Neuroimaging study may pave way for effective Alzheimer's treatments

Scientists have determined that a new instrument known as PIB-PET is effective in detecting deposits of amyloid-beta protein plaques in the brains of living people, and that these deposits are predictive of who will develop Alzheimer's disease.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am

Low-cost DNA test to pinpoint risk of inherited diseases

An inexpensive, fast accurate DNA test that reveals a person's risk of developing certain diseases is expected to become a reality, thanks to new technology.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am

Tiny tongue of a fruit fly could offer big clues in fight against obesity, researcher says

The tiny tongue of a fruit fly could provide big answers to questions about human eating habits, possibly even leading to new ways to treat obesity, according to a new study.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am

Predicting effectiveness of flu vaccination campaigns

A new study describes a new method that assesses the impact and cost-effectiveness of a range of vaccination options. The model was applied to the 2009 influenza H1N1 outbreak and predicted accurately in real-time when the epidemic would peak and who should be prioritized for vaccination.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am

Midday nap markedly boosts the brain's learning capacity

If you see a student dozing in the library or a co-worker catching 40 winks in her cubicle, don't roll your eyes. New research shows that an hour's nap can dramatically boost and restore your brain power. Indeed, the findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am

Enhanced 3D Model of Mars Crater Edge Shows Ups and Downs

A dramatic 3D Mars view based on terrain modeling from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter data shows "highs and lows" of Mojave Crater.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am

Common gene variant may increase risk for a type of cardiac arrhythmia

A common gene variant associated with a form of the irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation has been identified. The investigators describe finding that variations affecting a protein that may help control the heart's electrical activity appear to increase the risk of what is called lone atrial fibrillation, a type seen in younger individuals with no other form of heart disease.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Feb 2010 | 6:00 am

Evolutionary game of rock-paper-scissors may lead to new species

Morphologically distinct types are often found within species, and biologists have speculated that these "morphs" could be the raw material for speciation. What were once different types of individuals within the same population could eventually evolve into separate species. A new study supports this idea.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Feb 2010 | 6:00 am

Hypertension may predict dementia in older adults with certain cognitive deficits

High blood pressure appears to predict the progression to dementia in older adults with impaired executive functions (ability to organize thoughts and make decisions) but not in those with memory dysfunction, according to a new study.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Feb 2010 | 6:00 am

Mosquito genes yield secrets to how they survive malaria-causing parasite

Researchers are studying the main contributing mosquito species to malaria transmission in Africa. They are characterizing genes specific to mosquito blood cells. The researchers were able to identify genes in the blood cells whose expression changed with malaria infection. This could be used for disease control, ultimately. On a more basic level, the researchers are learning how the immune system works and how it recognizes a parasite and limits the infection.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 22 Feb 2010 | 6:00 am

Frog reveals secret of monogamy

The discovery of the first truly monogamous amphibian help reveals what drives animals to stay faithful.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Feb 2010 | 2:57 am

US space shuttle Endeavour lands in Florida (AFP)

AFP - After finding a break in the rainy weather at two US landing sites, the shuttle Endeavour descended to a landing in Florida to end a two-week mission that pushed the long-running assembly of the International Space Station close to completion.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Feb 2010 | 2:24 am

In pictures: Banded Brothers - Mongoose group stars of new BBC show

Scientists at Exeter University are studying an African mongoose group that will star in a BBC programme called Banded Brothers

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 22 Feb 2010 | 2:00 am

Elephant 'secret language' clues

Researchers at San Diego Zoo have been studying what has been described as the secret language of elephants.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Feb 2010 | 1:39 am

Ian Sample on whether to blanket test for HIV

Ian Sample at American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in San Diego on whether to blanket test for HIV

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 22 Feb 2010 | 1:16 am

Reliance sweetens bid for LyondellBasell: report (AFP)

AFP - Indian energy giant Reliance Industries has sweetened its bid to take control of LyondellBasell, boosting its valuation of the chemical maker to 14.5 billion dollars, a report said Monday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Feb 2010 | 1:07 am

In rare night landing, space shuttle back on Earth (AP)

AP - Space shuttle Endeavour and its six astronauts closed out the last major construction mission at the International Space Station with a smooth landing in darkness that struck many as bittersweet.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Feb 2010 | 12:33 am

