Archaeologists Discover Oldest-known Fiber Materials Used By Early Humans

Scientists have discovered the oldest-known fiber materials that could have been used by humans for making clothing, shoes, and other items for domestic use. The fibers are flax, and are over 34,000 years old. The fibers were discovered in a cave in the Republic of Georgia.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Sep 2009 | 12:00 pm

Engineers Develop Safer, Blast-resistant Glass

To protect from potential terrorist attacks, federal buildings and other critical infrastructures are made with special windows that contain blast-resistant glass. However, the glass is thick and expensive. Currently, researchers are developing and testing a new type of blast-resistant glass that will be thinner, lighter and less vulnerable to small-scale explosions.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Sep 2009 | 12:00 pm

Magnetic Fields Play Larger Role In Star Formation Than Previously Thought

The simple picture of star formation calls for giant clouds of gas and dust to collapse inward due to gravity, growing denser and hotter until igniting nuclear fusion. In reality, forces other than gravity also influence the birth of stars. New research shows that cosmic magnetic fields play a more important role in star formation than previously thought.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Sep 2009 | 12:00 pm

Sleep Helps Reduce Errors In Memory, Research Suggests

Sleep may reduce mistakes in memory, according to a first-of-its-kind study. The findings have practical implications for everyone from students flubbing multiple choice tests to senior citizens confusing their medications.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Sep 2009 | 12:00 pm

Worker Bees In 'Reproductive Class War' With Queen, New Research Discovers

Bee colonies are well known for high levels of cooperation, but new research demonstrates a conflict for reproduction between worker bees and their queens, leading some workers to selfishly exploit the colony for their own needs. The study focused on Melipona scutellaris -- a Brazilian species of highly social stingless bees, found throughout the Atlantic rainforest. Colonies contain around 1,500 workers and are headed by one single-mated Queen.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Sep 2009 | 12:00 pm

New Antibiotic Shows Promise In Fighting Malaria

A new study suggests that tigecycline, the first member of a new class of antibiotics, shows significant antimalarial activity on its own and may also be effective against multi drug-resistant malaria when administered in combination with traditional antimalarial drugs.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Sep 2009 | 12:00 pm

Size Of Fat Cells And Waist Size Predict Type 2 Diabetes In Women

When it comes to assessing risk for type 2 diabetes, not only do waistlines matter to women, but so does the size of their fat cells. The discovery by a team of Swedish researchers helps explain why some women of normal weight develop type 2 diabetes, despite not having any known risk factors.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Sep 2009 | 9:00 am

Major Clinical Study Rejects Cancer Safety Fears Of Most Common Heartburn Treatment

Fears about the cancer-causing effects of the second most prescribed group of drugs in the Western world have been put to rest, following the largest ever study into their use.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Sep 2009 | 9:00 am

Dandelion Rubber? Researchers Make Russian Dandelion Suitable For Large-scale Rubber Production

Most natural rubber comes from rubber trees in Southeast Asia, but this source is now under threat from a fungus. Researchers have optimized the Russian dandelion to make it suitable for large-scale rubber production.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Sep 2009 | 9:00 am

Dramatic Biological Responses To Global Warming In The Arctic

The Arctic as we know it may soon be a thing of the past, according to the research of a large, international team. The researchers carried out ecosystem-wide studies of the biological response to Arctic warming, and documented a wide range of responses by the plants, birds, animals, insects and humans living there.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Sep 2009 | 9:00 am

'Lost seabird' returns to ocean

The extremely rare Fiji petrel is spotted at sea in its natural habitat for the first time, by scientists working with Birdlife International.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 11 Sep 2009 | 4:06 am

Greenland's melt mystery unfolds, at glacial pace (AP)

AP - Suddenly and without warning, the gigantic river of ice sped up, causing it to spit icebergs ever faster into the ocean off southeastern Greenland.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 11 Sep 2009 | 3:30 am

Counting down

Leading industry figure argues for a UK space agency
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 11 Sep 2009 | 3:28 am

