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Specialized exercise regimen shown to relieve prolonged concussion symptoms, study suggestsResearchers have shown that a controlled individualized exercise training program can bring athletes and others suffering with post-concussion syndrome back to the playing field or to their daily activities.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 21 Jan 2010 | 12:00 pm Energy of attacking virus revealedFor the first time the research world has managed to measure the energy that is used when a virus infects a cell. The aim is to find a way to reduce the amount of energy inside the virus and thereby ultimately find a medicine that can counteract infections.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 21 Jan 2010 | 12:00 pm Promising probiotic treatment for inflammatory bowel diseaseBacteria that produce compounds to reduce inflammation and strengthen host defenses could be used to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Such probiotic microbes could be the most successful treatment for IBD to date, as explained in a new review.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 21 Jan 2010 | 12:00 pm Red grouper to be 'Frank Lloyd Wrights of the sea'To the casual observer in the Gulf of Mexico, the seemingly sluggish red grouper is more of a couch potato than a busy beaver. But a new study reveals the fish to be both architect and ecosystem engineer.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 21 Jan 2010 | 12:00 pm 'Survival of the cutest' proves Darwin rightDomestic dogs have followed their own evolutionary path, twisting Darwin's directive "survival of the fittest" to their own needs -- and have proved him right in the process, according to a new study.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 21 Jan 2010 | 12:00 pm Low socioeconomic status affects cortisol levels in children over timeGiven the importance of identifying risk factors for such diseases early in life, a new study looked at the relationship between low SES and cortisol in children over a 2-year period. The researchers hypothesized that living in a low SES environment would increase cortisol trajectories over time.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 21 Jan 2010 | 12:00 pm Video gamers: Size of brain structures predicts successResearchers can predict your performance on a video game simply by measuring the volume of specific structures in your brain.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 21 Jan 2010 | 9:00 am Cholesterol-lowering drug shows promise against serious infections in sickle cell diseaseNew research suggests a family of widely used cholesterol-lowering drugs might help protect individuals from serious illness following bacterial infection, including the pneumococcal infections that pose a deadly threat to those with sickle cell disease.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 21 Jan 2010 | 9:00 am Cosmology: Weak gravitational lensing improves measurements of distant galaxiesA cosmologist has extended the relationship between the x-ray luminosity and the mass of galaxy clusters as measured by gravitational lensing, improving the reliability of mass measurements of much older, more distant, and smaller galactic structures. These refined measurements will benefit both the understanding of dark matter and the nature of dark energy as well.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 21 Jan 2010 | 9:00 am Calpain is important to memory processes after allRecent studies reestablish the importance to memory processes of calpain, a protease first hypothesized to play a crucial role in memory 25 years ago.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 21 Jan 2010 | 9:00 am Precious waterReader photos of watery scenes around AfricaSource: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Jan 2010 | 2:43 am Coal baron debates Kennedy over mountaintop mining (AP)AP - Don Blankenship and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the coal baron and the conservationist, are certain they could win over the world if only the public could see mountaintop removal mining through their eyes. On Thursday, they get their shot.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Jan 2010 | 1:05 am Wales in crawfish plea to diversDivers are asked for help recording crawfish numbers in Welsh waters after it is named a conservation target.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am Common household chemical linked to thyroid disease• Household chemical linked to thyroid disease A common household chemical found in everything from sofas and carpets to pots and pans has been linked to an increased risk of thyroid disease, in the first major study carried out on its effect upon health. The substance, used to make nonstick cookware, stain-resistant furnishings and greaseproof wrappers, is believed to get into the body through contaminated food or household dust. Once in the body it accumulates in organs and other tissues. People with high levels of the chemical in their blood were found to be twice as likely to have thyroid problems as those with the lowest levels, according to a survey of medical records of nearly 4,000 otherwise healthy US adults. The study is published in the journal, Environmental Health Perspectives. Scientists said they cannot be certain the chemical is directly responsible for the rise in thyroid disease but called for a full investigation to assess its safety. Studies in animals have found that the chemical, PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), and a sister substance called PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate), can cause thyroid problems and a variety of other medical conditions, including hormone imbalances, liver disease and cancer. "It's been thought that because they're inert they don't cause any health problems, but we're starting to see some evidence that is suggesting that's not true," said Tamara Galloway, professor of ecotoxicology at Exeter University. "Because these chemicals are inert they are persistent and they build up in the environment and also in human and animal tissues." We all have trace levels of PFOA in our bodies that we pick up from the environment. The substance is so stable that it persists for years. It has been detected in people around the world and in wildlife as diverse as birds, fish and polar bears. The thyroid gland produces hormones that control the body's metabolism and are vital for regulating heart rate and temperature. Thyroid