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Childhood sleep problems and alcohol/drug problems in young adulthoodChildhood sleep problems are relatively common in the US. A new study has found that individuals with troubles sleeping during childhood and adolescence, as well as poor response inhibition during adolescence, have subsequent substance use and substance-related problems during young adulthood.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 pm Student uses skin as input for mobile devicesA combination of simple bio-acoustic sensors and some sophisticated machine learning makes it possible for people to use their fingers or forearms -- potentially, any part of their bodies -- as touchpads to control smart phones or other mobile devices.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 pm New test could identify smokers at risk of emphysemaCT scans that measure blood flow in the lungs of people who smoke may offer a way to identify which smokers are most at risk of emphysema before the disease damages and eventually destroys areas of the lungs. The discovery may also improve understanding of the underlying causes of emphysema; help distinguish it from other forms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; and help test the effectiveness of emphysema therapies.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 pm The skinny on brown fatLast year, researchers made a game-changing realization: brown fat, the energy-burning stuff that keeps babies warm, isn't just for the youngest among us. Adults have it, too (if they are lucky, anyway), and it is beginning to look like the heat-generating tissue might hold considerable metabolic importance for familiar and irritating trends, like our tendency to put on extra weight as we age.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 pm Eating like a bird helps forests growLions, tigers and bears top the ecological pyramid -- the diagram of the food chain that every school child knows. A new study examines complex interactions in the middle of the pyramid, where birds, bats and lizards consume insects. These predators indirectly benefit plants, scientists report.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 pm Quantum mechanics demonstrated in motion of objects large enough to see with naked eyeResearchers have provided the first clear demonstration that the theory of quantum mechanics applies to the mechanical motion of an object large enough to be seen by the naked eye. Their work satisfies a longstanding goal among physicists.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 pm Computer program allows car to stay in its lane without human controlResearchers have created a computer program that allows a car to stay in its lane without human control, opening the door to the development of new automobile safety features and military applications that could save lives.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 7 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am Electronic Nose Sniffs Out AsthmaNew evidence shows that an "electronic nose" containing an array of gas sensors may have the ability to identify asthma in patients.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 7 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am Poisoning by prescription drugs on the riseOn the rise for more than 15 years, poisoning is now the second leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. Unintentional poisoning has surpassed motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of unintentional injury death among people 35. In a new study, researchers found that hospitalizations for poisoning by prescription opioids, sedatives and tranquilizers in the US have increased by 65 percent from 1999 to 2006.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 7 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am Our universe at home within a larger universe? So suggests physicist's wormhole researchCould our universe be located within the interior of a wormhole which itself is part of a black hole that lies within a much larger universe?Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 7 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am Shuttle Discovery arrives at space station (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 7 Apr 2010 | 4:09 am Swiss make 1st test of round-the-world solar plane (AP)AP - Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard's team took its round-the-world solar plane prototype into the skies for the first time Wednesday, with four propellers lifting the massive craft off the ground at near bicycle speed.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 7 Apr 2010 | 4:01 am EU satellite to check climate change impact on ice (AP)AP - The European Space Agency is launching a satellite that scientists hope will help them pin down the effects of global warming on the Earth's ice packs more precisely.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:57 am Shuttle docks with space stationThe space shuttle Discovery successfully docks with the International Space Station (ISS) 215 miles over the Caribbean.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:35 am Discovery maneuvers to dock with space station (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:31 am Roy Greenslade: Daily Express readers baffled by health storiesTruth, as so often in the Daily Express, is a moving target. The invaluable Tabloid Watch blog reveals the latest example of the paper's inconsistency in a posting called Fry-ups are 'healthy' and 'lethal', says Express. It points out that on 10 March, the Express ran a front-page blurb "Death by fry-up: How a full English breakfast is lethal", which urged readers to turn inside to a story about the dangers of eating a full English breakfast. Yet, on 1 April, it ran a piece advocating that "the healthiest start to the day" is a bacon fry-up because scientists have found that a breakfast high in fat could be much better than thought. Both pieces were bylined Jo Willey. But she made no reference in her second piece to the fact that it was in conflict with the "evidence" by the "experts" quoted in her first one just 22 days before. Then again, the research that is supposed to convince us to enjoy a daily fry-up was conducted on mice, a criticism succinctly made by the NHS Knowledge Service in a sceptical response to the Express story. It noted: "Before we can claim that a fatty, calorific breakfast is good for the body, the theory needs to be tested in humans... it should not be taken as an endorsement that a fry-up is healthy or better for you than a breakfast of cereal or fruit..." As Tabloid Watch concludes: "In other words: don't get your health advice from tabloid newspapers. Especially when they change their advice from 'lethal' to 'healthy' in less than a month." Of course, the Express would reply that both stories were "valid" because its health correspondent was simply reporting "the facts" of "expert" or "scientific" studies. But is that responsible journalism? At the very least, the second story should have referred to the obvious inconsistency of the two reports. If not, what's the point of appointing specialist writers? What, indeed, is the point of journalism if it serves readers so poorly? 