Targeted therapy prolongs life in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer

Lapatinib plus trastuzumab are significantly better than lapatinib alone in extending the lives of breast cancer patients whose tumors are HER2-positive, according to new research.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Dec 2009 | 3:00 pm

Synesthetic experiences, such as seeing a certain color associated with a number, are real and automatic

For as many as 1 in 20 people, everyday experiences can elicit extra-ordinary associated sensations. The condition is known as synesthesia and the most common form involves "seeing" colors when reading words and numbers.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Dec 2009 | 3:00 pm

Happy Flies Look For A Place Like Home

A happy youth can influence where a fruit fly chooses to live as an adult, according to new research. The study provides new insight into how animals choose places to live and raise their young.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Dec 2009 | 3:00 pm

Helping vegetable plants make a less stressful transition from the greenhouse to the field

Plant physiologists have been investigating ways to help vegetable plants make a less stressful transition from the greenhouse to the field.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Dec 2009 | 3:00 pm

Microscopic gyroscopes, the key for motion sensing

Tiny devices made possible by combining the latest advances in mechanical and electronics technology could be at the heart of next-generation personal navigation and vehicle stabilization tools.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Dec 2009 | 3:00 pm

Secrets of the Brain: Researchers decipher parts of the neuronal code

The human brain works at a far higher level of complexity than previously thought. What has been given little attention up to now in the information processing of neuronal circuits has been the time factor. "Liquid computing" -- a new theory about how these complex networks of nerve cells actually work -- has just passed its first test.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Dec 2009 | 3:00 pm

Glacier melt adds ancient edibles to marine buffet

Glaciers along the Gulf of Alaska are enriching stream and near shore marine ecosystems from a surprising source -- ancient carbon contained in glacial runoff.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Dec 2009 | 9:00 am

Milk thistle herb protects cancer patients from chemotherapy-associated liver toxicity

A new study finds that the herb milk thistle may help treat liver inflammation in cancer patients who receive chemotherapy. The study indicates that the herb could allow patients to take potent doses of chemotherapy without damaging their liver.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Dec 2009 | 9:00 am

'Garbage disposal' role of VCP and implications for degenerative disease

New research reveals how a mutant ATPase blocks autophagy partway through to cause a multi-tissue degenerative disease.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Dec 2009 | 9:00 am

Rise in drug resistance of dangerous infection in US hospitals

A new study reports a surge in drug-resistant strains of Acinetobacter, a dangerous type of bacteria that is becoming increasingly common in US hospitals.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 27 Dec 2009 | 9:00 am

S.Korean consortium wins UAE nuclear deal: sources (Reuters)

Reuters - A South Korean consortium has won a $40 billion contract to build several nuclear reactors for the United Arab Emirates, industry sources said on Sunday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 27 Dec 2009 | 3:07 am

China says discovers tomb of famed general Cao Cao

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese archeologists have unearthed a large third-century tomb, which they say could be that of Cao Cao, the legendary politician and general famous throughout East Asia for his Machiavellian tactics.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 27 Dec 2009 | 12:01 am

James Hansen | Copenhagen has given us the chance to face climate change with honesty

A carbon-use dividend for everybody must replace the old, ineffectual 'cap-and-trade' scheme

Last weekend's minimalist Copenhagen global climate accord provides a great opportunity. The old deceitful, ineffectual approach is severely wounded and must die. Now there is a chance for the world to get on to an honest, effective path to an agreement.

The centrepiece of the old approach was a "cap-and-trade" scheme, festooned with offsets and bribes – bribes that purportedly, but hardly, reduced carbon emissions. It was analogous to the indulgences scheme of the Middle Ages, whereby sinners paid the Church for forgiveness.

In today's indulgences the sinners, developed countries, buy off developing countries by paying for "offsets" to their own emissions and providing reparation money for adaptation to climate change. But such hush money won't work. Yes, some developing country leaders salivated over the proffered $100 billion per year. But by buying in, they would cheat their children and ours. Besides, even the $100 billion hush money is fugacious. The US, based on its proportion of the fossil fuel carbon in the air today, would owe $27 billion per year. Chance of Congress providing that: dead zero. Maybe the UK will cough up its $6 billion per year and Germany its $7 billion per year. But who will collect Russia's $7 billion per year?