disease can make the gland produce too much or too little hormone. An underactive thyroid can cause exhaustion, depression and weight gain. If the gland is overactive, it can cause weight loss and a rapid heartbeat. Women are 10 times more likely to have thyroid problems than men. The Exeter researchers trawled medical records on the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a database representative of the country's adult population. They found 3,966 people aged 20 and older whose blood had been tested for PFOA and PFOS between 1999 and 2006. The scientists put the patients into four groups depending on the concentration of PFOA in their blood. The records showed that 16% of women in the top group had thyroid problems, compared with 8% in the lowest group. A similar trend was seen in men, though the number who had thyroid disease was small. Co-author David Melzer, professor of epidemiology and public health at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, said: "There have long been suspicions that PFOA concentrations might be linked to changes in thyroid hormone levels. Our analysis shows that in the ordinary adult population there is a solid statistical link between higher concentrations of PFOA in blood and thyroid disease." The scientists concede that their study does not confirm PFOA is causing thyroid disease. One alternative explanation is that thyroid disease makes PFOA accumulate more quickly in the body. An investigation into the health effects of PFOA is underway in West Virginia, where thousands of people have been exposed over decades after the chemical was released from an industrial plant owned by the US manufacturer, DuPont. Tony Fletcher, a scientist working on the investigation and an environmental epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said a full report is due next year. The US Food and Drug Administration has a voluntary agreement with several companies to phase out PFOA production over the next few years. Ashley Grossman, professor of neuroendocrinology at Queen Mary, University of London, said: "We also don't know whether this chemical is directly affecting the thyroid. Thyroid disease is often caused by the body's own immune system attacking the thyroid gland, so perhaps this chemical is having some effect on the immune system, rather than directly on the thyroid. "We'd need to do a lot more research to verify this link and to understand how the two are linked. In the meantime, it's important to remember that thyroid disease can be successfully treated." A spokesman for the Health Protection Agency said: "A study like this cannot establish cause and effect. An independent scientific advisory committee has looked at the published evidence and found no reason to suspect the chemical causes thyroid problems." Much used chemicalPerfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a manmade chemical known for its heat resistance and water, grease and stain repelling properties. Manufacturers use PFOA to make fluoropolymers, used in thousands of products. It is turned into non-stick coatings for cookware, flame retardants in furnishings, stain protection treatments for carpets, wire coatings and waterproof clothing such as Gore-Tex. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 20 Jan 2010 | 10:05 pm Swiss pilots aim to circle world in a solar-powered plane (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Jan 2010 | 9:11 pm UN climate deadline is 'flexible'Countries can miss the deadline for sending emissions pledges to the UN, as greens mull the latest US election.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 20 Jan 2010 | 8:14 pm UN climate report riddled with errors on glaciers (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Jan 2010 | 7:45 pm Experts may have found bones of English princess (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Jan 2010 | 5:56 pm Swine flu wasn't overhyped – research meant we had to play it safeThere was no conspiracy or panic. Scientists were right to prepare us for a major crisis Simon Jenkins's distaste for scientists leads him to declare that they deliberately overstate risks, and make panic predictions (Swine flu was as elusive as WMD. The real threat is mad scientist syndrome, 15 January). In reality, scientists worked calmly – not "frantically" as Jenkins asserts – to predict the progress of the disease and to understand risk. Jenkins says of the initial predictions about the spread of swine flu: "The chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, bandied about any figure that came into his head, settling on '65,000 could die', peaking at 350 corpses a day." Worst-case predictions are not figures plucked out the air "to convey plausibility", but result from well-researched computer simulations. Margins of error are high; no one pretends otherwise. Yet Jenkins is delighted when a worst-case scenario isn't met, as though he were right and everyone else wrong. There is a genuine debate which we must not overlook. What should the government response be? Does the risk justify the expense of stockpiling vaccine? Is it right to divert funds away from other health matters? But Jenkins doesn't ask such questions – instead he dismisses it all as "hysteria". Reasonable advice – alerting morgues, identifying vital key workers – is denounced as "drivel". You could argue that media coverage of H1N1 was excessive and that editors think the biggest numbers make the best headlines. But the scientific process has been evidence-based and transparent throughout. At the Science Media Centre we have tried to ensure that responsible journalists have had access to the best scientists. We've seen lots of co-operation and very little hysteria. Science moves by small steps, and as we learn more the picture becomes clearer. This is how official advice on Tamiflu for children was revised. Each time a risk comes along we are better prepared to characterise the next one. But decisions still need to be made early. Picture a beleaguered Simon Jenkins in the middle of a deadly pandemic, decrying the government's woefully inadequate response and failure to order enough vaccine. It's embarrassingly straightforward. Viruses usually don't mutate into major killers; that's why there are still people left on the planet. But it has happened before and will happen again. We can't predict when – that's what risk is – but we can perform the analyses, educate ourselves and be prepared, all underpinned by evidence drawn from virology and epidemiology. Or we could shrug and say it's all hype, and most of the time we'd be right. Similarly, most of the times I put on a seatbelt I don't crash my car. Jenkins's logic goes as follows. Once there was a boy who cried wolf, but there wasn't a wolf. Therefore not only do wolves not exist, but there must be a conspiracy between wolf experts, the lupine risk assessment board and the manufacturers of bite-proof trousers to convince the rest of us that they do. With swine flu there wasn't conspiracy and hype; just scientists, patiently performing the analyses, and explaining the possibilities. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 20 Jan 2010 | 5:05 pm Letters: Badger cull: no black and white issueGeorge Monbiot's attack on the Welsh assembly government's decision to pilot a targeted badger cull in west Wales (When our economic interests are at stake, the war on nature resumes, 19 January) paints a false picture of farmers, vets and politicians committed to destroying wildlife. The reality is a commitment to tackling a terrible disease that is having an unacceptable impact on animal health and welfare and is a potential risk to public health. The attack would have been better directed at the secretary of state, who has consistently refused to accept that an infectious disease such as tuberculosis must be tackled in all species, irrespective of whether they are farmed or wild. As organisations representing vets across the UK, the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA) have taken a very strong line on tackling bovine tuberculosis because our members see the devastation caused by the disease every day – in terms of the welfare of both cattle and badgers, and the impact on the farming community. Monbiot fails to mention that current efforts to tackle TB are failing and the disease is resulting in the slaughter of thousands of cattle and the suffering of wildlife. We know there is a link between bovine TB in cattle and badgers and so we support the fact that the Welsh assembly government is taking action both to tackle the disease and to carry out better research. We did not take the decision to support this badger cull lightly, but until we get on top of TB the vast majority of animals that come into contact with it will suffer. The Welsh rural affairs minister should be congratulated for taking such a bold step, not condemned as a badger exterminator. Professor Bill Reilly President, BVA Keith Cutler President, BCVA • George Monbiot is right to point out the absurdity and callousness of the Welsh assembly's plan to kill badgers, in a doomed attempt to control TB. It is outrageous for the Welsh rural affairs minister to claim that the cull will conform to Independent Scientific Group rules, when the ISG has stated that a cull will actually be counterproductive. Other current or planned culls include boar in the Forest of Dean, goats in Snowdonia, deer in Richmond Park, squirrels in the Gower Peninsula and foxes in Kew Gardens. Culling is, of course, a polite term for mass slaughter. We do not need to bring out the guns and traps whenever a wild animal is harming an economic activity or causing us inconvenience. There are many other ways to deal with problem situations, such as fencing or, in the case of the badger cull, improving cattle farming practices. Sometimes, we can just accept that there is a small economic price to pay for our pleasure in seeing animals in the wild. Richard Mountford Development manager, Animal Aid • To those families in the countryside who have seen a life's work in breeding high-quality livestock in closed herds destroyed overnight by the ravages of bovine tuberculosis, George Monbiot's words will come as cold comfort. They expose yet again the gulf of misunderstanding which bedevils the whole debate over this most destructive disease and its connection to the badger population. Yet more intrusive government control on farming is as unlikely to solve this problem as is indiscriminate mass culling of the badger population. Until common sense begins to prevail, the extreme positions adopted by both sides will, as in so many other environmental issues, only serve to further cloud the issue. The waste of thousands of livestock will continue and the countryside as a whole will be the loser. John Capstick Johnby, Cumbria • What, pray, is "the Christian worldview which places humankind at the apex of creation" and consequently has no regard for the natural world? I, and many other Christians I know, care passionately about nature and consider it imperative to protect and preserve all creatures and environments, which are as much part of God's creation as we are. Helen Owen Thurnscoe, South Yorkshire guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 20 Jan 2010 | 5:05 pm 'Iron Snail' Inspires New ArmorNext generation armor could be modeled after the shell design of this iron-plated snail.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 20 Jan 2010 | 5:00 pm El Nino prime culprit for severe weather in California (The Christian Science Monitor)The Christian Science Monitor - A storm system that has battered California for three days, flooding streets and triggering mudslides, is now aiming at Arizona.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Jan 2010 | 3:52 pm Space concepts vie for positionThe competition to find the next great European space mission sees three ideas move to the front of the field.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 20 Jan 2010 | 3:51 pm Claims Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035 were false, says UN scientist• IPCC report said ice would vanish 'perhaps sooner' One paragraph, buried in 3,000 pages of reports and published almost three years ago, has humbled the head of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Facing global outcry, Rajendra Pachauri backed down and apologised today for a disputed IPCC claim that there was a very high chance the Himalayan glaciers would melt away by 2035. The assertion, now discredited, was included in the most recent IPCC report assessing climate change science, published in 2007. Those reports are widely credited with convincing the world that human activity was causing global warming. But Pachauri admitted in an IPCC statement (pdf) that in this case "the clear and well-established standards of evidence required by the IPCC procedures were not applied properly", and "poorly substantiated estimates" of the speed of glacier melting had made it into print. He had stridently defended the report in recent months. Furthermore, the