Endeavour ends space shuttle fleet's 130th mission

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Space shuttle Endeavour and its six crew members wrapped up a 14-day construction mission to the International Space Station on Sunday with a precision touchdown in Florida.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 21 Feb 2010 | 11:46 pm

Japan says whaling not a legal issue (AFP)

AFP - Japan on Monday insisted its whaling programme in Antarctic waters complies with international law, following a threat by Australia to take legal action against the country.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Feb 2010 | 11:31 pm

Olympic Venues Past, Present and Future as Seen From Space

The Olympics have been held in some of the most scenic locations on Earth, and this year is no exception. Some of the most breathtaking moments of the games involve details captured in photo finishes in cross country skiing and hooked ski tips leading to crashes in the slalom seen in slow-motion video. All that aside, Vancouver is equally breathtaking from above.

Vancouver beat out Pyeongchang, South Korea, and Salzburg, Austria, to host Canada’s third Olympics. The city has delivered beautiful, sunny weather that is unfortunately too warm for ideal snow conditions, giving the grounds crews some major challenges. Snow has been trucked in for some of the events.

This gallery collects images taken from space by astronauts and satellite of a few of the more interesting and attractive Olympic host cities from 1900 to 2016.

Vancouver, British Columbia

The image above, taken by the Landsat-7 satellite in December, shows the entire Vancouver-Whistler area. The ski resort can be seen in the upper left corner of the image and in the closeup below. The next image below is an even closer look at Whistler taken by DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-2 satellite. The next images are of Cypress Mountain, where the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events are being held, the first from Digital Globe and the last image from Landsat-7.

Click any image in this gallery for a higher-resolution version.

Images: 1) NASA. 2) NASA. 3) DigitalGlobe. 4) DigitalGlobe. 5) NASA.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 21 Feb 2010 | 10:00 pm

Space Shuttle Endeavour Lands Safely in Florida (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - HOUSTON - Space shuttle Endeavour touched down safely in Florida Sunday evening, beating a stormy weather forecast that had threatened to extend its two-week mission to deliver NASA's last major additions to the International Space Station (ISS).
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Feb 2010 | 9:02 pm

Switch: Chickens Afflicted with Human Disease (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - About forty years ago in Poland, an adventurous strain of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus made a seemingly unprecedented move, a new study shows: it crossed over from humans to chickens and settled in to stay. The disease has since spread worldwide to become the leading cause of lameness in broiler chickens.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Feb 2010 | 8:35 pm

Space shuttle Endeavour returns

Space shuttle Endeavour lands in Florida after delivering the last major component of the International Space Station.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Feb 2010 | 8:23 pm

Rare bumblebee stumbles north for first time in 50 years

Conservationists hail the discovery of a species of bumblebee north of the border for the first time in 50 years.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Feb 2010 | 8:07 pm

Science Weekly podcast: Can you have too many friends? Plus, the media's cosy relationship with science

Robin Dunbar, professor of evolutionary anthropology at Oxford, joins us in the studio to discuss human friendships and Dunbar's number – the theoretical limit to the number of stable social relationships one can have.

His latest book How Many Friends Does One Person Need? is out now.

In the newsjam we report a anti-missile laser test by the US, bleak prospects for the world's primates and new research into Tutankhamun's cause of death.

We discuss an editorial in Nature that raises uncomfortable questions about the media's cosy relationship with science.

Plus, the Observer's science and technology editor Robin McKie checks in from one of the world's largest scientific gatherings, the annual gathering of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego. You can read all our top news stories from the AAAS meeting here.

Robin also tells us about the stunning new science pages in the relaunched Observer – the Guardian's Sunday sister.

Geoff Brumfiel from Nature and the Guardian's environment correspondent David Adam are on hand to lend their expertise.

Post your comments below.

Join our Facebook group.

Listen back through our archive.

Follow the podcast on our Science Weekly Twitter feed and receive updates on all breaking science news stories from Guardian Science.

Subscribe free via iTunes to ensure every episode gets delivered. (Here is the non-iTunes URL feed).

