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Extra large carbon: Heaviest halo nucleus discoveredThe nucleus of one form of carbon is much larger and more stable than expected.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Feb 2010 | 12:00 pm Millimeter-scale, energy-harvesting sensor system can operate nearly perpetuallyA newly developed 9 cubic millimeter solar-powered sensor system is the smallest that can harvest energy from its surroundings to operate nearly perpetually.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Feb 2010 | 12:00 pm Underdogs have more motivation? Not so fast, study saysMembers of a group or team will work harder when they're competing against a group with lower status than when pitted against a more highly ranked group, according to a new study. The results run contrary to the common belief that underdogs have more motivation because they have the chance to 'knock the higher-status group down a peg.'Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Feb 2010 | 12:00 pm Headache may linger years later in people exposed to World Trade Center dust, fumesWorkers and residents exposed to dust and fumes caused by the collapse of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, frequently reported headache years later, according to new research.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Feb 2010 | 12:00 pm Hot pepper relief: New category of painkillers on the way?Research has opened the door for the advancement of a new category of painkillers, called TRPV1 antagonists. These drugs block the transient receptor potential vannilloid-1 (TRPV1) channel, which is the same receptor responsible for the sensation of hotness from hot peppers.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Feb 2010 | 12:00 pm Gene with likely role in premenstrual disorder identifiedSome women are especially sensitive to the natural flux of hormones in the menstrual cycle. New research points to a gene that likely influences how women respond to swings in estrogen levels and could help diagnose and treat premenstrual dysphoric disorder and inform treatments during menopause, such as hormone replacement therapy, researchers say.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Feb 2010 | 12:00 pm Tigers in serious trouble around the world, including the USAs many Asian countries prepare to celebrate Year of the Tiger beginning Feb. 14, World Wildlife Fund reports that tigers are in crisis around the world, including here in the United States, where more tigers are kept in captivity than are alive in the wild throughout Asia. As few as 3,200 tigers exist in the wild where they are threatened by poaching, habitat loss, illegal trafficking and the conversion of forests for infrastructure and plantations.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am First genes for stuttering: Common speech problem, in some cases, may actually be an inherited metabolic disorderResearchers have identified three genes as a source of stuttering in some people. Mutations in two of the genes have already been implicated in rare metabolic disorders involved in cell recycling, while mutations in a third, closely related, gene have now been shown to be associated for the first time with a disorder in humans.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am Using nitroglycerin to treat prostate cancer shows potential to halt diseaseTreatment of prostate cancer using a very low dose of nitroglycerin may slow and even halt the progression of the disease without the severe side effects of current treatments, researchers have discovered.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am Selective brain damage modulates human spirituality, research revealsNew research provides fascinating insight into brain changes that might underlie alterations in spiritual and religious attitudes. The study explores the neural basis of spirituality by studying patients before and after surgery to remove a brain tumor.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 11 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am Martian Dune Mystery Solved by Bouncing Sand Grains
Once Martian sand grains hop, they don’t stop.
Mars’ sandy surface has clearly been shaped by wind. Its characteristic dunes and ripples are the kind formed by sand particles taking short wind-borne hops, a process called saltation. But atmospheric simulations and landers’ direct measurements of wind speed have found that the Martian wind hardly ever blows hard enough to kick sand grains off the ground in the first place. The new paper, to appear in an upcoming Physical Review Letters, suggests a solution to this paradox: a kind of billiard-ball effect in which one sand particle knocks the next one into motion. “It’s much easier to keep this process going than it is to start it in the first place,” says study author Jasper Kok, an atmospheric physicist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., who did most of this research while at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “It’s like when you ride a bike: It costs a lot of exertion to get it going, but once you’re going it’s easier to keep going.”
“That’s hard to study in a wind tunnel,” notes planetary scientist Robert Sullivan of Cornell University. The study “goes numerically where we have a hard time going with wind tunnel experiments,” he says. The way sand grains knock each other around turns out to make all the difference, Kok says. Because Martian gravity and air density are so much lower than Earth’s, a small kick from the wind sends sand particles on Mars flying much higher, up to a meter off the ground. “It’s like playing golf on the moon,” Kok says. Particles get caught in stronger winds as they rise, causing them to pick up speed and ultimately slam into the ground, where they kick up more particles and start the cycle over. “This splashing process is really efficient,” Kok says. “It can keep saltation, or sand blowing, going on Mars at relatively low wind speeds.” These jumping sand grains can create ripples over time even without high sustained winds, he says. The finding could help solve other puzzles in the Martian landscape. Earlier models predicted that crescent-shaped sand dunes called barchan dunes should grow to at least 500 meters long — but many are only 100 meters. And the Mars rover Opportunity has found sand ripples made up of particles only 100 micrometers in diameter, so small that scientists had expected them to stay aloft once kicked up. The new model could explain both riddles by showing that splashing can keep particles moving at low wind speeds. Slow-moving sand grains don’t travel far and therefore make short dunes, but even tiny particles can get pushed into ripples, Kok says. “This study is very welcome, very informative,” Sullivan says. “The results go a long way toward explaining several mysteries.”
