Word learning better in deaf children who receive cochlear implants by age 13 months

Researcher report that deaf children's word-learning skill is strongly affected by early auditory experience, whether that experience was through normal means or with a cochlear implant. Children who received an implant by age 13 months performed similarly to normal-hearing counterparts while children who received a cochlear implant later performed, on average, more poorly than their normal-hearing peers.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Mar 2010 | 9:00 am

Butterfly vision, wing colors linked

Butterfly experts have suspected for more than 150 years that vision plays a key role in explaining wing color diversity. Now, for the first time, research shows the truth in this theory -- at least in nine Heliconius species.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Mar 2010 | 9:00 am

Gene therapy reverses effects of lethal childhood muscle disorder in mice

Reversing a protein deficiency through gene therapy can correct motor function, restore nerve signals and improve survival in mice that serve as a model for the lethal childhood disorder spinal muscular atrophy, new research shows. This muscle-wasting disease results when a child's motor neurons -- nerve cells that send signals from the spinal cord to muscles -- produce insufficient amounts of what is called survival motor neuron protein, or SMN.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Mar 2010 | 9:00 am

New smoking cessation therapy proves promising

A novel technology for delivering nicotine to the lungs may soon give smokers a new way to kick the habit. When compared to the nicotine vapor delivery system used in the Nicotrol/Nicorette inhaler, the new technology proved more effective at delivering nicotine to the blood stream. As a result, it provides immediate relief of withdrawal symptoms, according to researchers
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Mar 2010 | 9:00 am

By tracking water molecules, physicists hope to unlock secrets of life

The key to life as we know it is water, a tiny molecule with some highly unusual properties, such as the ability to retain large amounts of heat and to lose, instead of gain, density as it solidifies. It behaves so differently from other liquids, in fact, that by some measures it shouldn't even exist. Now scientists have made a batch of new discoveries about the ubiquitous liquid, suggesting that an individual water molecule's interactions with its neighbors could someday be manipulated to solve some of the world's thorniest problems -- from agriculture to cancer.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Mar 2010 | 9:00 am

Scientists crash test DNA’s replication machinery

Enzymes that travel along DNA to copy or transcribe it -- the crucial processes underlying cell replication and protein production -- aren't coordinated by a central dispatcher. In fact, they often collide. Now, researchers have discovered that when DNA-copying machines run head-on into proteins performing less critical tasks, they kick the obstacles aside and continue on their way.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Mar 2010 | 9:00 am

Cancer, aging: Key interaction that controls telomeres discovered

In the dominoes that make up human cells, researchers have traced another step of the process that stops cells from becoming cancerous.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Mar 2010 | 6:00 am

Robot-assisted option offers advantages for kidney surgery, comparison shows

A comparison of two types of minimally invasive surgery to repair kidney blockages that prevent urine from draining normally to the bladder found that robot-assisted surgery was faster and resulted in less blood loss and shorter hospital stays.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Mar 2010 | 6:00 am

'Milk drops' under the tongue appear to treat milk allergies

Placing small amounts of milk protein under the tongues of children who are allergic to milk can help them overcome their allergies, according to the findings of a small study.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Mar 2010 | 6:00 am

Tree-dwelling mammals climb to the heights of longevity

The squirrels littering your lawn with acorns as they bound overhead will live to plague your yard longer than the ones that aerate it with their burrows, according to a new study. Researchers found that tree-dwelling mammals live longer than those who live on the ground. Humans are an exception, but tree-dwelling ancestors may explain that.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 1 Mar 2010 | 6:00 am

The nation's weather (AP)

AP - More wet weather was forecast for the South on Monday, with an active storm system expected to trek from the Southwest through Texas with mixed precipitation.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 1 Mar 2010 | 3:09 am

Climate scientist at centre of email row to face questions from MPs

Scientists Phil Jones and John Beddington and sceptics Nigel Lawson and Benny Peiser among those giving evidence

The climate scientist at the centre of a media storm over private emails released on to the internet will face his first public questions on the affair today when he appears before a parliamentary committee.

The science and technology select committee is expected to ask Phil Jones, head of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia, to explain emails that critics claim show he manipulated data and censored research.

It will be the first time Jones has appeared in public since the emails were released in November. He will also be asked about correspondence that appears to show a reluctance to share data with critics under Freedom of Information requests.

Jones is among several witnesses called to give evidence today on the affair. Others include Bob Watson, chief scientist at the environment department Defra, John Beddington, chief scientist to the government, and Julia Slingo, chief scientist at the Met Office.

Prominent climate sceptics Nigel Lawson and Benny Peiser, of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, will also appear, alongside Richard Thomas, the former Information Commissioner, and Sir Muir Russell, who heads a separate inquiry into the emails that was set up by the university.

