Biologists discover bacterial defense mechanism against aggressive oxygen

Bacteria possess an ingenious mechanism for preventing oxygen from harming the building blocks of the cell, according to new research.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm

Skin color gives clues to health

Researchers have found that the color of a person's skin affects how healthy and therefore attractive they appear, and have found that diet may be crucial to achieving the most desirable complexion.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm

Imaging techniques may help predict response to head and neck cancer treatment

A combination of imaging tests conducted six to eight weeks after patients complete chemoradiotherapy for head and neck cancer may help identify patients who will respond to treatment and those who will require surgical follow-up, according to a new study.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm

Multiple sclerosis is more aggressive in children but slower to cause disability than in adults

Magnetic resonance images of patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in childhood show that pediatric onset multiple sclerosis is more aggressive, and causes more brain lesions, than MS diagnosed in adulthood, researchers have reported.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm

New wound dressing, full of antibiotics, dissolves when wound has healed

Scientists have developed a new wound dressing, based on innovative fibers that can be loaded with antibiotics, then dissolve when the healing process is completed.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm

Analyzing structural brain changes in Alzheimer's disease

In a study that promises to improve diagnosis and monitoring of Alzheimer's disease, scientists have developed a fast and accurate method for quantifying subtle, sub-regional brain volume loss using magnetic resonance imaging.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm

How does embryo's pancreas 'know' which cells are to produce insulin?

How does the developing pancreas in an embryo 'know' which cells are to produce insulin and which cells are to have other assignments? Researchers need to understand this if they want to be able to treat type-1 diabetes with stem cells developed into insulin-producing beta cells.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

Compound that boosts anti-inflammatory fat levels created

Pharmacology researchers have discovered a way to boost levels of a natural body fat that helps decrease inflammation, pointing to possible new treatments for allergies, illnesses and injuries related to the immune system.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

Common plastics chemicals -- phthalates -- linked to ADHD symptoms

Phthalates are important components of many consumer products, including toys, cleaning materials, plastics, and personal care items. Studies to date on phthalates have been inconsistent, with some linking exposure to these chemicals to hormone disruptions, birth defects, asthma and reproductive problems, while others have found no significant association between exposure and adverse effects.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

Small optical force can budge nanoscale objects

With a bit of leverage, researchers have used a very tiny beam of light with as little as 1 milliwatt of power to move a silicon structure up to 12 nanometers. That's enough to completely switch the optical properties of the structure from opaque to transparent.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

Can Islam be reconciled with science? | The question

Must Muslims find themselves at odds with the culture of scientific rationalism?

It's difficult to deny the rich tradition of scientific discovery that characterised Islam for much of its history. But at a recent conference in Alexandria, delegates heard how religiously-influenced attitudes towards evolution were inhibiting science education in many Islamic countries. Christian creationism has long been the cause of consternation in the west, but the Muslim version, with enegertic propagandist Harun Yahya as its poster boy, is an increasing worry for academics and policymakers.

Creationism, however eyecatching, is not the whole story. Across the Muslim world, investment in science lags behind the west. Is religion responsible? Are there doctrinal reasons for the Muslim science deficit? Or or other factors – poverty and poor governance, for example – to blame? Do Muslims living in western countries find themselves at odds with the culture of scientific rationalism?

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 23 Nov 2009 | 3:30 am

Dirt 'can be good for children'

Children should be allowed to get dirty, according to scientists who say being too clean can impair the skin's ability to heal.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 23 Nov 2009 | 3:21 am

Grandmother monkeys care for baby

Grandmother macaques care for their abandoned grandchildren, behaviour not recorded before in non-human primates.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 23 Nov 2009 | 3:17 am

The nation's weather (AP)

AP - Drier weather was expected to return to much of the West on Monday as a building ridge of high pressure replaces the eastern Pacific storm from Sunday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 23 Nov 2009 | 3:17 am

Atlantis astronauts to undertake third spacewalk (AFP)

AFP - Astronauts from the US space shuttle Atlantis were to venture into open space Monday on a third and final spacewalk of their mission aimed at maintaining and installing more high-tech equipment on the International Space Station.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 23 Nov 2009 | 2:44 am

Murky ocean depths hide abundance of life (AFP)

AFP - Thousands of animal species thrive in the ocean depths beyond the reach of sunlight, between 200 to 5,000 meters below the surface, an international team of scientists has reported after nearly 10 years of research.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 23 Nov 2009 | 1:43 am

State leaders boost to Copenhagen

Hopes are boosted for success at the Copenhagen climate summit as it emerges more than 60 state leaders are expected to attend.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 23 Nov 2009 | 12:48 am

Melting icecaps to damage major port cities: WWF (AFP)

AFP - Flooding in the world's major port cities caused by melting icecaps could cause up to 28 trillion dollars (18 trillion euros) in damage in 2050, environmental group WWF said in a report Monday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Nov 2009 | 11:56 pm