Images: Martian dunes imaged by HiRISE 1) Barchan dunes. 2) Barchan dunes. 3) Megaripples. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona. See Also:
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 11 Feb 2010 | 1:15 am NASA studying 2 new space shuttle problems (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Feb 2010 | 11:51 pm Structureless Space Telescope Could Look For Life Around Other StarsA big aspiration for astronomers is to identify life on planets orbiting other stars. Thanks to NASA's Kepler mission we will know about the statistical abundance of Earthlike worlds in our galaxy in just a few years. But confirming that ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Feb 2010 | 11:13 pm Haiti quake toll rises to 217,000 (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Feb 2010 | 10:52 pm Scientists find first genes linked to stuttering (AP)AP - Why people stutter has long been a medical mystery, with the condition blamed over the years on emotional problems, overbearing parents and browbeating teachers. Now, for the first time, scientists have found genes that could explain some cases of stuttering.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Feb 2010 | 9:58 pm Private Astronauts for Hire?(NASA chief Charlie Bolden, in the control room during shuttle Endeavour's launch. Credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA.) Will the next generation of astronauts be sporting corporate logos on their spacesuits? Anything’s possible, as the Obama administration seeks to recast NASA’s manned space ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Feb 2010 | 9:29 pm Sydney shark attack leaves teeth in dad's leg (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Feb 2010 | 9:10 pm Genetic basis for stuttering identifiedMutations found in genes responsible for directing enzymes to their cellular destination.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/news/rss/today/~4/9IEZBcglz3o" height="1" width="1"/>Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 10 Feb 2010 | 8:00 pm Mobile Phone Use SoarsAmericans are more attached to their phones than ever.Source: Livescience.com | 10 Feb 2010 | 7:56 pm People of the Year: Ian Fry and Mohamed Nasheed (OneWorld.net)OneWorld.net - for shifting the goalposts in the global climate negotiations to give people in vulnerable African and small island nations a better chance of surviving the impacts of worldwide climate changeSource: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Feb 2010 | 7:53 pm Mom's Obesity May Affect Baby's Health (LiveScience.com)LiveScience.com - Obese mothers put newborns at greater risk for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, stroke, heart disease and other ills, new research suggests.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Feb 2010 | 7:35 pm Michelle Obama on Obesity: Good Diet vs. Fad DietThe First Lady echoes the advice of doctors: Eat well and exercise.Source: Livescience.com | 10 Feb 2010 | 7:29 pm Astronauts Work to Fix Space Urine Recycler (SPACE.com)SPACE.com - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station tackled a tricky repair of their urine recycling system Wednesday while engineers on Earth study two issues on the space shuttle Endeavour.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Feb 2010 | 5:33 pm Saturn’s Most Habitable Moon Offers Ice, Water, Killer Views
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Enceladus has to be one of the most intriguing objects in the solar system. It’s definitely our favorite of Saturn’s 62 moons here at Wired Science, and it’s among the most likely places to find the necessary ingredients for extraterrestrial life in the solar system. Enceladus actively spews jets of material from its south pole, forming one of Saturn’s majestic rings. New evidence from the jets suggesting that there is a liquid ocean beneath the moon’s icy crust was published just this week in the journal Icarus. Data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, which dove through the jets in 2008, showed the plumes contain negatively charged ions, which have only been found on Earth, another Saturnian moon — Titan — and comets. On Earth, negatively charged ions are found where water is moving, such as in a waterfall or a crashing wave. The discovery of the ions in Enceladus’ jets is the best evidence yet of liquid water. On top of being a possible haven for life, Enceladus is beautiful. Its icy crust is riven with cracks and folds that somehow look both familiar and alien at the same time. Older surfaces have impact craters. The four huge, linear depressions at its south pole known as the tiger stripes are probably less than 1,000 years old and warmer than the rest of the crust, evidence that Enceladus is actively forming ice. Though it is just over 300 miles in diameter, a tenth the size of Titan, tiny Enceladus has won us over. With Cassini’s new life extension into 2017, and 11 more planned flybys of Enceladus, we can expect more awesome images and enlightening data. Here we have collected some of the best images of Enceladus that Cassini has collected since it began exploring Saturn in 2004. Image: NASA/JPL/CICLOPS
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 10 Feb 2010 | 5:30 pm Brain surgery boosts spiritualityLose a tumour, gain self-transcendence.Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 10 Feb 2010 | 5:03 pm Untangling HIV transmission in menStudy could put scientists on the right path to blocking the spread of new infections.Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 10 Feb 2010 | 5:00 pm DNA secrets of the ice hairFirst ancient human genome sheds light on origins of Arctic people.Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 10 Feb 2010 | 4:12 pm Whale Meat, AgainA United Nations panel has informed the government of Japan that its treatment of two Greenpeace activists is in contravention of several articles of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The panel's opinion, which was communicated to Japanese authorities ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Feb 2010 | 4:08 pm Superheavy atoms weigh inPrecise mass measurement aids the hunt for heavy elements that decay slowly.Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 10 Feb 2010 | 4:01 pm Palaeogenetics: Icy resolveEske Willerslev combines Arctic escapades with meticulous lab work in his quest to pull ancient DNA from the ice. Rex Dalton talks to the adventurer about extracting the first ancient human genome.Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 10 Feb 2010 | 4:00 pm South African science: black, white and greyThe release of Nelson Mandela sent optimism coursing through South Africa's research community. Twenty years on, Michael Cherry finds that it is still struggling to get on its feet.Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 10 Feb 2010 | 4:00 pm Copenhagen response 'is pathetic'One of India's negotiators at the Copenhagen climate change summit says industrialised nations have responded in a "pathetic" way to the need to cut carbon emissions.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Feb 2010 | 3:41 pm Chevron says expert biased in cleanup case (AP)AP - Chevron Corp. has stepped up its offensive against a group that says the oil giant poisoned sections of the Amazon rain forest.