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 21 Feb 2010 | 5:01 pm

More Liquor Stores Mean More Violence

The more bars and liquor stores in an area, the more violence there will be, a new study finds.
Source: Livescience.com | 21 Feb 2010 | 4:55 pm

Drive to make Hollywood obey the laws of science

American professor Sidney ­Perkowitz's proposals intended to curb film industry's worst abuses

Science fiction movies should be allowed only one major transgression of the laws of physics, according to a US professor who has won backing from a number of his peers after creating a set of guidelines for Hollywood.

The proposals are intended to curb the film industry's worst abuses of science by confining scriptwriters to plotlines that embrace the suspension of disbelief but stop short of demanding it in every scene.

The guidelines are by Sidney ­Perkowitz, a professor of physics at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and a member of the Science and Entertainment Exchange, an advisory body run by the US National Academy of Sciences.

Perkowitz said he liked Starship Troopers, but criticised its giant insects, saying if you scaled up a real bug to that size it would collapse under its own weight. He hated The Core, in which a team of scientists travel to the centre of the Earth and detonate a nuclear device to start the planet's core spinning again.

The Science and Entertainment Exchange is backed by Dustin Hoffman, Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker and Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote the screenplays for The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Perkowitz said: "The hope is that it will get better science into film while still making them interesting."

Most recently, the exchange has advised on the Watchmen movie and the TV series, Heroes.

"I am not offended if they make one big scientific blunder in a given film," Perkowitz added. "You can have things move faster than the speed of light if you want. But after that I would like things developed in a coherent way."

"If you violate that you are in trouble. The chances are that the public will pick it up and that is what matters to Hollywood. The Core did not make money because people understood the science was so out to lunch," he added.

Ron Howard's 2009 production of Dan Brown's Angels and Demons also fared poorly among scientists. In it, Tom Hanks's character, Robert Langdon, has to protect the Vatican from being destroyed by an antimatter bomb that is confined in a glass vial by a magnetic field produced by a small battery.

"The amount of antimatter they had was more than we will make in a million years of running a high-energy particle collider," said Perkowitz. "You can't contain it using an iPod battery."

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 21 Feb 2010 | 4:39 pm

Test Tube Babies Fare Well But Face Risks

Test tube babies fare well overall, but they face health risks, studies show.
Source: Livescience.com | 21 Feb 2010 | 4:34 pm

Tropical storms to be more intense but less frequent: climate study (AFP)

AFP - Tropical cyclones may become less frequent this century but pack a stronger punch as a result of global warming, a paper published on Sunday said.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Feb 2010 | 4:25 pm

Junk DNA holds clues to heart disease

Deleting a non-coding region leads to narrowing of arteries in mice.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/news/rss/today/~4/hmK7tTaFeQ8" height="1" width="1"/>
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 21 Feb 2010 | 4:00 pm

Portugal floods kill 42, some people feared buried (AP)

AP - Rescue workers in Madeira dug through heaps of mud, boulders and debris Sunday, searching for victims buried by floods and mudslides that have killed at least 42 people on the popular Portuguese island.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Feb 2010 | 2:43 pm

Nepal's Shortest Man in Quest for World Record

Although the Guinness World Records have yet to respond, a Nepalese man could become world's smallest.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 21 Feb 2010 | 2:15 pm

Space Shuttle Makes Rare Nighttime Landing

Although bad weather was forecast, Endeavour landed on time at Kennedy Space Center.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 21 Feb 2010 | 1:35 pm

Many Dead as Violent Storm Hits Madeira

Floods and landslides demolish houses and hospitalize 68 people on the Portuguese island off the northwest coast of Africa.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 21 Feb 2010 | 1:27 pm

Number of storms may drop, but more could be intense, study says (The Christian Science Monitor)

The Christian Science Monitor - The number of hurricanes, typhoons, and tropical storms globally is likely to either fall or remain flat over the course of the 21st century. But an increasing proportion of the storms are likely to hit the highest levels of intensity because of the projected effects of global warming, an international team of scientists concludes.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Feb 2010 | 12:32 pm

Study: Warming to bring stronger hurricanes (AP)

AP - Top researchers now agree that the world is likely to get stronger but fewer hurricanes in the future because of global warming, seeming to settle a scientific debate on the subject. But they say there's not enough evidence yet to tell whether that effect has already begun.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 21 Feb 2010 | 11:38 am

Indian Ocean clues to predicting El Nino: study

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Tracking Indian Ocean climate patterns could improve early-warning systems for the El Nino phenomenon, helping save lives and billions of dollars lost each year to the severe weather it causes.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 21 Feb 2010 | 11:27 am

Are El Niño forecasters looking in the wrong place?