The university's submission to the inquiry said it "strongly rejected" accusations that it had manipulated or selected figures to exaggerate global warming. And it denied suggestions that it had breached Freedom of Information rules by refusing to release raw data.

According to the submission, allegations that scientists hid flaws and research findings were the result of misunderstandings of technical jargon or statistical analysis. It said the often-cited email that refers to a "trick" to "hide the decline" in a discussion of temperature measurements had been "richly misinterpreted and quoted out of context".

• On the web: The Guardian will live-blog the science and technology select committee beginning at 3pm today.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 28 Feb 2010 | 11:00 pm

Merck KGaA to acquire Millipore for 7.2 billion dollars (AFP)

AFP - German pharmaceutical giant Merck KGaA announced late Sunday its acquisition of Millipore Corporation, a Billerica, Massachusetts-based biotechnology firm for 7.2 billion dollars (5.3 billion euros).

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Feb 2010 | 10:11 pm

Nearly 200K without power after Northeast storm (AP)

AP - Nearly 200,000 homes and businesses were still without power Monday as restoration efforts continued days after a slow-moving storm battered the Northeast with heavy snow, rain and high winds.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Feb 2010 | 10:06 pm

Better off

How palm oil is lifting Indonesians out of poverty
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 28 Feb 2010 | 10:02 pm

Al Gore takes aim at climate change skeptics (Reuters)

Reuters - Former Vice President Al Gore on took aim at skeptics who doubt the reality of human-caused climate change, saying he wished it were an illusion but that the problem is real and urgent.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Feb 2010 | 8:55 pm

Google Launches 'Person Finder' for Chile Quake

On Saturday following news of the 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile, Google launched a person-finder web site, similar to the one it launched following the quake in Haiti. The site, located at http://chilepersonfinder.appspot.com, allows folks to chose between Spanish or English. ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Feb 2010 | 6:19 pm

Extreme Mobile: Fords to Feature Voice-Controlled Internet (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Later this year, Ford automobiles will let you access the Internet and take your digital life on the road. Safety experts worry, however, that all the distractions could be dangerous.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Feb 2010 | 5:50 pm

Science Weekly: Brian Cox's Wonders of the Solar System

We are privileged to have in the studio the man who dislikes being known as the rockstar physicist. Professor Brian Cox introduces his new BBC TV series Wonders of the Solar System in which he uses locations on Earth to describe how the laws of nature work across the solar system.

The particle physicist also updates us on the new phase of experiments that are about to begin at the Large Hadron Collider at Cern.

Environment correspondent David Adam tells us about his encounter with the new president of the Flat Earth Society, Daniel Shenton. The panel discusses how the flat Earth phenomenon throws up some interesting questions about attitudes to climate change.

Fresh off the plane from California, science correspondent Ian Sample re-lives the highlights of this year's AAAS conference in San Diego. That's the American Association for the Advancement of Science for the uninitiated.

Robin McKie, the Observer's science and technology editor, talks to Lord Robert Winston about whether technology will wipe out humans, climate change and geo-engineering. Lord Winston's new book Bad Ideas is out now.

Nell Boase is standing in for Alok Jha.

WARNING: contains very strong language from the outset.

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Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 28 Feb 2010 | 5:01 pm

Extreme Mobile: Fords to Feature Voice-Controlled Internet

Ford's second direction SYNC system taps the power of smartphones to control mobile Internet applications in the car.
Source: Livescience.com | 28 Feb 2010 | 4:55 pm

Weight of bugs in Britain's soil doubles

• Number of invertebrates in soil has increased by 47%
• Study shows decrease in diversity underground

Unnoticed by the people of Britain, a transformation has been happening beneath our feet. In the first study of its kind, scientists have analysed the soil the country depends on.

In just the top 8cm (3in) of dirt, soil scientists estimate there are 12.8 quadrillion (12,800 million million) living organisms, weighing 10m tonnes, and, incredibly, that the number of these invertebrates – some just a hair's breadth across – which in effect make the soil has increased by nearly 50% in a decade. At the same time, however, the diversity of life in the earth appears to have reduced.

The most likely reason for both the increase in numbers and the decrease in types is the rise of annual temperatures and rainfall over the decade of the study, leading to warmer, wetter summers, said Professor Bridget Emmett, of the UK's Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), who led the study. The scientists' theory is that the warmer, wetter soil encourages most of the bugs to breed faster or for longer, but that more marginal species have been unable to adapt to the new conditions.

