Science Headlines for November 9, 2009

Unsettled Youth: Spitzer Observes A Chaotic Planetary System

Before our planets found their way to the stable orbits they circle in today, they wiggled and jostled about like unsettled children. Now, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has found a young star with evidence for the same kind of orbital hyperactivity. Young planets circling the star are thought to be disturbing smaller comet-like bodies, causing them to collide and kick up a huge halo of dust.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am

Lasers Put A Shine On Metals

Polishing metal surfaces is a demanding but monotonous task, and it is difficult to find qualified young specialists. Polishing machines do not represent an adequate alternative because they cannot get to difficult parts of the surface. A new solution is provided by laser polishers.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am

Gene Therapy Stalls Development Of Huntington's Disease In Mice

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have shown that a highly specific intrabody (an antibody fragment that works against a target inside a cell) is capable of stalling the development of Huntington's disease in a variety of mouse models. "Gene therapy in these models successfully attenuated the symptoms of Huntington's disease and increased life span," notes Paul Patterson, the Anne P. and Benjamin F. Biaggini Professor of Biological Sciences.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am

Pregnant Women Risk Early Delivery From Using Psychiatric Medication

Women who used psychiatric medication during pregnancy have triple the odds of delivering prematurely.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am

New Mechanism Increases Atherosclerosis In Mice

A shot of espresso may rev you up in the morning, but the downside is that it may also ramp up levels of bad cholesterol due to its effects on a unique liver protein called PXR. New research now shows that when chronically activated, the protein rejiggers how cholesterol is broken down in and cleared from the liver, a disturbance that can lead to high levels of the waxy substance or worse, full-blown atherosclerosis.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am

Time Between Treatment And PSA Recurrence Predicts Death From Prostate Cancer

Men whose prostate specific antigen rise within 18 months of radiotherapy are more likely to develop spread and die of their disease, according to an international study.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am

Nanomedicine Promising For Treating Spinal Cord Injuries, Findings Show

Researchers have discovered a new approach for repairing damaged nerve fibers in spinal cord injuries using nano-spheres that could be injected into the blood shortly after an accident.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am

Scientists Reveal How Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Differ From Embryonic Stem Cells

The same genes that are chemically altered during normal cell differentiation, as well as when normal cells become cancer cells, are also changed in stem cells that scientists derive from adult cells, according to new research.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am

Archaeologists Uncover Prehistoric Landscape Beneath Oxford University, England

Archaeologists excavating the former Radcliffe Infirmary site in Oxford have uncovered evidence of a prehistoric monumental landscape stretching across the gravel terrace between the Thames and Cherwell rivers.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am

Developmental Delay Could Stem From Nicotinic Receptor Deletion

The loss of a gene through deletion of genetic material on chromosome 15 is associated with significant abnormalities in learning and behavior, say researchers in a new study.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am

Hurricane Ida downgraded to Cat 1, heads to Gulf (Reuters)

Reuters - Hurricane Ida weakened to a Category 1 hurricane on Monday as it headed toward oil and gas facilities in the central Gulf of Mexico after killing 124 people in El Salvador following floods and mudslides.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Nov 2009 | 3:31 am

UK to embrace nuclear - Miliband

Ed Miliband says the UK cannot "say no" to nuclear power as he is to unveil plans to fast-track a new generation of reactors.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 9 Nov 2009 | 3:04 am

Reliance close to $6 bln overseas buy - paper (Reuters)

Reuters - Energy giant Reliance Industries is close to a nearly $6 billion overseas acquisition and the likely target is the assets of petrochemicals firm LyondellBasell, the Economic Times reported on Monday, citing an unidentified banker.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Nov 2009 | 2:23 am

Maldives urges small states to go 'carbon neutral' (AFP)

AFP - The Maldives, which is one of the nations most vulnerable to rising sea levels, on Monday asked fellow endangered states to go carbon neutral and lead a drive to reduce global warming.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Nov 2009 | 1:54 am