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Feb 2010 | 3:25 pm DNA suggests even ancient man had baldness issues (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Feb 2010 | 3:22 pm Genes Behind Stuttering Found (LiveScience.com)LiveScience.com - Stuttering may have genetic underpinnings, according to a new study. For the first time, scientists have identified specific genetic alterations that they believe play a key role in giving rise to the speech disorder.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 10 Feb 2010 | 3:14 pm Stuttering linked to cell waste recycling genesBOSTON (Reuters) - Three genes linked to a rare metabolic disorder may also cause some cases of stuttering, researchers said on Wednesday in a finding that could lead to a new treatment for the speech condition.Source: Reuters: Science News | 10 Feb 2010 | 3:06 pm Genes Behind Stuttering FoundScientists have identified specific genetic mutations that may cause stuttering.Source: Livescience.com | 10 Feb 2010 | 3:00 pm Ancient Greenland gene map has a surpriseWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists have sequenced the DNA from four frozen hairs of a Greenlander who died 4,000 years ago in a study they say takes genetic technology into several new realms.Source: Reuters: Science News | 10 Feb 2010 | 2:51 pm News briefing: 11 February 2010The week in scienceSource: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 10 Feb 2010 | 2:00 pm How Hollywood Converts 2-D Silver into 3-D GoldSome of the films being converted to 3-D are old movies being re-released in theaters.Source: Livescience.com | 10 Feb 2010 | 1:59 pm Humble Weed Could Feed The WorldA small, invasive weed could boost production of food and biofuels around the globe.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Feb 2010 | 1:45 pm Directed Panspermia: Moral Obligation or Bio-Pollution?The Huygens probe as it descended through Titan's atmosphere in 2004. Could a similar delivery method seed life on other worlds? (NASA) The speculative mechanism of panspermia could explain how life formed on Earth and how it might exist elsewhere ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Feb 2010 | 1:24 pm Mom's Obesity May Affect Baby's HealthObese mothers put newborns at greater risk for a host of serious diseases.Source: Livescience.com | 10 Feb 2010 | 1:21 pm Still looking for that woodpeckerAn expensive recovery plan to save the ivory-billed woodpecker from extinction may come decades too late.Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 10 Feb 2010 | 1:00 pm Stone Age Siberians Settled in GreenlandBefore there was Christopher Columbus or Leif Erikson, a band of potentially balding hunters carved their path to the New World.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Feb 2010 | 12:55 pm Ancient Street Found in Jerusalem's Old CityTake a step into the past along an ancient street that provides a fresh glimpse into commercial life during the 6th century.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Feb 2010 | 12:50 pm Tagging Eagles with Feather DNAAndrew DeWoody uses DNA to study the lives of eagles.Source: Livescience.com | 10 Feb 2010 | 12:33 pm India's transgenic aubergine in a stewEnvironment ministry rejects bid to grow genetically modified crop.Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 10 Feb 2010 | 12:20 pm Early Galaxies Formed Stars Fast Because They Had More Gas
The mystery of why galaxies formed early in the history of the universe give birth to more stars than modern ones has been solved. An abundance of dense, cold gas fueled rapid star formation in these early galaxies, according to a new study. Astronomers collected signals from 19 different 8- to 10-billion-year old galaxies scattered across the northern sky. These early-universe stellar nurseries had much more interstellar gas — dense, hydrogen-rich clouds at a chilly minus 441 to minus 414 degrees Fahrenheit — than their modern counterparts. “This is really pioneering work,” said astrophysicist Kai Noeske of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. ”It unambiguously confirms that these galaxies really are more gas-rich, so the reason they made more stars back in the day is that they had more fuel to burn.”
Scientists study distant galaxies because the light they sent out billions of years ago is only now reaching us, and can therefore tell us about conditions early in the universe’s 13.7-billion-year history. No one knew why stars form more than 10 to 100 times more often in distant, massive galaxies than they do in local galaxies of the same mass, said astronomer Linda Tacconi of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany, lead author of the Feb. 10 Nature study. Some scientists had guessed that these early galaxies contained more cold interstellar gas, which fueled the frenetic birth of stars. Others argued that these ancient galaxies had the same amount of gas as the Milky Way, but that suns formed in short, furious starbursts as these galaxies collided, Noeske said. Determining which theory was right was difficult. The cold, dense gas clouds emit such faint, low-energy light that even the most sensitive instruments can barely detect them. Just a few years ago, Tacconi’s team searched for signals from these galaxies, but failed, she said.
The group was finally able to answer the question by adding more-sensitive detectors to the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer, an array of millimeter-wavelength radio telescopes located at 7,381 feet in the French Alps. Ultimately, the team wanted to know how much hydrogen filled these early galaxies, because it is by far the most abundant element in the universe and in interstellar gas clouds. But hydrogen emissions from these distant objects are simply too hard to detect, Tacconi said. Instead, they measured the light emitted from carbon monoxide molecules. As these molecules rotate, they shift from one energy state to another. As they shift, “they emit photons, and that radiation is what we see as an emission line at a specific wavelength,” Tacconi said. The amount of light emitted from these spinning molecules revealed the fraction of each galaxy made up of carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide and hydrogen are found in almost the same ratio in many parts of the universe. So, they used this ratio to extrapolate the amount of hydrogen present in these early galaxies. A 10-billion-year-old galaxy was made of about 44 percent cold interstellar gas by mass, while an 8-billion-year-old one was about 34 percent. This is three to 10 times more hydrogen than today’s giant galaxies. The study also showed the old galaxies drew in fuel from their surrounding environment in order to keep up the frantic pace of star formation, Noeske said. Future research should look at a larger number of galaxies and find a way to measure smaller galaxies, said astronomer Dawn Erb of the University of California, Santa Barbara, who was not involved in the study. “This is just the tail end of the population of the normal galaxies, just the biggest and most massive ones,” she said. “We just can’t see the normal ones, because they’re too faint.” To do that, the team will need even-more-sensitive equipment, which they will get when the ALMA observatory in Chile comes online in 2012. “That’s going to be the next big step,” Erb said. Images: See Also:
Citation: L. J. Tacconi, R. Genzel, R. Neri, P. Cox, M. C. Cooper, K. Shapiro, A. Bolatto, N. Bouché , F. Bournaud, A. Burkert, F. Combes, J. Comerford, M. Davis, N. M. Förster Schreiber, S. Garcia-Burillo, J. Gracia-Carpio, D. Lutz, T. Naab, A. Omont, A. Shapley, A. Sternberg, B. Weine. “High molecular gas fractions in normal massive star-forming galaxies in the young Universe” Nature Vol 463, 11 Feb. 2010.