They are less certain, however, about whether the changes are a threat or a boon: soil has a relatively high "species redundancy", so there are many species that can do the same job, but all creatures are facing an onslaught of changes such as global warming, pollution and habitat destruction.

"If you look at the soil, most of it comes out of the back end of the animals," said Emmett. She added: "The question is whether we have lost resilience in the soil. Is diversity important for the soil to bounce back after multiple pressures?"

CEH's biggest ever study of Britain's soil is part of the much wider Countryside Survey, funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs approximately every decade.

The survey in 2007, whose results have only just been released after two years of analysis, took more than 2,600 samples from different geological and climatic areas across England, Scotland and Wales, and measured them for invertebrates, nutrients, pollutants, acidity and carbon.

In what is thought to be the first national analysis of change in soil bug numbers and types, Emmett's team extrapolated that there were 1.28 x 10 to the power of 16 individual invertebrates, mainly made up of Oligochaetes (small worms), Collembola (springtails) and Acari (mites).

They then made the same calculation as for the previous survey in 1998 and estimated that the number and mass of bugs had increased by 47%, and that the biggest increases by far were in the numbers of mites. The concentration of living things was particularly high in woodland, but the phenomenon appeared in every type of landscape sampled except arable land, probably because of the regular tilling and disruption of their habitat.

Although the study looked at only the top 8cm of soil, the results were likely to cover most active life underground, said Emmett: "In fairness, it's where most of them are: they know where all the carbon and nutrients are concentrated."

The decrease in the variety of species found was much smaller – 11% – and the scientists warn that further research is needed to be sure of the trends, because too little is known about whether climate, pollution and land management affect soil bugs and, if so, how.

Biodiversity helps the soil to cope with future threats from pollution and climate change, and is a "pool from which future novel applications and products can be derived", notes the report.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 28 Feb 2010 | 4:24 pm

Ancient impact hammered Northern Hemisphere

Extinctions were less severe in southern oceans after catastrophe of 65 million years ago<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/news/rss/today/~4/LarsX_fc1SU" height="1" width="1"/>
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 28 Feb 2010 | 4:00 pm

Why the body isn't thirsty at night

Body clock is a hormonal dimmer switch that controls water loss.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 28 Feb 2010 | 4:00 pm

How do you convince people of global warming in a snowstorm? (The Christian Science Monitor)

The Christian Science Monitor - The dead of winter – especially this winter with its massive snow storms in the eastern United States – is not the easiest time to make the case for global warming. Short-term weather events and long-range climate change are not the same thing, of course, but it’s hard to separate them in the public’s mind.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Feb 2010 | 1:31 pm

King Tut's grandfather's statue head surfaces in Luxor

CAIRO (Reuters) - A colossal 3000-year-old red granite head of Amenhotep III, the grandfather of Tutankhamun, has been discovered in Luxor, Egypt's Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said Sunday.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 28 Feb 2010 | 12:49 pm

Humans Behind Rising Seas, Study Says

Human activity is behind mounting sea levels.
Source: Livescience.com | 28 Feb 2010 | 12:20 pm

Cern nuclear team restarts Large Hadron Collider

Operators hope world's biggest atom smasher will reveal some secrets of the universe

Operators of the world's largest atom smasher restarted their massive machine today in a run-up to experiments probing secrets of the universe. After a cautious trial period, Cern (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research) plans to ramp up the energy of the proton beams travelling around the 17-mile tunnel housing the Large Hadron Collider under the Swiss-French border at Geneva to unprecedented levels – and start record-setting collisions of protons by late March. The restart follows a two and a half month winter shutdown during which scientists made improvements and checked out the smasher's ability to collide protons at energies three times greater than has ever been achieved previously.

The new collisions are expected to shatter the subatomic particles and reveal still smaller fragments and forces than previously achieved on any collider, including the previous record-holder – the Tevatron at Fermilab outside Chicago.

The Large Hadron Collider was built to examine suspected phenomena such as dark matter, antimatter and ultimately the creation of the universe billions of years ago, which many theorize occurred as an explosion known as the Big Bang.

The restart follows successful trial runs late last year when Cern showed that it had made a big comeback from its initial 10 September, 2008, start-up with great fanfare. The machine was sidetracked nine days later when a badly soldered electrical splice overheated and set off a chain of damage to the magnets and other parts of the collider.

Cern had to undertake a $40m (£26m) programme of repairs and improvements over 14 months before it was ready to retry the machine at the end of November. Then the collider performed almost flawlessly, giving scientists valuable data in the four-week run before Christmas.

"They learned a lot which they've gone away and digested, and now they're trying to make adjustments," spokeswoman Christine Sutton said.