Songbirds sing cross-species duet

Two species of songbird in Peru have evolved almost identical songs to keep each other out of their territory, say scientists.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 11 Sep 2009 | 3:09 am

Discovery delays landing, eyes Friday return (AFP)

AFP - Thunderstorms and high winds forced NASA to abandon its first two attempts to land the space shuttle Discovery, with the next bid for a high-speed descent to Earth set for Friday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 11 Sep 2009 | 3:07 am

Q&A: Examining the No-Impact Life (Time.com)

Time.com - Colin and Michelle Beavan talk to TIME about their yearlong attempt to impact the environment as little as possible -- and how the experiment changed their lives
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 11 Sep 2009 | 3:00 am

UN climate chief: Big greenhouse gas cuts needed (AP)

AP - Rich countries must commit to deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions if they want China and India to sign onto an accord to curb global warming, the top U.N. climate official said Friday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 11 Sep 2009 | 2:54 am

The Nation's weather (AP)

AP - The Mid-Atlantic was expected to continue to see messy weather Friday as a storm system just off the New Jersey coast continued to spin in place.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 11 Sep 2009 | 2:49 am

Rain, wind keep space shuttle flying extra day (AP)

AP - Space shuttle Discovery and its astronauts are headed toward a landing Friday evening. The question is where.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:16 am

Flamingo feeding time

In this exclusive clip from Disneynature's The Crimson Wing, young flamingos are fed on a diet of algae and their parent's own blood

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 11 Sep 2009 | 1:00 am

Japanese town starts dolphin hunt under global spotlight (AFP)

AFP - To animal rights activists it's a cruel and bloody slaughter; for Japanese it's a long tradition: this week fishermen in a picturesque coastal town embarked on their annual dolphin hunt.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 11 Sep 2009 | 12:35 am

GM rolls past 1 million miles in fuel cell demo (AP)

AP - General Motors Co. is now 1 million miles into its fuel cell experiment and company officials say having everyday people drive a test fleet of pollution-free cars has convinced them they are on the right track.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Sep 2009 | 10:53 pm

Environment May Play Role in Racial Health Disparities (HealthDay)

HealthDay - THURSDAY, Sept. 10 (HealthDay News) -- The differences in health between racial groups may have more to do with how people look at each other than with genetics, a new study suggests.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Sep 2009 | 9:49 pm

US scientists levitate mice to study low gravity

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have succeeded in levitating mice, a feat that they say could lead to advances in treating bone loss for astronauts living for extended periods in low gravity environments.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 10 Sep 2009 | 7:11 pm

UK 'could face blackouts by 2016'

The UK could face blackouts as green energy is not coming on stream fast enough, the government's new energy adviser has told the BBC.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Sep 2009 | 6:40 pm

Stormy Weather Delays Space Shuttle Landing (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - Astronauts aboard NASA's space shuttle Discovery have to wait at least one more day before returning to Earth after thunderstorms and strong winds thwarted attempts to land Thursday.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Sep 2009 | 6:16 pm

Bad weather delays shuttle landing to Friday

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA postponed shuttle Discovery's homecoming until Friday due to bad weather at the Florida landing site, officials said on Thursday.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 10 Sep 2009 | 6:01 pm

Shuttle landing delayed for a day

The landing of the space shuttle at the Kennedy Space Center is delayed for at least a day due to bad weather in Florida.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Sep 2009 | 5:54 pm

Ancient Chinese Remedy May Work for Flu

Roots of a plant produces natural antiviral compounds that kill the swine flu virus, H1N1.
Source: Livescience.com | 10 Sep 2009 | 5:38 pm

Primary sources

Building a new brain? It's easy; What MPs and slime mould have in common; Harry Potter and the Seismic Shocks

The science of slime-ball behaviour

The distance between an amoeba and an MP is even smaller than you thought. Writing in Current Biology, Dr Chris Thompson and Dr Jason Wolf of the University of Manchester argue that every organism is genetically programmed to cheat the system and has to be policed to stop putting its needs ahead of society. Their study of slime mould has shown that even these microscopic organisms respond to competition and are not above cheating in a bid to gain the upper hand. "Using slime mould allows us to examine social behaviour in its most basic form," says Thompson. "Even though they are single cell organisms that just divide, we have shown they do have a complex social life that involves cheating and coercion."