Asthma Combo Seems Less Influenced by Genes (HealthDay)

HealthDay - THURSDAY, Nov. 19 (HealthDay News) -- People's genetic makeup has been shown to affect how they respond to asthma medications, but a new study finds that many people respond well to a particular combination treatment regardless of their genes.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Nov 2009 | 11:38 pm

Warming's impacts sped up, worsened since Kyoto (AP)

AP - Since the 1997 international accord to fight global warming, climate change has worsened and accelerated — beyond some of the grimmest of warnings made back then.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm

NRC: Three Mile Island radiation not significant (AP)

AP - The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the small amount of radiation detected at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant is not significant.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Nov 2009 | 7:14 pm

Shocking Treatment Helps Erectile Dysfunction

A new stimulating treatment may fix problems in the bedroom.
Source: Livescience.com | 22 Nov 2009 | 6:28 pm

It's a Girl! Astronaut's Daughter Born While He's in Space (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - Talk about one proud papa. Astronaut Randy Bresnik beamed with joy Sunday after hearing news of the arrival of his new baby daughter, who was born on Earth while he orbited above on the International Space Station.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Nov 2009 | 6:16 pm

Grand Canyon to change 'unfair' permit system (AP)

AP - Getting one of the roughly 11,500 permits granted each year to backpack overnight in the Grand Canyon has become so competitive and "unfair" that managers at the national park have decided to change the system.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Nov 2009 | 5:33 pm

Fig wasp claims world distance record

The tiny creatures can cover 100 miles in two days

At just 1.5mm in size, the fig wasp is easily missed. But new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals it is a world champion among insects. The previous longest recorded distance for an insect transporting pollen was roughly six miles. But the fig wasp has smashed that record. A genetic study of Namibian figs conducted by Sophia Ahmed, Roger Butlin, Stephen Compton and Philip Gilmartin of Leeds University has found that in less than a 48-hour period – call that a lifetime for a fig wasp – the insect can travel well over 100 miles.

Or rather the female of the species does. Females do all the hard work here, travelling, producing offspring and pollinating figs. The males are around only for mating. But the way the females get from tree to tree over such astonishing distances is no aerodynamic phenomenon of genetic engineering. "Their wings aren't that strong and they are not very good fliers," says Compton. "What happens is that they get caught up in an air column and get swept along by the wind, which in this part of the Ugab river valley in the Namib Desert can gust up to more than 30kph [17mph]."

Given that it's hard enough to spot a fig wasp (or Ceratosolen arabicus), let alone tag it, the research team relied on the distance between trees as a form of measurement. Due to the harsh climate, only 79 trees survive along a 155-miles stretch of the river bed, and a DNA sample of each tree and some of their seeds enabled Ahmed and Butlin to identify which trees had mated with which. As the trees are only pollinated by the fig wasp, it was possible to measure the distance travelled by the insects that had delivered the pollen.

Compton says that "more birds and animals feed on fig trees than on any other plant in the rainforest. These trees have a good chance of surviving if they become isolated through deforestation." And if they do, they'll have a tiny wasp to thank.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 22 Nov 2009 | 5:05 pm

To what extent does the sun influence climate change?

Astronomer Stuart Clark joins us in the studio to look at the latest thinking about the effects of variations in solar activity on the Earth's climate. Dark matter gets a mention too.

Over the coming days he will be conducting question-and-answer sessions on Twitter - both on solar activity and dark matter. Follow him at DrStuClark and post your questions using the prefix #AskDrStu. (2:00)

There's a new BBC TV series starting this week called Paradox. Its writer Lizzy Mickery comes into the studio to tell us about the challenges of getting a drama based on science onto prime-time TV. (12:10)

In the newsjam we look at a new drug hailed as the "female viagra" and Nasa's announcement that its LCROSS probe found water on the moon. (15:30)

Duncan Clark from environmentguardian.co.uk responds to the s*** storm of blog comments arising from last week's podcast on eco-myths. Who'd have thought people could get so excited about nappies? (23:25)

Steven Levitt talks about his controversial views on geo-engineering, expressed in his latest book SuperFreakonomics. Hear more of that interview in the Guardian's The Business podcast. (26:15)

All the way from Denmark, Dr Rachel Armstrong discusses living buildings and metabolic materials. She is giving a Lunch Hour Lecture at UCL this week. (30:15)

We finish the show with more music ... the winner of Discover Magazine's "evolution in two minutes or less" video competition. (33:15)

Science correspondent Ian Sample lends us his wisdom in the pod. We promise to give it back soon.

WARNING: contains strong language.

