Biology, training and profit sharing make best traders

Researchers have identified a group of traders consistently able to outperform the market, even during the credit crisis. The study offers a rare glimpse into how biology, experience and compensation schemes work together to make a profitable and -- crucially -- a prudent risk taker.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 26 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

Brain's fear center is equipped with built-in suffocation sensor

The portion of our brains that is responsible for registering fear and even panic has a built-in chemical sensor that is triggered by a primordial terror -- suffocation. A new article shows in studies of mice that the rise in acid levels in the brain upon breathing carbon dioxide triggers acid-sensing channels that evoke fear behavior.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 26 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

Chemists get custom-designed microscopic particles to self-assemble in liquid crystal

Chemists and physicists have succeeded in getting custom-shaped particles to interact and assemble in a controlled way in a liquid crystal.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 26 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

Ladybugs taken hostage by wasps

Are ladybugs being overtaken by wasps? An entomologist is investigating a type of wasp present in Quebec that forces ladybugs to carry their larvae. These wasps lay their eggs on the ladybug's body, a common practice in the insect world, yet they don't kill their host.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 26 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

Tobacco smoke exposure before heart transplantation may increase the risk of transplant failure

Scientists provide the first direct evidence that cigarette smoke exposure prior to a heart transplant in either the donor, recipient, or both, accelerates the death of a transplanted heart.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 26 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

Virtual streams created to help restore real ones

Researchers have developed a unique new computer model called the Virtual StreamLab, designed to help restore real streams to a healthier state. The Virtual StreamLab demonstrates the physics of natural water flows at an unprecedented level of detail and realism.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 26 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

Bioengineers succeed in producing plastics without the use of fossil fuels

Scientists have succeeded in producing the polymers used for everyday plastics through bioengineering, rather than through the use of fossil fuel based chemicals, heralding the creation of environmentally conscious plastics.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 26 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am

Cutting greenhouse pollutants could directly save millions of lives worldwide

Six new international studies show that cutting greenhouse gases, in particular ozone and black carbon, can quickly save millions of lives worldwide in addition to slowing climate change.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 26 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am

Startled flies may provide insight into ADHD

It seems obvious that naturally waking up from sleep and being startled by something in the environment are two very different emotional states. However, the neuroscience that underlies these different forms of arousal has, for the most part, remained a mystery. Now, new research demonstrates that there are at least two completely separate and independent forms of arousal in fruit flies.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 26 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am

Scientists watch as peptides control crystal growth with 'switches, throttles and brakes'

By producing some of the highest resolution images of peptides attaching to mineral surfaces, scientists have a deeper understanding how biomolecules manipulate the growth crystals. This research may lead to a new treatment for kidney stones using biomolecules.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 26 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am

Invading camels to be shot in Australian town (AP)

AP - Australian authorities plan to corral about 6,000 wild camels with helicopters and gun them down after they overran a small Outback town in search of water, trampling fences, smashing tanks and contaminating supplies.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 26 Nov 2009 | 3:18 am

China announces plan to boost energy efficiency (AP)

AP - China announced plans Thursday to sharply boost its energy efficiency by slowing the growth of carbon emissions as part of its contribution to the fight against global warming.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 26 Nov 2009 | 3:01 am

Monster worm and sea star frenzy

Deep under the Antarctic ice, a rare colourful burst of starfish and monster worms is filmed by BBC camera crew.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 26 Nov 2009 | 2:56 am

The cost of adapting to climate change

Farmers in developing countries are already feeling the effects of climate change. What is needed to help them cope is an almost unprecedented shift of resources from north to south, says Anne Perkins

The gap between rhetoric and reality, the developed and developing worlds, is cruelly illustrated by the huge promises and meagre results of successive global gatherings on providing funds to help less developed countries adapt to the changing climate.

On Tuesday, Farm-Africa, one of the Guardian's partners in the Katine project, helped launch Climate Frontline, a collection of African voices reflecting on how their climate has already changed, and how they are adapting to it. It is full of practical ideas – new ways of making liquid compost from animal droppings, or growing maize in pits where moisture is better retained, to name just two.

But unless Copenhagen sets in train a colossal effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions, many African communities are going to have to do much more than get smart about soil improvement. Reforestation and irrigation, improved seeds, technology and education are all part of the answer to saving the continent's agricultural potential.

At the Climate Frontline launch at Westminster, Farm-Africa's chief executive, Christie Peacock, warned that despite the experience of generations of farmers in adapting to harsh conditions, "the pace of change is stepping up", while the reaction of the major polluters remained "depressingly poor".

Another speaker, Saleemul Huq, of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), warned that the loss of viable agricultural land could lead to mounting insecurity and the massive relocation of whole peoples, possibly across borders.

The failure of the rainy season is already bringing instability back to some parts of the Teso region of north-east Uganda, in which Katine is found. East of Katine, the Karamojong – whose region is even worse affected – have returned to cattle rustling to replace stock they have lost to drought.

Sub-Saharan Africa is only one of four global regions that will feel the impact of climate change most severely. Island states, coastal areas and the great Asian river deltas are all likely to experience devastating loss of land.

That is why, as long ago as 2001, the protocol agreed at Kyoto included a plan for an adaptation fund. The best feature about it was that it was to be funded by a levy on "clean development mechanism project activities" - that is, it was to depend on funding on the rate at which developed countries reduce their emissions. It was to have an independent source of income rather than relying on vulnerable national pledges of donations.

Sadly, it has taken until now to agree the governance and rules under which it would operate. And although they are hailed as a triumph for a new way of doing business, with developing countries having a majority on the board and the final say on the disbursement of funds, it is still waiting for a steady revenue stream.

Meanwhile other funds have proliferated. The Overseas Development Institute lists dozens of them from the UN, the World Bank, the EU and some individual countries. As the Guardian reported last month, there is one common feature of the multilateral funds, like the UN's special climate change fund and its less developed countries' fund, and others like the World Bank's loan-based strategic climate fund: the money pledged by individual countries has not been delivered.

Yet the predicted cost of adaptation and mitigation is rising steeply. As the IIED reported in August, it is now estimated at something approaching $150bn a year.

In the likely absence of any deal on targets for emissions reductions at Copenhagen next month, all attention is going to focus on finding a way of guaranteeing that there are reliable, predictable, additional and equitable funds available to the countries that pollute the least and will suffer the effects of global warming the most.