Making a brain? It's not as hard as you might think

A model that replicates the functions of the human brain is feasible in 10 years, according to neuroscientist Professor Henry Markram of the Brain Mind Institute in Switzerland. The apparent complexity of the human mind is not a barrier to building a "replica" brain, he claims. "The brain is of course extremely complex because it has trillions of synapses, billions of neurons, millions of proteins and thousands of genes. But they are still finite in number. Today's technology is already highly sophisticated and it allows us to reverse-engineer the brain rapidly." Markram says the only thing holding him back is the financial wherewithal.Stepping off the straight and narrow

You know how it is. You're desperately trying to walk in a straight line to show how together you are and you end up walking in circles. Well, it turns out you don't have to be drunk to end up back where you started. Scientists in the Multisensory Perception and Action Group at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, led by Jan Souman and Marc Ernst, have presented the first empirical evidence that people really walk in circles when they do not have reliable cues to their direction. The study, published in the journal Current Biology, examined the paths of people who walked for several hours in the Sahara desert and in the Bienwald forest in Germany. The results showed that participants were only able to keep a straight path when the sun or moon was visible; as soon as the sun disappeared behind clouds, they started to walk in circles.

The scientists also disproved the commonly held belief that walking in circles is a result of one leg being stronger than the other, thereby creating a bias to a certain direction: the same person was just as likely to veer to the right and the left at different times in the same journey.

When a chainsaw is the only option

It seems you can have too much greenery, after all. A new study published in the Journal of Environment and Waste Management by Christof Gromke of the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF in Davos, and Bodo Ruck of the University of Karlsruhe, suggests that streets with too many trees planted close together along a central strip could lead to more vehicle exhaust fumes being trapped in the urban canyon than if there were none. Ideally, trees should be separated by at least the width of their crown, to allow pollution-dispersing eddies to form. Stand by for the first council to upset environmentalists by bringing out the chainsaw.

The invisibility cloak that will magic away earthquakes

Harry Potter should watch out; others have eyes on his invisibility cloak. Sebastian Guenneau of Liverpool University and Mohamed Farhat from the Fresnel Institute in Marseilles have published a paper in Applied Physics Letters proposing a way of preventing buildings being destroyed in an earthquake. Seismic waves travel both through the earth and over the surface; the two professors have devised a method of applying concentric plastic rings to a building's foundations that would react to the frequency of the surface waves by bouncing around to divert them outside the protective cloak. Hogwarts is safe at last.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 10 Sep 2009 | 5:05 pm

Test ignition for 'Moon rocket'

A test firing is completed for the first-stage rocket motor that could one day help take astronauts back to the Moon.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Sep 2009 | 4:16 pm

Computer Could Call Football Plays

New program uses fast, real-time analysis of all the offensive and defensive possibilities.
Source: Livescience.com | 10 Sep 2009 | 3:41 pm

Study exposes how bacteria resist antibiotics

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Scientists have discovered how bacteria fend off a wide range of antibiotics, and blocking that defense mechanism could give existing antibiotics more power to fight dangerous infections.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 10 Sep 2009 | 3:18 pm

UK climate scepticism spreads

The British public has become more sceptical about climate change over the last five years, according to a survey.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Sep 2009 | 2:45 pm

Flying Transformers: Birds Gear Up for Migration

As days grow shorter, millions of birds across North America prepare for one of nature’s great events: the autumn migration to warm winter climes. Many species fly for thousands of miles, often without stopping.

At their baseline state, migratory birds are already marvels of evolution. They’re equipped with hollow bones and optical compasses and lungs that provide purer oxygen than is breathed by any mammal. But when dwindling sunlight sparks their migratory physiology, the birds become truly marvelous.