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Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 22 Nov 2009 | 5:01 pm

Houston, we have a baby

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Shuttle Atlantis astronaut Randy Bresnik awoke early on Sunday to a much-anticipated call that his new daughter had been born.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 22 Nov 2009 | 4:49 pm

East Antarctica 'is losing ice'

The massive and apparently stable East Antarctic ice sheet is losing mass, a new study suggests.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Nov 2009 | 11:00 am

World's largest ice sheet melting faster than expected

East Antarctic sheet shedding 57bn tonnes of ice a year and contributing to sea level rises, according to Nasa aerial survey

The world's largest ice sheet has started to melt along its coastal fringes, raising fears that global sea levels will rise faster than scientists expected.

The East Antarctic ice sheet, which makes up three-quarters of the continent's 14,000 sq km, is losing around 57bn tonnes of ice a year into surrounding waters, according to a satellite survey of the region.

Scientists had thought the ice sheet was reasonably stable, but measurements taken from Nasa's gravity recovery and climate experiment (Grace) show that it started to lose ice steadily from 2006.

The measurements suggest the polar continent could soon contribute more to global sea level rises than Greenland, which is shedding more than 250bn tonnes of ice a year, adding 0.7mm to annual sea level rises.

Satellite data from the whole of Antarctica show the region is now losing around 190bn tonnes of ice a year. Uncertainties in the measurements mean the true ice loss could be between 113bn and 267bn tonnes.

"If the current trend continues or gets worse, Antarctica could become the largest contributor to sea level rises in the world. It could start to lose more ice than Greenland within a few years," said Jianli Chen, of the University of Texas at Austin.

Chen's team used data from the Nasa mission to see how Earth's gravitational pull varied month to month between April 2002 and January 2009. Measurements taken over the south pole reflect changes in the mass of the Antarctic ice sheets.

The survey confirmed the West Antarctic ice sheet is melting rapidly with the loss of around 132bn tonnes of ice a year, but revealed unexpected melting in the larger East Antarctic ice sheet.

The scientists used a computer model to take account of ongoing movements in the Earth's surface caused by the retreat of glaciers at the end of the last ice age. Uncertainties in the model gave the scientists only a broad estimate of ice loss in the East Antarctic ice sheet of between 5bn and 109bn tonnes a year.

Chen said that warmer ocean waters may have triggered the melting by seeping under the ice sheet and making it slide more easily over the rock it rests on.

Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, Chen's team reports that Wilkes Land on the East Antarctic ice sheet was stable until 2006, but has since begun to lose ice. Another region on the ice sheet, Enderby Land, was thickening until 2006, but has since started to melt. "We're seeing these kinds of climate change effects all around the world now," Chen said.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 22 Nov 2009 | 11:00 am

Whaling: The Beginning of the End?

Japan's whaling fleet left port for the Antarctic last week. Japanese authorities defended the hunt, as usual, as legitimate scientific research. I and others have dealt with that contention almost ad nauseam, and the basic outlines of the argument are ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Nov 2009 | 10:57 am

Denmark: 65 world leaders for UN climate summit (AP)

AP - Sixty-five world leaders have said they will attend the Copenhagen climate summit in December, and several more have responded positively to invitations, Danish officials said Sunday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Nov 2009 | 10:49 am

Soviet Union's non-Communist astronaut dies age 83

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Soviet Union's only non-Communist astronaut, Konstantin Feoktistov, has died at the age of 83, Russia's space agency said on Sunday.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 22 Nov 2009 | 10:35 am

Dark ocean depths home to exotic, unknown life

OSLO (Reuters) - The permanent darkness of the ocean depths is home to a far greater range of animals, from luminous jellyfish to tubeworms that live off oil seeping from the seabed, than previously thought, scientists said on Sunday.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 22 Nov 2009 | 10:20 am

Thousands of Strange Sea Creatures Discovered

The deep sea is teeming with thousands of species that have never known sunlight, explorers now say.
Source: Livescience.com | 22 Nov 2009 | 10:01 am

Expedition Finds Strange Sea Creatures

Details of the Census of Marine Life research.
Source: Livescience.com | 22 Nov 2009 | 10:00 am

Ex-USSR cosmonaut Feoktistov dies

The USSR's first civilian cosmonaut, Konstantin Feoktistov, a crew member of the 1964 Voskhod spaceship, dies.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Nov 2009 | 8:14 am

The Era of the Electric Vehicle Started Now

There's a lot happening with the electrification of vehicles right now. Real things, concrete steps towards full scale mass deployment. The kickoff of the Nissan Leaf tour last week and the unveiling of the City of Houston's first charging station ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Nov 2009 | 8:12 am

Reptile Moms Share Nests

Nest sharing is surprisingly common among reptile moms.
Source: Livescience.com | 22 Nov 2009 | 7:33 am

Shuttle astronaut becomes father in space

Astronaut Randolph Bresnik becomes a father in space after his wife gives birth to a daughter back home on Earth in Texas.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Nov 2009 | 5:35 am

Vatican Expert: Turin Shroud Jesus Relic

Faint writing on the famous linen proves it can't be of medieval origin, claims a researcher.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Nov 2009 | 2:48 am