Rodeo bull goes head-to-head with zoo dolphins in a study of balance

Dolphins, whales and porpoises have extraordinarily small balance organs, and scientists have long wondered why. Now a study has contradicted a leading theory, which held that the animals moved their heads so vigorously that they had to have smaller, less responsive balance organs to avoid overwhelming their senses.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Mar 2010 | 3:00 pm

Structure of insulin's docking point identified

Scientists have determined the structure of a previously unseen part of the insulin receptor, making possible new treatments for diabetes.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Mar 2010 | 3:00 pm

New animal model developed to study craniofacial pain by manipulating genes

Using a novel animal model to study craniofacial pain, researchers have discovered that when tissues are inflamed, the nerve cells carrying pain information from the head to the brain produce in large quantities a protein involved in pain signaling.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Mar 2010 | 3:00 pm

Motherhood appears to protect against suicide, study finds

Motherhood appears to protect against suicide, with increasing numbers of children associated with decreasing rates of death from suicide, found a new article.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Mar 2010 | 3:00 pm

Possible new treatment for pancreatic cancer?

A new technique will deliver cancer treatments directly to certain tumors. One of the cancers this could have particular benefit in targeting is pancreatic cancer, which is currently very difficult to treat.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Mar 2010 | 3:00 pm

Individual light atoms, such as carbon and oxygen, identified with new microscope

Using the latest in aberration-corrected electron microscopy, researchers have obtained the first images that distinguish individual light atoms such as boron, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Mar 2010 | 3:00 pm

Colonies of bacteria fight for resources with lethal protein

Rival colonies of bacteria can produce a lethal chemical that keeps competitors at bay, scientists report this week. By halting the growth of nearby colonies and even killing some of the cells, groups of bacteria preserve scarce resources for themselves, even when the encroaching colony is closely related.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Mar 2010 | 9:00 am

When memory-related neurons fire in sync with certain brain waves, memories last

They say there's only one chance to make a first impression, but what makes that memory last? Research scientists now suggest that when memory-related neurons in the brain fire in sync with certain brain waves, the resulting image recognition and memories are stronger than if this synchronization does not occur.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Mar 2010 | 9:00 am

Zebrafish study with human heart implications: Cellular grown-ups outperform stem cells in cardiac repair

Bony fish like the tiny zebrafish have a remarkable ability that mammals can only dream of: if you lop off a chunk of their heart they swim sluggishly for a few days but within a month appear perfectly normal. How they accomplish this -- or, more importantly, why we can't -- is one of the significant questions in regenerative medicine today.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Mar 2010 | 9:00 am

New studies on surgical options in inherited breast cancer show drastic treatment is not always best

Two new studies shed light on the treatment options facing women carrying the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations. Researchers found that prophylactic mastectomy does not improve disease-free or overall survival, and the first multi-institutional systematic comparison of treatment outcomes from breast conserving therapy versus mastectomy found more recurrences in the breast with BCT compared to recurrences at the chest wall following mastectomy, but similar rates of recurrence when BCT patients also received chemotherapy.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 28 Mar 2010 | 9:00 am

The nation's weather (AP)

AP - An intense low pressure system was expected to begin the day over the Mississippi Valley before moving steadily toward the eastern seaboard. This storm should carry a tremendous amount of moisture, generating widespread precipitation from the Southeast through the Northeast.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Mar 2010 | 3:27 am

World's iconic sites go dark to fight global warming (AFP)

AFP - From Sydney Harbor to the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Empire State Building in New York, major landmarks went dark for an hour to raise awareness over the fight against climate change.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 28 Mar 2010 | 2:02 am

Robots, space technology run Australia's mining miracle (AFP)

AFP - The heavy clank of machinery rings out across a seemingly deserted Outback mine site as an invisible satellite signal fires Rio Tinto's production line into motion.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 27 Mar 2010 | 11:33 pm

Tajiks sink money into Soviet-style dam project (AP)

AP - When Abdullo Bobokhonov's grandson was born in this Tajik village, he named the baby after a government-ordered hydroelectric dam and raised a small fortune to help fund it.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 27 Mar 2010 | 10:00 pm

Tuvalu to Times Square; landmarks off for Earth Hour (Reuters)

Reuters - Landmarks such as Sydney's Opera House, Beijing's Forbidden City and Taiwan's Taipei 101 office tower temporarily went dark on Saturday as nations dimmed the lights for Earth Hour 2010 to call for action on climate change.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 27 Mar 2010 | 8:22 pm

Moth forces wine country's secret into the open (AP)