“This is one of those particularly amazing feats that animals do. It presents it with extreme difficulties. You’re basically looking at the limits of animal design,” said Scott McWilliams, a University of Rhode Island ecologist who specializes in the physiology of migrating birds.

In just a few days, their food intake rises by multiple orders of magnitude — the equivalent of having a hamburger for lunch on Monday, and 100 hamburgers on Friday. Of course, birds don’t eat junk food: even seed-eaters switch to insect-heavy diets rich in energy-dense polyunsaturated fats.

The fat is packed on aerodynamically, tucked in the lower back and wherever else it won’t add much drag. Some species, such as warblers, which can weigh less than an ounce but fly 2,500 miles without resting, double their body weights in preparation for the voyage.

“To put it in a human perspective, if you were going to put on a lot of fat and try to live off it while doing a cross-country run, you would die,” said Russell Greenberg, head of the National Zoo’s Migratory Bird Center. “There’s no human equivalent.”

In order to keep pace with the dietary influx, the birds’ digestive organs expand. Even the cells of their stomachs swell. But shortly before takeoff, with no more need for this extra bulk, their guts shrink back to size.

In the meantime, the birds’ pectoral muscles become thicker and denser. The pecs of the red knot, a shorebird that makes 2,000 mile-long migratory flights, swell by 40 percent.

Much of this added muscle mass will be burned for in-flight energy, but most of their fuel comes from fat. Unlike mammals, who fuel endurance exertion with protein and carbohydrates before switching — a transition felt as “hitting the wall” — birds start by burning fat, and use only the minimum of protein needed to keep their brains running. They never hit the wall.

To better turn fat to fuel, their bodies boost production of fat-metabolizing proteins. In sparrows, levels of the proteins double from their usual rates. To further feed their cells, extra oxygen-carrying hemoglobin protein is pumped into the blood, right up to the limit where it would be too thick to flow.

Some species do rest during migration, stopping for a few weeks before crossing some especially vast and barren expanse, such as the Sahara. Even in this brief time, red knots’ pectorals will shrink at first, and their legs and stomachs swell. When the birds are done eating and ready to fly again, the process will be reversed. Their hearts grow the whole time.

Scientists don’t know when birds originally evolved the ability to migrate. The tendency appears to be cyclical, expressing itself when ecological opportunities are rich and disappearing when temperate areas are limited. Modern migratory birds developed their habits over the last 10,000 years, since glaciers retreated at the end of the last Ice Age.

On an evolutionary scale, such plasticity is as radical as migratory birds’ morphing muscles and metabolisms. It raises hope that the birds will weather their latest challenge.

“We’re talking a lot about global warming these days. The environment is changing under these animals as we speak,” said McWilliams. “Is an animal like a migratory bird, which has a tremendous capacity for phenotypic change, going to be less affected by climate change? Maybe. Maybe not.”

See Also:

• Open Data: Help Migratory Bird Observations Fly into the Digital Age
• Help Science: Build Your Own Bird Tracker, Cheap
• New Bald Bird Discovered in Laos
• Welcome to Svalbard, Here’s Your Bird-Defense Stick
• The Fastest-Evolving Bird

Follow us on Twitter @wiredscience, and on Facebook.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 10 Sep 2009 | 1:17 pm

Spinning a yarn about ancient rope in Georgia

Archaeologists discover 30,000 year old coloured fibres that they say are the earliest examples of humans making rope.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Sep 2009 | 12:37 pm

Nigeria begins vast river dredge

Nigeria starts a huge project to dredge the River Niger, which officials say will make the waterway fully navigable.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Sep 2009 | 12:23 pm

Powerful Ideas: Reducing China's Carbon Emissions a Breeze

China is now the world's largest producer of carbon dioxide, the most important global warming pollutant.
Source: Livescience.com | 10 Sep 2009 | 12:19 pm

Blow it Up: This Glass Can Take It

University of Missouri researchers are developing and testing a new type of blast-resistant glass that will be thinner, lighter and less vulnerable to small-scale explosions.
Source: Livescience.com | 10 Sep 2009 | 12:17 pm

Arctic May Be Changed Forever, Study Finds

Study documents ecosystem-wide changes to global warming across Arctic.
Source: Livescience.com | 10 Sep 2009 | 12:07 pm

Could Wind Power China's Energy Future?