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 10 Feb 2010 | 11:41 am First Ancient-Human Genome Sequence Answers Anthropological Riddle
Meet Inuk, a 4,000-year-old man known from a tuft of hair found in Greenland permafrost. In those frozen strands, enough DNA was preserved to sequence the first ancient-human genome and confirm an unexpected ancient migration from Siberia to the New World, plus a few of Inuk’s own traits. Along with brown eyes, brown skin and facial hair, he had “a tendency to baldness,” said Eske Willerslev, a Niels Bohr Institute evolutionary geneticist who led the analysis, published Monday in Nature. “But because we found quite a lot of hair from this guy, we presume that he died young.” The remains of Inuk — which translates to “person” or “human being” in the Inuit language family — were found in Qeqertasussuk, an archaeological site in southwest Greenland. A few bone fragments and hair tufts found at the site are the only biological remnants of the Saqqaq, the earliest known inhabitants of the North American Arctic.
Controversy exists over the Saqqaq’s origins. Some anthropologists think they were descended from temperate North Americans who wandered north, or from early ancestors of modern Inuit who left no archaeological trace. But the analysis that revealed Inuk’s eye color and impending baldness also returned genetic patterns most closely related to those now found in indigenous inhabitants of eastern Siberia. The Saqqaq appear to have originated there. The findings support the implications of a mitochondrial DNA analysis of the hair published by Willerslev’s team in Science in 2008. That study also showed patterns of Siberian origin, and a clear biological break between the Dorset culture (the next-oldest Paleo-Eskimo group) and the ancestors of modern Inuit people. Whether the Saqqaq influenced their cultures is not known, said Willerslev. Inuk’s genome is the oldest yet reconstructed by scientists. It may be difficult to perform such decipherings on remains found in warmer climes, which degrade faster. But that remains to be tested. “Such studies have the potential to reconstruct not only our genetic and geographical origins, but also what our ancestors looked like,” wrote Griffith University molecular biologists David Lambert and Leon Huynen in an accompanying commentary in Nature. Images See Also:
Citations “Face of the past reconstructed.” By David M. Lambert and Leon Huynen. Nature, Vol. 463 No. 7282, Feb. 11, 2010. Brandon Keim’s Twitter stream and reportorial outtakes; Wired Science on Twitter. Brandon is currently working on a book about ecological tipping points.
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 10 Feb 2010 | 11:35 am DNA reveals ancient human's faceDNA analysis of human hair preserved for 4,000 years in Greenland's permafrost yields clues to the owner's appearance.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Feb 2010 | 11:25 am Bored to Death? It Could HappenThe more bored you are, the more likely you are to die early, according to researchers.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Feb 2010 | 11:20 am How to Fix the IPCC: Replace it With Wikipedia?In the wake of a series of flaws, human and otherwise, found surrounding Climate Change 2007 (aka the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fourth Assessment Report), suggestions are emerging about how to fix the beleaguered scientific conglomerate. Five such recommendations ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Feb 2010 | 11:19 am Scientists find clue to anxiety drug addictionLONDON (Reuters) - Valium-like drugs use the same potentially addictive "reward pathways" in the brain as heroin and cannabis, scientists said on Wednesday, findings which may help in the search for non-addictive alternative anxiety drugs.Source: Reuters: Science News | 10 Feb 2010 | 11:19 am Meet Inuk, conjured from DNA in hairScientists have reconstructed the genome of an ancient human called Inuk from hair preserved in permafrost for 4,000 years Scientists have reconstructed the genome of an ancient human from a tuft of hair that had been preserved in the Arctic permafrost for 4,000 years. Genetic analysis of the thick, dark hairs revealed that they belonged to a young man with dark skin, brown eyes and shovel-shaped teeth, whose metabolism and build were well adapted to life in a cold climate. The DNA encased in his frozen locks also revealed his blood group (A+), his risk of developing certain diseases, that he faced a high likelihood of going bald, and perhaps most improbably, the dry consistency of his earwax. Other tests on the hair suggest the man survived on a marine diet of seals and seabirds. "Because we found quite a lot of hair from this guy, we presume he died quite young," said Eske Willerslev, who led the study at the Centre of Excellence in GeoGenetics at the Natural History Museum in Copenhagen. "He's genetically adapted to living in the Arctic, although it was not that many generations ago that his ancestors came to the New World," he added. The work, a tour de force of modern genetic technology, is the first to piece together an almost complete genome of an ancient human. The feat is exceptional because DNA degrades over time, making it difficult to read and reassemble into a meaningful genome. The hairs were recovered from the permafrost in the Qeqertasussuk region of Greenland and are from an individual the scientists have named "Inuk", meaning man or human in Greenlandic. Inuk was part of the Saqqaq culture, the first known people to inhabit Greenland. The origins of the culture are hotly debated by scientists, though most believe the Saqqaq's ancestors were migrants from neighbouring populations, such as the Na-Dene of North America or the Inuit of the New World Arctic. Detailed analysis of Inuk's genome allowed the scientists to compare his genome with that of several surrounding populations. To their surprise, they found that Inuk was most closely related to three Old World Arctic populations, the Nganasans, Koryaks and Chukchis of far eastern Siberia. The discovery suggests that there was a wave of migration from Siberia into the New World some 5,500 years ago that was independent of those that gave rise to modern Native Americans and the Inuit. The study is published in the journal Nature (vol 463, pp 757-762). At the time, there was no land bridge over the Bering Strait, so Inuk's ancestors must have reached Greenland by boat or crossed in the winter when it was frozen over, said Willerslev. The migration is curious since the climate to the south was warmer and more hospitable, though that land might have been dominated by other groups. "Maybe these guys who were adapted to marine hunting and a life in the high Arctic didn't see it as we do – as a very hostile place – but in fact a place full of opportunities," Willerslev said. Willerslev mounted an expedition to the high Arctic to look for human remains in 2006, after hearing that the local museum held