What is needed is an almost unprecedented shift of resources from north to south. It is going to take something like a revolution to get it.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 26 Nov 2009 | 2:54 am

Device spells doom for superbugs

Researchers have demonstrated a device that can kill off superbugs such as MRSA in just seconds - and could help with body odour.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 26 Nov 2009 | 2:05 am

Indonesian police stop Greenpeace forest protest (AP)

AP - Police broke up a protest by the environmental group Greenpeace against deforestation on the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Thursday, arresting 12 foreign and six Indonesian demonstrators, an activist said.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 26 Nov 2009 | 1:42 am

Ian Sample on a Commons inquiry into homeopathy

Ian Sample on the MPs' investigation into whether there is sufficient evidence to dispense homeopathy on the NHS

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 26 Nov 2009 | 1:23 am

Thanksgiving last full day in space for shuttle (AP)

AP - Space shuttle Atlantis' astronauts will spend Thanksgiving checking their ship for the ride home.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 26 Nov 2009 | 1:13 am

Obama to plead US case at global warming summit (AP)

AP - President Barack Obama will commit the United States to substantial cuts in greenhouse gas pollution over the next decade — despite resistance in Congress over higher costs — when he travels to a major climate conference in Copenhagen next month.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 26 Nov 2009 | 1:05 am

UK plutonium strategy 'ludicrous'

The UK's strategy for reducing its stockpile of separated plutonium at Sellafield nuclear plant is in "disarray", experts warn.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 25 Nov 2009 | 5:36 pm

Wind turbine noise rules 'dated'

The government needs to update its guidance on the impact of noise from wind turbines, a campaign group says.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 25 Nov 2009 | 5:20 pm

Letters: Climate scientists' hacked emails damage global warming case

I am sure George Monbiot is right that global warming isn't a scam (Comment, 24 November). However, I wonder if he is mistaken in his view of the limited nature of the recent disclosures. He accepts that there may have been attempts to prevent scientific data being released, to destroy information subject to FOI requests and to prevent sceptical views being published. What comes across from the leaked emails and has been confirmed elsewhere is the tight-knit nature of the global warming community. Most of the emails are not sent between Climate Research Unit staff but to other researchers around the world. They seem to show that the behaviours Monbiot condemns were freely discussed between them all.

It seems a distinct possibility that the majority of the global warming community have made attempts to prevent scientific data being released, to destroy information subject to FOI requests and to prevent sceptical views being published. George Monbiot has been honourable in admitting that he should have been a little less trusting. How many more journalists and activists around the world may now have to do the same?

Julian Gall

Godalming, Surrey

• As a meteorologist, I am saddened by the damage inflicted by the release of illegally accessed emails between climate scientists. But it is the arrogance and lack of understanding of communication among some scientists which is to blame.

The illegally obtained emails provided the media with a bowling ball to knock down the climate change "celebrity", doing great damage to climate science for years to come. Many already confused members of the public will now have strong evidence not to believe climate scientists, despite evidence to the contrary.

Many scientists are guilty of "dictating" climate change research, rather than "explaining" climate science to the public. We must all, professionals, academics and amateurs, strive to communicate our science to the public in a language which is easily understood, avoids confusion and leaves the door ajar for considered, revised opinions to be expressed without fear of ridicule or consequence for career or personal standing. We should not run scared of those who question our research findings or hypotheses, but welcome these as part of an ongoing debate and the challenge of science.

Dr Simon Keeling

Wombourne, Staffordshire

• Since climate sceptics seem in no way bothered by the legality or morality of hacking into someone's personal email, does that mean it is alright to hack into the sceptics' sites? Might there even be legal justification, under freedom of information acts, to check for evidence for collusion or illegal activities of those "opposing global warming"? It would be highly revealing to read what climate "sceptic" sites contained. What's good for the goose is good for the gander …

Thomas Crowley

University of Edinburgh

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 25 Nov 2009 | 5:05 pm

In praise of… mint

In Greek mythology she was a nymph about to be seduced by Hades before Queen Persephone turned her into a plant. Pliny the Elder thought it reanimated the spirit. The Romans brought it to Britain. The Pilgrim Fathers may have taken it to America. Thus do the mint-flavoured affairs of the world go round and round. Now a team from Newcastle University appears to have proved what Brazilian herbalists have known for thousands of years: Brazilian mint tea can be as potent a painkiller as commercially produced analgesics. The concoction is not mint as we know it. Dried leaves need to be boiled in water for 30 minutes and cooled before being drunk. And the lead researcher of the university team, Graciela Rocha, who can remember being given the tipple in her childhood, says that it tastes more like sage than mint. No matter. The finding demonstrates the extraordinary versatility of mint. It eases toothache, aids digestion, and has anti-asthmatic qualities. It pops up in cuisine around the world, anywhere from southern mint juleps to tea, from tabouli to raita. Mint is one of the first plants to sprout in spring, and it will quickly take over garden beds by pushing out wandering shoots. In fact, you have to possess the qualities of Agent Orange as a gardener to kill it off. It may take many more years to find out what in Hyptis crenata, or Brazilian mint, soothes headaches and calms fevers. But surely the chemistry matters less than the effect or the taste. Mint is just a good thing to have around.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 25 Nov 2009 | 5:05 pm

The Robin Hood Banker: Does 'helper syndrome' exist?

£7m theft could be down to 'martyrdom feeling'

In Germany, she is known only as the Robin Hood Banker, a 62-year-old woman who has been convicted of stealing €7.6m (£6.9m) from the accounts of rich customers to hide the unreliable loans that she was making to poor ones. "Customers asked me if I could help them," she said at her trial, in an attempt to explain her actions. "I can't understand it any more. I must have had helper syndrome."

But is there any such thing? "I've certainly heard it alleged," says Dr James Thompson, honorary lecturer in psychology at University College London. "It is a type of helpfulness in some ways related to feelings of martyrdom. Typically, I've heard it applied to women who stay with people who are abusing drugs or alcohol, and are sometimes violent."

These are sad situations, of course. But whether they qualify as a psychological "syndrome" is another matter. Thompson knows some studies that suggest so, but he has his doubts. "It's a bit like if I go off and have an affair and then say I have 'sexual lust syndrome'," he explains. "How does that differ from my just being lusty and wanting an affair?"

Over then to Dr George Fieldman, a cognitive behavioural therapist, for a second opinion. "I've never heard the category," he says. And nor is it listed in his Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. "But being gay was in the DSM 30 years ago," he points out. "So just because it exists in the book doesn't mean it exists as a disorder in reality. And just because it doesn't exist in the books doesn't mean it isn't a meaningful pattern in people."

A mixed result then, for the Robin Hood Banker, who has agreed to pay back as much as she can. Helpful to the end.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 25 Nov 2009 | 5:05 pm

How science is shackled by intellectual property

Ownership rights pose a real danger to scientific progress for the public good

The idea of ownership is ubiquitous. Title deeds establish and protect ownership of our houses, while security of property is as important to the proprietors of Tesco and Sainsbury's as it is to their customers. However, there is a profound problem when it comes to so-called intellectual property (IP) – which requires a strong lead from government, and for which independent advice has never been more urgently required. The David Nutt affair has illustrated very well the importance of objective analysis of complex social issues.

The myth is that IP rights are as important as our rights in castles, cars and corn oil. IP is supposedly intended to encourage inventors and the investment needed to bring their products to the clinic and marketplace. In reality, patents often suppress invention rather than promote it: drugs are "evergreened" when patents are on the verge of running out – companies buy up the patents of potential rivals in order to prevent them being turned into products. Moreover, the prices charged, especially for pharmaceuticals, are often grossly in excess of those required to cover costs and make reasonable profits.

IP rights are beginning to permeate every area of scientific endeavour. Even in universities, science and innovation, which have already been paid for out of the public purse, are privatised and resold to the public via patents acquired by commercial interests. The drive to commercialise science has overtaken not only applied research but also "blue-skies" research, such that even the pure quest for knowledge is subverted by the need for profit.

For example, it is estimated that some 20% of individual human genes have been patented already or have been filed for patenting. As a result, research on certain genes is largely restricted to the companies that hold the patents, and tests involving them are marketed at prohibitive prices. We believe that this poses a very real danger to the development of science for the public good.

