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For Improving Early Literacy, Reading Comics Is No Child's PlayA professor of library and information science says that comic books are just as sophisticated as other forms of literature, and children benefit from reading them at least as much as they do from reading other types of books.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pm Pandemic Flu Vaccine Campaigns May Be Undermined By Coincidental Medical EventsThe effectiveness of pandemic flu vaccination campaigns -- like that now underway for H1N1 -- could be undermined by the public incorrectly associating coincidental and unrelated health events with the vaccines.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pm Male Sabertoothed Cats Were Pussycats Compared To Macho LionsDespite their fearsome fangs, male sabertoothed cats may have been less aggressive than many of their feline cousins, says a new study of male-female size differences in extinct big cats.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pm Genomes Of Biofuel Yeasts Reveal Clues That Could Boost Fuel Ethanol Production WorldwideAs global temperatures and energy costs continue to soar, renewable sources of energy will be key to a sustainable future. An attractive replacement for gasoline is biofuel, and in two new studies, scientists have analyzed the genome structures of bioethanol-producing microorganisms, uncovering genetic clues that will be critical in developing new technologies needed to implement production on a global scale.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pm Bacteria Expect The UnexpectedOrganisms ensure the survival of their species by genetically adapting to the environment. If environmental conditions change too rapidly, the extinction of a species may be the consequence. A strategy to successfully cope with such a challenge is the generation of variable offspring that can survive in different environments. For the first time scientists have now observed the evolution of such a strategy under lab conditions in an experiment with the bacterial species Pseudomonas fluorescens.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pm How Saturated Fatty Acids 'Anger' The Immune System (And How To Stop Them)Researchers have new evidence to explain how saturated fatty acids, which soar in those who are obese, can lead the immune system to respond in ways that add up to chronic, low-grade inflammation. The new results could lead to treatments designed to curb that inflammatory state, and the insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes that come with it.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pm Materials Scientists Find Better Model For Glass CreationMaterials scientists have come up with what they believe is a new way to model the formation of glasses, a type of amorphous solid that includes common window glass.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 6 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm First Use Of Antibody And Stem Cell Transplantation To Successfully Treat Advanced LeukemiaFor the first time, researchers have reported the use of a radiolabeled antibody to deliver targeted doses of radiation, followed by a stem cell transplant, to successfully treat a group of leukemia and pre-leukemia patients for whom there previously had been no other curative treatment options.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 6 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm Early Scents Really Do Get 'Etched' In The BrainCommon experience tells us that particular scents of childhood can leave quite an impression, for better or for worse. Now, researchers reporting the results of a brain imaging study show that first scents really do enjoy a "privileged" status in the brain.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 6 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm Travel May Be Hazardous To Dialysis PatientsIf you're sick, traveling to a foreign land may boost your spirits, but jeopardize your health, according to new research. The findings indicate that dialysis patients who travel on vacation risk infections, anemia, and other complications that can compromise their dialysis treatments.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 6 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm The goats who stare at menAs Jon Ronson's takeover of guardian.co.uk/film winds up, he journeys to Buttercups Goat Sanctuary and talks us through the curious history of goats' involvement with the US military Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 6 Nov 2009 | 3:08 am Delegates discuss way forward in UN climate talks (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 6 Nov 2009 | 2:30 am Getting warmWhere key players stand on a deal to halt climate changeSource: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 6 Nov 2009 | 1:57 am Nanoparticles could damage DNA at a distanceLab tests show that metal nanoparticles can affect DNA without actually coming into contact with it – though the results are difficult to extrapolate to the human body Nanoparticles of metal can damage the DNA inside cells even if there is no direct contact between them, scientists have found. The discovery provides an insight into how the particles might exert their influence inside the body and points to possible new ways to deliver medical treatments. The preliminary work also raises questions about the safety of nanoparticles – which are a thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair and used in everything from sunscreens to electronics – though the researchers point out that the doses they used in their study were higher than anything a person might come into contact with. They also said it was difficult to extrapolate results from their laboratory tests to the human body. In the experiment, scientists from the University of Bristol grew a layer of cells and exposed one side to cobalt-chromium nanoparticles. On the other side of this cellular barrier were human cells called fibroblasts. Though the nanoparticles never crossed the cellular barrier, they managed to damage the DNA of the fibrolasts via a cascade of biological signals in the intervening cells. "We imagined a possibility that, in some way, that material had caused a change in the top cell layer and maybe there's some sort of signalling going on from the top cell to the middle cell to the bottom cell," said Patrick Case of the University of Bristol, who led the work. Case's team found that the DNA in the fibrolasts had around 10 times as much damage, in terms of breaks in the genetic material, compared with control conditions. DNA damage can lead to various diseases, including cancer, but Case said the changes observed in his experiments did not lead him to believe the fibrolasts were becoming cancerous. The research team deliberately exposed the barrier cells in their experiment to a dose of nanoparticles thousands of times higher than anything that would occur naturally. "We used high doses of them because we wanted to make sure that the dose we used would cause damage to cells if the cells were exposed. When we measured the damage on the other side of the barrier, to our great surprise, not only did we see damage on the other side of the barrier but we saw as much damage as if we'd not had the barrier at all and had put the materials in contact with the cells underneath." The results were published yesterday in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. Ashley Blom, head of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Bristol, said: "This work has raised some really interesting questions and given us insight into how barriers in the body might work. The body has lots of different barriers – blood-brain barrier, the skin, the lining of the gut , the placenta – and it may be that this mechanism works in some of these barriers. "The problem is when you start translating lab work into clinical work. It never works out in the human body like it does in lab-based experiments." He said that the human body may contain other barriers and mechanisms that scientists still do not understand and which may counteract or enhance the mechanism found by Case. "So I'm cautious in extrapolating this to the human body. But if barriers in the human body do work in this way, the first exciting thing is, can we deliver novel therapies across barriers without having to cross them?" This would mean that a condition that affects the brain could be treated with something that does not cross the blood-brain barrier and does not come into contact with the brain. "There are wonderful implications for treatments using nanotechnology." The research also has implications for natural nanoparticles already in human bodies, which might act across membranes to trigger diseases. "Maybe small particles like prions and viruses may utilise some of these mechanisms," said Blom. 