only four tiny fragments of bone from Greenland, which could not be released for genetic analysis. "I was freezing my butt off up there in the high Arctic to try and recover human remains to do DNA on and I came back without anything," Willerslev said. Soon after returning, however, he heard that some long-forgotten human hairs from the same spot in Greenland were lying in a drawer in the basement of a museum no more than a few streets away. The work raises the prospect of studying the origins of other fallen cultures and ancient migrations by recreating the genomes of individuals from remains held in museums around the world. The major technical hurdle will be reading genetic material from remains uncovered in more temperate climates, where DNA will not have been preserved in ice. Last year, anthropologists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Leipzig, Germany, reconstructed the genome of a Neanderthal from strands of DNA plucked from a 38,000-year-old fossilised leg bone unearthed in a cave in Croatia. A year earlier, a Russian-American team sequenced the genetic code of a woolly mammoth from hairs taken from two mammoths recovered from the permafrost in Siberia. The work prompted speculation that scientists might be able to resurrect the extinct species, but most researchers are doubtful this could be achieved in the foreseeable future. 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 | 10 Feb 2010 | 11:08 am Frozen Hair Yields First Ancient Human GenomeAncient human genome sequenced from hair frozen in Arctic permafrost for 4,000 years.Source: Livescience.com | 10 Feb 2010 | 11:06 am Earth WatchShould the IPCC be reformed, or even replaced?Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Feb 2010 | 10:54 am Stop funding Mickey Mouse degrees, says top scientist'Funding must be channelled into science courses and research, not degrees in celebrity journalism' A leading scientist has attacked the government for funding students doing "Mickey Mouse" degrees – and called for the money to be spent on science instead. Dr Richard Pike, chief executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry, said degrees in celebrity journalism, drama combined with waste management, and international football business management – all of which exist – should be "kicked into touch". Funds for the courses should be channelled into science degrees and research. In the pre-budget report in December, the chancellor, Alistair Darling, announced that the government was looking to make savings of £600m in higher education, including science and research budgets, between now and 2013. Combined with additional cuts of £449m to higher education this year, these savings could force science courses to close because they are among the most expensive that universities run. Pike said degree courses should reflect the challenges the country will face in the future, rather than an "ephemeral demand that in 10 years' time will be viewed as a curiosity". He said: "No longer should the government be paying 18-year-olds to start courses on celebrity journalism, drama with waste management, or international football business management. These courses should be kicked into touch, especially at a time when the UK is desperately short of funding research into Alzheimer's and other diseases, alternative energy sources and wider, more effective health care. All this depends on leading-edge work in the fundamental sciences." Science must not be cut to the same extent as other subjects, said Pike, who spent 25 years as a scientist at BP. "Funding for the sciences should be ringfenced so that, in effect, it becomes a more dominant component. This is not a question of pleading a special case. Such a move is essential if we are all to enjoy the lifestyle we have become accustomed to, and ensure that we are prepared for the changes that will affect us all in the future. "We need a population with an enduring set of skills, such as an understanding of the physical world around us, literacy and communication, numeracy, and how to function and continue to learn in a complex society." Last week, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, which gives universities public money on behalf of the government, announced that an extra £10m would go to the teaching of science, technology, engineering and maths. But Pike said this was not enough and that science courses were running on deficits. 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 | 10 Feb 2010 | 10:33 am Happiness Makes Us Adventurous, Study FindsHappy moods make us want to try things. Sadness causes us to seek the familiar.Source: Livescience.com | 10 Feb 2010 | 10:30 am Kew gardens may be forced to close world's largest Victorian glasshouseTemperate House at Kew is in urgent need of restoration and in a few years could endanger public and staff, report warns The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London may have to close one of its iconic glass structures and mothball other historic listed buildings, according to a government-commissioned report published today. The report said the Temperate House, the world's largest surviving Victorian glasshouse and home to many plants from the world's warmer climates, was in urgent need of restoration and could pose health and safety risks to public and staff within two to three years. Such closure would result in "severe reputational damage" for Kew and the UK given the 250-year-old gardens' status as a world heritage site, said the report, which also detailed several other historic buildings on the London site that were in a poor state of repair. There was an £80m backlog of maintenance and repair that could take a decade to complete. Kew's position as a world-class scientific institute was also under threat because of insufficient funding and a temptation to spread its efforts "too thinly" despite many of its "impressive" achievements both as a research base and visitor attraction. The report, headed by Sir Neil Chalmers, warden of Wadham College, Oxford, and former director of the Natural History Museum, London, recommended there should be no real-term cuts in the £28.5m a year government funding to Kew despite the harsh economic climate. Extra cash to cover the operating costs of the Millennium Seed Bank, which houses seeds from the UK's native species, and from further afield, should be provided over the next three years. The report also suggested that grants might rise to reflect extra help given in recent years to museums and art galleries. Kew meanwhile should attempt to boost both its self-generated annual income from commercial activities, at present £23.4m a year, and its fundraising, currently £8.8m a year, to £13m by 2012-13. Rises in admission charges beyond the current £13 for the London site would be unlikely to raise more money, according to the report, in particular since visitor numbers had not risen in recent years. The review team welcomed plans for using the Joseph Banks Building, named