The fruits of science and innovation have nourished our society and economy for years, but nations unable to navigate our regulatory system are often excluded, as are vulnerable individuals. We need to consider how to balance the needs of science as an industry with the plight of those who desperately need the products of science.

Clearly it is vitally important that we continue to protect science and enable it to flourish. Science and the many benefits that science has produced have played a crucial part in our history and produced vast improvements to human welfare. It would be remiss if we failed to recognise the importance of science as an industry and investment in research to national and regional economic development; but against these economic concerns (individual, corporate and national) an overriding consideration must be the interests of the public and of humanity present and future. Science as an industry may be booming, but the benefits of science need to be more efficiently and more cheaply placed in the service of the public.

This is of particular concern in the developing world, where drugs that are routinely available in high-income countries are unaffordable or inaccessible, and treatments for diseases of the poor are simply not being developed due to lack of a viable market. Existing inequities in knowledge capital make developing nations hostage to more technologically advanced countries for their basic health and development needs, and restrict the participation in research that would allow them to redress this imbalance.

For science to continue to flourish, it is necessary that the knowledge it generates be made freely and widely available. IP rights have the tendency to stifle access to knowledge and the free exchange of ideas that is essential to science. So, far from stimulating innovation and the dissemination of the benefits of science, IP all too often hampers scientific progress and restricts access to its products.

The Manchester Manifesto, produced by an interdisciplinary and international group of experts and published today, explores these problems and points the way to future solutions that will more effectively protect science, innovation and the public good. It calls on all interested parties to find better ways of delivering the fruits of science where they are most needed.

This article is co-authored with Sarah Chan and Professor John Harris

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 25 Nov 2009 | 5:05 pm

Siberian tiger in severe decline

The last remaining population of Siberian tigers has declined significantly, according to a recent survey.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 25 Nov 2009 | 4:46 pm

Experts scan disease links with Chinese "gene map"

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A large analysis of the genes of 8,200 ethnic Chinese has revealed subtle genetic differences between inhabitants in northern China and southern China, and even between different Chinese dialect groups.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 25 Nov 2009 | 3:24 pm

Story in Photos: Caveman Roasted Bird Feast

This week at Discovery News you can read about some of the earliest evidence for human consumption of birds outside of Africa. Around 150,000 years ago, Homo heidelbergensis cavemen ate ducks that they either roasted or consumed whole and raw. ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Nov 2009 | 2:37 pm

US pledges carbon emissions cuts

President Obama will vow to cut US carbon emissions by 17% by 2020, when he attends the climate summit in Copenhagen.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 25 Nov 2009 | 2:16 pm

Top 5 Surprising Turkey Facts (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - The average American eats 17.6 pounds of turkey per year, more than double the figure for 1970, according to the National Turkey Federation. To feed the growing appetite, some 273 million turkeys will be raised in the United States in 2009, and a good number of them will be consumed on Thanksgiving, after which many Americans will loll about, overstuffed, sleepy and in many cases intoxicated.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 25 Nov 2009 | 2:10 pm

Curbing global warming saves lives, studies say (AP)

AP - Cutting global warming pollution would not only make the planet healthier, it would make people healthier too, new research suggests.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 25 Nov 2009 | 1:41 pm

Atlantis leaves station as NASA eyes shuttles' end

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Space shuttle Atlantis left the International Space Station on Wednesday after a seven-day stay to deliver gear to keep the outpost operating after the shuttle program is retired next year.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 25 Nov 2009 | 1:33 pm

Atlantis leaves station as NASA eyes shuttles' end (Reuters)

Reuters - Space shuttle Atlantis left the International Space Station on Wednesday after a seven-day stay to deliver gear to keep the outpost operating after the shuttle program is retired next year.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 25 Nov 2009 | 1:33 pm

Cavemen Roasted Birds, Too

Although the first Thanksgiving was held in 1621, humans were roasting birds long before then.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Nov 2009 | 1:30 pm

Industrial Thanksgiving: Science Takes Mom’s Recipes to the Assembly Line

Thanksgiving is about eating, and though local, organic food might be what the cool kids are eating, most people are still eating products of the industrial food system.

Whether you’re talking turkey, cranberries or potatoes, industrial-scale processes have been developed to drive down food costs, drive up corporate profits and feed America’s incredible hunger for novel food items.

But most consumers of these manufactured meals have little or no knowledge of the machines and methods used to freeze turkeys, turn potatoes into fake potatoes, and cranberries into TV-dinner cranberry sauce. It’s not always pretty, but food scientists’ epic battle to scale up your mom’s recipes without making them taste nasty is worth examining, if not giving thanks for.

Turkey is the most iconic component of any Thanksgiving meal. Extensive breeding programs have seriously genetically altered the birds that millions of Americans eat. The birds have more than doubled in size since 1930 to an average of 28 pounds today. Even though we generally eat them whole, and therefore less processed than other meals, food technologists have developed new ways of freezing turkeys to increase their edible life, which according to the USDA is just one or two days for fresh turkeys.

A 1990 patent secured by food processor Swift-Eckrich (now Armour Swift-Eckrich) describes a method for freezing turkeys faster than traditional air-chilling. Salt, water and propolyene glycol — a major and generally nontoxic component of airplane de-icers — are cooled down to less than minus 5 degrees Fahrenheit. Because the propylene glycol and salt lower the freezing point of the water, the liquid remains unfrozen. The turkeys are either sprayed with the solution or immersed in it, in a tank like the one below.

Even the largest bird noted in the patent, a 19-pounder, froze within 7 hours, 10 minutes, as compared with the 24 to 48 hours blast-chilling would need.

According to the patent, the “flavor, texture, and quality of the thawed product is excellent,” displaying none of the “objectionable medicinal or other flavors and aftertastes” of previous similar processes.

But processed turkeys are just the beginning of our industrialized holiday feast. Cranberries and potatoes have received even-more-transformative treatments by food scientists.

Traditional mashed potatoes are simple to make. You peel potatoes, cook them until they’re soft, and mash them. But potatoes don’t last that long, and they’re heavy and bulky to transport. Food companies wanted a lighter, longer-lasting product.

Enter the potato flake. Growing out of research on potato granules, the flake was a type of dehydrated, heavily processed potato that could be heated with water and fat to make a product closely resembling the hand-mashed variety.

The potato flake process was established by 1967, with variations coming from several companies. Overton Machine Company patented the process depicted below.

As shown in the diagram, there are a few more steps to this process than the one your Mom uses. First, the potatoes are heated for a few minutes at about 170 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, they’re bathed in a caustic lye solution, which is used in manufacturing aluminum and paper, and as a cleaning agent. As you might expect, that softens them up, which makes the peeling step easier. Removed from their skins, they are bathed in a solution that neutralizes the pH.

Then, they head to a slicer that cuts them into half-inch chunks. Those are precooked in hot water, cooled, and then cooked again at about 200 degrees. The potato pieces are then doused with some preservatives and pushed through a ricer to make them smaller. Finally, the potato particles are placed on a dryer at a thickness of less than 1/100 of an inch. Voila, potato flakes!