For the better part of a century, researchers have been focussing on shifts in conditions of the tropical Pacific Ocean to try to predict the rhythms of El Niño, the most powerful source of seasonal variation on the planet. For ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 21 Feb 2010 | 11:19 am

Blanket HIV testing 'could see Aids dying out in 40 years'

Health officials consider routine checks followed by lifetime course of drugs for everyone with the virus

Health officials are considering a radical shift in the war against HIV and Aids that would see everyone tested for the virus and put on a lifetime course of drugs if they are found to be positive.

The strategy, which would involve testing most of the world's population for HIV, aims to reduce the transmission of the virus that causes Aids to a level at which it dies out completely over the next 40 years.

Brian Williams, professor of epidemiology at the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis in Stellenbosch, said that transmission of HIV could effectively be halted within five years with the use of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs).

"The epidemic of HIV is really one of the worst plagues of human history," Williams told the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in San Diego.

"I hope we can get to the starting line in one to two years and get complete coverage of patients in five years. Maybe that's being optimistic, but we're facing Armageddon."

Major trials of the strategy are planned in Africa and the US and will feed into a final decision on whether to adopt the measure as public health policy in the next two years.

The move follows research that shows blanket prescribing of ARVs could stop HIV transmission and halve cases of Aids-related tuberculosis within 10 years.

More than 30 million people are infected with HIV globally and two million die of the disease each year. While ARVs have been a huge success in preventing the virus from causing full-blown Aids, scientists estimate only 12% of those living with the infection receive the drugs.

The disease is overwhelmingly prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for a quarter of all HIV/Aids cases globally. Half of these are in South Africa.

In general epidemics, a person with HIV infects between five to 10 others before succumbing to complications of Aids. Treating patients with ARVs within a year of becoming infected can reduce transmission tenfold, enough to cause the epidemic to die out.

In the trials, people will be offered HIV tests once a year, either as routine when they visit their GP, or through mobile clinics in more remote regions. Those testing positive will be put on a lifetime course of ARVs.

"Over the past 25 years we have saved the lives of probably two to three million people using antiretroviral drugs, but almost nothing we have done has had any impact on transmission of the disease," Williams said. "We have stopped people dying but we haven't stopped the epidemic."

If patients take ARVs when they should, the amount of virus in their bodies can fall by 10,000 times, to a level at which they are extremely unlikely to pass the virus on.

"The question is, can we use these drugs not only to keep people alive, but also to stop transmission and I believe that we can. We could effectively stop transmission of HIV in five years." Scientists estimate that the cost of implementing the strategy in South Africa alone will be $3bn-$4bn a year. The world currently spends $30bn (£19.4bn) a year on Aids research and treatment, a figure that some experts believe will double over the next decade.

Sub-Saharan Africa has seen a dramatic rise in cases of tuberculosis among HIV patients, who are also susceptible to other infections because their immune systems are weakened.

"If you factor in all of the costs, in my opinion, doing this would be cost saving from day one, because the cost of the drugs would be more than balanced by the cost of treating people for all of these other diseases and then letting them die," Williams said.

"We're killing probably half a million young adults every year in the prime of their life just at the point where they should be contributing to society and the cost of that to society is enormous," he added. "The only thing that's more expensive than doing this is not doing this."

HIV patients in southern Africa are more likely to take ARVs when they should than people living in developed countries, according to health officials. The finding gives doctors hope that the blanket administering of drugs might suppress the virus enough that it dies out naturally.