AP - One of the dirty secrets of California's wine country is now on everyone's lips. Somehow a voracious grape-eating moth has found its way nonstop from Europe to the heart of the Napa Valley, the land of three-figure cabernet. With valuable fruit at risk, the region's fast and loose play with federal agriculture quarantine laws is getting new scrutiny from investigators and researchers.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 27 Mar 2010 | 8:21 pm

Landmarks, cities worldwide unplug for Earth Hour (AP)

AP - Europe's best known landmarks — including the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben and Rome's Colosseum — fell dark Saturday, following Sydney's Opera House and Beijing's Forbidden City in joining a global climate change protest, as lights were switched off across the world to mark the Earth Hour event.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 27 Mar 2010 | 7:56 pm

'Solar city'

Abu Dhabi strives for zero-carbon comfort
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 27 Mar 2010 | 6:36 pm

New Zealand's GM cattle under fire

Research delayed by court battles.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/news/rss/today/~4/YyaWgPcSXFo" height="1" width="1"/>
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 27 Mar 2010 | 6:26 pm

The Eerie Silence by Paul Davies | Book review

This latest report on the evidence for alien life forms is refreshingly level-headed, says David Papineau

If there are extraterrestrial civilisations out there, they don't seem very interested in us. They don't visit, they don't phone, they don't even send radio signals. Not a peep. It is easy to feel start feeling neglected once you become aware of this cosmic cold shoulder. As the eminent physicist Enrico Fermi once put it, "Where is everybody?"

It is not as if we haven't been looking out for them. This year marks 50 years since the founding of Seti — the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. In his new book celebrating this anniversary, Paul Davies explains that Seti isn't some confederation of UFO-spotters, but a group of serious scientists who scour the skies for any sign that somebody is trying to get in touch. They have deployed every modern technology in search of unusual radio signals, laser pulses or electronic beacons. But so far they have come up empty-handed. There is nothing to hear but an eerie silence.

The obvious explanation is that nobody out there has anything to say. Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised by this. What we know of our own history shows that the emergence of advanced intelligence is a hit-or-miss affair. Even given a planet with the right environmental profile, there are many hurdles. The chemistry of life needs to congeal out of the primordial soup, and then natural selection needs to drive evolution all the way to organisms who can get a reasonable score on an IQ test.

Davies is a physicist, and is more worried about the first step than the second. He thinks that the emergence of life on earth may have been a one-off fluke, that the rest of the universe may never have cleared this first hurdle, and that the emergence of intelligence is only to be expected once life is up and running. However, a more biological perspective suggests Davies may have things the wrong way round. After all, the first stages of life popped up on earth pretty quickly, give or take a few hundred million years. But intelligence has arrived only in the last few hundred thousand. The chemistry of life is the easy part, but a high IQ much harder.

Of course, there is intelligence and intelligence. Recent research shows that many birds, especially from the crow family, can outdo monkeys on any test of ingenuity. A good case can also be made for octopuses. Given that birds, mammals and molluscs evolved independently, this suggests that some level of intellect is a natural outcome of evolutionary pressures. Still, this is not the kind of intellect that is going to send signals to the stars. Impressive as the crows may be, they aren't going to work out electromagnetic field theory. Advanced science needs the kind of acumen that allows humans to build complex cultures and probe into things. And this does look like a freak in evolutionary terms.

So, from a biological point of view, it looks as if the prospects for intelligent interstellar conversation are limited. There are probably plenty of dumb animals scattered across the universe, but nobody worth talking to. This might strike you as depressing. However, as Davies points out, it would be more depressing if it turns out that we are not cosmic freaks. For then the silence starts to look sinister. If the emergence of advanced civilisations is common, then the obvious explanation is that a typical extraterrestrial empire doesn't last long. Perhaps plenty have announced their presence, only to implode within a few years. We all like to think humanity will survive into the indefinite future. But there is a danger that any species with our technological power will quickly find a way of destroying itself, whether by war, pestilence or pollution.

Theories about alien life forms can easily collapse into speculation, and Davies is not immune to the temptation. Some of the topics he explores verge on the fanciful. Might the aliens send probes to seed our planet with viruses? Does the future of intelligence lie with machines, and if so what will they care about? Still, Davies never lets his enthusiasm run away with him. His attitude is that of a rational physicist, and he is careful to mark the difference between established theory and exploratory guesswork. In an area more given to fabulation than fact, this level-headedness is positively refreshing. If you ever start worrying about why no one is talking to us, this is the book to calm you down.