China is the largest CO2 emitter, but it's also the fastest growing market for wind power.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 10 Sep 2009 | 12:01 pm

SLIDE SHOW: Arctic Under Siege

As the planet warms, the Arctic is showing signs of change -- and strain.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 10 Sep 2009 | 12:00 pm

Solar sails set to voyage oceans of space

Sailing spacecraft will be able to navigate space and reach impressive speeds without carrying heavy payloads of fuel

While sailing remains a purely Earth-bound pursuit for now, it could one day be the means of propulsion for hitherto impossible space missions.

Speaking at the British Science Festival in Guildford, Professor Colin McInnes of Strathclyde University described the physics and feasibility of solar sailing, which harnesses the "pressure" of the sun's radiation.

First described by James Clerk Maxwell, solar pressure arises from the change in momentum of photons as they are reflected from a surface. It is this effect that produces a comet's tail, which always points away from the sun.

By using huge reflective sails, future spacecraft could navigate space without having to carry bulky cargoes of fuel. Changing the orientation of the sail will allow the craft to enlarge, reduce or change the plane of their orbit around a planet or the sun. This extra manoeuvrability will allow missions to planets in the inner solar system to be completed in less time and at a lower cost.

Unlike conventional satellites, solar-sailed craft will also be able to cruise in out-of-plane stationary orbits. Stationary orbits work by balancing the gravitational forces of the moon, Earth and sun so that a craft remains relatively stationary relative to the Earth's surface below. However, this is only possible in the plane of the solar system. With the addition of a solar propulsive force, a craft would be able to hang above or below the Earth, continuously observing either pole.

This would prove invaluable in future climate modelling and weather prediction, because it currently takes many passes of an orbital satellite in order to build a detailed picture of polar regions.

The pressure exerted by the sun's rays is exceptionally small (around 10^–5 N/m²), the small resultant forces mean that minimising mass is vital. Proposed technologies include a 0.9 micrometre thick reflective mylar sail (the diameter of a human hair is 76 micrometres) supported by lightweight composite booms that will unfurl it automatically once in space.

The forces involved may be small, but the velocities that could be achieved are enormous. Without any resistive forces in the vacuum of space and a constant propulsive force from the sun, a solar-sailed craft could reach speeds as great as 45 kilometres per second.

Nasa has tested a prototype solar sail in the world's largest vacuum chamber. The sail measured 20 metres squared – only a fraction of the size required to provide sufficient propulsive force. A functioning sail for use in space missions would have to be around 80 metres squared, and until safely in orbit would need to be folded into a space not much larger than a family-sized fridge.

Professor McInnes is confident that this technology has a future, but in order for it to progress it must be tested in space. This will require hundreds of millions of pounds' worth of investment.

A test mission has been attempted by the Planetary Society, which launched an experimental solar sail named cosmos-1 in 2005. Unfortunately the launch rocket failed.

Solar power is going to form an important part of our energy future back here on Earth. If the technology can be shown to be practical, it seems solar power will also play a vital role up there in space.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 10 Sep 2009 | 11:57 am

Simon Thirgood

Ecologist, biologist, field researcher and expert on mammals and birds of prey

Simon Thirgood, who has died aged 46 in an extreme storm in Ethiopia, was an outstanding field ecologist, conservation biologist and expert on the predatory behaviour and ecology of birds of prey and large carnivore mammals. At the time of his death he had been setting up a community-based biodiversity project funded by the UK Darwin Initiative, which focused on the conservation of Ethiopia's Afromontane areas, home to endangered animals such as the Ethiopian wolf.

