led to a lifetime passion for whales which, in turn, resulted in the writer Philip Hoare tonight being named winner of the UK's most important prize for non-fiction books. Hoare's Leviathan is part natural history, part literary criticism, part economics and part memoir but at its heart is the author's lifelong obsession for all things whale. The chairman of judges for this year's £20,000 BBC Samuel Johnson prize, the American political journalist Jacob Weisberg, predicted that Hoare's genre-defying book would become nothing less than "a classic". He added: "The quality of his writing was just so impressive, it is literary, just beautiful. It is a model of a certain kind of writing and I imagine it is a book that will be read for a long time to come." Weisberg, who until last year was editor of Slate, said the judging experience had been enjoyable but trickier than he had anticipated. "The judging process was extremely difficult and got more difficult as time went on. We had 19 books on the longlist and no-one felt terribly bad about what was left off and even on the shortlist of six, it was difficult but not impossible. Picking the winner from such strong books felt almost impossible. There was a lot of spirited debate and some disagreement but by the end there was a general consensus." Hoare, who lives in Southampton, has previously written books on figures including Oscar Wilde, Noël Coward and the brightest of the Bright Young Things, Stephen Tennant. He traces his love of whales to reading Moby-Dick and vividly recalls his first actual encounter with a killer whale at Windsor safari park. Hoare now frequently travels to Cape Cod as a volunteer on a humpback whale identification programme. Hoare's book saw off competition from a shortlist that also included Ben Goldacre's book version of his Guardian column Bad Science, which Ladbroke's had installed as 2/1 favourite. The others were Liaquat Ahamed's Lords of Finance, an examination of the Great Depression; David Grann's The Lost City of Z, about the British explorer Percy Fawcett who disappeared in the Amazon in 1925; Richard Holmes's The Age of Wonder, in which he links a series of biographies on 18th century scientists; and a book praised for making quantum physics accessible and interesting - Manjit Kumar's Quantum. In total, 166 books were submitted to a judging panel that also included neuroscientist Mark Lythgoe, art writer Tim Marlow, journalist Sarah Sands and Boris Johnson's arts chief Munira Mirza. The reading was split up between the judges with Weisberg properly reading nearly 40 and dipping in to many more – "my mind is now overflowing with pedantic facts," he admitted. "But I enjoyed it so much. I was sort of thinking with the books that I'll read a chapter and discard it but most of them are so good that you kept on reading. It's meant to be that fiction is escapist in a way that non-fiction isn't. That ceased to be true for me." 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 | 30 Jun 2009 | 6:40 pm Hadrosaur Had Teeth-Grinding IssuesMarks on hadrosaur teeth show the dinosaurs ground their teeth sideways.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 30 Jun 2009 | 6:05 pm New Radar Aims to Detect Illegal Tunnels on U.S. BorderThe Department of Homeland Security is developing a radar technology for detecting underground tunnelsSource: Livescience.com | 30 Jun 2009 | 5:47 pm North America faces beetle plagueAn epidemic of mountain pine beetles, which has devastated forests in British Columbia, is threatening to spread.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 30 Jun 2009 | 4:44 pm Men Agree Who's Hot, Women Don'tMen agree on what makes a mate attractive.Source: Livescience.com | 30 Jun 2009 | 4:23 pm Fertility Problems? Have More SexDoctor's orders: If you're struggling to make a baby, try harder.Source: Livescience.com | 30 Jun 2009 | 3:38 pm Snake Tricks Fish to Swim Into Its MouthA small water snake has developed a sneaky trick: It startles fish into swimming right into its mouth.Source: Livescience.com | 30 Jun 2009 | 2:56 pm Indian Government: Pray for RainFrom rain dances to cloud seeding to outright prayer, humans have a long history of trying anything to get the sky to open up.Source: Livescience.com | 30 Jun 2009 | 2:29 pm 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 How people can become mobile pollution detectorsCyclists, 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
|
By studying the physical properties of the many different sounds the human mouth can produce, the Spanish researchers hope to maximize the power of human echolocation. In their latest study, published in a recent issue of the journal Acta Acustica united with Acustica, the group taught 10 of their students and colleagues to use basic echolocation. Then they compared different noises and clicks to determine the best type of sound for “seeing” your surroundings.