after the botanist who travelled with Captain Cook and was the gardens' first director, as a revenue-generating conference centre, adding that some buildings now lived in by Kew staff could be privately let at commercial rates. "Given Kew's location in a wealthy residential part of London, this might provide useful income." Kew should concentrate on its traditional core scientific strength, the classification, indentification and naming of plants, along with areas such as plant physiology, developmental genetics, biochemistry, ecology and conservation. But in areas where Kew was weak, including climate science, geomorphology and ecology, it should seek alliances with other leading institutes. The environment department Defra and Kew will respond to the recommendations later this year. Kew's director, Professor Stephen Hopper, said it had "much to contribute to dealing with the environmental challenges of our times". He added that Kew was attempting to renegotiate its lease with the National Trust for Wakehurst Place, West Sussex, Kew's "country garden", which at present limits potential commercial and capital developments. The review said that unless changes were made, Kew should mothball its operations there. However, these would not affect the seed bank which is on land owned by Kew there. 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 | 10 Feb 2010 | 10:18 am Ancient Tree Carving Points to the StarsOn the trunk of a gnarled, centuries-old oak tree, about 90 miles southwest of Phoenix, Ariz., are odd carvings of six-legged, lizard-like beings. The tree is located at Painted Rock, an archaeological site peppered with hundreds of ancient petroglyphs, images ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 10 Feb 2010 | 10:13 am Winds ground Solar observatoryHigh winds at Cape Canaveral, Florida, prevent the US space agency from launching its latest Sun probe.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Feb 2010 | 9:34 am Raging Debate: Should We Geoengineer Earth’s Climate?Geoengineering proposals could save Earth from climate change, or the schemes could make matters worse.Source: Livescience.com | 10 Feb 2010 | 9:09 am Baltic pipeline safe, says PutinRussian PM Vladimir Putin defends his country's Nord Stream gas pipeline against claims it will damage the Baltic Sea.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Feb 2010 | 8:29 am Royal Institution investigated over lease of office spaceCharity Commission investigates after revered scientific institution leased office space to chairman's private equity firm One of Britain's most revered scientific institutions is being investigated by the Charity Commission after it emerged that it was leasing office space to a company run by its chairman without legal permission. The Guardian has learnt that the Royal Institution – which recently attracted controversy after making its director, Baroness Susan Greenfield, redundant – has been leasing space in its central London base to the private equity firm Ferranti Limited, whose chief executive officer, Adrian de Ferranti, also chairs the RI. As the RI is a charity, any leases made to "connected persons" such as its chairman must be referred to the commission for approval under the Charities Act 1993. A spokeswoman for the watchdog confirmed that the Ferranti lease had not been authorised. "We have asked the Royal Institution for further details of the arrangement in order to determine our role in the matter," she said. The institution's chief executive officer, Chris Rofe, said it had been leasing office space to Ferranti since December 2008 but had failed to request the relevant permission when the tenancy was granted. The institution was "in the process of clarifying the information required to enable us to fully comply" with the law. Asked whether the RI had approached the commission to belatedly inform them of the lease or whether the commission initiated its own inquiries, Rofe said: "I cannot recall which way around the conversation was but needless to say as soon as it was drawn to my attention I took the appropriate action to rectify the matter." He said the RI leased office space at its Albemarle Street premises to seven tenants, including Ferranti, who all paid the same commercial rate, which had been established by a third party in 2008. Ferranti, he went on, received "no special discounts, favours or special treatment". The RI - which was founded in 1799 and counts Humphry Davy and Michael Faraday among its long list of famous fellows - is in dire financial straits after the recession and a £22m refurbishment of its Mayfair headquarters. Auditors of its most recent accounts told the RI it would have to fix its finances quickly. In accounts submitted to the Charity Commission, the auditors warned: "If the charity is to continue as a going concern, the financial projections for the three years ending 30 September 2011 need to be met … By their very nature, there is a significant uncertainty as to whether these projections will be achieved." The RI found itself under scrutiny in January after its director, the high-profile neuroscientist Susan Greenfield, was made redundant. The RI management decided her post was "unaffordable" and no longer necessary. The decision came after a management advisory committee determined that the director's job was the costliest of the senior positions reviewed. Greenfield, who said she was "saddened and dismayed" by the decision, is suing the RI for sexual discrimination. Some feel the costly refurbishment was a mistake, while others are troubled by Greenfield's public pronouncements on the effects of social networking websites on young people's minds and her promotion of a computer program that claims to improve mental ability. Greenfield's defenders, however, claim she is being scapegoated for decisions that were taken collectively and punished for trying to modernise an old institution. Some members have expressed concerns that incorrect material was leaked to the press about the refurbishment of 21 Albemarle Street - particularly details of Greenfield's grace-and-favour apartment on the roof - to damage her reputation. Sir Terry Farrell, the architect responsible for the renovations, said he did not recognise the director's flat from some of the accounts he had seen in the press. "They couldn't be more wrong or wider of the mark," he said. "The director's flat has traditionally always been a huge, substantial flat of about 3,000 sq ft with very high ceilings. We were tasked with finding a suitable place that wouldn't interfere with the running of the building, so we looked at the caretaker's tiny flat on the roof which is about 500 or 600 sq ft." Sir Terry said the caretaker's one-bedroom flat had been modified to raise the ceiling height and an openable roof-light had been installed so it would not become too hot. "It's not a James Bond flat looking over all of London and the views aren't great," he said. "The idea that it's an indulgence is just nonsense. What [Greenfield] downsized to is a pied-à-terre. It's a bit like a council flat." 