Guardian has discovered the claim was questioned by the Japanese government before publication, and by other scientists. Pachauri's statement is a reprimand for some IPCC scientists involved. It is also bound to encourage critics of the panel to redouble efforts to undermine its scientific reputation. However, many scientists say evidence for man-made climate change remains compelling and note that the 2035 claim did not appear in the more widely read "summary for policymakers". The offending paragraph, in the panel's fourth assessment report on the impacts of climate change, said: "Glaciers in the Himalaya are receding faster than in any other part of the world and, if the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high." In IPCC terminology a "very high" likelihood has a specific meaning: more than a 90% chance of coming true. The report's only quoted source for the claim was a 2005 campaigning report from the environment group WWF. In turn, the WWF report's only source was remarks made in 1999 by a leading Indian glaciologist, Syed Hasnain, then vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, to journalists at two magazines, New Scientist in London, and Down to Earth in New Delhi. Hasnain had never submitted the suggestion of such an early demise to a scientific journal because, he said last week, it had always been "speculative". How this made it to the august pages of the IPCC report remains unclear. But the IPCC text is almost identical to that in the Down to Earth article in April 1999. WWF said today it regretted "any confusion caused" and would amend its report. The panel is yet to make a similar commitment. Hasnain is currently employed as a senior fellow at an Indian research institute, the Tata Energy Research Institute, whose director is Pachauri. Glaciologists who spoke to the Guardian say Himalayan glaciers contain so much ice it will be 300 years before it vanishes. The affair raises serious questions about the rigour of the IPCC's process of sifting and assessing the thousands of research findings it includes in its reports. It also raises questions about the competence of Pachauri, who angrily defended the report's conclusions about Himalayan glaciers after they were called "alarmist" last autumn by India's environment minister, Jairam Ramesh. Pachauri accused Ramesh of relying on "voodoo science", called the minister "extremely arrogant" and said Ramesh's claims were "not peer reviewed". It is now clear that it was the panel's claims that were not reviewed. The author of the part of the panel's report, another Indian glaciologist, Murari Lal, last week defended inclusion of 2035, saying "the error if any lies with Dr Hasnain's assertion". Pachauri's statement repudiates that position. He said he "regrets the poor application of well-established IPCC procedures in this instance". One person who has not spoken is the co-chairman of the impacts assessment report, Martin Parry, who was unavailable for comment. But his successor, Chris Field of the Carnegie Institution in Stanford, California, said it was a powerful reminder of "carefully applying the well-established IPCC principles to every statement in every paragraph". "Glaciergate" has brought into the open splits between authors of the four different IPCC reports, produced every five or so years. However, Bob Ward, policy director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change at the LSE, said: "We should be cautious about making sweeping statements about the IPCC based on a single error." guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 20 Jan 2010 | 3:44 pm Viewer's Choice on Mars: NASA Takes Suggestions for Martian Photos (SPACE.com)SPACE.com - If you have an absolute favorite spot on Mars, NASA wants to know. The agency may even take a snapshot for you with its most powerful camera circling the red planet.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Jan 2010 | 3:15 pm Experts: Haiti at risk for another big aftershock (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Jan 2010 | 2:59 pm For Dogs, It's 'Survival of the Cutest'Look at how cute and adorable Claudia and Johnny are! Don't they just melt your heart? New research shows that how we value the "cuteness" of our pet dogs could influence a breed's survival, variation and overall evolutionary pattern. The ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 20 Jan 2010 | 2:51 pm Size of Brain Region Affects Video Game Performance (LiveScience.com)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Jan 2010 | 2:46 pm Carbon chaosEurope wrestles with fallout from CopenhagenSource: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 20 Jan 2010 | 2:45 pm Buzz Aldrin Turns 80On July 20, 1969, Buzz Aldrin became the second man to set foot on the Moon, following mission commander Neil Armstrong. That historic moment was over 40 years ago. Today, Aldrin is celebrating another milestone, his 80th birthday. Although the ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 20 Jan 2010 | 2:10 pm Memo to medics: it's about emotions as well as tumours | Zoe WilliamsThe latest dust-up among breast cancer experts shines a light into the grey areas of the NHS's screening programme The Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine published an article this week levelling the following criticisms at the NHS breast cancer screening review, 2008: the paper cited statistics that were hard, sometimes impossible, to source; it was not peer reviewed; failed to mention crucial negative elements (overdiagnosis and false positives) of the 20-year programme; and sold the concept of screening in a paternalistic way. When I spoke to the co-author Karsten Jorgensen, he went further: "Those responsible for the breast-screening programme are also those responsible for evaluating the programme … I would not say for financial gain, but maybe for professional gain. This is something you've worked on for a long time, if the programme fails you fail as a professional. It's often taken very personally." At this level, the row has the makings of a bar-room brawl. Julietta Patnick, the director of NHS cancer screening, responded that the "annual review doesn't pretend to be a scientific publication" – that's why it isn't peer reviewed. Indeed, all the criticisms fundamentally misunderstand its nature, which is as a 20-year hurrah for the programme, not an independent study. Professor Stephen Duffy conducted many of the randomised trials that make the NHS such a clear, rich source of screening data. He queries