Most purchased "offsets" to fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions are hokey. But there is no need to flagellate the details of this modern indulgences scheme. Science provides an unambiguous fact that our leaders continue to ignore: carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning remains in the climate system for millennia. The only solution is to move promptly to a clean energy future.

The difficulty is that fossil fuels are the cheapest energy, if the price does not include the damage they do to human health, the planet, and the future of our children. "Goals" for future emission reductions, whether "legally binding" or not, are utter nonsense as long as fossil fuels are the cheapest energy. The Kyoto Protocol illustrates the deceit of our governments, which have not screwed up their courage to face down the fossil fuel industry. As the graph here shows, global fossil fuel emissions were increasing 1.5% per year prior to the 1997 Kyoto accord. After "Kyoto" emission growth accelerated to 3% per year. A few developed countries reduced their fossil fuel use. The only important effect of that was to slightly reduce demand for fuel, helping to keep its price down. The fuel was burned in other places, and products made were shipped back to developed countries.

As far as the planet is concerned, agreements to "cap" emissions, such as the Kyoto Protocol and the imagined Copenhagen Protocol, are worthless scraps of paper. As long as fossil fuels are the cheapest energy, they will be burned somewhere. This fact helps define a solution to the climate problem. Yes, people must make changes in the way they live. Countries must cooperate. Matters as intractable as population must be included. Technology improvements are required. Changes must be economically efficient. The climate solution necessarily will increase the price of fossil fuel energy. We must admit that. But in the end, energy efficiency and carbon-free energy can be made less expensive than fossil fuels, if fossil fuels' cost to society is included. The solution must have honesty, backbone and a fair international framework. We need a rising price on carbon applied at the source (the mine, wellhead, or port of entry). The fee will affect all activities that use fossil fuels, directly or indirectly. The entire fee collected from fossil fuel companies should be distributed to the public. In this fee-and-dividend approach people maintaining a carbon footprint smaller than average will receive more in the dividend than they pay via increased energy costs. The monthly dividend, deposited electronically in their bank account or on their debit card, will stimulate the economy and provide people with the means to increase their carbon efficiency. All that governments need do is divide the collected revenue by the number of shares, with half-shares for children, up to two children per family.

Some economists prefer a payroll tax deduction over a dividend, because taxes depress the economy. The problem is that about half of the public are not on payrolls, because of retirement or involuntary unemployment. I suggest that at most 50% of the collected carbon fee should be used for payroll tax deduction.

Cap-and-trade is the antithesis of this simple system. Cap-and-trade is a hidden tax, increasing energy costs, but with no public dividend. Its infrastructure costs the public, who also fund the profits of the resulting big banks and speculators. Cap-and-trade is advantageous only to energy companies with strong lobbyists and government officials who dole out proceeds from pollution certificates to favoured industries.

Fee-and-dividend, in contrast, is a non-tax – on average it is revenue-neutral. The public will probably accept a rise in the carbon fee rate, because their monthly dividend will increase correspondingly. As fee-and-dividend causes fossil fuel energy prices to rise, a series of points will be reached at which various carbon-free energies and carbon-saving technologies are cheaper than fossil fuels plus the fee. The market place will choose the best technology. As time goes on, fossil fuel use will collapse, coal will be left in the ground, and we will have arrived at a clean energy future. A rising carbon fee is essential for a climate solution. But how to achieve a fair international framework?

The critical requirement is that the United States and China agree to apply across-the-board carbon fees, at a relative rate to be negotiated. Why would China agree to a carbon fee? China does not want to be saddled with the problems that attend fossil fuel addiction such as those that plague the United States. Besides, China would be hit extraordinarily hard by climate change. A uniform rising carbon fee is the most economically efficient way for China to limit its fossil fuel dependence.

Copenhagen discussions showed that China and the United States can work together. Europe, Japan, and most developed countries would very probably agree to a similar status to that of the United States. Countries refusing to levy an across-the-board carbon fee can be dealt with via an import duty collected on products from that nation in accord with the amount of fossil fuel that goes into producing the product. The World Trade Organisation already has rules permitting such duties.