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 | 6 Nov 2009 | 1:46 am Climate talks 'not going well': Ed Miliband (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 6 Nov 2009 | 1:41 am APEC seeks to slash emissions by 2050 (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 6 Nov 2009 | 12:03 am Top 10 Smartest Mammals*Elephants have much heavier brains than we humans, but when it comes to a neuron count, we tie with the pachyderms.Source: Livescience.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 9:50 pm Gene Therapy for Fatal Brain Disorder 'Just the Beginning' (HealthDay)HealthDay - THURSDAY, Nov. 5 (HealthDay News) -- The reported success of gene therapy in treating two children with adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) brings hope to patients with the potentially crippling and fatal brain disorder and their families, says a nonprofit group that supports ALD research.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 Nov 2009 | 9:48 pm Genes Linked to 'Pot' Belly (HealthDay)HealthDay - THURSDAY, Nov. 5 (HealthDay News) -- New research sheds light on the possible link between the genes you inherit and the size of your belly.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 Nov 2009 | 9:48 pm Obama Urged to Find Climate Money (OneWorld.net)OneWorld.net - WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (OneWorld.net) - Climate analysts are calling on the Obama administration to use an international finance meeting this week to press for a swift end to subsidies for coal, oil, and natural gas companies around the world.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 Nov 2009 | 9:22 pm The Many Mysteries of NeanderthalsScientists are still trying to figure out why we succeeded while our closest human relatives didn't.Source: Livescience.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 9:15 pm Study suggests peat CO2 credits more valuableJAKARTA (Reuters) - An Indonesia-based study is showing carbon-rich tropical peat lands trap more greenhouse gases than first thought, driving up their potential value on the carbon market and strengthening the case for their protection.Source: Reuters: Science News | 5 Nov 2009 | 8:39 pm Depression Ida dumps heavy rain on Nicaragua (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 Nov 2009 | 8:21 pm Canada to investigate disappearing Pacific salmonVANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Canada will launch an investigation into why far fewer sockeye salmon than scientists had predicted returned to the Fraser River on the Pacific Coast this summer.Source: Reuters: Science News | 5 Nov 2009 | 6:23 pm Out of the Blue: Islands Seen From Space<< previous image | next image >>
Islands are some of the most beautiful, peaceful, violent, desolate and unique places on Earth. While experiencing a tropical island from its sandy beaches, or a volcanic island from its towering peaks is wonderful, experiencing them from above can be inspiring as well. We’ve collected images taken by astronauts and satellites from space of some of the most interesting islands on the planet. Atafu Atoll, Tokelau, Pacific Ocean Around 500 people live on Atafu Atoll, mostly in a village that can be seen on the corner in the left of the image above. Atafu is just five miles wide and is the smallest of three atolls in the Tokelau Islands, a New Zealand territory. Atafu is made up of coral reefs that surrounded the flanks of a volcano that has since become inactive and submerged. Like many tropical atolls, Atafu is very low lying and vulnerable to sea-level rise. This photograph was taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station in January. Image: NASA
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 5 Nov 2009 | 6:00 pm Caribbean, Gulf spared widespread coral damage (AP)AP - Lower-than-feared sea temperatures this summer gave a break to fragile coral reefs across the Caribbean and the central Gulf of Mexico that were damaged in recent years, scientists said Thursday.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:41 pm Company sequences whole human genome for $1,700WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Want to know your entire DNA sequence? A California company has done it for as little as $1,700.Source: Reuters: Science News | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:24 pm Primary sourcesJohn Crace sifts through new research and discoveries from around the world
The hole that time forgotFor a long time now the Mexicans have got it in the neck for being home to the crater formed by the object that killed off the dinosaurs. But it seems the real culprit might lie thousands of miles to the east. According to Sankar Chatterjee of Texas Tech University, the Shiva basin off the coast of India could be the largest, multi-ringed impact crater the world has ever seen and may have been responsible for killing the dinosaurs off 65m years ago. "If we are right, this is the largest crater known on our planet," Chatterjee said. "A bolide [projectile] of this size, perhaps 40 kilometres in diameter creates its own tectonics." By contrast, the object that struck the Yucatan Peninsula was between 8 and 10 kilometres wide. The Shiva impact would have vapourised the Earth's crust at the point of collision, leaving nothing but ultra-hot mantle material to well up in its place. It is also likely to have enhanced the nearby Deccan Traps volcanic eruptions that covered much of western India and to have broken the Seychelles islands away from the Indian tectonic plate, and sent them drifting toward Africa.
Not going DutchA study of excavated artefacts and traces of settlements and burial fields in the neighbourhood of Tiel, undertaken by Dutch researcher Stijn Heeren, has revealed that the Batavians, who lived in the Netherlands at the start of the Christian era, were far more Roman than was previously thought. After just a few decades of Roman occupation, they had become so integrated that they cooked, built and bathed in a Roman manner. This research comes as a bit of a blow to the Batavians' macho reputation for being the hard men of Holland who resisted a cruel oppressor. Heeren discovered that within a few decades of Roman occupation, the Batavians used Roman ingredients in their cooking, that the farmers used makeup and oil in the same way as the Romans in their baths, and that they built their farms according to the Roman style.
Guilt tripPeople are more likely to wash their hands when they have been shamed into it, according to a study by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, looked at responses to electronic hygiene messages displayed in UK service station toilets. A quarter of a million people were counted using the toilets and their use of soap was monitored by online sensors. A variety of messages, ranging from "Water doesn't kill germs, soap does" to "Don't be a dirty soap dodger", were flashed on to LED screens at the entrance of the toilets and the effects of the messages on behaviour were measured. "Is the person next to you washing with soap?" was best overall, showing that people responded best when they thought others were watching. There were intriguing differences in behaviour by gender, with women responding to reminders, and men tending to react best to messages that invoked disgust, for example "soap it off or eat it later". Overall, only 32% of men washed their hands with soap while women were twice as good, with 64% doing so. .