Born in Liberia, west Africa, and brought up in Vancouver, Canada, Simon was heavily influenced by his father, JV Thirgood, an outspoken professor of forestry policy at the University of British Columbia. Inspired by his father's insights into the links between nature and human welfare, Simon went to Aberdeen University in 1980 to read zoology. He immersed himself rapidly in academic and social activities there, becoming an adept climber, skier and canoeist, and for the rest of his life enjoying the companionship of many friends made through the university's Lairig club, the UK's most active student mountaineering society (which included in its membership the leading climber Tom Patey).

Following graduation in 1984, Simon worked as a volunteer research assistant at the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Banchory, Aberdeenshire, where he came under the influence of some of the best field ecologists in Europe. Moving to Southampton University to study the lekking behaviour (ritualised displays) of fallow deer, he gained a PhD in 1990.

At Cambridge University as a post-doctoral research assistant, Simon came under the tutelage of Tim Clutton-Brock and worked in Zambia on the mating behaviour of lechwe antelopes, and then worked for Birdlife International on their Putting Biodiversity on the Map project, which informed the scientific debate in the run-up to the 1992 Earth summit in Rio de Janeiro.

By then, he was one of the few skilled ecologists in the UK researching both birds and mammals, with gifts for scientific writing and enjoyable social banter. He was ideally placed to co-lead one of the most important field research projects in the 1990s at the Game Conservancy Trust, under the direction of Ian Newton and Peter Hudson.

Returning to Scotland in 1992, Simon began to research the controversial interactions between moorland management for driven grouse shooting and the conservation of birds of prey. The study, carried out largely on Langholm moor on the Scottish Borders, culminated in a landmark publication, Birds of Prey and Red Grouse (1997), co-authored with his longstanding friend and colleague Steve Redpath, and founded on hundreds of days spent in the field. The results, or at least interpretations of these, polarised relations between conservation, game and land management interests.

In response, Simon and Steve undertook a pioneering research trial to look at one potential solution to the conflict – providing hen harriers with alternative food to divert them from red grouse. This produced a marked decline in the harriers' take of grouse chicks, and the technique is now being used as part of an ambitious new demonstration study at Langholm, for which Simon was appointed as an expert adviser.

New research opportunities beckoned when Simon met Karen Laurenson, an epidemiologist studying tick-borne disease in grouse. Karen had maintained links with projects in Africa and, as their friendship grew, they studied together the extinction threat posed to Ethiopian wolves from rabies. They married in 1996, and Simon moved in 2001 to a research fellowship at the Centre for Conservation Science at the universities of Stirling and St Andrews, before a wonderful opportunity arose for them to share a common commitment to conservation in Africa.

In 2003 they landed jobs working for the Frankfurt Zoological Society, based in the Serengeti national park, Tanzania, where Simon had responsibilities for conservation projects based in Tanzania, Ethiopia and Zambia. He thrived on the fundamentals of practical work guided by science, and their young family flourished in the wild environment. As their children approached school age, in 2004 Simon accepted the post of head of ecology at one of the world's leading environmental research bodies, the Macaulay Institute in Aberdeen.

There he developed ambitious collaborative research. Latterly, he was partially seconded to the Aberdeen Centre for Environmental Sustainability, where he won funding for two multinational EU projects on sustainable hunting in Europe and Africa. He was appointed senior editor of the prestigious environmental periodical Journal of Applied Ecology, to which he devoted many late evenings editing manuscripts and coaxing the best out of emerging researchers.

He had research students in at least four universities, and scores of others benefited from his sharp, incisive scientific intellect. The author of more than 100 scientific publications, and co-editor of the influential textbook People and Wildlife: Conflict or Co-existence? (2005), Simon was destined for distinction as a world field ecologist, and perhaps more importantly, for building a lasting research capacity of African scientists and conservationists.

Zestful, caring, articulate, critical of slovenly and sloppy science, and mischievously good company, Simon was a superb role model for friends and colleagues. He is survived by Karen and their daughters, Pippa and Katie.