one of the controversial article's main assertions – that the age group that wasn't screened saw the same drop in mortality as the age group that was. And its data points are misleading, according to Duffy, taking as its mortality highpoint 1988 (before screening started) and its low point 20 years later. It is more illuminating to take averages over periods of years: the first pre-screening; the second as screening begins; and the third as the programme matures. "It's a shame my paper isn't published till March," Duffy said, mildly. "But when we did that, taking the average, in those screen-affected ages, the mortality went down in the screened ages 28% more than all other ages combined." His paper will be peer-reviewed in due course: I'm not trying to wade in and arbitrate, like a medieval layman. In the meantime, there is one element of this programme – indeed, of screening as a concept – on which everyone broadly agrees, though they differ on its prevalence and impact, and that's overdiagnosis. Jorgensen and his co-author Peter Gotzsche estimate that one in four diagnoses are overdiagnoses: cancers that, left untreated, would not develop to be life-threatening. Duffy says the figure is between one in 15 and one in 20, but concedes: "You diagnose a cancer, you can't know what would have happened if you hadn't diagnosed it." Jorgensen expands on this, pointing out that you never meet overdiagnosed patients, only people delighted to have overcome cancer. Those who would be fine without treatment only show up in statistics. "It's a very severe harm to get an unnecessary diagnosis, to have to live the rest of your life fearing that this disease might come back." How to digest this risk, as a patient, is perplexing for philosophical more than mathematical reasons. It is much easier, first of all, to conceive of oneself as an individual rather than part of a cohort, so the premise – that some will be obviously saved, while others will be invisibly harmed – nudges one towards screening. There is much more drama and clarity in being identified for a life-saving treatment, than in potentially having a cloud of uncertainty that you didn't need to have. And many of us, furthermore, would probably think we had the emotional resilience to cope with a threat, and would take that over being struck down without warning. But that's easy to say when you haven't been diagnosed with breast cancer. In fairness to the Danish medics, the NHS attitude is rather paternalistic here. Duffy likens screening to vaccination in infants: "When you're a child, you don't want an injection to protect you from this or that disease. That bit of discomfort can sometimes be worthwhile." Patnick, meanwhile, comments: "I know it's not for everybody. We all make decisions that would run contrary to good advice all the time, that's part of the richness of human life." They're unwilling, in other words, to brook the unnecessary anxiety of overdiagnosis as a real concern: whereas, for some patients – perhaps for many – anxiety is a pressing inhibition and its avoidance something to consider very seriously. That said, who's to say the relief from anxiety after being screened and given an all-clear isn't a comparable boon? The debate offers a fascinating insight into the grey areas of screening. We think of it as a no-brainer, but maybe there is more to it; maybe we undervalue the importance of our own emotions when it comes to accepting best practice, and yet have expectations of the NHS that are highly emotional. It's surprising, too, to see this terrain so swarming with people whose intent is good, yet who are so much at odds with each other. Out of respect for their collected expertise, I'm going to have one breast screened, and the other left alone. It'll be my very own randomised control trial. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 20 Jan 2010 | 2:00 pm Astronauts in Space Concerned for Haiti Earthquake Victims (SPACE.com)SPACE.com - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) sent a heartfelt message Tuesday for the victims of last week's devastating earthquake in Haiti.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Jan 2010 | 1:46 pm Too Much Sitting Creates a Health HazardDon't get too comfortable in that chair. Staying in your seat too long, too often could kill you.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 20 Jan 2010 | 12:45 pm The nation's weather (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Jan 2010 | 12:42 pm Oops! Himalayan Glaciers Won't Vanish by 2035Leaders of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change express regret over a report.Source: Livescience.com | 20 Jan 2010 | 12:40 pm Bill Gates Finally Has a TwitterAnd I thought I was late to Twitter. But Bill Gates, the cofounder of Microsoft, just signed on yesterday. His @BillGates feed already has more than 225,000 followers. Man! What's his secret? You should know that Bill's only following 40 ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 20 Jan 2010 | 12:39 pm 7-Step Plan to Improve Heart HealthA new seven-point checklist has been designed with a goal to improve U.S. cardiovascular health.Source: Livescience.com | 20 Jan 2010 | 12:33 pm The Sounds of SaturnWondering what to get that geeky astronomy buff you're dating for Valentine's Day? How about a newly available DVD featuring breathtaking images of Saturn's rings set to an original piece of music? The music in question is the 10-minute-long "Anillos" ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 20 Jan 2010 | 12:14 pm US Army Launches New Social Media SitemilBook aims to be a safe and convenient place for Army personnel to discuss sensitive topics and connect with friends.Source: Livescience.com | 20 Jan 2010 | 12:14 pm New Quake Highlights Ongoing Risk for Haiti RegionAfter this morning's magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck outside the already ravaged Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, survivors and aid workers must be wondering "when will it end?" On this point, unfortunately, scientists are not very encouraging. When I spoke last week ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 20 Jan 2010 | 12:09 pm Do Asteroids Have Quakes?Yes. And Earth can cause them.Source: Livescience.com | 20 Jan 2010 | 12:08 pm Google Releases New High-Res Satellite Images of Haiti
Google has released new, higher-resolution satellite images of the Port-au-Prince area of Haiti that was devastated by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake on Jan. 12.