David Papineau is professor of philosophy of science at King's College London

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 27 Mar 2010 | 6:15 pm

For the record

"Activists call for inquiry over police infiltration" (News) said that newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson "died of a heart attack soon after being struck by a police baton" at the G20 protest in London last April. Although this was originally given as a cause of death, a second postmortem revealed internal bleeding as the cause. The results of a third postmortem conducted on behalf of the police officer involved have yet to be released.

In "Patients left in the dark over life-saving drug tests" (News) we gave an incorrect web address for a patient information site run by Cancer Research UK which gives details of 180 new clinical trials each year. We meant www.cancerhelp.org.uk

Our leader "The Catholic church should free its priests from celibacy" (Comment) said only seven men were ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood in England and Wales last year. The number was actually 16 – which the church says reflects a low training intake between 2001-2004.

There are going to be some pretty hefty Easter bunnies around this spring if readers followed our free Guide to Pets. Please note that adult rabbits require 2-2.5 cups of dried food per day, not lbs.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 27 Mar 2010 | 6:06 pm

The readers' editor on… ageism in the media

You may have read last week of the gang jailed for locking a financial adviser in a basement after he lost their massive investments. They were aged between 61 and 80. Or the disabled pensioner who sold heroin from his sheltered housing flat. Or the 66-year-old given 20 years to pay back the £36,000 he stole in a benefits scam.

Plenty of challenges to the pipe-and-slippers stereotype of older people there, I think you'll agree, and yet we continue to trot out the condescending cliches. Here's last week's motoring column: "Close your eyes for a moment and think of Volvo. What's the first image that floats into your mind?… Can you see the driver? He's probably a grey-haired pensioner heading to the golf club for an 11 o'clock sherry."

And a recent restaurant review remarked on "a little old lady in a fine hat eating oysters" alongside a number of other "senior" diners. It continued: "As one of my companions put it, 'There's an awful lot of mail-order cashmere in this room.' Around us sat various elders of the tribe carefully eating their way through their children's legacy in a very agreeable manner… main courses came down to bits of impeccably cooked fresh fish on purees of things, and while it's tempting to make some cheap gag about this suiting the dental condition of the clientele, I shall resist."

I'm on the side of the reader who complained about this lofty disdain, saying that it's an "all too common practice to treat the elderly as ripe for snide remarks of this kind. Should these people stay at home and eat alone so as not to offend?"

Perceptions of older people and the views older people have of themselves are directly affected by how they are depicted in the media. And we should remember that the National Readership Survey shows that 9% of Observer readers are over 65. That's about 111,000 people – quite a big number to offend.

The Editors' Code is silent on the subject, but the National Union of Journalists has issued useful guidelines on writing about older people, compiled with the aid of Help the Aged and Age Concern (both to be renamed Age UK next month in a telling rebranding). The guide asks: "How old is old?", pointing out that 16- to 25-year-olds think 55 is old, while the over-75s consider 58 to be young. "The term 'old' is loaded with assumptions of neediness and ineptness that terrify the young and undermine the old – robbing them of self-respect, damaging their health and welfare and even reducing their life expectancy," warns the guide.

There's no denying that better healthcare is increasing our longevity. The number of people aged 65 and over is expected to rise by 65% in the next 25 years to more than 16.4 million in 2033.

And the youth-obsessed media should reflect that over the last 25 years, the percentage of the population aged 16 and under decreased from 21% to 19%. This trend is projected to continue. By 2033, 23% of the population will be aged 65 and over compared with 18% aged 16 or younger.

According to the Office for National Statistics, in 1983, there were just over 600,000 people in the UK aged 85 and over. Since then, the numbers have more than doubled, reaching 1.3 million in 2008. By 2033, the number of people aged 85 and over is projected to more than double again to reach 3.2 million and to account for 5% of the total population.

Our restaurant reviewer responded to the complaints about his article with the following: "I am, from time to time, rude about everyone, not least about myself: my weight, my appetites, my obsessions. The one comment about teeth from that piece strikes me as particularly soft compared to what I have said about myself elsewhere." He felt the tone of the vast majority of the review, where the older clientele was concerned, "was hugely admiring".

I'll have to disagree with him on that one. When writing about older people, surely it's important to remember that ageing is an active verb; a process, not a label.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 27 Mar 2010 | 6:06 pm

Colin Blakemore: how the human brain got bigger by accident and not through evolution

Oxford neurobiologist Colin Blakemore tells Robin McKie why he thinks a mutation in the human brain 200,000 years ago suddenly made us a super-intelligent species

According to Woody Allen, it is his second favourite organ and it absorbs more than 25% of the energy that our bodies generate. But why? For what purposes did the human brain evolve and why does it take so much of our physiological resources? Such questions have absorbed scientists for decades and have now been given an expected answer by Colin Blakemore. In a recent lecture, the Oxford neurobiologist argued that a mutation in the brain of a single human being 200,000 years ago turned intellectually able apemen into a super-intelligent species that would conquer the world. In short, Homo sapiens is a genetic accident.