Scientists devise early treatment for spine injury

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Injecting tiny polymer spheres into rats right after a spinal cord injury helped the animals recover movement and prevented secondary nerve damage that often follows such injuries, U.S. researchers said on Sunday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 9 Nov 2009 | 1:44 am

Soviet H-bomb scientist Ginzburg dies

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vitaly Ginzburg, a Russian physicist who survived Stalin's purges by working on the Soviet atomic bomb project and later won the Nobel Prize for physics, died in Moscow late on Sunday after a long illness. He was 93.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 9 Nov 2009 | 1:43 am

Genetic tests help track food web, climate change (Reuters)

Reuters - New uses of genetic testing can help track how animal diets may change due to global warming and are helping crack down on wildlife smuggling, experts said on Saturday.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Nov 2009 | 1:41 am

Genetic tests help track food web, climate change

BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) - New uses of genetic testing can help track how animal diets may change due to global warming and are helping crack down on wildlife smuggling, experts said on Saturday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 9 Nov 2009 | 1:41 am

Maldives anger at climate inertia

The president of the Maldives strongly criticises the world's rich countries for doing too little to stem climate change.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 9 Nov 2009 | 12:31 am

Discovery News Has Moved

Discovery News has moved. This feed is no longer being updated. Please subscribe to the new feed at news.discovery.com.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 9 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

Pennsylvania lawsuit says drilling polluted water (Reuters)

Reuters - A Pennsylvania landowner is suing an energy company for polluting his soil and water in an attempt to link a natural gas drilling technique with environmental contamination.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 8 Nov 2009 | 11:54 pm

W Australia sea level rising fast

Rising sea levels in Australia are worst in the west, where they are double the world average, new figures reveal.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 8 Nov 2009 | 9:22 pm

Great news, Ratty! Study shows UK has whole load of water voles

Water voles - one of the UK's fastest declining mammals - enjoyed a "bumper year" in 2009, a study says.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 8 Nov 2009 | 9:08 pm

Dounreay 50th anniversary marked

The moment a Scottish nuclear power complex began generating energy from uranium 50 years ago is recalled.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 8 Nov 2009 | 5:28 pm

Science Weekly: Do politicians only hear the advice they want to hear?

We look at the sacking of the government's chief drugs adviser David Nutt. It came a day after he claimed ecstasy and LSD were less dangerous than alcohol. We ask what role scientific advisers should play in politics.

Read all our coverage of the Professor Nutt controversy.

In the newsjam we discuss whether it's over for Copenhagen even before the climate change talks start.

Science correspondent Ian Sample travels to Switzerland to meet Lynn Evans, the project manager of the Large Hadron Collider. Evans tells us about the moment he found out something had gone horribly wrong with the LHC. Listen to the entire interview in the latest Science Weekly Extra podcast.

The Observer's science and technology editor Robin McKie joins us in the pod for the first time. Seasoned Science Weekly podcaster and Guardian environment correspondent David Adam is also on hand.

WARNING: contains strong language and Nutts

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Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 8 Nov 2009 | 5:12 pm

The big bang at the LHC

This is Ian Sample's full interview with Lynn Evans, project manager at the Large Hadron Collider, conducted at Cern in Switzerland.

If you want to listen to Alok Jha, David Adam and Robin McKie discuss the next phase of the LHC, listen to the regular Science Weekly podcast.

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Join our Facebook group.