Last week, Google and GeoEye released a set of satellite images of Haiti taken on Jan. 13, just a day after the earthquake, along with previous images of the area from 2008. Google is working to make the new imagery available as a layer in Google Earth as well. An updated Haiti earthquake layer for Google Earth is currently available with images from multiple sources as well as maps, including earthquake epicenters. For more information on images of Haiti and other tech relief efforts, check out Danger Room’s coverage.
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Source: Wired: Wired Science | 20 Jan 2010 | 12:08 pm Space Shuttle for Sale -- CheapIt's not going to help financially strapped homeowners, but the U.S. government sweetened the pot for museums and institutions hoping to snare a space shuttle for their collections. The new asking price -- which basically covers travel costs -- is ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 20 Jan 2010 | 12:07 pm Hollywood Shows a Little FaithAfter years of avoiding the Good Book like the plague, Hollywood has done an about-face on faith.Source: Livescience.com | 20 Jan 2010 | 12:04 pm Wildlife photo stripped of awardThe winner of a major wildlife photography award is disqualified because the wolf featured in his photograph was likely a "model".Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 20 Jan 2010 | 12:01 pm 'Diets Don't Work' a Dangerous Myth'Diets Don't Work' a Dangerous Myth It's that time of year again. The few extra holiday pounds are staring you in the mirror every day, reminding you about the second (or was it third?) helping of Thanksgiving pie you knew ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 20 Jan 2010 | 11:44 am Breathing Asia's fumesEven as local efforts to improve air quality have been making headway over western North America, increasing flows of unhealthy and agriculturally harmful emissions of ozone have been blowing in from Asia. While scientists have recognized this phenomenon for some ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 20 Jan 2010 | 11:36 am UN panel "regrets" exaggeration of Himalayan thawOSLO (Reuters) - The U.N. panel of climate scientists expressed regret on Wednesday for exaggerating how quickly Himalayan glaciers are melting in a report that wrongly projected that they could all vanish by 2035.Source: Reuters: Science News | 20 Jan 2010 | 11:35 am Did the ancestors of Madagascar's wildlife float to the islandAncestors of mammals found on the island of Madagascar could have been transported on floating vegetation, a study says.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 20 Jan 2010 | 11:34 am Glowing Hydrogen Highlights Cat’s Paw Nebula
Glowing hydrogen lights up this new portrait of the Cat’s Paw Nebula captured by the Wide Field Imager at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. The space photo combines images taken with standard red, green and blue filters with those taken through a special filter designed to capture the red light of the hot gas. It’s a substantially more detailed and beautiful image than had been previously available. (See a previous version below.) The Nebula, also known as NGC 6334, is huge cloud of gas and dust about 5,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius. Fifty light-years across, the Cat’s Paw is a very active star-forming region. The whole area could contain tens of thousands of stars, including many newly ignited blue stars. The La Silla Observatory is operated by the European Southern Observatory. Extra large images are available at the ESO’s website.