Last year, scientists reported marginal success of a HIV vaccine following a large scale trial in Thailand. The vaccine benefited only 31% of those who received it. A vaccine is generally regarded as worthwhile if it protects more than 70% of those treated.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 21 Feb 2010 | 10:00 am

Addition of Yellow Pixels Designed to Make TVs Better

Sharp's new QuadPixel TV technology is supposed to improve images with the simple addition of a yellow pixel. But can it work?
Source: Livescience.com | 21 Feb 2010 | 8:02 am

'The Biggest Loser' Has Big Problems, Health Experts Say

The quick way contestants on the Biggest Loser show lose weight is unhealthy, say experts.
Source: Livescience.com | 21 Feb 2010 | 7:52 am

California mountain renamed in honour of black pioneer

Negrohead mountain near Malibu now bears name of former slave John Ballard

A peak previously known as Negrohead mountain in southern California's Santa Monica range has officially been renamed in honour of a black pioneer who settled the area in the 19th century.

The 619m (2,031ft) mountain near Malibu became Ballard mountain yesterday. The new name comes from John Ballard, a blacksmith and former slave who bought land on the mountain in 1869.

The name originally contained a more vulgar racial slur that even appeared on federal maps, but it was changed to "negro" in the 1960s.

Dozens of Ballard's descendants attended the renaming ceremony.

The US Geographical Survey approved the change last year after a request from the Los Angeles county board of supervisors.

Spokesman Zev Yaroslavsky said the government had taken advantage of a rare chance to right a historical wrong.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 21 Feb 2010 | 7:38 am

Doctors launch major trials to treat childhood peanut allergy after promising pilot study

Researchers in Cambridge to launch three-year £1m trial to desensitise sufferers of allergy that affects 4% of schoolchildren

Doctors are launching a major clinical trial in the search for a long-term treatment for peanut allergy after children suffering from the condition were treated successfully for the first time.

Researchers at Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge will begin the £1m government-funded immunotherapy trial next month after a pilot study showed children who had a severe reaction to peanuts could be desensitised.

The therapy is the most promising development yet in the search for a long-term treatment for the allergy, which affects 4% of British schoolchildren.

Children who suffer a reaction to peanuts can experience a constriction of the airways, breathing trouble, asthma, itching and swelling. Unlike some other childhood allergies, peanut sensitivity rarely recedes with time. Around one in 10 reactions is serious.

The hospital has recruited 104 children who will be randomly assigned to receive the therapy or join a control group for three years. Children receiving the therapy will be given a small amount of yoghurt with one milligram of peanut flour mixed in each day. Over time, the quantity of peanut flour will be increased to the equivalent of five peanuts a day, a process designed to desensitise their immune systems to the nuts.

In the pilot, 21 of 23 children aged seven to 17 were effectively desensitised to peanuts and were able to eat food containing the nuts without suffering any reaction. Two of the children now only take the yoghurt with peanut flour once a week to maintain their tolerance.

"This is going to be the largest trial of its kind in the world and it should give us a definitive idea of whether it works and whether it's safe," said Andrew Clark, a consultant in paediatric allergy at the hospital.

Food allergy is responsible for the majority of anaphylactic shock in children and has increased by 20% in western countries in the past 10 years.

Families involved in the pilot said the therapy changed their lives. "It's dramatic," said Clark. "Before they were checking every food label every time they ate food. They would worry it would cause a reaction or even kill them, but now they can go out and eat curries and Chinese food and they can eat everyday snacks and treats.

"For their birthday they can have chocolate cake and chocolates without any fear of reactions. Our real motivation is to try to develop this as a clinical treatment that we could spread to the rest of the country," Clark told the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in San Diego.

Researchers said children may need to receive the immunotherapy for two to three years, after which it may be possible for them to stop without losing their tolerance."

Clark said the therapy was at the research stage and required intensive clinical oversight to ensure it was safe. "It must not be tried at home outside the research setting," he said.

A previous trial in the 1990s, which used injections rather than consumed peanut flour, produced serious side effects.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 21 Feb 2010 | 7:37 am

Naps Clear the Mind, Help You Learn

Napping can boost your ability to learn, a new research suggests.
Source: Livescience.com | 21 Feb 2010 | 7:26 am

Switch: Chickens Afflicted with Human Disease

A disease that crossed over from humans to chickens has spread worldwide to become the leading cause of lameness in broiler chickens.
Source: Livescience.com | 21 Feb 2010 | 7:13 am

Brain power nap: how a snooze boosts your noodle

A daytime nap improves the brain's ability to absorb new information, claim US scientists.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 21 Feb 2010 | 3:28 am