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 | 10 Feb 2010 | 6:46 am Good Deeds Fuel Good DeedsPeople who watch others perform virtuous acts may be more likely to act altruistically themselves, a new study says.Source: Livescience.com | 10 Feb 2010 | 6:43 am A stammerer's second lifeAlthough my voice rebels against me on a daily basis, the internet has allowed me to finally say what I want My mouth gulps soundlessly again and again as if I am auditioning for a part in Finding Nemo 2, and I can't help but wonder what I've done to deserve this. I'm not freezing up because I'm giving a presentation in front of hundreds of people. I'm doing something that is far scarier – saying my own name to someone I don't know. You see, I have a stammer. It's not only me. Stammerers have included characters as diverse as Winston Churchill, Bruce Willis, Robert Peston and Ed Balls. Around one in a hundred people is affected by some form of this condition, and the symptoms and effects can differ widely depending on the individual – which is probably why no one has yet come up with a "cure". Most stammers disappear of their own accord before adulthood. Unfortunately, mine never did: I can't remember a day without it. Supposedly simple activities, such as telling a bus driver where I want to go, are sometimes nigh-on impossible. Even the idea of phoning a friend can bring me out in a cold sweat. Memories of past failures feed into my imagined reading of how the next example will unfold, inevitably creating a vicious self-fulfilling prophecy of doom. Even though I know that it is beyond silly for me to be full-on terrified when the waiter walks around the restaurant table taking food orders, I've been known to avoid menu items that I think I won't be able to say. I just can't take the advice that I shouldn't be worried about stammering. Any sentence starting with a hard sound such as a "d" or "g" is a recipe for disaster. I find myself taking a run-up to difficult words like I'm fast bowling for England, or simply avoiding them altogether in favour of picking something easier. It has made me a good listener by necessity, but I'm the guy in the corner of the party who desperately wants to become a proper part of the conversation – having so many things that I want to say, but keeping quiet in case I stammer and make someone else feel uncomfortable. I can't stand the embarrassment of having a sentence finished for me, but breathe a silent sigh of relief if and when it happens. The most maddening thing of all is that this snake in the grass can strike at any time. I stammer most when I'm tired, stressed or on the phone, but it can affect me when I'm wide-awake and saying something that I found very easy the day before. Alcohol usually relaxes me and improves the situation, but a couple of glasses of wine can sometimes have the opposite effect. Bearing all of the above in mind, then (cue feverish note-taking), how would you ever go about talking to me? First, I'm not cognitively challenged – I just sometimes have trouble saying what I want to say, exactly when I want to say it. I react well to nodding and thoughtful patience, which can help me feel slightly less self-conscious. Sighs and impatient foot-shuffling are obvious no-nos, though – and I would inwardly go to Defcon One if you said anything like "you can do it!" – making hurry-up gestures, looking at your watch like you were an MP late for the gravy train, or – and this has honestly happened – asking me to "sing it". No, you first, I insist. So the rise of the internet has proven to be a godsend for me, because I've come to regard writing as an escape from my lack of verbal nous. While many people become their dodgily goateed evil twin when faced with an online forum or comments page, I see such places as the chance to finally be "me". I can write exactly what I want, express all those opinions, tell the stories that I'd never be able to manage in real life. The written word has become my second life. I've written, and am trying to sell, a novel, and have finally emerged victorious in my pitched battle with procrastination. And last year, I got married. Marriage is avoided by many stammerers simply because of the potential blind terror of the vows and the speech. My chat with the registrar before the ceremony was unbelievably awful – I could barely get a word out. But when the doors at the back of the room opened, and I saw my bride-to-be standing there, looking so beautiful, it miraculously flipped a switch in my head marked "resolve". There was a tiny flicker of a stammer on the first line of my vows, but the rest went like clockwork. Then there was my speech. I've watched the DVD since, and I have no idea who that guy was. He was charismatic. He was funny. But more importantly from my point of view, he was fluent. The Holy Grail. The next day, I was back to my usual self – frustrated and annoyed every time that my voice rebelled against me. But on the most important day of my life, I beat my stammer. I'll always remember that. • This article was commissioned after Cif was contacted by a commenter in the You Tell Us thread 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 | 10 Feb 2010 | 5:00 am How to reform the IPCCThe Guardian asks experts around the world what needs to change to enable the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to continue to play a central and positive role in enabling the world's governments to take the right action against climate change The IPCC and its chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, have come under unprecedented pressure following a false claim that all Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035 and the controversy over the hacked climate science emails at the University of East Anglia. Yet before that, the IPCC was credited with having settled the debate over whether human activity was causing global warming, sharing the 2007 Nobel peace prize with Al Gore. Here, the Guardian asks experts around the world what needs to change to enable the IPCC to continue to play a central and positive role in enabling the world's governments to take the right action against climate change Political oversightThe IPCC says its reports are policy relevant, but not policy prescriptive. Perhaps unknown to many people, the process is started and finished not by scientists but by political officials, who steer the way the information is presented in so-called summary for policymakers [SPM] chapters. Is that right, the Guardian asked? "The Nobel prize was for peace not science ... government employees will use it to negotiate changes and a redistribution of resources. It is not a scientific analysis of climate change," said Anton Imeson, a former IPCC lead author from the Netherlands. "For the media, the IPCC assessments have become an icon for something they are not. To make sure that it does not happen again, the IPCC should