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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 | 20 Jan 2010 | 11:31 am New Chupacabra Revealed as a Montauk MonsterIs it Chupacabra or the Montauk Monster or just a dead raccoon?Source: Livescience.com | 20 Jan 2010 | 10:56 am Why Antidepressants Don't Work for Half of PatientsA brain receptor can block the effects of antidepressants.Source: Livescience.com | 20 Jan 2010 | 9:37 am Farmers spawned most European menMost European men trace a line of descent to stone age farmers who migrated from the Near East, a study says.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 20 Jan 2010 | 9:21 am Engineer reveals a design for an autonomous unicycleA engineer from the University of Surrey has spent a year perfecting the design for an autonomous unicycle.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 20 Jan 2010 | 8:53 am Fish Are Remarkable ArchitectsRed groupers create remarkable structures that attract other creatures, including dinner.Source: Livescience.com | 20 Jan 2010 | 8:17 am How to Quit Nervous HabitsHow to quit nervous habits and bad habits like nail-biting, thumb-sucking, overeating and smoking.Source: Livescience.com | 20 Jan 2010 | 7:51 am USGS: Today's Haiti Earthquake Was an AftershockThe 6.1-magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti this morning was indeed a strong aftershock.Source: Livescience.com | 20 Jan 2010 | 7:35 am IPCC admits mistake over melting glaciersSenior members of the UN's climate science body admit a claim that Himalayan glaciers could melt away by 2035 was unfounded The UN's climate science body has admitted that a claim made in its 2007 report - that Himalayan glaciers could melt away by 2035 - was unfounded. The admission today followed a New Scientist article last week that revealed the source of the claim made in the 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was not peer-reviewed scientific literature – but a media interview with a scientist conducted in 1999. Several senior scientists have now said the claim was unrealistic and that the large Himalayan glaciers could not melt in a few decades. In a statement (pdf), the IPCC said the paragraph "refers to poorly substantiated estimates of rate of recession and date for the disappearance of Himalayan glaciers. In drafting the paragraph in question, the clear and well-established standards of evidence, required by the IPCC procedures, were not applied properly." It added: "The IPCC regrets the poor application of well-established IPCC procedures in this instance." But the statement calls for no action beyond stating a need for absolute adherence to IPCC quality control processes. "We reaffirm our strong commitment to ensuring this level of performance," the statement said. The IPCC says the broader conclusion of the report is unaffected: that glaciers have melted significantly, that this will accelerate and affect the supply of water from major mountain ranges "where more than one-sixth of the world population currently lives". Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, vice-chair of the IPCC, added that the mistake did nothing to undermine the large body of evidence that showed the climate was warming and that human activity was largely to blame. He told BBC News: "I don't see how one mistake in a 3,000-page report can damage the credibility of the overall report. " The Indian environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, said earlier in the week: "The [glaciers] are indeed receding and the rate is cause for great concern … [but the claim is] not based on an iota of scientific evidence." The Indian government criticised the IPCC's glaciers claim in November at the launch of its own discussion paper, written by geologist Vijay Kumar Raina, which admitted that while some glaciers in the Himalayas were retreating, it was "nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing to suggest as some have said that they will disappear." At the time, the chairman of the IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri, dismissed the report as not peer-reviewed and said: "With the greatest of respect this guy retired years ago and I find it totally baffling that he comes out and throws out everything that has been established years ago." Georg Kaser, an expert in tropical glaciology at the University of Innsbruck in Austria and a lead author for the IPCC, said he had warned that the 2035 prediction was clearly wrong in 2006, months before the report was published. "This [date] is not just a little bit wrong, but far out of any order of magnitude," he said. "All the responsible people are aware of this weakness in the fourth assessment. All are aware of the mistakes made," he said. "If it had not been the focus of so much public opinion, we would have said 'we will do better next time'. It is clear now that working group II has to be restructured." The reports of the IPCC collate the work of thousands of scientists and are assessed through a process of peer-review and then approved by the 192 governments who are members of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Its work is seen as the most comprehensive account of global warming. The chair of the IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri, has made no personal comment on the glacier claim: But yesterday, at an energy conference in Abu Dhabi, he responded to British newspaper articles criticising his chairmanship of the IPCC. "They can't attack the science so they attack the chairman. But they won't sink me. I am the unsinkable Molly Brown. In fact, I will float much higher," he told the Guardian. The row centres on the IPCC's "fourth assessment" report in 2007, which said "glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than in any other part of the world and, if the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high if the Earth keeps warming at the current rate." The claim appears in the full report, but not in the more widely read "Summary for policymakers". The claim was attributed to a report by the campaign group WWF, but in the New Scientist article, Guardian writer Fred Pearce noted that WWF had cited a 1999 interview in the magazine with Indian glaciologist Syed Hasnain as the source of the claim. Hasnain told the magazine last week that "it is not proper for IPCC to include references from popular magazines or newspapers". Additional reporting: Ian Wylie guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 20 Jan 2010 | 7:26 am UK sends nuclear waste to JapanThe first shipment of highly radioactive nuclear waste from the UK has left Sellafield en route for Japan.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 20 Jan 2010 | 7:14 am Europe's conquering heroes? Likely farmers: studyWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The conquerors who spread their seed across Europe in ancient times were prosperous farmers who imported their skills from the Middle East, researchers reported on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 20 Jan 2010 | 6:21 am Stereo Speakers Can Levitate Dust for Mars Colonists
Using the vibration from a stereo speaker to levitate dust off surfaces may one day help keep colonies up and running on Mars and the Moon. Blasting a high-pitched noise from a tweeter into a pipe that focuses the sound waves can create enough pressure to lift troublesome alien dust from equipment, suits or vehicles, according to a study published January in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. Dust is one of the biggest obstacles for long-term lunar and Martian space colonies. On the moon, there’s no atmosphere and no water, so the dust particles don’t get moved around, worn down and rounded like they do on Earth. Consequently, dust kicked up by rovers and astronauts is “very abrasive and sharp, like freshly broken glass,” said University of Colorado Boulder physicist Zoltan Sternovsky, who was not involved in the study.