“This invention now provides a process and apparatus for the production of uniform, high-quality dehydrated potato flakes which will reconstitute into a most palatable food which cannot be distinguished from the naturally occurring cooked potatoes,” the patent contends, “despite variations in growth techniques, geographical areas or potato varieties and with substantial reduction of required processing materials, equipment, time, and cost.”

Of course, if you prefer baked potatoes, another inventor has a product just for you. Miles Willard of Idaho Falls was granted a patent in 1979 for the “Preparation of Fabricated Baked Potato Product.”

It’s like a traditional baked potato, in that its potato interior is enclosed in potato skin, but that’s where the similarities end. For example, the potato skin is, “preferably made by baking peeled potato pieces to impart a baked potato flavor, grinding the baked pieces, and mixing the ground baked-potato pieces with water, starch and cooked potato solids to form a pliable, cohesive baked-potato dough.”

This dough is then wrapped around a potato mash created basically through the flake process described above minus the dehydration. Then it’s fried. It’s not just a baked potato that was heated in a dry oven: It’s many potatoes baked and mashed and then reassembled into something that kind of looks and tastes like a baked potato. The point? It cooks in just minutes instead of the hour required for regular potatoes.

Potatoes like that would be convenient in a TV dinner. These prepackaged, microwavable meals present a variety of challenges to the food engineer. How, for example, can cranberry sauce be included with turkey dinners that will be packaged, frozen and heated all together?

“Cranberry sauce is now so widely recognized as an almost indispensable accompaniment of any turkey dinner, that it is sorely missed when omitted from turkey TV dinners,” a 1967 Ocean Spray patent noted. “Yet, such cranberry sauces are not often, if ever, included in frozen dinners, primarily because of difficulties encountered by reason of their peculiar processing characteristics.”

Cranberry sauce is held together by pectin found in the cranberries themselves, and it must be allowed to set. or it loses its texture on freezing and reheating. But when it’s set, the mechanical methods necessary to actually place it next to the turkey in the dish bust up its structural integrity. That leads to the same problem that TV dinner makers encountered when they stuck ungelled cranberry sauce to the meals. The flowing liquid “flows into and colors the other components of the dinner.”

This terrible dilemma was temporarily solved by hand-plating (!) jellied cranberry just before the TV dinners were frozen, but that was “too slow to be compatible with the automated high speed of the rest of the production line.”

So Ocean Spray developed a solution with just the right mix of ingredients. All it took was mixing and heating 500 pounds of cranberries, 30 pounds of waxy maize starch, 60 gallons of Briz sugar syrup and 30 gallons of water. The corn starch is heated up and added to the cranberries This causes the mixture to gel almost instantly into a solution that won’t break down upon freezing and reheating, transforming the relationship between TV dinners and cranberry sauce forever.

“Such cooked cranberry-sauce mix thus need not be held for any gelling period after cooking, but may be rapidly metered hot directly from the cooking kettles onto individual TV dinner plates in the freeze-line of production without danger of losing gelation,” the patent triumphantly concludes.

Image: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

See Also:

• Give Thanks? Science Supersized Your Turkey Dinner
• How To Bake a Potato Without An Oven
• Thanksgiving Cooking Gadgets
• Wired 8.06: Fetish
• Is Science on the Menu Too Much Information?

WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal’s Twitter, Google Reader feed, and green tech history research site; Wired Science on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 25 Nov 2009 | 1:22 pm

Boost for 'spin-based' electronics

The field of "spintronics" - a future means of computing - is shown to work at room temperature for the first time.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 25 Nov 2009 | 1:07 pm

Homeopathy on the NHS is unethical, doctors tell MPs

Giving homeopathic remedies to patients on the NHS is unethical and a dubious use of public money, scientists and doctors told MPs today.

The treatments, which are licensed by the government and offered through several NHS hospitals, have insufficient clinical evidence to support them, they said.

The criticisms were raised in an inquiry held by the Commons cross-party science committee to investigate the strength of scientific evidence behind government policy on homeopathic medicines.

"If the NHS commitment to evidence-based medicine is more than a lip service, then money has to be spent on treatments that are evidence-based, and homeopathy isn't," said Edzard Ernst, a professor of complementary medicine at the Peninsula medical school in Exeter.

Homeopathic treatments are usually made by diluting a substance so much there may be no molecules of the original ingredient left. Homeopaths maintain that water retains a memory of the substance, which has a therapeutic effect. Most scientists contend the treatments are no better than placebos or sugar pills.

"If you prescribe a drug to patients that you know has no efficacy, on a basis which is essentially dishonest with a patient, I personally feel that is unethical," Dr James Thallon, medical director at the NHS West Kent primary care trust told MPs. "We have taken the view about where the balance of the scientific community's opinion is on homeopathy and, to me and my colleagues, it's pretty clear."

Thallon cut funding to Tunbridge Wells homeopathic hospital in 2007 after deciding that more proven medications have priority. The NHS spent £12m on homeopathic remedies between 2005 and 2008, money many critics said the health service could not afford.

Peter Fisher, a medical doctor and practising homeopath at the Royal London Homeopathic hospital, defended the treatments, arguing they gave "more bang for the buck" compared with conventional medications. "I practise it because I think it works. I wouldn't use it … if I thought I was conning the patient," he said.

Unlike conventional drugs, homeopathic treatments can be sold without being proven to work in clinical trials. Instead, they can be marketed for mild conditions if homeopaths broadly agree the treatment relieves symptoms of a condition. Many scientists believe this exemption should be removed because it is misleading and undermines the credibility of pharmacists and the government's regulatory body, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

Paul Bennett, standards director at Boots, the chemist, said the company would continue to stock homeopathic treatments. "I have no evidence to suggest they are efficacious. It's about consumer choice and a large number of our customers think they work," he said.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 25 Nov 2009 | 1:03 pm

Cookbook Reveals Secrets of Space Cuisine

Pining for some thermostabilized chicken fajitas this Thanksgiving?
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Nov 2009 | 1:00 pm

DIY Botox Seller Busted by Texas Attorney General

The Texas attorney general filed charges Monday against Laurie D’Alleva for allegedly selling prescription drugs like Botox from websites she owned, including discountmedspa.com.

Agents descended on her Mansfield, Texas home and carried out boxes, computers, and other possible evidence for the case, according to local news reports.

The lawsuit comes after Wired.com first reported on D’Alleva’s business practices. An Oct. 27 story detailed her website’s claims to offer prescription drugs including Renova and Dysport, the botulinum toxin-variant, as well as lip-filling gels.

Videos embedded on the site and posted to YouTube showed D’Alleva injecting Dysport, which the site calls “The Freeze,” into her own face. The videos have since been taken down, but Wired.com downloaded a copy of the video, which is posted here.

D’Alleva faces civil penalties of $25,000 per violation per day for each time she broke the rules for selling prescription drugs under the Texas Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. In a post to the website, she claimed to have more than 2,000 customers.

Allison Lowery, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said her agency referred the case to state attorney general, after completing their own investigation.

According to the lawsuit filed by the Attorney General, an investigator ordered D’Alleva’s “newbie kit” on Nov. 9, two weeks after the Wired.com report. Four days later, it arrived, containing “Restylane, one fifty unit Freeze product containing purified neurotoxin complex, two empty syringes, two syringe needles” and instructions for use.

The attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A physicians’ association has also responded to Wired.com’s report. The International Association of Physicians for Aesthetic Medicine released a set of safety tips for consumers, which warns against injecting yourself with botox

“Recently, there have been several reports regarding DIY “botox-like” injectables, which can be purchased through the internet,” the IAPAM safety tips read. “A woman in Texas offered consumers a botox-like product called “Freeze,” complete with a “How-To” video, so consumers could administer the botulinum toxin themselves.”

See Also:

• DIY Botox: Site Offers Injectable Drug Without Prescription — With How-To Video
• DIY Laser Market Exploding, Cosmetic Surgeons Not Happy
• Glaucoma Meds Repurposed to Grow Longer Lashes
• Suntan Drug Greenlighted for Trials
• McCain’s Mortality Risk Questioned in Medical Journal

WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal’s Twitter, Google Reader feed, and green tech history research site; Wired Science on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 25 Nov 2009 | 12:47 pm

Holiday Sky Treat: Spot the Shuttle and Space Station (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - The space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station are separately flying around the Earth until Friday, and they can be seen as a pair of bright lights in the sky at certain times over the next few days.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 25 Nov 2009 | 12:31 pm

Mr. Obama Goes to Copenhagen

The good news: President Obama has agreed to attend the Copenhagen climate treaty negotiations. That is certainly far more visible a show of presidential support for international efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions than we have seen before. At the ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Nov 2009 | 12:22 pm

Stellar Fossils from Milky Way's Past Revealed

An oddball cluster of stars was around when our galaxy was just forming.
Source: Livescience.com | 25 Nov 2009 | 12:11 pm

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade's History Surprise

We were wondering whether there were any stories out there today about the balloons in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which turns 85 this year. Something sciency. The answer to that is "nope," but I found something even better: The ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Nov 2009 | 12:08 pm

'Icebergs heading to New Zealand'

A warning is issued to ships in the southern Pacific after more than 100 icebergs are spotted drifting towards New Zealand.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 25 Nov 2009 | 11:52 am

Going nuclear

Will new reactors be built in time to keep the lights on?
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 25 Nov 2009 | 11:33 am

Pacific Northwest Earthquakes Could Strike Closer to Home

Major earthquakes occurring along the Cascadia subduction zone off the coast of Washington state could strike closer to the state’s urban areas than some models have suggested, a new study notes.

GPS data gathered at dozens of sites throughout western Washington hint that slippage along the interface between the North American and Juan de Fuca tectonic plates could occur as deep as 25 kilometers below the Earth’s surface, says Timothy I. Melbourne, a geodesist at Central Washington University in Ellensburg. That depth, in turn, would place the epicenters of quakes triggered along that portion of the subduction zone — some of which could exceed magnitude 9 —more than 60 kilometers inland, he and CWU colleague James Chapman report online and in the November 28 Geophysical Research Letters.

Seafloor spreading is shoving the eastern edge of the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate, which runs from northern California to southern British Columbia, eastward beneath the North American plate. Long-term observations indicate that the plates are converging at an average rate of between 3 and 4 centimeters each year, says Melbourne. “With GPS, you can see plate tectonics happening on a week-to-week basis,” he notes.

At shallow depths, where Earth’s crust is relatively cool, the tectonic interface is locked, and seismic stress builds up there until it is released during a quake. But deep beneath western Washington, at depths between 25 and 45 kilometers, the two tectonic plates slide past each other for a few days each 18 months or so. These slippage episodes are sometimes described as “silent earthquakes” (SN: 4/27/02, p. 260) but actually do register on seismometers, says Melbourne. “They’re like a magnitude-1 quake but they go on for a couple of weeks,” he notes. The total energy release in each slippage episode, if let loose all at once, would equal that in a quake with a magnitude between 6.3 and 6.7.

The long-term GPS data provide information about where slippage is occurring and how the plates are deforming. For instance, while average plate convergence rates offshore are greater than 3 centimeters per year, those along the coast are about 2.5 cm/yr. Convergence inland, near Seattle, only adds up to about 0.5 cm/yr, says Melbourne. These trends, when combined with previous seismic data, hint that stress is accumulating along the tectonic interface at depths less than 25 kilometers, where the tectonic interface is locked.

GPS data are a more direct way of telling where tectonic slippage is occurring and where it isn’t, says John Vidale, a seismologist at the University of Washington in Seattle. “That data from both GPS and seismic instruments are pointing in the same direction is comforting,” he adds.

A major quake rupturing the 300-kilometer length of the Cascadia subduction zone that runs along the Washington coast would measure magnitude 8.9, Melbourne and Chapman estimate. If the entire 1,100-kilometer subduction zone slipped at once, the quake would be a magnitude-9.2 whopper rivaling the tsunami-spawning quake that slammed Indonesia in December 2004 (SN: 1/8/05, p. 19). Field studies suggest that quakes of such magnitude happen along the Cascadia subduction zone once every 550 years, on average. The last one struck the region in January of 1700 (SN: 11/29/97, p. 348).

Quake hazard analyses for the region, based partially on seismic data, already account for possible tectonic slippage at depths of 25 kilometers, says Garry Rogers, an earthquake scientist at the Geological Survey of Canada in Sidney, British Columbia. Nevertheless, he notes, the new findings provide “more precise measurements than we’ve had before…. This study confirms a lot of what we’ve known about.”

See Also:

• 5 Most Dangerous U.S. Earthquake Hot Spots Beyond California
• California Is Due for a Katrina-Style Disaster
• Istanbul Opens World’s Largest Earthquake-Safe Building
• Man-Made Dam May Have Triggered Great China Quake
• Tsunami Risk for West Coast Higher Than Expected
• Scientists Drill a Mile Into Active Deep Sea Fault Zone

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 25 Nov 2009 | 11:32 am

The Future of TVs: What to Expect in 2010

TVs of the future will deliver bigger screens and internet connectivity.
Source: Livescience.com | 25 Nov 2009 | 11:18 am

Stellar Fossils from Milky Way's Past Revealed (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - A cluster of ancient stars is likely the relic of a dwarf galaxy that merged with the Milky Way during its early days, scientists now find.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 25 Nov 2009 | 11:15 am

Top 5 Surprising Turkey Facts

Thanksgiving is no longer what the Pilgrims had in mind. Plus, what we now know about turkeys.
Source: Livescience.com | 25 Nov 2009 | 11:04 am

Surprise! Your Skin Can Hear

Puffs of air on the skin could change what we hear.
Source: Livescience.com | 25 Nov 2009 | 11:00 am

The Gruesome Power of Raptor Talons

The most thorough study to date of raptor talons reveals their feet to be extraordinarily specialized hunting tools, perfectly suited to their gruesomely amazing killing strategies.

“Despite the ubiquity of raptors in terrestrial ecosystems, many aspects of their predatory behavior remain poorly understood,” wrote ornithologists in a paper published Wednesday in PLoS ONE. “Surprisingly little is known about the morphology of raptor talons and how they are employed during feeding behavior.”

To get a better understanding, the researchers took detailed measurements of the talons from 24 bird of prey species, and linked them to literature on raptor hunting and 170 videos of attacks.

They describe how accipitrids, which include hawks and eagles, have two giant talons on their first and second toes. These give them a secure grip on struggling game that they like to eat alive, “so long as it does not protest too vigorously. In this prolonged and bloody scenario, prey eventually succumb to massive blood loss or organ failure, incurred during dismemberment.”

