Science Headlines for January 25, 2010

Cells critical to childhood leukemia discovered

Scientists have discovered the cells that cause a common type of childhood leukemia -- T cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Targeting of these cells may lead to improved treatments for this disease and help prevent relapse.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm

Cave reveals Southwest's abrupt climate swings during Ice Age

Ice Age climate records from an Arizona stalagmite link the Southwest's winter precipitation to temperatures in the North Atlantic, according to new research. The stalagmite yielded an almost continuous, century-by-century climate record spanning 55,000 to 11,000 years ago, a time the Southwest flip-flopped between wet and dry periods. The finding is the first to document that the abrupt changes in Ice Age climate known from Greenland also occurred in the southwestern US.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm

Driven to distraction: New study shows driving hinders talking

It is well known that having a conversation (for example on a cell phone) impairs one's driving. A new study indicates the reverse is also true: Driving reduces one's ability to comprehend and use language.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm

Tree Shrew Offers Small-Animal Model of Hepatitis C Virus Infection

Researchers from Japan suggest that the tree shrew may be a practical small-animal model for studying the progression of human hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. This discovery would replace the need for rare and expensive studies using chimpanzees, currently the only validated animal model for HCV.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm

Genes found linked to breast cancer drug resistance could guide future treatment choices

Researchers have discovered a gene activity signature that predicts a high risk of cancer recurrence in certain breast tumors that have been treated with commonly used chemotherapy drugs. The findings could lead to a genetic test of breast cancers to help physicians choose the best initial treatment for an individual patient.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm

Value of sexual reproduction versus asexual reproduction

Living organisms have good reason for engaging in sexual, rather than asexual, reproduction according to scientists.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:00 pm

Potential new class of drugs to combat hepatitis C identified

Scientists have discovered a novel class of compounds that, in experiments in vitro, inhibit replication of the virus responsible for hepatitis C.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 25 Jan 2010 | 9:00 am

Some mouse sperm can identify, and even cooperate with, its brethren

Some mouse sperm can discriminate between its brethren and competing sperm from other males, clustering with its closest relatives to swim faster in the race to the egg. But this sort of cooperation appears to be present only in certain promiscuous species, where it affords an individual's sperm a competitive advantage over that of other males.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 25 Jan 2010 | 9:00 am

Global warming: 'Cooling' forests can heat too

Forests can trap heat as well as carbon. Recent research shows that in one type of semi-arid forest, it may take years for the effects of carbon capture to override those of heat retention.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 25 Jan 2010 | 9:00 am

Cycling to better health, one leg at a time

Improving fitness in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) goes a long way in improving their physical and mental health. Now, a series of studies report several innovative ways to help improve the fitness in COPD patients. All it takes is a little extra oxygen, or cycling on a stationary bicycle, using just one leg at a time.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 25 Jan 2010 | 9:00 am

The nation's weather (AP)

AP - Wet weather was expected to persist in the East on Monday, while the West Coast braced for another storm system and the North prepared for snow.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 25 Jan 2010 | 3:03 am

Movie made by chimps shown on TV

The world's first film shot entirely by chimpanzees is to be broadcast by the BBC as part of a natural history documentary.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:55 am

In pictures: How to spot an alien

Science fiction writers, Hollywood and television have already warned us what to expect

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 25 Jan 2010 | 2:31 am

Villagers protest Chinese incinerator (AP)

AP - About 100 villagers on Monday protested the construction of a garbage incinerator in southern China, alleging several residents have already become sick from pollution from another trash-burning facility in the area.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 25 Jan 2010 | 12:53 am

Activists block nuclear shipment in France (AFP)

AFP - Greenpeace activists said Monday they were blocking a train transporting nuclear waste to the French port of Cherbourg from where it was to be shipped to Russia.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 24 Jan 2010 | 11:42 pm

Scientists Use Australian Lakes to Aid Search for Life on Mars (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - The types of environments that exist on Mars and whether or not they are conducive to sustain life are still big mysteries for scientists who study the red planet. Until scientists can study Mars environments first-hand, the next best option is to study Earth environment "analogs" thought to closely resemble Mars.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 24 Jan 2010 | 11:00 pm

Rare dinosaur skeleton turned over to researchers (AP)

AP - A rare and nearly complete dinosaur skeleton stolen from private property in Montana and stored in an evidence locker for more than two years has been turned over to researchers.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 24 Jan 2010 | 6:13 pm

Cape Wind's fate unclear, even in Obama's hands (AP)

AP - After eight years of review, the future of a controversial wind farm off Cape Cod now rests in what would seem to be friendly hands — an Obama administration that's pledged to make the U.S. "the world's leading exporter of clean energy."