The international framework must define how proceeds from import duties are used to assure fairness. Duties on products from developing countries will probably dwarf present foreign aid to those countries. These funds should be returned to developing countries, but distributed so as to encourage best practices, for example, improved women's rights and education that helps control population growth. Fairness also requires that distribution of the funds takes account of the ongoing impacts of climate change. Successful efforts in limiting deforestation and other best practices could also be rewarded.

James Hansen was the first scientist to warn the US Congress of the dangers of climate change. The ideas discussed in this article are expanded on in his new book "Storms of My Grandchildren".

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 26 Dec 2009 | 5:05 pm

Pomegranate 'can combat MRSA and other superbugs'

Scientists have discovered that the fruit can be combined with vitamin C and metal salts to fight hospital superbugs

Scientists have discovered the power of fruit as a potential new weapon in the fight against MRSA and other hospital superbugs. A team from the University of Kingston, in Surrey, have shown that pomegranate can be used to create an ointment with the power to tackle the drug-resistant infections.

In a series of tests conducted over three years, academics found that mixing the fruit's rind with two other natural products – metal salts and vitamin C – greatly enhanced its infection-fighting properties. The discovery could pave the way for a lotion to be developed for patients or perhaps, in time, a new antibiotic.

Declan Naughton, professor of biomolecular sciences at Kingston, described the breakthrough as "significant".

Naughton said scientists were searching for a way to create new antibiotics because of the rise in infections resistant to drugs on the market. One way to go about it was to screen natural products, he said.

"A great deal of medicines come from plants, but the normal approach taken by the pharmaceutical industry is to try to find one particular active molecule," he said. "After a considerable number of screening experiments, we found that combining three ingredients – pomegranate rind, vitamin C and a metal salt – gave a much more potent effect: killing off or inhibiting drug-resistant microbes from growing.

"It was the mix that fantastically increased the activity – there was synergy, where the combined effects were much greater than those exhibited by individual components. It shows nature still has a few tricks up its sleeve."

The tests were conducted using microbes taken from hospital patients. Scientists found that pomegranate rind mixed with metal salts were most effective against MRSA, while adding vitamin C helped tackle other common hospital infections.

Naughton said the idea of using foodstuffs was unusual but meant that the body should be more able to cope with its application. "Patients are less likely to experience any major side-effects," he added.

It is not the first time pomegranate has been shown to have medical benefits. The fruit has already been hailed a super-food with claims that its juice can help protect against a range of ailments, from heart disease to male impotence.

Other scientists welcomed the findings but pointed out that they were limited to tests in the laboratory – and had yet to be developed for use on people.

Anthony Coates, professor of medical microbiology at St George's in London, said: "What is the significance of all of this? Well, there is no doubt that these natural products like pomegranate are of interest. This observation – the fact it has acted against MRSA and other drug-resistant infections – is potentially significant. But we need to remember it is early research, of an observational nature, in vitro." Coates said much more work needed to be done to answer questions such as which component was the most active and to look at toxicity when applying the treatment to humans.

However, he pointed to other studies that had also highlighted the benefits of the fruit. One trial on 60 patients found that it had an anti-dental plaque effect, for instance.

Any discovery that was a potential step towards a new antibiotic was a positive thing, he added.

"The need for new antibiotics is acute," said Coates. "To put it in context, about 20 new classes of antibiotics were marketed between 1940 and 1962 yet only three have been marketed since. In all classes, resistance has arisen. Most antibiotics come from nature, so it is very valid to look at natural sources."

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 26 Dec 2009 | 5:05 pm

Geese point the way to saving jet fuel

Planes flying in V formation are more efficient and produce less carbon dioxide, say scientists

Scientists have proposed an unusual method for cutting aircraft fuel consumption – they want to fly jumbo jets in formation like geese.

The prospect of flotillas of airliners soaring across the sky in V-shaped flocks, like migrating birds, is startling. Nevertheless, research by aviation experts has shown that it could lead to major reductions in aircraft fuel consumption.

The work follows research carried out almost 100 years ago by a German researcher, Carl Wieselsberger. In 1914, he published a paper in which he calculated that birds flying in V-formations use less energy to flap their wings than those on solo flights. Birds in flocks can therefore fly for longer periods than those travelling on their own.