• Simon Jeremy Thirgood, ecologist, born 6 December 1962; died 30 August 2009

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 10 Sep 2009 | 11:57 am

Japan's space freighter in orbit

Japan successfully launches its new unmanned cargo craft on a mission vital to the future of the space station.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Sep 2009 | 11:04 am

Movie 'Whiteout' Gets Antarctic Science Right

Writer Greg Rucka made sure it was grounded in fact as much as possible.
Source: Livescience.com | 10 Sep 2009 | 10:54 am

VIDEO: GPS Shoe Hotfoots Your Location

A new GPS sneaker can track your every move, as Kasey-Dee Gardner finds out firsthand.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 10 Sep 2009 | 10:45 am

Video: How Swine Flu Spread

By analyzing the mutations in swine flu samples, scientists have assembled the most complete model to date of the pandemic’s birth.

Traditional modeling — the pins-on-a-map approach — relies on formal reports of a disease. Although these convey the big picture, they don’t always give a clear picture of how the disease spread.

But because flu viruses constantly pick up genetic mutations as they multiply, scientists can deduce a family tree by comparing the shared ancestry of their genomes.

“This helps reveal hidden information about the spatial spread of the virus,” said Marc Suchard, a University of California at Los Angeles biomathematician and co-author of the analysis, which was published last week in Public Library of Science Currents.

Other co-authors were Rega Institute molecular epidemiologist Philippe Lemey and Andrew Rambaut, the University of Edinburgh virologist whose genetic analyses provided the earliest insights into swine flu’s evolution into a human-infectious form.

The researchers ran 242 viral genomes, collected around the world between late March and mid-July, through algorithms that determined their most likely evolutionary path. From hundreds of trillions of possible configurations, the program arrived at the models above and below.

The model “helps us learn about the process by which the epidemic evolves,” said Suchard. “We can learn about the underlying epidemic process, and apply it to the future.”

Note: The video below is newer, but doesn’t clearly show swine flu spread outside North America. The video above is older and contains fewer data points, but gives a more complete sense of the virus’ global jumps.

Citation: “Reconstructing the initial global spread of a human influenza pandemic: A Bayesian spatial-temporal model for the global spread of H1N1pdm.” By Andrew Rambaut, Philippe Lemey and Marc Suchard. PLoS Currents, September 2, 2009.

Video: Philippe Lemey

See Also:

• History Offers Hope Swine Flu Won’t Gain Strength in Fall
• Apocalypse Not: Behind the Swine Flu Hysteria
• Old People May Be Immune to Swine Flu
• Swine Flu Genes From Pigs Only, Not Humans or Birds
• Swine Flu Ancestor Born on U.S. Factory Farms
• Tracking Internet Chatter Helps Spot Swine Flu Outbreak
• Swine Flu Upgraded to Pandemic, Sans Pandemonium

Brandon Keim’s Twitter stream and reportorial outtakes, Wired Science on Twitter.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 10 Sep 2009 | 10:28 am

Simulated Black Holes May Prove Hawking's Theory

Black hole analogs could help scientists find ever-elusive Hawking radiation.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 10 Sep 2009 | 10:10 am

Top Tennis Players Simply See Better

Expert tennis players, like Roger Federer, have an advantage in certain visual perception skills.
Source: Livescience.com | 10 Sep 2009 | 10:05 am

Butterfly Hindered by Extreme Sex Ratio

An overabundance of female butterflies reveals evolution in action.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 10 Sep 2009 | 10:00 am

Vitamin junkies are flushing their money down the toilet, says nutritionist

Unless you have particular dietary needs, vitamin supplements are probably a waste of money and may even be harmful, a nutritionist told a meeting at the British Science Festival

Some of us wouldn't dream of starting the day without imbibing a carefully considered combination of vitamins, minerals and biochemical supplements. These are taken safe in the knowledge (or delusion?) that we will benefit from good health, longer life and a general feeling of wellbeing.

Speaking yesterday at the British Science Festival, Professor Brian Ratcliffe of Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen argued that most people should simply consume a varied diet containing a number of different vitamins and minerals.

The large number of "worried well" in the UK who take supplements with a "better safe than sorry" attitude are wasting their money while feeding the multi-billion-pound vitamin industry.