Tres cleverA recently published study by David Marsh, of the Continuing Professional Development Centre of Jyväskylä University, shows that even though c'est difficile to prove the existence of a direct causal link, it is likely that multilingualism produces a special advantage in utilising a person's cerveau capacity as creatively as possible. The report, "The Contribution of Multilingualism to Creativity", highlights six main areas where multi- lingualism – and hence the mastery of complex processes de pensée – seem to put people at an advantage. These include connaissance in general, complex thinking and creativity, mental flexibilité, interpersonal and communication skills, and even a possible delai in the onset of age-related mental diminishment later in la vie. 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 | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:05 pm Guidelines call for guarantee of scientific advisers' independenceLeading academics including a former chief scientist and the president of the Royal Society ask government to sign up to guidelines guaranteeing right to disagree publicly with policies Senior scientists are calling on the government to sign up to a new set of guidelines that would guarantee that scientific advice remains free from political interference following the sacking of its chief drugs adviser David Nutt. The guidelines were sent to the government yesterday as the House of Commons science and technology select committee wrote to home secretary Alan Johnson demanding a full account of why he dismissed Nutt from the chairmanship of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). More than 20 academics drafted the guidelines that they say "would enhance confidence in the scientific advisory system and help government to secure essential advice". Signatories include the former chief of the Medical Research Council Colin Blakemore, former government chief scientist Robert May, the president of the Royal Society Martin Rees and the director of the Science Museum Chris Rapley. In addition, there are chairs and other members of independent scientific advisory committees and the heads of several academic and research bodies. The guidelines argue that "disagreement with government policy and the public articulation and discussion of relevant evidence and issues by members of advisory committees can not be grounds for criticism or dismissal." When scientific advice is rejected, the experts said, the reasons should be described explicitly and publicly. "The priority now must be to rebuild the confidence of the scientific community in the way the government, and indeed the opposition parties, treat scientific advice and those who provide it," said Blakemore. "If the government can sign up to this statement, which essentially summarises commitments that have been made in the past, I hope that we can press the 'reset' button on the relationship." Liberal Democrat MP and science spokesperson Evan Harris proposed the idea of the guidelines in response to what he called the "unfair" treatment of Nutt. "The discontent in the scientific community about the treatment of David Nutt goes way beyond the members of the ACMD. It is necessary that the government reflects on the recent select committee report, which covers many of the issues set out in the statement in order to win back the full confidence of their unpaid independent expert advisers." Nutt's sacking came just days after the government supported the independence of scientific advisers in its official response to an inquiry by the House of Commons science and technology select committee into the use of scientific advice in government. In its report, the committee said scientists should not be criticised for publishing scientific papers or making statements as professionals, independent of their role as government advisers, and that "it is important to safeguard the independence of the [science] advisory system. In situations where the independence of a [science advisory council] chairman or member is or might be threatened for political reasons, support should be offered by the DCSA [departmental chief scientific adviser] and/or the GCSA [government's chief scientific adviser]". In his letter to Alan Johnson, Lib Dem MP Phil Willis, the chair of the science and technology committee, asked the home secretary to explain what force remained in the assurances given by the government. He also questioned whether the ACMD still had the expertise needed to carry out its duties, given the loss of three of its experts. Tracey Brown of pro-science campaign group Sense About Science said the scientists' new guidelines would promote much-needed clarity about what "independent scientific advice" meant. "In order for this huge unpaid effort from the scientific community to continue, everyone needs to be clear that independent scientific advice can be neither a substitute for policy nor subject to policy." After Nutt's dismissal, the Home Office said that it had already started a review of the functions of the ACMD and whether it represented good value for money. 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 | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:05 pm Scientists urge respect on adviceSenior academics call on the UK government to respect the independence and freedom of its scientific advisers.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:02 pm Horse genome unlocked by scienceThe genome of a domestic horse has been successfully sequenced by an international team of researchers.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 5 Nov 2009 | 3:41 pm What's Crawling on Your SkinThe human body home to countless microorganisms of various species.Source: Livescience.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 3:34 pm It isn't godly being green | Myles AllenIt is an insult to science to rule that belief in man-made climate change is a religious conviction A British judge has decided that belief in human influence on climate has the status of religious conviction. This is being celebrated as a success by some activists. As a scientist who works on climate change, I find it deeply alarming. Is Jeremy Clarkson similarly entitled to protection if he declares himself a conscientious objector and wants to keep his 4x4? It is yet another symptom of general confusion over the status of science among the public, politicians, the judiciary and, indeed, just about anyone who is not a practising scientist. I don't ask anyone to believe in human influence on climate because I do, or because thousands of other scientists do. I ask them to look at the evidence. As Einstein is said to have reacted to an article entitled 100 scientists against Einstein: "If I'm wrong, one would be enough." The scientific case for human influence on climate is not a political opinion, made stronger simply by lots of people signing up. Nor is it a religious conviction, made stronger, in Mr Justice Burton's phrase, if it is "genuinely held". It is based on evidence and understanding that has withstood some of the most intense scrutiny in the history of science. If I could come up with convincing evidence that greenhouse gas emissions do not cause dangerous climate change after all, evidence that similarly withstands the scrutiny of my peers, I would get, and deserve, a Nobel prize (and for physics