change its name and become part of something else. The IPCC should have never allowed itself to be branded as a scientific organisation. It provides a review of published scientific papers but none of this is much controlled by independent scientists." William Connolley, a former climate modeller with the British Antarctic Survey, said: "I think it is inevitable that there will be enormous and pointless fighting over the exact wording of the SPM. And [that is] to some extent, desirable. The science is done by the scientists. The SPM headlines, that the politicians are going to have to act on, will have some political spin, and before the sceptics run wild, let me add that the spin so far has always been in the toning-things-down direction. [It would be better] written just by scientists, but too hard to manage to be worth wasting much time about." StaffThe city of Southampton spends more than twice as much each year on street cleaning - £8m - than the world does on the IPCC - £3.6m. The reports rely on the unpaid work of thousands of researchers, but is there a case to make the process more professional? Pachauri, IPCC chair, told the Guardian last week that the IPCC was already moving to beef up the organisation with full-time staff, such as in communications. Chris Field, new head of one of the IPCC's working groups, said: "I do think that the 2035 [glacier melting] error could potentially have come out, just by having a stronger editorial component that was part of a professional staff. We need to really be training the authors. There is a huge emphasis on engaging authors from all over the world who have different scientific backgrounds and different training experience."Joel Smith, of Stratus Consulting, a lead author on the 2007 report, said: "The questions IPCC will address should come from governments. However, once those questions are settled, the IPCC needs to run the process independent of the governments. This may require a larger permanent professional [staff] for the IPCC, as the US National Academy of Science has." StructureThe IPCC was set up in 1988 to advise governments on the emerging problem of climate change. It produced its first report in 1990, and three more since. It is made up of three working groups (WG) which assess the science (WG1), impacts (WG2) and response to global warming (WG3) respectively. In yesterday's Guardian, scientists from WG1 blamed the mistake over the Himalayan glaciers, on "sloppy" researchers from other disciplines from WG2. Connolley said: "While some of the WG2 is fine, it is clear that some sections have been edited by people who should not have been trusted with the job.It should be done more on merit. At the very least, get someone competent to review the edit comments for their sections." Field, the new head of WG2, believed ensuring existing rules are implemented is key: "The IPCC needs to make 100% sure that the procedures that have served well in the past are applied." A more radical suggestion came from John Robinson, professor of resources, environment and sustainability at the University of British Columbia. He said: "The IPCC should continue to improve its elaborate quality control processes, but perhaps make them more transparent. Few people know anything at all about the process works, or what the checks and balances are. Perhaps there should be journalists embedded in the process." Others argue that the science report, which relies almost exclusively on peer-reviewed research, should be separated from the other reports which researchers say necessarily rely more on "grey" literature, ie, reports that have not been peer-reviewed. Reports and timingThe IPCC reports are mammoth productions, taking up to six years to complete. The last one contained 900 pages. Is it still relevant for experts to produce such weighty volumes that wait several years to be updated? And should the emphasis of the reports be changed, given that the scientific evidence for anthropogenic global warming has been firmly established? Robert Muir Wood, head of the research group at Risk Management Solutions, said the current IPCC report system was "fossilised" and that the organisation needed to move into the 21st century by setting up Wikipedia-style rolling publishing, that could be updated each month. Others suggested changes almost as radical. Connolley said the "useless" synthesis reports should be ditched, while Robinson said: "There needs to be continuous review of what the timing and topics should be." But significant changes may have to wait until after the next assessment report, expected in 2013, said Mike Hulme, climate scientist at the University of East Anglia. "We can do lots of little tweaks but I can't see governments willingly going back to the drawing board." Hulme wanted to see the social and cultural aspects of the impacts and response to climate change reflected in different ways in future reports, such as by drawing more on local knowledge, and distinguishing more between the way different societies may react. 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 | 10 Feb 2010 | 4:18 am New Telescope Captures Dazzling Image of Orion Nebula
You’ve undoubtedly seen the smudge of the Orion Nebula hanging just below his belt thousands of times, but the most beautiful image yet of the celestial body was just released Wednesday.
The European Southern Observatory’s new VISTA telescope’s enormous field of view allows it to image the entire nebula at once. It’s been designed to capture near-infrared light. The longer wavelengths of light in that part of the spectrum allow rays to pass through dusty space without being scattering. The Orion Nebula is located about 1,350 light-years from Earth. The cloud of gas and dust is a nursery for young stars. The red blobs in the features near the center of the image are young, growing stars that are hidden by dust in visible light. VISTA was just placed into service late last year, so we can expect many more beautiful near-infrared images as it conducts its survey of the sky. There are detailed close-up shots below, too.
Image: ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit. The 341 MB XXXL version. See Also:
WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal’s Twitter, Tumblr, and green tech history research site; Wired Science on Twitter and Facebook.
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 10 Feb 2010 | 4:00 am First video of clouded leopardThe Sundaland clouded leopard, a new recently described species of big cat, is caught on camera in the wild for the first time.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 10 Feb 2010 | 2:12 am
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Kok modified a numerical model, previously applied to geological processes on Earth, to include Martian gravity and atmospheric conditions. Unlike in other models, Kok simulated a process called splashing, in which a flying sand particle knocks at least one new grain into the air as it smacks into the ground.