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Ian Sample

Andy Duckworth

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 8 Nov 2009 | 5:01 pm

Ants Save Mates Trapped in Sand (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Helpful acts, such as grooming or foster parenting, are common throughout the animal kingdom, but accounts of animals rescuing one another from danger are exceedingly rare, having been reported in the scientific literature only for dolphins, capuchin monkeys, and ants. New research shows that in the ant Cataglyphis cursor, the behavior is surprisingly sophisticated.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 8 Nov 2009 | 4:22 pm

Niger's giraffes stage a comeback

The giraffe population of Niger, on the edge of extinction 10 years ago, is on the rise and moving to new habitats.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 8 Nov 2009 | 3:43 pm

Nasa and Esa sign Mars agreement

The US and European space agencies sign the "letter of intent" tying together their Mars exploration programmes.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 8 Nov 2009 | 1:42 pm

Scientists win place for evolution in primary schools

The government is ready to put evolution on the primary curriculum for the first time after years of lobbying by senior scientists.

The schools minister, Diana Johnson, has confirmed the plans will be included in a blueprint for a new curriculum to be published in the next few weeks.

It follows a letter signed by scientists and science educators calling on the government to make the change after draft versions of the new curriculum failed to mention evolution explicitly.

The open letter sent in July to Ed Balls, the children's secretary, was signed by 25 leading figures from science and education, who urged the government to rewrite the curriculum before it was finalised.

Among the signatories were the Oxford University evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, three Nobel laureates and Reverend Professor Michael Reiss, the professor of science education at the Institute of Education in London.

The letter expressed alarm that the theory of evolution through natural selection, which it describes as "one of the most important ideas underlying biological science", was ignored in the revamped curriculum.

"We consider its inclusion vital," the letter said.

In a letter to the British Humanist Association (BHA), which has co-ordinated the campaign for evolution on the curriculum, Johnson confirmed it would be in the final draft. Pupils will start with simple concepts of change, adaptation and natural selection illustrated by the evolution of fish to amphibians to mammals, for example.

Andrew Copson, director of education at the BHA, said: "Evolution is arguably the most important concept underlying the life sciences. Providing children with an understanding of it an early age will help lay the foundations for a surer scientific understanding later on. I congratulate the government for taking on board the contributions from so many supporters of science education."

The government asked its primary school adviser, Sir Jim Rose, to overhaul the curriculum for four- to 11-year-olds last year. His report in the spring set out widespread reforms to the curriculum.

It recommended stripping away the 11 subjects primaries must cover by law, and replacing them with six "areas of learning", including history, science and geography. In the next few weeks, the results of the consultation on Rose's plans will be published along with the government's response.

Copson said the teaching of evolution was particularly important in the wake of a recent survey commissioned by the British Council, which found that 54% of Britons agreed with the view that "evolutionary theories should be taught in science lessons in schools together with other possible perspectives, such as intelligent design and creationism".

Johnson said: "Learning about evolution is an important part of science education, and pupils already learn about it at secondary school.

"The draft primary curriculum was designed to cover evolution as an implicit part of the new programme of learning for science and technology. After a public consultation on the plans – which took in the views of parents, teachers, the public, subject experts and other interested parties – it is expected that evolution will be covered explicitly in the new primary curriculum. The responses from the consultation will be published shortly."

Polly Curtis

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Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 8 Nov 2009 | 11:42 am

Early life stress 'changes' genes

A study in mice reveals how stress in early life can have a long-term impact on genes and behaviour.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 8 Nov 2009 | 11:22 am

Israel Gelfand obituary

Legendary mathematician whose work on integral geometry was vital to medical scanners

Israel Gelfand, who has died aged 96, was a major figure in mathematics for seven decades. His research ranged over most of pure maths, including algebra, analysis, and geometry. He also worked in mathematical biology, opening up the field of integral geometry, a topic that is fundamental to medical scanners. He was an incomparable teacher and made significant advances in every field that he touched.

Gelfand was born to Jewish parents in the small town of Okny (now Krasni Okny) to the north of Odessa in southern Ukraine, which was then a part of the Russian empire. In 1930 he moved to Moscow to complete his secondary education. However, he was not permitted to enrol as an undergraduate, having (according to some sources) been expelled from school because his father, a miller, was considered to be a capitalist. Israel took a part-time job as doorkeeper at the Lenin Library and taught evening classes on mathematics. The work made it possible for him to attend mathematics courses at Moscow State University.