Most scientists believe we achieved our intellectual status through gradual evolution. Blakemore's intervention will therefore come as a surprise and an upset, although this will not faze the provocative 66-year-old.

So why have you decided to put forward your idea now?

I was asked to give the Ferrier prize lecture at the Royal Society and as this is the society's 350th anniversary I decided to do something special and face up to the issue of the human brain. The question is: why is it so big compared to the brains of our predecessors, such as Homo erectus? Until 200,000 years ago, there had been a gradual increase in brain size among hominins, starting three million years ago. Then, abruptly, there was a remarkable increase of about 30% or so.

How have scientists explained this jump in brain size?

Many have argued that if there was a dramatic increase in brain size, there must have been a fantastic advantage that came with it: improvements in tool construction, more complex language and other cultural changes. In other words, they say simple natural selection explains what happened.

So what is your take on this view?

I think they're fooling themselves. There was very little change in human behaviour at this time, as far as we can see from the fossil record – certainly not one that is explained by a sudden jump in the size of the human brain. These hand-waving arguments about tiny changes in culture explaining the emergence of such a huge change in brain structure just doesn't hold water. It's like arguing that a reptile suddenly developed fully formed wings and then sat around for 200,000 years before suddenly saying: Oh my God, I've discovered I can fly. It's ridiculous.

So what did happen?

Genetic studies suggest every living human can be traced back to a single woman called "Mitochondrial Eve" who lived about 200,000 years ago. My suggestion is that the sudden expansion of the brain 200,000 years ago was a dramatic spontaneous mutation in the brain of Mitochondrial Eve or a relative which then spread through the species. Achange in a single gene would have been enough.

What effect did this have?

Very little at first. The environment of early humans was so clement and rich in resources that this greedy new brain, which would have absorbed even more of the body's energy, could be sustained without danger. Later, when times got hard, during droughts or climate changes, it helped us deal with these crises, which could otherwise have killed us off, by dreaming up novel ideas to problems.

What are the implications of this idea?

My argument stresses the plasticity that our brains were endowed with when this mutation occurred. Some scientists believe that skills like language have a strong genetic basis, but my theory stresses the opposite, that knowledge, picked up by our now powerful brains, is the crucial mental component. It means that we are uniquely gifted in our ability to learn from experience and to pass this on to future generations. That has a bad side: a single generation starved of knowledge, thanks to some global disaster, for example, would be cast back to the Stone Age. Everything would be undone. On the other hand, there is no sign that the human brain has reached its capacity to accumulate knowledge, which means that the wonders we have already created – from spaceships to computers – represent only the start of our achievements.

In fact, we're getting awfully good at developing technologies that remove functions from us, the sort of stuff that used to be done by brains – calculating and remembering things, for instance. Before the invention of reading and writing, people's memories would have been much better developed than our own. I knew people at school who could churn out masses and masses of Shakespeare. No young kid could do that now. But they don't need to. And you have to ask: "Well, what else are they doing with their brains that used to do that kind of stuff?" I'm pretty sure that other things are being done...

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 27 Mar 2010 | 6:05 pm

UK low carbon uptake 'too slow'

The UK has been "disappointingly slow" at taking up low carbon technologies, a report by MPs warns.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 27 Mar 2010 | 6:02 pm

High-Fructose Corn Syrup Could Make You Fat

I went to the YouTube site to find the commercial (below) sponsored by the Corn Refiner's Association promoting high-fructose corn syrup. I was surprised to find all of the spoof commercials. Where have I been? What is this battle brewing ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 27 Mar 2010 | 3:33 pm

James Cameron Says 3-D Coming to Mobile Devices Sans Glasses

3-D will come to mobile faster than anyone has anticipated.
Source: Livescience.com | 27 Mar 2010 | 11:16 am

Frustration for Meteosat project

European nations fail to move forward on the multi-billion-euro project to upgrade their weather satellites.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 27 Mar 2010 | 11:08 am

James Cameron Says 3-D Coming to Mobile Devices Sans Glasses (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Las Vegas - 3-D will come to mobile faster than anyone has anticipated, and without the need for awkward glasses, Avatar director James Cameron told an audience today at the CTIA Wireless conference.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 27 Mar 2010 | 10:20 am

What is Palm Sunday?

Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus entering Jerusalem for his anointment as King.
Source: Livescience.com | 27 Mar 2010 | 8:40 am