Take vitamin C. Despite very little clinical evidence supporting beneficial effects of consuming ultra-high doses of vitamin C, these supplements have become popular for "warding off colds" and other infections. Supplements that contain 1.5g of vitamin C (the equivalent of more than 20 oranges) per dose are widely available. But around 75% of the vitamin ends up down the toilet, said Professor Ratcliffe. Our kidneys simply remove it from the bloodstream.

If you are under 65 and worried about your nutrition he suggests you would be better off visiting a dietician before buying expensive multi-vitamin complexes. There is also a wealth of information available online.

Vitamin supplements do have a role to play for certain groups, he said. For example folic acid is recommended during pregnancy, and over-65s are at risk from vitamin D deficiencies.

On the flipside, some groups are at risk from higher dosages of particular vitamins. Recent research suggests vitamin A supplements can be harmful to smokers.

Presenting his work in collaboration with the Nutrition Society, Professor Ratcliffe argued that research has clearly established at what level we become deficient in a particular vitamin – and the level (if any) at which a vitamin becomes toxic – but has failed to establish with confidence how much of a certain vitamin we should take for "optimum" health effects.

He said the health benefits of a particular vitamin tend to increase as intake rises above an established minimum until an optimum is reached, past which there is no extra benefit and in some cases there is harm. The optimum level varies according to sex, age and many other factors, making it impossible to give an ideal dose that would be suitable for everyone.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 10 Sep 2009 | 8:37 am

Sunken WWII Navy Patrol Boat Found

Six sailors died when the YP-389 was attacked by a German submarine June 19, 1942. There were 18 survivors.
Source: Livescience.com | 10 Sep 2009 | 7:51 am

Chimp's Tool Box Shows Deep Thought

An adult male chimp uses two tools to get a meal of ants. The behavior may be passed down like culture among humans.
Source: Livescience.com | 10 Sep 2009 | 7:00 am

Stone man joins carved animals in neolithic farmyard

The figurine was dug up at the ancient site of Çatalhöyük in Turkey, which is thought to have been home for some of the world's first farmers

A reclining man with a bushy beard and big nose is the latest to join a haul of stone figurines unearthed at the ancient site of Çatalhöyük in Turkey. The sculpture, which measures around six inches high, was uncovered at the neolithic site last week.

Çatalhöyük was the final resting place of some of the world's first farmers. Other figurines representing farmyard animals and people in sitting and standing positions have already been excavated at the site, which dates back to the dawn of farming some 9,000 years ago.

Archaeologists working on the site have discovered primitive houses with rooms decorated with vulture skulls, wild boar tusks and teeth from weasels and foxes. Some of the buildings are believed to have humans buried beneath them.

The discovery of female figurines at Çatalhöyük has led anthropologists to speculate that the community worshipped "mother goddesses".

Death and violence feature prominently in the sculptures, with some missing heads and others with exposed ribs, hip bones and pelvises.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 10 Sep 2009 | 6:58 am

Chimps Pack Specialized Tool Kits

A study shows that chimps have specific tools for specific tasks.
Source: Livescience.com | 10 Sep 2009 | 6:56 am

Melting Ice Forces Walruses to Alaska Shore

As sea ice melts, thousands of walruses congregate on Alaska's coast.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 10 Sep 2009 | 6:30 am

Taking the misery out of meat-eating?

Scientists are working on creating livestock that are immune to pain. Would it make you feel less guilty when enjoying a steak?

Researchers into genetics and neuroscience are working on creating livestock that are immune to pain by trying to locate and eliminate the pain gene. This, according to philosopher Adam Shriver, is the very least that should be ethically done as we consume almost 300m tonnes of meat a year – a figure that only looks set to rise.

How would you feel about picking up your pork chops with a "pain free" sticker slapped on the packaging? Should we try to limit the suffering of animals as we continue to feed our insatiable appetite for meat, even if it means using genetic modification?

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 10 Sep 2009 | 4:00 am