Wieselsberger showed that when a bird flaps its wings it creates a current known as upwash; essentially, air lifts up and rises round the tips of the wings as they flap. Other birds, flying in the first one's wake, experience an updraft, allowing them to fly further.

This idea is supported by observations by French scientists who studied great white pelicans trained to fly behind an aircraft. The team – from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Villiers-en-Bois – strapped instruments and transmitters to individual birds. These revealed that the birds' heart rates went down when they were flying together, and also showed that they were able to glide more often when they flew in formation. "They fly in formation to save energy," said team leader Henri Weimerskirch.

Such experiments suggest that 25 large birds – such as pelicans or geese – flying in a V-shaped formation can travel 70% further than solo birds. Many of the great migratory journeys, some covering thousands of miles, made by birds would be impossible without the energy-saving effects of group flight, scientists say.

But aviation engineers have now taken these discoveries to their logical conclusion and have proposed that aircraft fly in V-shaped groups so they can benefit from similar energy-saving effects. This idea is the brainchild of researchers led by Professor Ilan Kroo, of Stanford University, California, who say airlines could make substantial cuts in the amount of aviation fuel they use.

In one calculation, the team envisaged three passenger jets leaving Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco airports en route to the east coast of the US. In the hypothetical exercise, the planes rendezvoused over Utah, then continued their journeys travelling in a V, with planes taking turns to lead the formation. The group found that the aircraft used 15% less fuel and produced less carbon dioxide when flying in formation compared with solo performances.

Such an approach could make significant inroads into the amount of carbon dioxide that is pumped into the atmosphere by planes. The aviation industry is expected to become a major emitter of greenhouse gases over the next two decades, and airline chiefs are desperately looking for ways to cut fuel consumption. Formation flights could be the answer, says Kroo and his team.

However, critics have pointed to problems. Safety could be compromised by craft flying in tight formation, while co-ordinating departure times and schedules could become a major headache. Kroo and his team say such difficulties can be overcome by more detailed work on their scheme.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 26 Dec 2009 | 5:05 pm

U.S. agencies responsible for nuclear data leak : GAO (Reuters)

Reuters - Several federal agencies share responsibility for the inadvertent publishing by a government office of sensitive U.S. nuclear power information on the Web last May, Congressional investigators said on Wednesday.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 26 Dec 2009 | 4:42 pm

Storm continues to disrupt travel in Plains, East (AP)

AP - Drifting snow and cold rain that have plagued much of the country for days stranded drivers and airline passengers Saturday trying to get home after Christmas.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 26 Dec 2009 | 4:20 pm

A rare Christmas sight

Only a hopeless weather fanatic who did not have to travel Christmas Day could appreciate the immensity of the winter system that gripped the lower 48 states. It was truly a monster, as this NASA GOES satellite image illustrates. As ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 26 Dec 2009 | 1:25 pm

9 Science Stories We Loved, and Hated, in 2009

The link between spanking and IQ is just one of the many findings that ruffled some feathers this year.
Source: Livescience.com | 26 Dec 2009 | 1:03 pm

Magma building up in Philippines' Mayon volcano (AP)

AP - Fewer earthquakes have been recorded in the Philippines' lava-spilling Mayon volcano, but magma continues to build up inside and any lull in activity could be followed by a bigger eruption, scientists said Saturday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 26 Dec 2009 | 11:15 am

Scientists Harness Bacteria to Turn Microscopic Gears (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Scientists have demonstrated a way to harness the motion of swimming bacteria to turn tiny gears. This bacteria-driven mechanism could someday power micro-machines that combine living organisms and man-made materials. To build their rudimentary device, the research team first fashioned silicon gears measuring a mere 0.01 inches (380 micrometers) across and 0.002 inches (50 micrometers) thick. With their slanted teeth, the gears look rather like tiny ninja stars. ...
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 26 Dec 2009 | 10:36 am

I've changed my mind about religion | Caspar Melville

September 11 changed my belief that religion was a harmless anachronism. Now I see it is at the heart of modern political life

In the decade since the turn of the millennium I have changed my mind about religion. And I haven't just changed it once, but time and again.