Electrostatic charging from solar winds and UV radiation on the moon makes this sharp dust cling to everything, including astronaut suits where it can work its way through the glove air locks. It also sticks to the solar panels that power rovers and other instruments.
To see whether the technique, known as acoustic levitation (see video below), could solve the dust problem, the scientists loaded a solar panel with mock Martian and lunar dust. The panel normally produced 3 volts of power but the dust reduced its output to just 0.4 volts. After four minutes of treatment with the acoustic dustbuster to clean the panel, it was able to produce 98.4 percent of its maximum output. Acoustic levitation has been used before, said University of Vermont physicist Junrun Wu, coauthor of the study. But this is the first time it’s been tested out for an extra-terrestrial application. The setup is cheap and can be made with parts easily found online. But the system does have one giant hitch. Because sound is a pressure wave that travels through air, it won’t work where there isn’t any, like on the moon. And it can’t generate enough force to counteract static cling in the thin, low-pressure Martian atmosphere. To work, the dust buster needs to be sealed in an enclosed, pressurized space station. “We made this very clear, this technique only works in a space station,” Wu said. Images: 1) Martian dust devil traces./NASA. 2) HiRISE, MRO, LPL (University of Arizona), NASA. Citation: ”Removal of dust-particles by standing waves” by D. Chen and J. Wu. J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 127, No. 1, January 2010 See Also:
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Source: Wired: Wired Science | 20 Jan 2010 | 4:00 am Deep-Sea Snail Shell Could Inspire Better Body Armor
A deep-sea snail wears a multilayered suit of armor, complete with iron, new research shows. Dissecting details of the shell’s structure could inspire tough new materials for use in everything from body armor to scratch-free paint.
The snail, called the scaly-foot gastropod, was discovered nearly a decade ago living in a hydrothermal vent field in the Indian Ocean. In its daily life, the snail encounters extreme temperatures, high pressures and high acidity levels that threaten to dissolve its protective shell. Worse, it is hunted by crabs that try to crush the mollusk between strong claws. To understand how the valiant gastropod holds up to these trials, Christine Ortiz of MIT and her colleagues used nanoscale experiments and computer simulations to dig in to the shell’s structure. Many other species’ shells exhibit what Ortiz calls “mechanical property amplification,” in which the whole material is hundreds of times stronger than the sum of its parts.
“Most mollusks only have a relatively thin outer organic layer followed by inner calcified layers,” Ortiz says. But the snail’s organic layer is surprisingly thick, and no other gastropod has ever been shown to use iron sulfide in its shell. Each of the shell’s layers plays a unique role in protecting the snail from crab attacks, Ortiz found. The researchers measured material properties like stiffness and fracture resistance, and fed them into a computational model of a predator penetrating the armor. The model showed that the outer layer, the shell’s “first line of defense,” sacrificed itself by cracking slightly under pressure. But the cracks were branched and jagged, dissipating energy widely through the shell and keeping any one crack from spreading too far. The iron-based scales could shift and roughen the shell’s surface during a crab attack, which in turn would grind down the attacking claw, the researchers suggest. The soft organic middle layer changed shape in response to pressure, keeping the brittle inner layer from feeling too much of the pinch. Organic material could also insert itself in any cracks that formed in either sandwiching layer and keep the crack from spreading. Plus, the middle layer together with the outer layer protects against acidic waters and may also help shield the snail from high temperatures. The shell’s curvature also helped reduce stress on the calcified inner layer. The inner layer’s rigidity provided structural support, to keep the whole shell from caving in. “It shows that by changing the geometry of the materials … you can improve their properties quite significantly,” comments Markus Buehler of MIT, who was not involved in the research. Ortiz hopes that studying the snail’s shell could one day lead to improved materials for armor or helmets for people. Studying organisms that have been optimized for extreme environments through millions of years of evolution could offer ideas that engineers would never think of on their own, she says. But it will probably be a while, Ritchie cautions. His lab built a ceramic material based on mother-of-pearl in 2008. “I’m a great fan of this kind of research, but the next step is the critical one. Can you actually harness that information and make a synthetic structure in its image which has the same properties?” he asks. “That’s the most difficult step.” Images: 1) Anders Warén, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden. 2) Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation. See Also:
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 20 Jan 2010 | 3:30 am
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On Mars, which has a thin atmosphere, dust devils scour the surface and keep the soil from being as sharp, but it’s still got plenty of static cling.
The scaly-foot snail’s shell employs a structure “unlike any other known mollusk or any other known natural armor,” the researchers report January 19 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Ortiz and her colleagues found that the shell consists of a 250-micrometer-thick inner layer of aragonite, a common shell material, sheathed in a 150-micrometer-thick layer of squishy organic materials. The organic layer is encased in a thin, stiff outer layer (about 30 micrometers thick) made of hard iron sulfide–based scales. The gastropod wears larger versions of the scales on its exposed foot.