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 24 Jan 2010 | 6:05 pm

Is there anybody out there? Quite possibly, says leading astronomer

The chance of discovering life on other worlds is greater than ever, according to Britain's leading astronomer.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 24 Jan 2010 | 5:13 pm

Aliens visiting Earth will be just like humans, scientist claims

Extra-terrestrials likely to possess human foibles such as greed, violence and a tendency to exploit others' resources, conference to be told

Governments should prepare for the worst if aliens visit Earth because beings from outer space are likely to be just like humans, a leading scientist is claiming.

Extra-terrestrials might not only resemble us but have our foibles, such as greed, violence and a tendency to exploit others' resources, says Simon Conway Morris, professor of evolutionary paleobiology at Cambridge University.

And while aliens could come in peace they are quite as likely to be searching for somewhere to live, and to help themselves to water, minerals and fuel, Conway Morris will tell a conference at the Royal Society, in London tomorrow.

His lecture is part of a two-day conference at which experts will discuss how we might detect life on distant planets and what that could mean for society. "Extra-terrestrials … won't be splodges of glue … they could be disturbingly like us, and that might not be a good thing – we don't have a great record."

The US space agency's search for alien life is based upon the mantra "follow the water", a strategy reflecting the fact that, on Earth, where there's water there's life. Recent missions have revealed ice on the moon and Mars.

Astronomers have detected more than 400 planets outside our solar system, some of which sit in the "Goldilocks zone" where the temperature is neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to form.

Conway Morris will argue that alien life is most likely to occur on a planet similar to our own, with organisms made from the same biochemicals. The process of evolution will even shape alien life in a similar way, he added.

Space

Ian Sample

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Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 24 Jan 2010 | 5:10 pm

Evolution's greatest hits, and ancient Muslim science

What are evolution's 10 greatest inventions? The eye? Opposable thumbs? Our special guest, Nick Lane is on hand to give us the lowdown on everything from sex to photosynthesis, why we have hot blood and the emergence of consciousness.

Nick is a biochemist at University College London and has written extensively on subjects such as mitochondria and oxygen. His latest book, Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution, is a handy guide to the most important evolutionary breakthroughs.

Presenter Alok Jha is joined in the studio by the Observer's science editor, Robin McKie, and the Guardian's science correspondent, Ian Sample.

In this week's newsjam of the week's major science stories, there are claims that fish oil may be the elixir of youth; we learn that 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; the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline has said it will publish online the details of thousands of potential drugs that might cure malaria; and most men in Britain are descended from the first farmers to migrate across Europe from the Near East 10,000 years ago.

Finally, Pascal Wyse takes us on a tour of an exhibition of ancient artefacts from the Islamic world that have shaped science. 1001 Inventions at the Science Museum in London gives a taste of "the forgotten story of a thousand years of science from the Muslim world".

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Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 24 Jan 2010 | 5:05 pm

Letters: Object lessons in history and culture

Simon Jenkins not only has a disturbingly selective aural capability but a disappointingly dismal imagination (A world of screens and plastic has fed a cultish craving for relics of the past, 22 January). Neil MacGregor's A History of the World in 100 Objects radio programme celebrates the objects within their context and encourages the listener to wonder at why, for example, an ice-age carver should produce a sculpture of two beautifully represented reindeer from a mammoth bone. Not only were the aesthetic issues touched upon in this programme but also the evolutionary processes surrounding the development of the human brain's capacity to make such an object. There was comment too on the metaphysical aspects of creating an object that was more than just an object. This was a world away from venerating the sculpture simply because it was there and it was "real". Other instalments have been equally rich.

These are not episodes of "priestly interpretation" but near-perfect examples of why these objects are important, not just to museum curators but humanity at large. Mr Jenkins should get away from his screen more.

Nigel Ganly

Upton Pyne, Devon

• Neil MacGregor's "cathedral" will soon be blessed with a new repository for its ancient relics. The saintly British Museum has been beatified by the secretary of state in his refusal to call in for review Camden council's inexplicable decision to grant planning permission for its huge new glass growth, so alien to Bloomsbury.

Hugh Cullum

Chair, Bloomsbury Conservation Area Advisory Committee