this time, not peace). If a scientist finds something that appears to conflict with mainstream opinion, she or he publishes it like a shot – this is not the behaviour of an adherent to a "genuinely held philosophical belief". There is, of course, a moral and ethical dimension: to what extent should we concern ourselves with what happens to the generation-after-next? But very few of those arguing against emission reductions actually claim they don't care at all what happens in the 22nd century. They argue that emission reductions will not make a substantial difference to the risk of dangerous climate change. That is a testable hypothesis, and one which looks, on the overwhelming weight of current evidence, to be wrong. To be fair, Tim Nicholson, the activist who brought the case, seems to be aware he may have opened a Pandora's box, stressing that climate change is not a new religion because it "is based on scientific evidence". But that means he should have lost his case: one of the key arguments the judge used was that, in his opinion, the case for human influence on climate was not "a view based on the present state of information available". But that is precisely what scientific evidence provides: if countervailing information becomes available, I would revise my view, as would any genuine scientist. There is a very dangerous trend to regard climate scientists as just one of many "stakeholders" in the climate change debate. Journalists have taken to asking me whether I take steps to reduce my personal carbon footprint, presumably as a test of whether my beliefs are "genuinely held". If anyone thinks this is relevant, they don't understand how science works. I know climate scientists who drive Priuses and climate scientists who drive 4x4s: this is not a factor I consider when reading or reviewing their papers. Working as I do in a University traditionally dominated by the Humanities, I suspect many of my colleagues would also be suspicious of a scientist arguing she or he occupies a privileged position. Memories of Cold War arrogance die hard. Of course, unlike the pope, science is not infallible: that is precisely the point. But nor are scientists just another participant in a political, philosophical or religious discourse. Our job is to provide the factual framework within which that discourse takes place. Some of the darkest episodes of the 20th century occurred when we forgot this distinction. The problem is not Mr Justice Burton's views on climate change. The problem is his view of science. This decision should be appealed, and the appeal should be supported by the Royal Society and universities everywhere, in the name of science in general.Myles Allen heads the Climate Dynamics group at the University of Oxford, and was an author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Read Tim Nicholson's take on the ruling at guardian.co.uk/commentisfree 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 | 5 Nov 2009 | 3:30 pm New gene therapy halts 2 boys' rare brain disease (AP)AP - French scientists mixed gene therapy and bone marrow transplants in two boys to seemingly halt a brain disease that can kill by adolescence. The surprise ingredient: They disabled the HIV virus so it couldn't cause AIDS, and then used it to carry in the healthy new gene.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 Nov 2009 | 3:12 pm Space Elevator Contest Heats Up (SPACE.com)SPACE.com - Pull me up, Scotty. At least one team has qualified for part of a $2 million prize up for grabs in this year's Space Elevator Games, a NASA-sponsored contest to build machines that can climb a cable in the sky precursors for a futuristic transit system to space.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 Nov 2009 | 2:46 pm WATCH: Behind the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane ScaleExplore how hurricanes, such as Ida, which currently threatens Nicaragua, are measured.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 5 Nov 2009 | 2:30 pm Dead Star Encased in Diamond ShroudAn unusual neutron star appears to be covered in a thin atmosphere of carbon.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 5 Nov 2009 | 2:30 pm Climate deal 'unlikely' this yearThe UK government has admitted that a new legally binding global treaty on climate change is highly unlikely to be agreed this year.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 5 Nov 2009 | 2:26 pm Alps Grow and Shrink at Same TimeUplift from glacier melt and erosion balance to keep Alps at same size.Source: Livescience.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 1:51 pm Scientists halt brain disease with new gene therapyLONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have managed to halt a rare and fatal brain disease with an experimental gene therapy technique using a deactivated version of the AIDS virus, a study published on Thursday showed.Source: Reuters: Science News | 5 Nov 2009 | 1:36 pm New Type of Supernova DiscoveredNew type of supernova featuring helium explosion on a white dwarf is discovered.Source: Livescience.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:07 pm Frigid Antarctica Loaded with VirusesA lake in Antarctica is home to a surprising number of viruses, a new study says.Source: Livescience.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:02 pm Before Flowers, Odd Bugs Pollinated PlantsAnimal pollinators were flitting about long before flowering plants evolved.Source: Livescience.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:02 pm Gene Therapy Halts Fatal Brain Disease
Scientists have used gene therapy to halt the progression of adrenoleukodystrophy, a fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by a single defective gene, in two seven-year-old boys. It took more than a decade to refine the therapy, in which stem cells taken from the boys’ bone marrow were hacked with healthy copies of the gene, then returned to their bodies. Without them, the boys would soon be dead. “They would now be unable to speak, to walk, to communicate, to sit, to eat. They would be in an advanced stage of the disease, in a vegetative state,” said Patrick Aubourg, a pediatric neurologist at France’s National Institute for Health and Medical Research who led the treatment’s development. “Instead they go to school. They live a normal life.” The gene at the root of adrenoleukodystropy — ALD for short — is called ABCD1, and produces a protein necessary to maintain myelin, a compound that acts as an insulator for nerve fibers in the brain and peripheral nervous system. As myelin degrades, the fibers cannot conduct electrical impulses. The boys who received the treatment suffered from the early form of ALD, in which the defective gene is found only on the X chromosome. Technically known as X-linked ALD, it affects boys, typically starting in childhood and killing them in two to three years. It can be treated with bone marrow transplants, but success rates are low, and toxic immune system-suppressing drugs are needed to prevent patients’ bodies from rejecting foreign tissue — if, that is, a donor can even be found. No such donor was found for the children, who had just a six-month window after diagnosis in which treatment could be started. After that, it would have been too late. So their parents turned to Aubourg’s therapy, which had only been tried in laboratory animals.