Cern specialists have checked out and improved electrical connections and other parts of the machine since the shutdown, but still want to take further steps to make sure the collider is ready to operate at higher energy.

"There's a long way to go between getting the first bunches of protons to go around and actually getting the machine to its top working levels," Sutton said.

"It's a lot like having designed a Formula One racing car. The first time you send it out, the guy doesn't go round the circuit as fast as he can. You have to learn about the controls, how the car handles."

At its greatest energy, the atom smasher collided two beams of circulating particles travelling in opposite directions at 1.18 trillion electron volts, or TeV, about 20% higher than the previous record set at Fermilab.

After the current cautious restart, Cern will ramp up the energy pushing the beams of protons still higher, to three and a half times the highest levels reached in Chicago. The showers of particles created at that level are expected to reveal still more about the makeup of matter.

The long-term goal, after more modifications, will be to run the proton beams at seven TeV in each direction, but Cern has decided that it will continue its cautious approach and run at three and a half TeV for 18-24 months. Then a long shutdown will allow for further improvements for operation at the full design energy.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 28 Feb 2010 | 11:01 am

Atom smasher restarts to prepare for new science (AP)

AP - Operators of the world's largest atom smasher restarted their massive machine Sunday in a run up to experiments probing secrets of the universe, a spokeswoman said.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Feb 2010 | 10:58 am

Letter: Peter Lomas obituary

Anne Ashley writes: Many years ago, I met Peter Lomas (obituary, 25 February) at a conference and we shared a train journey home. I was deeply committed to setting up what is now the registered charity Parentline Plus UK, and we talked nonstop together about the problems of depression after birth. He was wonderfully encouraging and enthusiastic about initiatives in which non- professional people offered help to others. This came in stark contrast to so many professionals I had met who felt we were nothing but meddling amateurs. I never forgot the energy of our long conversation which sustained me for many years and contributed to my decision to train as an analyst. As he believed, it is amazing what can be given and done in one chance conversation.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 28 Feb 2010 | 10:53 am

Ana Timberlake obituary

Our mother, Ana Timberlake, who has died aged 66 of the lung disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, was one of those rare women who proved that you can have it all. A successful businesswoman and loving mother of three, Ana was the founder of Timberlake Consultants Limited (TCL), a statistical consultancy firm, with particular applications in medical research and econometric modelling.

Ana was born in Portugal, the daughter of a civil engineer. Her father, Armando da Palma Carlos, was at that time the resident engineer on the Pego do Altar dam construction site, Alentejo, where Ana spent her early childhood. Her family were no strangers to successful women. Her aunt, Elina Guimarães (whose husband, Adelino da Palma Carlos, was appointed prime minister following the 1974 revolution) was head of the National Council of Portuguese women and is considered to have been the first feminist in Portugal.

Ana took her first degree, in mathematics, at Lisbon University, before coming to Britain in 1969 to do a master's degree in statistics and operational research at Southampton University. She then took up employment at PTRC (Planning and Transport Research and Computation), a small research unit in London.

An early assignment at PTRC was to re-analyse the results of Robert Borkenstein's 1964 Grand Rapids study, upon which the British breathalyser test had been based in the mid-1960s. The original data had not been statistically adjusted and earlier analysis had suggested that driving improved with the intake of a small amount of alcohol. However, after Ana had standardised the data (for weather, vehicle age, driving experience, and so on), it became clear (much to the chagrin of the brewers) that alcohol intake did indeed make driving capability progressively worse.

At PTRC, Ana commenced a doctoral research degree at Queen Mary College (QMC), London, under David E Barton, into the use of mathematics by scientists and engineers. This research caused some consternation among certain professions (such as actuaries) when the investigations showed that the level of mathematical sophistication generally employed by them at that time barely exceeded that gained in a standard O-level mathematics course.

After leaving QMC, Ana joined Control Data Corporation in London, where she formed lifelong associations with academics, researchers and developers of statistical techniques, econometric modelling and software. This led her to set up TCL in 1982. She somehow managed to juggle family life with building it into a global business.

She is survived by us and our brother Zé, five grandchildren, and her former husband Richard.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 28 Feb 2010 | 10:46 am

Jurassic coast: Landscape of learning

Natural History Museum starts courses at Dorset heritage site

Hilary Penrose, an artist from Oxfordshire, was feeling soggy but inspired. Soggy because she had misjudged a wave during a windy walk on Britain's Jurassic Coast. Inspired because she had been learning about the geology of the area from some of the world's leading experts.

Penrose is one of the first students to attend a course at a new outreach centre opened by the Natural History Museum in Lyme Regis, Dorset.