Meanwhile, the talons of owls, which don’t usually land a killing blow as they strike, are relatively short but strong, and one toe actually swivels backwards. That lets owls crush wounded quarry between two pairs of opposable talons. The animal is then swallowed whole.

Falcons are so skilled at disabling prey with a mid-air, high-speed strike that their talons are smaller than those of other raptors. They just don’t need them as much. Once they’ve landed, falcons “will quickly pluck the neck area and attempt to kill prey swiftly by breaking the neck with a bite attack.”

Osprey have large, curved talons, almost like fishhooks — which is appropriate because they specialize in catching fish, swooping down and hitting them just below the water’s surface.

In addition to expanding understanding of these much-loved birds, the findings could help researchers understand the birds’ dinosaur ancestors. The researchers are now studying how dinosaur claws reflected their hunting and feeding habits.

Image: (A) goshawk (B) red-tailed hawk (C) peregrine falcon (D) great grey owl (E) osprey./PLoS ONE

See Also:

• Bird Cam Captures Albatross, Killer Whale Rendezvous
• Flying Transformers: Birds Gear Up for Migration
• Secret Law of Flying Could Inspire Better Robots
• Help Science: Build Your Own Bird Tracker, Cheap

Citation: “Predatory Functional Morphology in Raptors: Interdigital Variation in Talon Size Is Related to Prey Restraint and Immobilisation Technique.” By Denver W. Fowler, Elizabeth A. Freedman, John B. Scannella. PLoS ONE, November 25, 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 | 25 Nov 2009 | 10:52 am

Power of osmosis generates electricity

A Norwegian firm is testing a renewable and emission-free source of energy that harnesses the power of water through osmosis

The world's first test plant to harness osmotic power, a new emission-free source of energy, opened on Tuesday, in Norway. Nestled amid pine-covered hills on the banks of the Oslo fjord, 60km south of the Norwegian capital, the facility will exploit the energy produced when fresh water meets seawater.

Statkraft, the Norwegian energy firm behind the test plant, says osmotic power could produce up to 1,600–1,700 terawatt hours worldwide – the equivalent of half of the energy generated in the EU today.

"Osmotic power has great potential," says Arild Skedsmo, head of climate and energy at WWF Norway. "In theory the power is available and it's an emission-free way of producing energy."

He adds: "This is an immature technology. But like all renewables, we need a whole range of technologies to be available. Osmotic power can definitely be part of the solution."

The right site

Statkraft says osmotic power would be especially suited for generating electricity for large cities. "Many are situated at the point where large rivers flow into the sea," says Sverre Gotaas, senior vice-president for innovation and growth at Statkraft. "So you would not need to transport the electricity over long distances."

Another advantage, argues Gotaas, is that a commercial plant would be modest in size, but still produce a significant amount of energy. "A facility the size of a football field could generate 25 megawatts – enough to supply 30,000 households," he says.

However, Skedsmo at WWF Norway sounds a note of caution, explaining that an osmotic plant could have the same environmental impact as a hydropower facility. "The infrastructure built can have an impact on the biodiversity of the area … so it's important to choose the right location," he says. "It should not be built in unspoilt river deltas or protected areas."

Could osmotic power plants appear in the UK? "Certainly," says Gotaas. "Any area where river flows into the ocean could be suitable … Another important aspect is that the rivers can't be too polluted. If it's muddy, we would have to clean the water [before using it]. But you have clean rivers in the UK."

The new technology is based on the principle of osmosis, the diffusion of water through a semi-permeable membrane, which is how plants draw water from the soil.

At the test facility, fresh water and salt water is guided into separate chambers, divided by an artificial membrane. When the fresh and seawater meet on either side of the membrane, the fresh water is drawn towards the seawater. The flow puts pressure on the seawater side, and that pressure can be used to drive a turbine, producing electricity.

The two-storey, tennis-court-size plant, situated next to a pulp mill, will generate little power. "It will produce two to four kilowatts. You might be able to run a coffee machine on it, if you are lucky," says Gotaas.

There is no river at the site, situated outside the village of Tofte, so Statkraft will use the water from a nearby lake piped by the pulp mill.

Statkraft has invested 100m crowns (£10.7m) in the project since 1997, in addition to 50m crowns it received from Norwegian and EU funds. The company hopes to launch the first commercial plant between 2015 and 2020 – if everything goes to plan.

Cost of change

The challenges are many. First is the price. As with many renewables, and since it is a new technology, osmotic power is expensive to run. Statkraft says the company can break even if the electricity price reaches between €70 (£63) and €100 a megawatt hour. But current electricity prices in Norway are lower, hovering between €30 and €40 a megawatt hour.

Another challenge is technical. The key to the technology is the membrane, but Statkraft says it needs to be made five times more efficient than it is today. Yet another issue is developing the business, with Statkraft looking to find business partners, such as membrane manufacturers and utility companies.

Statkraft is not the only company trying to harness osmotic power: the Dutch firm Redstack is commercialising a similar technology and is planning to develop a pilot plant in the north of the Netherlands. However, the plan appears to have run into problems. Dutch utility firm Eneco, which had previously said it would help finance the plant, pulled out of the project in October. "We could not agree with the other partners," says Cor de Ruijter, a press officer at Eneco. Executives at Redstack were unavailable for comment.

Nasa is also looking into osmotic power. Researchers at the US space agency are looking to the technology as a possible way to provide enough water for long-term manned missions to the moon or Mars. The idea is a system using osmotic power could separate salt and water from wastewater and purifies human liquid wastes, such as urine and non-potable water, into water that is safe to drink.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 25 Nov 2009 | 10:45 am

3-D Renderings Bring Ancient Hominids to Life

For decades, paleoartists have told the story of human evolution through sculpture and drawing. Now their tools have evolved, too.

Computers allow a level of detail and control that isn’t possible with other media. Their creations can come closer than ever to bringing our ancestors to life.

“What’s driven my work has always been, ‘I want to see that thing alive. I want to see that world,” said paleoartist Viktor Deak, who provided the reconstructions used in the Becoming Human documentaries, which aired in November on PBS. “Computer graphics is developing to the point where, in movies like “Benjamin Button,” you don’t know what parts are not digital.”

Deak still begins his reconstructions in traditional fashion, sculpting bodies from clay. Like other paleoartists, he doesn’t know what his fossil interpretation will look like when complete, but comes to an understanding of anatomic nuances, of tissue and muscle thickness and how it might have linked to ancient bone, while working with his hands in three dimensions.

Once he’s done, he converts the work to digital format. For a 78-foot-long mural now traveling with Lucy’s Legacy, a touring exhibition featuring the famous 3.2 million year old fossils, he photographed his sculptures and imported them to Photoshop. There he added hundreds of layers of texture and light, tweaking them for maximum combinatorial realism.

That was the old way. For Becoming Human, he worked with ZBrush, a 3-D modeling program that lets him work with the sculpture in even greater detail. “The nuances of the skin, the way light scatters underneath it, they figured all that out,” he said of the program’s naturalism. “There’s no limitation on what you can do, as long as your machine can handle it.” He poses his sculptures in desired position, then renders it with different materials and lighting. The renderings are then sent to Photoshop, layered and tweaked for maximum realism.