One of the children — their identities remain confidential — received the treatment two and a half years ago. The other received it three years ago. Their story is described in a paper published Thursday in Science. In both, the disease has stopped progressing. Their brain scans show myelin damage that has stopped, and their new genes are active as ever. The results are as striking as any previously delivered by gene therapy, a biotechnological technique that after nearly two decades of anticipation has largely failed to deliver on its lab-bench promise — though that may be changing. “There is reason to think that this will last for the rest of their lives,” said gene therapist Nathalie Cartier of NIHMR, the study’s lead author. In 1993, when Aubourg discovered how to duplicate the ABCD1 gene in a laboratory, he envisioned adding it to blood stem cells, which give rise to the different types of blood cells — including, critically, the cells that make myelin. Every new cell would produce the correct protein. The ALD would disappear. This type of approach is one example of gene therapy, a technique that even now is highly experimental, and was more experimental then. The first “vector” used by Aubourg — a virus engineered to carry new genes into target cells — succeeded in delivering its payload just .001 percent of the time. Even this miniscule success rate was enough to improve symptoms in mouse models of ALD, but he didn’t trust it to work in people. Aubourg went back to the drawing board. He used a new vector made from a human immunodeficiency virus from which the genome had been removed, leaving only HIV’s cell-penetrating shell. Inside this he put the new ABCD1 gene, and a string of DNA that helps it fuse with target chromosomes. The new vector, called a lentivirus, didn’t work all the time, but it was far more efficient than the old one. In the two boys who received the treatment, 15 percent of the stem cells in their bone marrow now possess a copy of the healthy ABCD1 gene. These cells are essentially immortal, and should provide a steady supply of healthy myelin-producing cells in perpetuity. “Even this low-end number is high enough,” said Aurora Pujol, an ALD researcher at Spain’s IDIBELL Research Institute. She knew the two boys when they were patients at a hospital in Spain, waiting in vain for bone marrow transplants, and connected them to Aubourg’s laboratory. “They did a great job.” The boys did not escape unscathed, and still suffer from some cognitive difficulties. And though no side effects have been observed, far more testing is needed to be certain that the treatment is safe. “The risk is never zero,” said Auborg. Indeed, gene therapy is still best-known for its high-profile failures. In 1999, 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger died during tests of a gene therapy for a rare metabolic disorder. In 2003, two French children receiving treatment for severe immune deficiencies developed leukemia. But with the recent success of a gene therapy for blindness, and the refinement of new, apparently more reliable methods, gene therapy may have turned a corner. “This is an important step forward for ALD, but not only for ALD,” said Pujol. “The lentiviral vector approach can be applied to other single-gene diseases.” Jeffrey Rothstein, a Johns Hopkins gene therapist who specializes in Lou Gehrig’s disease, warned against extrapolating too much from the early ALD results. “It’s great that it worked, but that doesn’t guarantee success in other diseases,” he said. But University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Art Caplan, who has followed gene therapy since its beginning, shared some of Pujol’s excitement. “I think this is the beginning of a turnaround,” he said. “It took a long time to move from animal research to clinical success. It took more than a decade to get anywhere. But these breakthroughs show that this long-touted technology is about to produce clinical benefits.” Image: Over the course of two years, the breakdown of myelin in a boy with ALD who did not receive the therapy (above) and one who did, from Science. See Also:
Citation: “Hematopoietic Stem Cell Gene Therapy with a Lentiviral Vector in X-Linked Adrenoleukodystrophy.” By Nathalie Cartier, Salima Hacein-Bey-Abina, Cynthia C. Bartholomae, Gabor Veres, Manfred Schmidt, Ina Kutschera, Michel Vidaud, Ulrich Abel, Liliane Dal-Cortivo, Laure Caccavelli, Nizar Mahlaoui, Véronique Kiermer, Denice Mittelstaedt, Céline Bellesme, Najiba Lahlou, François Lefrère, Stéphane Blanche, Muriel Audit, Emmanuel Payen, Philippe Leboulch, Bruno l’Homme, Pierre Bougnères, Christof Von Kalle, Alain Fischer, Marina Cavazzana-Calvo, Patrick Aubourg. Science, Vol. 326 No. 5954, November 5, 2009. Brandon Keim’s Twitter stream and reportorial outtakes; Wired Science on Twitter. Brandon is currently working on a book about ecosystem and planetary tipping points.
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm The E-book Battle: You WinWith so many ebook readers vying for the honor of replacing your library, how does a bookworm choose?Source: Livescience.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 11:59 am Why JFK Assassin Photo Wasn't FakedHany Farid explains why an incriminating photo of JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald isn't a fake, as Oswald and others claimed.Source: Livescience.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 11:37 am Scientists seek clues to bare bears mysteryBears in an eastern German zoo have lost their fur, but international experts cannot work out why.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 5 Nov 2009 | 11:24 am Tiny tech sparks cell signal findTiny metal particles have been shown to cause damage to DNA across a cellular barrier - without having to cross itSource: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 5 Nov 2009 | 11:10 am Obituary: Humphrey KayHaematologist with a radical approach to leukaemia treatment Humphrey Kay, who has died aged 86, was an early pioneer in the scientific approach to the diagnosis and treatment of leukaemia. When Humphrey joined the Royal Marsden hospital in London as a consultant in haematology in 1956, leukaemia, or cancer of the blood, was usually fatal within weeks. With characteristic insight, he set about instituting a collaborative approach to treatment, combining practical strategies with scientific method. From these beginnings, the treatment of leukaemia went on to become one of science's great success stories of the 20th century. The collaborative approach initiated by Humphrey and his colleagues continued over the ensuing 40 years to improve both patient survival and quality of life. Today, more than 70% of children and an increasing proportion of adults can be cured. The beginning of Humphrey's career in haematology and oncology coincided with much international concern about leukaemia, a relatively rare but challenging disease which, at that time, after accidents, was the commonest cause of death in childhood. There was little consensus about the best methods of treatment, and the drugs available suppressed the immune system of the patient, making him or her susceptible to other disease. Humphrey's first approach to the problem was in 1963. Together with colleagues, he planned and built a groundbreaking new ward for the isolation of immune-suppressed patients and acted as its administrator. A second, larger ward, equipped for the intensive treatment of acute leukaemia, was opened in 1973 and there the first successful British bone-marrow transplant was performed. As secretary to the leukaemia trials of the Medical Research Council from 1968 until 1984, Humphrey, with a combination of diplomacy, presentational skills and charm, brought about the collaboration of leukaemia specialists from Britain, France and the US in the research and treatment of this disease. These efforts led to the establishment of the first inter-national protocols for the treatment of leukaemia. Furthermore, he recognised the importance of understanding the biological basis of the illness through laboratory-based scientific research. During the 1960s he encouraged pioneering research into the biological characteristics of leukaemia cells. These studies enabled the early classification of patients into different biological subtypes and helped to distinguish patients who