To be honest, I didn't really have an opinion about religion before 2001, never having been much exposed to any particular brand. Raised without faith, by parents for whom religion was of such little consequence that I don't know to this day whether either of them believes in God or not, my strong convictions were all about politics, anti-racism and the pleasure principle. My exposure to Christmas carols, occasional Easter sermons and the gothic churches my dad insisted on trailing us around barely grazed my consciousness and certainly did nothing to nurture any sense of the sacred. I didn't know anyone who talked about God or religion – my life, and that of my friends, was living proof of the veracity of the secularisation thesis. Religion didn't matter enough to hold an opinion about it. Of course, for me as for everyone else, when religion did decide to make a return it did so in a spectacular and terrifying way with 9/11. My son was born five weeks after Muhammed Atta and his murderous crew announced the greatness of God as they slaughtered 3,000 people, and into a world where religion, suddenly, mattered a great deal. With religion back at the centre of political life, it was necessary to hold something of an opinion about it.

And yet, as the depressingly inevitable war of revenge disguised as a war on evil and a war for democracy unfurled, it was equally evident that merely to decide at this point that religion, rather than being a harmless anachronism dwindling into the past, was the root of all evil, would be to repeat the worst excesses of racism and xenophobia under the guise of protecting western civilisation. In the early noughties, I worked for a web magazine dedicated to global democracy and we went out of our way, during the ramping up of the war on terror, and the bellicose rattling of sabres, to seek out moderate democratic views from across the spectrum, including Muslims and Christians and Jews, who would do the necessary work of disentangling religion from the murderous nihilism of zealots. September 11 didn't make me think that religion was bad – or not all bad – but it convinced me that it was important, something about which anyone who was concerned with the contemporary world, justice and equality, should have an opinion.

In 2005, I took over as editor of New Humanist magazine and CEO of the Rationalist Association, the same week as London was bombed by homegrown jihadis. Now I was both professionally and personally obliged to think that religion was A Bad Thing. The debris in my home town and the reading I did then – about child abuse by the Catholic church, the undue influence of bishops in the Lords, the many brave struggles against the blasphemy laws and the baleful influence of Indian godmen – certainly gave me plenty of evidence to support this. Then in 2006 came The God Delusion and the rise of the New Atheists. Everything seemed to be pointing in one direction. Perhaps it was my perversity dressed up as journalistic principle but I felt duty-bound to at least explore the other direction. So I investigated south London gangbangers who had converted to Islam (without condemning them), commissioned a prominent Muslim scholar to explore the free-thinking roots of Islamic thought and posed some tricky questions to the New Atheists suggesting it was a strategic and moral error to suggest all believers were stupid.

I can't stop changing my mind about religion. Last week I sat on a BBC breakfast sofa alongside the bishop of Reading, who was courteous and open-minded and left me feeling that someone like him (he told me he didn't like religion, only Jesus) carrying the humanist message of Jesus into the world was no bad thing. I returned to the office to read Laurie Taylor's searing article for our next issue in which he reminds us of the physical and psychological damage of clerical child abuse compounded a millionfold by the craven behaviour of the Irish church hierarchy. I spent Sunday night at our science and comedy extravaganza Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People during which Al Murray, Richard Dawkins, Dara O Briain, Robin Ince, Brian Cox and many more spent very little time slagging off religion and much more time on the re-enchantments of science. If we can all agree on the wonder of the universe, maybe we can all just get along. My cab ride home was soundtracked by an increasingly splenetic rant by my Catholic cabbie who regaled me with tales of how all atheists, abortion doctors and even pious Protestants were condemned to eternal damnation because they weren't proper Christians. So much for harmony.

The world of religion is astonishingly various. No surprise since it is one of the great (all too) human inventions. It's fascinating, often horrifying and comical too. Which is why we spend so much time thinking and writing about it. I don't expect to change my mind about this any time soon.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 26 Dec 2009 | 4:00 am

The nation's weather (AP)

AP - A major storm system was forecast to continue to bring winter weather to the northern Plains and Great Lakes regions Saturday. The broad low pressure system was expected to encompass an area from the Rockies to New England and the Mid-Atlantic.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 26 Dec 2009 | 3:09 am