The museum may be best known for its stunning collections of all creatures great and small and its displays of dinosaur and whale skeletons, but the new Jurassic Coast Studies Centre is part of an attempt to spread its message farther and wider.

Effectively, the pilot scheme is turning the 95 miles of coastline in Devon and Dorset that makes up the Jurassic Coast into a giant classroom. The courses are designed to appeal both to people with general interests and to professionals who want to learn more about a particular subject.

Professor Andy Fleet, leader of the Geology of Jurassic Coast course, said: "It's about taking the Natural History Museum out of London and to wonderful places like this. The Jurassic Coast is an obvious place for us to come when we're talking about geology.

"We've had a range of people here. Some have become interested in geology having gone to evening classes. One person got interested after taking a walk along a beach on the Isle of Arran in Scotland and wanted to know more."

He added: "The Jurassic Coast is the only natural world heritage site in England. It makes sense for us to be here."

Hilary Penrose and her husband, sculptor John, decided to attend because they felt knowing more about geology could inform their work. "It's great to be learning about such a dynamic landscape," she said.

A course on meteorites is proving popular with people who have a general interest while other courses, on marine nematodes and petroleum, are of greater appeal to people who already work in those specialist fields.

If the programme, which is running for two months, proves a success, a much larger centre for earth and natural science education will be established.

The museum's partners are the Field Studies Council and the Lyme Regis Development Trust, a charity that works to stimulate the economic, social and environmental well-being of the area.

Marcus Dixon, chief executive of the trust, said the centre could provide a much-needed boost to the area's economy. Though the town is full of tourists in the summer, it can be much quieter at other times of the year.

"This will help attract more people all year round. It's also about getting more people engaged in science, which we feel is very important," he said.

Hilary Penrose said: "Apart from getting soaked by a wave, we've had a very stimulating time. We're bowled over by what we have learnt. It's incredible learning from people who are at the top of their field but also being in a place like Lyme Regis where you are right in the middle of what they are talking about."

She and her husband arrived at the centre on Thursday afternoon. There was a lecture that night, followed by full days on Friday and Saturday, spent indoors and on the beaches and headlands around Lyme Regis.

Marcus Dixon said that though the town was famous throughout the world it suffered some of the problems of isolated rural communities in lovely settings, such as high property prices and an overdependency on the tourism industry.

Almost half of the population is aged over 65 and young people often leave and do not return. "It's a remarkable place but there are challenges," Dixon added. He said it was hoped an expanded study centre could create extra jobs and bring more people in all year round.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 28 Feb 2010 | 10:45 am

India seeks closer ties with Saudi to fuel recovery (Reuters)

Reuters - India said it expects its economy to rebound to 9-percent annual growth rates within two years and wants to expand its energy ties with top OPEC exporter Saudi Arabia to help fuel the recovery.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Feb 2010 | 10:16 am

Chile Quake Among Most Powerful Ever

The 8.8-magnitude earthquake that rattled Chile is similar to the Indian Ocean one that triggered devastating tsunamis in 2004. It belongs to a special class of quake called a megathrust.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 28 Feb 2010 | 9:45 am

Top 10 Spooky Sleep Disorders

Sleep disorders that seem more at home in horror films than in your bedroom.
Source: Livescience.com | 28 Feb 2010 | 7:51 am

Campaigners hit £200,000 target to save Colchester's Roman circus

Money raised for only chariot-racing site discovered in Britain

Campaigners in Colchester hit their target yesterday of raising £200,000 towards saving the only Roman chariot-racing circus ever found in Britain. Nothing remains above ground except a few stones, but the campaigners aim to buy a Victorian garden which covers a crucial part of the track: the starting gates from which the chariots, pulled by four horses, would have raced past raked seating for 15,000 spectators – more than twice the population when Colchester was a Roman town.

Most of the money came in small donations from local people. They organised events including a chariot and two horses hurtling around the car park before Colchester United's match against Oldham on February 20.

The campaigners hope that local community groups, including the Colchester Archaeological Trust, which discovered the circus, will buy a listed but derelict sergeant's mess which adjoins the garden to build a visitor centre.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 28 Feb 2010 | 7:03 am

Chile quake in 'elite class' like 2004 Asian quake (AP)

AP - The huge earthquake that struck off the coast of Chile belongs to an "elite class" of mega earthquakes, experts said, and is similar to the 2004 Indian Ocean temblor that triggered deadly tsunami waves.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Feb 2010 | 6:31 am

Afghanistan protects newly rediscovered rare bird (AP)

AP - Afghanistan's fledging conservation agency moved Sunday to protect one of the world's rarest birds after the species was rediscovered in the war-ravaged country's northeast.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Feb 2010 | 3:55 am