“They look realer to me,” said Deak. “For a couple seconds, people might say, ‘What’s that a photo of? Where’d you get that picture? There’s that moment of belief when they’re not looking at it as a painting or sculpture, but as a living thing.”

“He does wonderful stuff,” said Rick Potts, curator of anthropology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Potts described the digital transition as something that many artists have greeted reluctantly if at all, but is necessary.

“I’m excited about it, because it means you’re not just dealing with static appearance,” he said. “One of the great challenges of science communication is taking dead, dusty things we find in the ground, and helping people understand that these were part of a living world. Our ancestors were living and dying, just as we do. Bringing things to life in the digital world can really help.”

The ultimate form of resurrection is as animation, which was done in Becoming Human by mapping Deak’s models onto the motion recordings of suited human actors. But no human can ever move quite like a creature with a different skeleton, and relying on other people to realize his ideas of how ancient hominids moved adds an extra layer of separation.

“Learning animation is my goal right now. That would cross out any ambiguity between the science and the final depiction of it. Once I get the software down, then I can do the whole thing and create the vision of human evolution I have banging around in my brain,” said Deak.

Of course, whatever the tool, the task is still poised at what Potts called “the edge of science and art.” Even for scientists, fossils are heavily interpreted — Lucy, the most complete ancient hominid skeleton, is only 40 percent complete — and Deak immerses himself in the field’s literature, taking in every new find and revision.

“I’m an anthropologist who happens to do art. I don’t write that well and would get bored doing 30-page papers on mandible synthesis,” said Deak. “In my mind I have a tree of skulls that I’m always repositioning and thinking about. As much thinking and analysis as possible goes into each work. I’ve taken it upon myself to be a voice for these fossils.”

Images: 1) A finished Homo ergaster, from Becoming Human. 2) Detail from the mural for Lucy’s Legacy. 3) Early- and late-stage renderings of Homo heidelbergensis. 4) Viktor Deak in his studio.
See Also:

• Nov. 24, 1974: Humanity, Meet Lucy. She’s Your Mom
• Lucy 2.0: Famous Fossil Hominid Goes Digital
• Humanity Has New 4.4 Million-Year-Old Baby Mama
• Vote for Your Favorite Dinosaur Illustration

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 | 25 Nov 2009 | 10:29 am

Pretending the climate email leak isn't a crisis won't make it go away | George Monbiot

Climate sceptics have lied, obscured and cheated for years. That's why we climate rationalists must uphold the highest standards of science

I have seldom felt so alone. Confronted with crisis, most of the environmentalists I know have gone into denial. The emails hacked from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia, they say, are a storm in a tea cup, no big deal, exaggerated out of all recognition. It is true that climate change deniers have made wild claims which the material can't possibly support (the end of global warming, the death of climate science). But it is also true that the emails are very damaging.

The response of the greens and most of the scientists I know is profoundly ironic, as we spend so much of our time confronting other people's denial. Pretending that this isn't a real crisis isn't going to make it go away. Nor is an attempt to justify the emails with technicalities. We'll be able to get past this only by grasping reality, apologising where appropriate and demonstrating that it cannot happen again.

It is true that much of what has been revealed could be explained as the usual cut and thrust of the peer review process, exacerbated by the extraordinary pressure the scientists were facing from a denial industry determined to crush them. One of the most damaging emails was sent by the head of the climatic research unit, Phil Jones. He wrote "I can't see either of these papers being in the next IPCC report. Kevin and I will keep them out somehow - even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!"

One of these papers which was published in the journal Climate Research turned out to be so badly flawed that the scandal resulted in the resignation of the editor-in-chief. Jones knew that any incorrect papers by sceptical scientists would be picked up and amplified by climate change deniers funded by the fossil fuel industry, who often – as I documented in my book Heat – use all sorts of dirty tricks to advance their cause.

Even so, his message looks awful. It gives the impression of confirming a potent meme circulated by those who campaign against taking action on climate change: that the IPCC process is biased. However good the detailed explanations may be, most people aren't going to follow or understand them. Jones's statement, on the other hand, is stark and easy to grasp.

In this case you could argue that technically he has done nothing wrong. But a fat lot of good that will do. Think of the MPs' expenses scandal: complaints about stolen data, denials and huffy responses achieved nothing at all. Most of the MPs could demonstrate that technically they were innocent: their expenses had been approved by the Commons office. It didn't change public perceptions one jot. The only responses that have helped to restore public trust in Parliament are humility, openness and promises of reform.

When it comes to his handling of Freedom of Information requests, Professor Jones might struggle even to use a technical defence. If you take the wording literally, in one case he appears to be suggesting that emails subject to a request be deleted, which means that he seems to be advocating potentially criminal activity. Even if no other message had been hacked, this would be sufficient to ensure his resignation as head of the unit.

I feel desperately sorry for him: he must be walking through hell. But there is no helping it; he has to go, and the longer he leaves it, the worse it will get. He has a few days left in which to make an honourable exit. Otherwise, like the former Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin, he will linger on until his remaining credibility vanishes, inflicting continuing damage to climate science.

Some people say that I am romanticising science, that it is never as open and honest as the Popperian ideal. Perhaps. But I know that opaqueness and secrecy are the enemies of science. There is a word for the apparent repeated attempts to prevent disclosure revealed in these emails: unscientific.

The crisis has been exacerbated by the university's handling of it, which has been a total trainwreck: a textbook example of how not to respond. RealClimate reports that "We were made aware of the existence of this archive last Tuesday morning when the hackers attempted to upload it to RealClimate, and we notified CRU of their possible security breach later that day." In other words, the university knew what was coming three days before the story broke. As far as I can tell, it sat like a rabbit in the headlights, waiting for disaster to strike.

When the emails hit the news on Friday morning, the university appeared completely unprepared. There was no statement, no position, no one to interview. Reporters kept being fobbed off while CRU's opponents landed blow upon blow on it. When a journalist I know finally managed to track down Phil Jones, he snapped "no comment" and put down the phone. This response is generally taken by the media to mean "guilty as charged". When I got hold of him on Saturday, his answer was to send me a pdf called "WMO statement on the status of the global climate in 1999". Had I a couple of hours to spare I might have been able to work out what the heck this had to do with the current crisis, but he offered no explanation.

By then he should have been touring the TV studios for the past 36 hours, confronting his critics, making his case and apologising for his mistakes. Instead, he had disappeared off the face of the Earth. Now, far too late, he has given an interview to the Press Association, which has done nothing to change the story.

The handling of this crisis suggests that nothing has been learnt by climate scientists in this country from 20 years of assaults on their discipline. They appear to have no idea what they're up against or how to confront it. Their opponents might be scumbags, but their media strategy is exemplary.

The greatest tragedy here is that despite many years of outright fabrication, fraud and deceit on the part of the climate change denial industry, documented in James Hoggan and Richard Littlemore's brilliant new book Climate Cover-up, it is now the climate scientists who look bad. By comparison to his opponents, Phil Jones is pure as the driven snow. Hoggan and Littlemore have shown how fossil fuel industries have employed "experts" to lie, cheat and manipulate on their behalf. The revelations in their book (as well as in Heat and in Ross Gelbspan's book The Heat Is On) are 100 times graver than anything contained in these emails.