would respond well to standard treatment from those requiring more innovative measures. An inspiring communicator, he wrote numerous scientific papers and chapters in books, spoke fluently at scientific meetings and was editor of the Journal of Clinical Pathology from 1972 until 1980. Humphrey was born in Croydon, then in Surrey. When he was three months old, he and his mother, a missionary doctor, joined his father, an Anglican minister, and his two older sisters in India. The family returned to England four years later. Humphrey went to Downs prep school in Colwall, Worcestershire. He decided on a medical career while at Bryanston school, in Dorset, taking the preliminary medical examination in Southampton in 1941 after a 50-mile bicycle ride into one of the heaviest air raids of the war. He qualified from St Thomas' medical school in 1945, and two years later joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve. In 1950 he married April Powlett, a consultant rheumatologist. They went on to have three children – two daughters and a son – two of whom became doctors. After six years in different branches of pathology at St Thomas', he moved in 1956 as consultant clinical pathologist to the Royal Marsden, where he stayed for the next 28 years. He was appointed professor of haematology in 1982 and retired in 1984. I first met Humphrey in 1967 when he recruited me to investigate chromosomes in the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow. With his wild hair, bright eyes, friendly smile and infectious enthusiasm, he could be found with scissors and paste, cutting up photographs of chromosomes and analysing them. Ever the pragmatist, he explained that one should arrange the chromosomes to fit as best one could, and then make sure that none had blown on to the floor. Humphrey had turned his ever-inquiring mind to the feature of cell biology most relevant to the develop-ment of leukaemia. The acquisition of chromosome abnormalities and changes in the genes carried on them are now known to lie at the heart of malignant transformation. Humphrey was delighted to learn, in 1995, that a compound had been developed that would block the activity of the abnormal gene product in certain cases. Treatment targeted directly at the malignant cells, which would largely spare normal tissues, he described as "Exocet rather than scatter-gun". Humphrey was in his element at social gatherings. He also wrote poetry and published a volume of humorous verse entitled Poems Polymorphic (2002). One of these poems, The Haematologist's Song, was set to the Flanders and Swann hippopotamus tune and he would sing it, with great aplomb, to delegates at national and international haematology conferences, with the opening line, "An old haem-atologist was standing one day" and the refrain "Blood, blood, glorious blood". On retirement from the medical world, he effectively began a second career – this time as a naturalist. He became an active member of the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and was elected to its council in 1983. In 1996 he was awarded the Christopher Cadbury medal by the national body of the Wildlife Trusts for his contribution to conservation. From 1988 to 1998, conscious of the dangers of bovine tuberculosis, he was an influential member of the National Badger Advisory Panel. A true polymath, Humphrey was as comfortable in the arts as he was in the world of science and nature. April died in 1990. He is survived by Sallie, whom he married in 1996, his son, two daughters, seven grandchildren and a recently born great-grandson. He also leaves a stepson, a stepdaughter and five step-grandchildren. • Humphrey Edward Melville Kay, haematologist, born 10 October 1923; died 20 October 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 | 5 Nov 2009 | 11:08 am Incriminating Photo of Lee Harvey Oswald Not FakedDigital forensic analysis shows incriminating photo of Lee Harvey Oswald not fake.Source: Livescience.com | 5 Nov 2009 | 10:47 am Hubble’s New Camera Delivers Another Stunner
The Hubble Space Telescope’s new camera is returning incredibly detailed, stunning images of space. This close-up view of an area near the core of the iconic Southern Pinwheel galaxy, or M83, shows very rapid star birth.
The image also reveals around 60 supernova remnants, around five times more than had previously been seen. the different wavelengths of light captured by Hubble’s camera, from ultraviolet to near-infrared, gives scientists a look at stars in all stages of formation, which will help them understand the evolution of the Pinwheel galaxy, and give them insight into galaxy formation in general. Images: 1) NASA, ESA, STScI/AURA. High-Def Version. 2) ESO. See Also:
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Source: Wired: Wired Science | 5 Nov 2009 | 10:05 am 'Cosmic Web' of Galaxies Holds Universe TogetherAstronomers have spotted the assembly of galaxies that binds the known universe.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 5 Nov 2009 | 10:00 am The music of the spheresKepler founded modern astronomy by looking for a harmony that we wouldn't recognise as scientific at all Paper darkens as it grows old, but vellum just goes duller white, like the belly of a snake: looking at some of the manuscripts through which learning made its serpentine passage across the medieval world makes it obvious that you couldn't call those ages "dark". The library of The Royal Observatory in Edinburgh holds one of the finest collections of early astronomical books and manuscripts in the world, collected by Lord Crawford in the 19th century. He left them to the city on condition that they built an observatory to house them. Being civilised, the city fathers did. So there I was on Tuesday, touching the vellum of a 13th century manuscript of Alhazen, another of Aristotle, and then a first edition of Copernicus' De Revolutionibus and one of Kepler's Nova Astronomia. In the shelves on the wall were Galileo's works. We were meant to be making a radio programme – an interval talk for Radio 3 – but the producer and I and our guest Ken MacLeod just frolicked round that room of priceless books like salmon woken by a spate. Serious work was impossible for a while. There was nothing to say that was adequate in the face of so much beauty and so much history; for anyone who writes, the feel of a physical object which has been read for 800 years is a quite extraordinary thrill. Alhazen is almost forgotten now, and Aristotle little read or acknowledged outside the Roman Catholic intelligentsia. But when those first manuscripts were only three hundred years old, the books which we all know have changed the world were published. First there was Copernicus – the library has a first edition of his book, although there are only 276 known in the world. Then came Kepler's Nova Astronomia and his Harmonice Mundi, the books in which he laid out his three laws. These really are the books which ended the medieval world view. But what they did not represent was a struggle against religion, or "the church". Copernicus, of course, was a canon. Kepler was extremely devout. As a Lutheran, he was under suspicion at the court of the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph I; he was also under suspicion from his own side for being too friendly with the Calvinists at university. There's no doubt at all that he was trying – like Newton – to understand God when he was trying to understand the heavens. What is more interesting is to consider the kind of understanding, and the kind of God, which he had in mind. And here, I think, the clue is to be found in the decorations and the illustrations of his books. The margins of Kepler's Harmonice Mundi contain numerous snatches of musical notation (he had read, and profited from, a book on music by Galileo's father). For Kepler, harmony was "geometrical proportions which he finds reflected everywhere, the archetypes of universal order, from which the planetary laws, the harmonies of music, the drift of the weather, and the fortunes of man are derived." to quote from Arthur Koestler's history of the cosmology, The Sleepwalkers. Koestler continues:
It's clear, I think, that what drove Kepler on through years and years of immensely tedious work – endless calculations of spherical geometry without even logarithms to help him – was the belief that there would be a harmony revealed, a single chord that might summon the whole universe to order and to resolve its horror. Without it, he would never have persevered, and never have discovered the three laws which bear his name. But the laws, as we would now understand them, are buried in the beauty. What Kepler thought he had really found was something even more remarkable: to quote Koestler again,
I have no idea whether anyone has tried to write music based around this discovery; and I assume, though I have not checked it, that the subsequent discoveries of Uranus and Neptune (as well as the discovery, and then the undiscovery of Pluto) would introduce some horrible noise to the concert. But it was absolutely true as far as it went, and for Kepler the musical aspect was as true as the mathhematical one. Neither was a more profound description of reality, though both, of course, were deeper and truer than the world as it presents itself to our gross senses. This isn't a claim that all scientists are fired by a passion for God, or by imagination. Of course they are all animated by their imaginations: everyone is. The dream of a world containing only facts is itself an imaginative construct. But to say this is to deny that there is a single imaginative temperament, or that imaginative people will come to see the world the same way. And it's manifestly not true that all scientists care for God; in fact I think the discovery of DNA was at least partly a consequence of Francis Crick's ferocious atheism. So the longing for harmony drives only one possible scientific temperament, as it drives one style of religious thought. You can be a great scientist without that passion. I think Darwin is a good example: he had what Stephen J Gould called a pluralist imagination. Conversely, you could be a driven by a passion for order and harmony and partly for that reason be a bad scientist. But the division goes back at least as far as Plato and Aristotle. But it does not divide science from religion, nor even good science from bad. It just suggests something of the extraordinary richness of history, and of the complexities of our engagement in the world. Kepler finished Harmonice Mundi in 1618 just as the thirty years' war was breaking out. The population of his native Germany would be reduced by a third in the rest of the century. Nothing so terrible would happen there again until 1945. But at the end of the book, he allowed himself one great triumphant shout:
And that's a voice, and a longing, we can hear just as clearly now. 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 | 5 Nov 2009 | 9:48 am Don't let the reckless City trade carbon | Andy AtkinsAs the City recovers from one disaster, the next is on its way – but carbon trading will damage the planet, not just the economy You couldn't make it up: in the middle of the most serious recession for decades, with banks bailed out with billions of pounds of taxpayers' money, the denizens of the City have sniffed out what they think is the next big money spinner: trading thin air. Of course, the traders aren't heckling over 50 tonnes here or there of bargain basement London smog or Somerset meadow fresh. It's carbon dioxide which is now big business – and could become even bigger if the government gets its way at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen this December. At talks happening this week in Barcelona – the last round of talks before Copenhagen – British negotiators are pushing hard for the expansion of the global carbon market as their solution to slashing emissions. The principles are supposedly simple: if a factory with a cap of emitting 1,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year only emits 900 tonnes, it could sell the right to emit the remainder on the open market. The system's backers claim it will reduce emissions and provide cash to invest further in cutting emissions. A carbon trading system is already in place in Europe, and is big business – the trade was worth $90bn in 2008, and globally is predicted to grow to up to $3.1 trillion in 2020. But there's a catch – banks, investment funds and speculators have now become the middlemen in this shadowy trade and are packaging carbon credits into increasingly complex financial products, similar to sub-prime mortgages which triggered the recent economic crash. This risks the development of sub-prime carbon and financial crisis – with a double whammy this time of environmental catastrophe to match. It's no coincidence the government has been pushing carbon markets just as traders in the City have become the biggest buyers of carbon permits in the world. The evidence that carbon trading doesn't work is vast. The EU scheme failed dismally in delivering emissions cuts in its first few years and looks set for further failure in its next phase because too many permits have been handed out to dirty industry yet again. The scheme also allows European business to wiggle out of their emissions reductions through offsetting, allowing for them to pay for cuts to be made overseas instead of at home. Trading also means politicians and industry aren't taking the bold steps needed to cut emissions now by investing in a massive rollout of renewable energy and energy efficiency. The time it will take to extend carbon markets globally will mean precious years wasted when governments could be taken action which is already proven to work. So what are the solutions? Regulation, taxation and direct government investment in slashing emissions. First, rich countries must commit to slash emissions by at least 40% by 2020, without offsetting. Then we must transform our economy through tried and tested measures that are proven to have worked in the past, including carbon taxes, tougher emissions standards and a big increase in public investment to tackle the climate crisis. Just when our leaders are slapping each other on the back for rescuing us from one financial crisis, with carbon trading they are already sowing the seeds of the next – with potentially devastating consequences for our economy, the planet and millions of its poorest people. Friends of the Earth is demanding that the government changes its approach to climate change with its Demand Climate Change campaign. The green campaign group is asking everyone to sign its international online petition to world leaders for a strong and fair climate deal. 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 | 5 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am Speedy Germ Detector Works in MinutesTech that quickly detects pathogens will be adopted as a Homeland Security tool.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 5 Nov 2009 | 8:54 am Going up? Teams compete in space elevator contestNasa and Spaceward will award $2m (£1.2m) to a team that can send a lift a half mile into the sky Next stop: Space. Going up? Some engineers, science fiction writers and scientists say the future of space travel lies not in rockets and reusable spacecraft but in electrically powered elevators tethered to cables reaching tens of thousands of miles into space that can deliver huge payloads and groups of people. To jump-start development, Nasa and Spaceward, a private foundation, are holding a $2m (£1.2m) competition this week to prove the concept, offering a prize to the team that can send an elevator just over half a mile into the sky at an average speed of 5 metres (16.4 ft) per second, on a cable suspended from a helicopter. The climb must be powered by a high-powered ground-based light or laser aimed at a cell facing Earth, a concept known as power beaming. Yesterday a team qualified for at least the $900,000 second prize. LaserMotive's elevator climbed the cable in about four minutes, then did it again, the Associated Press reported. The team's elevator is a two-foot by two-foot square of photovoltaic panels topped with a climbing motor. Two other teams have until tomorrow to qualify. The competition had to pause at times yesterday because of fears that the powerful lasers aimed at the elevators could disrupt overhead satellites. The space elevator was first proposed by Russian engineer Yuri Artsutanov in the 1960s and popularised by science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke. A working space elevator, decades in the future, would climb an ultra-strong cable with a mass on the end, kept