He showed such talent that Andrei Kolmogorov, the leading Soviet mathematician of the period, took him on as a postgraduate student. His 1935 PhD thesis was in the relatively new area of functional analysis, where the ideas of calculus are extended from finitely many variables to infinitely many. One practical application is to partial differential equations, the mathematical physicist's favourite tool for describing the natural world. Another is the mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics.

Gelfand was appointed to the Steklov Mathematical Institute and taught at the university, but lost both positions temporarily through antisemitism. He was elected a corresponding (low-status) member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, but it was more than 30 years before he was made a full member. His seminar series, run independently of the university and open to anybody, ran for nearly 50 years and is famous throughout the mathematical world. He moved to America in 1989, first to Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and then Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then settling at Rutgers University, New Jersey.

The heart of Gelfand's research was representation theory, a formal setting for symmetry, a concept of central importance in mathematics and physics. A symmetry of an object is a transformation that preserves its structure, and the collection of all such transformations is the object's symmetry group. The physical world, at subatomic level, is highly symmetric: if you change an electron's direction of spin, or its electric charge, the laws of physics still work the same way. Representation theory studies all the contexts in which a particular symmetry group can arise. Its applications include subatomic particles and pattern formation – why snowflakes are six-sided, and why tigers have stripes but leopards have spots.

The most important types of symmetry are the "classical groups", a typical example being the group of all rotations of space. Gelfand solved many fundamental questions about classical groups, using a mixture of algebraic and geometric methods. His interests went beyond mathematics into theoretical and experimental science. In 1958, when his son, Aleksandr, contracted leukaemia, he started applying mathematics to cell biology, setting up the Institute of Biological Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Some of his discoveries have applications that are important for everyone: medical scanners. Doctors routinely use several different kinds of scanner. CT scanners, for example, use beams of x-rays to obtain a three-dimensional image of the body's internal organs. This is a bit like holding a semi-transparent object up to the light and using the resulting shadows to work out its true shape. The first steps in this area were taken in 1917 by Johann Radon. Gelfand developed Radon's ideas extensively, founding an entire field of mathematics, now called integral geometry. His ideas are vital to today's medical imaging methods.

I first came across Gelfand in 1973, early in my academic career. Oxford University was awarding him an honorary degree, and – unusually for that time – he had been allowed to leave the Soviet Union to receive it. So this was a rare opportunity to see the great man in action. Several of us piled into a car and drove to Oxford's Mathematical Institute. I still remember the lecture, which was about a remarkable geometrical phenomenon, the "five subspace" theorem. Today it is interpreted as a deep phenomenon in representation theory, placing limits on what is theoretically possible. Gelfand had a reputation for clear, well-organised lectures, and this one was no exception. It was aimed at professionals, and quite technical, but he developed the ideas systematically, explaining their significance as he went along. By the end of the talk, he had made a very surprising result seem natural and inevitable – a sure sign of high-quality mathematics.

Gelfand received many awards. The Soviet Union awarded him the Order of Lenin three times. He won the Wolf prize (comparable to a Nobel) in 1978, and the Kyoto prize (for "significant contributions to the progress of science, the development of civilisation, and the enrichment and elevation of the human spirit") in 1989. He was elected to innumerable academic bodies, including the Royal Society and the US National Academy of Science.

He was also a great teacher. He set up a distance-learning school for mathematics in the Soviet Union, and a similar one in the US in 1992. He considered teaching and research to be inseparable, and was equally comfortable talking to schoolchildren or his research colleagues. He supervised 22 PhD students, several of them now outstanding mathematicians in their own right.

Gelfand is survived by his second wife, Tatiana, two sons, a daughter, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

• Israel Moiseevich Gelfand, mathematician, born 2 September 1913; died 5 October 2009