But the deniers' campaign of lies, grotesque as it is, does not justify secrecy and suppression on the part of climate scientists. Far from it: it means that they must distinguish themselves from their opponents in every way. No one has been as badly let down by the revelations in these emails as those of us who have championed the science. We should be the first to demand that it is unimpeachable, not the last.

monbiot.com

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 25 Nov 2009 | 10:23 am

The Biggest Threat To Your Online Security Is...You

When I think of computer security vulnerabilities, I imagine a hacker crouched over a keyboard as a single drop of sweat slowly slides down her face (hackers tend to be female in my imagination -- I blame Joss Whedon for ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Nov 2009 | 10:09 am

Carbon Dioxide Triggers Primordial Fear of Suffocation

Carbon dioxide can trigger fear of suffocation in mice.
Source: Livescience.com | 25 Nov 2009 | 10:01 am

Solar Tsunamis Are Real, NASA Says

Images, movies from STEREO spacecraft confirm reality of solar tsunamis.
Source: Livescience.com | 25 Nov 2009 | 9:34 am

South Africa's marauding baboons add to World Cup worries

Thousands of 2010 fans could offer rich pickings for increasingly aggressive monkeys in search of snacks

Violent crime. Transport chaos. Overpriced hotels. To these visitor anxieties about next year's World Cup in South Africa can be added a new menace: marauding baboons.

With the light-fingered primates having learned how to open car doors and jump through windows in pursuit of sandwiches and snacks, experts are warning that the hundreds of thousands of fans expected in 2010 will represent rich pickings.

Officials in Cape Town, the country's top tourist destination, are trying to control the increasingly aggressive animals. On Tuesday 29 baboons raided four cars outside Simon's Town, a coastal neighbourhood. A baboon dubbed Fred, the leader of the group, opened unlocked doors and jumped through a window to search for food. He ransacked a bag in one car as a couple panicked over their passports. Others climbed on to car roofs looking for ways inside. Many people who stopped to watch had their own cars broken into by baboons.

"We spend the whole day basically rescuing tourists," said Mark Duffels, a volunteer who monitors the animals.

About 420 baboons in 17 groups roam the city's outskirts, especially the popular coastal sites. Baboons are protected under South African law but their persistent pursuit of food has led to conflict with residents. The baboons associate humans and cars with food, although people are strongly discouraged from feeding them.

Justin O'Riain, head of the baboon research unit at Cape Town University, fears the influx of visitors next year will only feed the primates' taste for human foods. "Tourism is going to go through the roof, and this equals exposure to naive people and rich pickings. People who stop the car – they're going to get raided."

Simon's Town residents have asked for a crossing gate to be put on the road that leads to the nearby Cape of Good Hope nature reserve.

Cars would be stopped before they enter baboon territory and drivers and passengers given a brochure in their own language explaining why they should stay in their car, lock their doors and close windows if they see baboons.

Liz Hardman, who is leading the campaign, said: "We're so anxious about tourists who can't read or understand English. It puts them at risk. The perception is that the baboons are harmless and they're not. They're wild animals."

Officials insisted that the baboons do not pose a threat to the tournament. Rich Mkhondo, a spokesman for the local 2010 World Cup organising committee, said: "We are not going to change our natural habitat and our lifestyle for 31 days.

"We are going to be working with the cities and provinces to put measures in place when animals are out of control. We are ready to welcome the multitudes."

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 25 Nov 2009 | 8:10 am

Presenting...The Katydid

Naturalist Mark Fraser is back to share his latest video on katydids. Mark tells me, "Katydids are true masters of the art of camouflage. As they graze in grasses and wild meadows on plant matter, they do so trusting that ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Nov 2009 | 8:04 am

Bloodhound effect

Inspiring the next generation of engineers
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 25 Nov 2009 | 8:01 am

3-D Solar Tsunami Video Shows the Extreme Waves Are Real

A 60,000-mile-high wave of super-hot plasma blazing across the sun’s surface at 560,000 mph? Yep.

“Now we know. Solar tsunamis are real,” said John Gurman of the Solar Physics Lab at the Goddard Space Flight Center, in a press release Tuesday.

NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory has confirmed that the crazy circular bursts on the surface of the sun, rising higher than the Earth is wide, aren’t just optical illusions.

STEREO consists of two spacecraft pointing at the sun, one ahead of Earth in its orbit and one behind, that acquire stereoscopic images of the sun to give a sort of three-dimensional view, similar to the way our two eyes do.

Though these solar tsunamis, technically known as fast-mode magnetohydrodynamical waves, were first seen by the SOHO mission more than a decade ago, the single spacecraft couldn’t determine if the wave was real or the shadow of a coronal mass ejection. But in February the STEREO twins were perfectly poised to catch the eruption of a sunspot that spawned a wave, seen in the movie above.

“It was definitely a wave,” George Mason University scientist Spiros Patsourakos, lead author of a paper on the solar tsunamis in August in The Astrophysical Research Journal Letters, said in a press release. “Not a wave of water,” he adds, “but a giant wave of hot plasma and magnetism.”

The spacecraft have also spotted waves crashing into other solar structures.

“We’ve seen the waves reflected by coronal holes. And there is a wonderful movie (at right) of a solar prominence oscillating after it gets hit by a wave (near the top of the image),” co-author Angelos Vourdilas of  the Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C., said in a press release. “We call it a dancing prominence.”

Watching the waves interact with other things can reveal new information about the sun’s atmosphere, and help forecast when a coronal mass ejection or radiation storm will impact Earth.

Movies: NASA

NASA press release

Citation: “‘Extreme Ultraviolet Waves’ are Waves: First Quadrature Observations of an Extreme Ultraviolet Wave from STEREO.” by Spiros Patsourakos and Angelos Vourlidas, Astrophysical Research Journal Letters, vol. 700, August 1, 2009.

See Also:

• Photo: Docked Space Shuttle and Station Cross the Sun
• First View of the Dark Side of the Sun
• Video Close-Up: The Sun’s Surface in Swirling Detail
• Big Solar Flare Portends Sun’s Return to Normal
• Photo: The Sun Gets Its Spots (Back)

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 25 Nov 2009 | 8:00 am

9-Year-Old Girl Finds Bone at Maryland Dinosaur Park

"Dinosaur Park" in Prince Georges County, Maryland, has only been open for two weekends, but it's already led to a probable noteworthy find. (Image: Ribbon cutting ceremony for Dinosaur Park, MD. Credit: Prince George's County Department of Parks and Recreation ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Nov 2009 | 7:55 am

Paper-thin Batteries Made from Algae

Scientists develop a battery that can be used as wrapping paper.
Source: Livescience.com | 25 Nov 2009 | 7:44 am

Oil-Free Radiant Fryer for Fried Turkey Taste

For all of those folks out there who will risk life and limb to deep-fry a turkey for Thanksgiving Day, take note: if you can just hang on for a couple more years, you could get that deep-fried flavor without ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Nov 2009 | 7:25 am

No Let-up in Cybercrime in 2009

Each year, the day job over at PRI's The World sends me on the hunt of a "the-year-that-was" round-up of global cybercrime. I generally make it a point to check in with some smart people to get a read on ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 25 Nov 2009 | 7:21 am