taut by the Earth's rotation like a yo-yo spun around over a person's head. The cable would in theory have to stretch as far as 60,000 miles into space. Once the cable is in place, the elevators would climb with technology akin to that of a ski lift. Since batteries and fuel add too much weight and fuel is hazardous, the elevators would have to climb using power beamed from the ground – the concept being tested this week at Nasa's Dryden Flight Research Centre in a desert about 90 miles north of Los Angeles. Proponents say space elevators would be cheaper, safer and more comfortable to operate than rockets, and speculate that the sensation would be akin to riding on a train. Payload size is theoretically limitless because the elevators and cables could be built to any scale. The first cable will likely be a quarter-inch thick, with the elevator capable of lifting 20 tonnes at a time, launching once per day. Aside from the development of power beaming, space elevators cannot be realised until the invention of cable material strong and light enough to hold up the elevators. The principals in Seattle-based LaserMotive said they are sceptical about space elevators but aim to commercialise power beaming technology. "Anybody who needs power in one place and can't run wires to it — we'd be able to deliver power," Jordan Kare told the Associated Press. 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 | 5 Nov 2009 | 8:05 am F1 designer unveils electric carA new sustainable electric car designed for city or town use is the result of a £9m investment programme.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 5 Nov 2009 | 8:04 am BLOG: Calif. Company Wins Lunar Lander X-PrizeMasten Space Systems gets the $1 million NASA prize for demonstrating a lunar lander.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 5 Nov 2009 | 7:04 am BLOG: Cat Diagnosed With Swine FluA cat in Iowa comes down with swine flu and officials advise pet owners to be vigilant.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:34 am Unmanned Planes Converted to Climate ScoutsMilitary unmanned aircraft are turned over to NASA to measure atmospheric gases.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:24 am Britain is 'designer drugs' capital of Europe, says EU agencyPotent synthetic drugs proving hard to control as chemists produce alternatives quicker than authorities can ban them Britain has become the online "designer drugs" capital of Europe with more than a third of all internet retailers that sell "legal highs" based in the UK, according to a report from the European Union's drug agency. This new generation of online "head shops" is at the centre of a rapidly growing market in highly potent synthetic drugs, such as Spice, that mimic the effects of illegal substances such as cannabis and ecstasy. European drug agency officials are also alarmed by the way the online retailers are reacting to moves to ban individual "legal highs" by rapidly marketing alternatives. Officials say it is like trying to hit a moving target. Britain is poised to ban Spice, a cannabis substitute that can be more potent than skunk, which is sold as a "herbal smoking mixture" , but already the online head shops are selling 27 alternative "herbal smoking blends" based on the active ingredient in cannabis synthesised by chemists in Asia. Wolfgang Gotz, the director of the European monitoring centre for drugs and drug addiction, said the use of the legal highs market to circumvent controls on illicit drugs was the most challenging development over the past year. "While this practice itself is not new, what is new is the wide range of substances now on offer, the growing use of the internet, the aggressive and sophisticated marketing of products and the very speed with which the market reacts to controls." He said that Spice was an example of the global nature of the drugs problem with a product designed and marketed in Europe but produced in Asia and targeted at the potentially large group of consumers who were interested in cannabis. "If Spice is a taste of things to come, both our monitoring systems and our drug control mechanisms will have to evolve in order to meet the new challenges that this kind of market innovation is presenting us with." The annual report from the European drugs agency cites the case of BZP, a "designer stimulant" that was banned across Europe earlier this year, as an example of how rapidly this new British-based market reacts to attempts to ban legal highs. A whole range of alternative "energy party pills" is already being marketed and advertised as BZP-free and sold under names such as Charged, Turbo III – The Next Generation and Cranked. They promise to make you feel "energetic, alert, and lively for five to six hours". Charged is promoted as "the perfect power source to fuel your long days and big nights". Snuff products or herbal powders, claiming to contain caffeine and a range of other plant-based ingredients, are also being sold as a legal alternatives to cocaine and amphetamines. The 2009 survey of online shops selling these "psychoactive" drugs found 115 retailers operating from 17 European countries, but the majority were based in the UK (37%) and Germany (15%). Nearly half the sites selling Spice were located in Britain. Germany, France and Austria made selling Spice illegal in March this year and Britain is poised to follow suit as soon as the measure is approved by parliament. Paul Griffiths, of the European drugs agency, said that Spice contained a new compound, JWH-018, which was the first synthetic cannabinoid – the active ingredient in marijuana – and which was very potent even at low doses. In the face of the growing crackdown on Spice, research chemists have already developed a range of nine other cannabis-like drugs that would not be covered by the ban. "Detecting these compounds is very difficult. Sometimes they are masked by spraying with other substances. We have no knowledge of their toxicity and overdoses are possible," he said. The difficulties for the law enforcement authorities in dealing with these new drugs was highlighted earlier this week when a British "transporter", Steve Marsden, 50, was freed from a Maltese jail after serving only three years of a 25-year prison sentence for importing 50,000 "ecstasy" tablets into the island. His appeal succeeded when it was proved that the active ingredient in his tablets was not the illegal chemical MDMA, but a new legal synthetic drug mCPP, or Piperazine, which has similar effects. The annual report confirms that Britain and Spain remain at the top of the Euro-league table for cocaine consumption and also shows that the decline in cannabis consumption among British schoolchildren has continued despite the downgrading of its legal status. In the mid-1990s, 42% of British teenagers aged 15-16 reported to have used cannabis but this has now fallen to 29% of the age group. 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 | 5 Nov 2009 | 5:19 am FlexetarianCan you eat fish and still be a vegetarian?Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 5 Nov 2009 | 3:53 am China says space plans peacefulBEIJING (Reuters) - China's foreign ministry insisted on Thursday that the country's intentions in space were peaceful, after comments from top air force brass preparing to celebrate a 60th anniversary worried analysts in the United States.Source: Reuters: Science News | 5 Nov 2009 | 3:42 am Swallowed whole: Pelicans filmed gobbling gannet chicksIn a bizarre reaction to dwindling fish stocks, great white pelicans have turned to eating live gannet chicks.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 5 Nov 2009 | 3:01 am Harrabin's NotesLatest assault against carbon trading assessedSource: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 5 Nov 2009 | 2:09 am
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The image to the right of the entire galaxy, taken from the ground by the European Southern Observatory’s 2.2-meter telescope at La Silla, Chile, shows the location of the image above. Hubble’s detailed view reveals that the spiral arms of the galaxy, about 15 million light-years from Earth, are lousy with clusters of infant stars, only a few million years old. The clusters show up as red because of the hydrogen gas they emit, and they have blown holes in the brownish dust tracks of the arms.