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 | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:09 am Arctic winter ice recovers slightly despite record year low, scientists sayFigures from the National Snow and Ice Data Centre indicate six or seven- year low over past three decades The melting Arctic ice cap recovered slightly over the last winter, but scientists warned that it was still one of the worst years on record. The twice yearly figures published by the National Snow and Ice Data Centre of the winter high and summer low for the Arctic sea ice is seen as a powerful indicator of global warming. Last night the US organisation released the data for the winter of 2009-10 showing the maximum extent reached on 31 March was 5.89m square miles (15.25m sq km). This was 250,000 square miles (650,000 sq km) below the 1979 to 2000 average for March when measurements are taken for winter sea ice. The rate of decline for March over the 1978 to 2010 period is 2.6% per decade, according to NSIDC data. Arctic sea ice reflects sunlight, keeping the polar regions cool and moderating global climate. NSIDC said there had been some recovery in the amount of ice that was two years old or more, from last year's previous record low. However, the spread of the ice, though higher than in some recent very bad years, was still low compared to past decades. "I think it's the sixth or seventh lowest maximum out of the previous 32 years," said Walt Meier, a research scientist at NSIDC. Looking ahead to the other key annual figure - the lowest extent of sea ice at the end of the summer melting season - Meier said this year was also expected to be historically low, depending on temperatures and winds which blow the ice around, and sometimes out of the Arctic Sea into the warmer Atlantic and Pacific currents. "I would say [it's going to be] low, perhaps one of the lowest, but not approaching 2007," said Meier, referring to the record lows that year when the Arctic lost an area of ice the size of Alaska in one year. "Given the amount of thin ice we know we're going to be low, it's just a matter of how low." Last month, Japanese scientists reported in the journal Geophysical Research Letters that winds rather than climate change had been responsible for around one-third of the steep downward trend in sea ice extent in the region since 1979. The study did not question global warming is also melting ice in the Arctic, but it could raise doubts about high-profile claims that the region has passed a climate "tipping point" that could see ice loss sharply accelerate in coming years. Last week the Catlin Arctic Survey leader Ann Daniels wrote for the Guardian about the ice seen by the team of three explorers trekking across the Arctic in "incredibly strong north winds" to measure ocean acidification linked to greenhouse gases. "We've also been seeing vast areas of open water and very thin ice — it's the first time any of us have experienced anything quite like this on such a large scale," wrote Daniels. "The way the ice is behaving is simply the strangest we have ever seen." 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 | 7 Apr 2010 | 3:05 am The nation's weather (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:53 am Panic as major quake hits Indonesia (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:48 am Shuttle Discovery Docks at Space Station (SPACE.com)SPACE.com - The shuttle Discovery linked up to the International Space Station early Wednesday, bringing 13 people together on two different spaceships including the largest orbital gathering of female astronauts in history.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:30 am U.S. Signs New Deal for Soyuz FlightsRussia is charging the United States $55.8 million a seat for six round-trip rides aboard its Soyuz capsules, currently the sole means for getting astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Under a new contract announced yesterday, NASA will ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 7 Apr 2010 | 2:23 am Giant lizard species discoveredA spectacular 2m-long, brightly coloured new species of monitor lizard is found in forests of the Philippines.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 7 Apr 2010 | 1:55 am Britain blooming earlier thanks to rising temperatures, study saysNature readings from 1753 until present day – including information from Springwatch viewers – show that change has been greatest in past 25 years British plants are coming into flower earlier as temperatures rise, according to a study published today which is based on nature records dating back 250 years. The research, which draws on observations from members of the public, reveals that each 1C rise in temperature has seen blooms appearing five days earlier. It also shows that despite this year's late signs of spring, caused by a cold winter, long term changes in temperature are taking place. The change has been greatest in the past 25 years, with flowers coming out between two and 12 days earlier in the past quarter century than in any previous 25-year period. These latest findings echo a study published in February in the journal Global Change Biology, which showed that animal reproduction had shifted forward by 11 days between 1976 and 2005. The new study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, used almost 400,000 records of annual first flowering dates for more than 400 species of plant such as hawthorn at sites across the UK. Records stretching back to 1753 were used to create a 250-year index of the first flowering dates of the 405 species to show the impact of climate change. The index showed a close link with the mean Central England Temperature – a record of average temperatures across the middle of England dating back to 1659 – for February to April, with each 1C rise correlating to first flowering dates occurring five days earlier. Amassing the data has only been possible thanks to information received from members of the public. The report was released by the UK Phenology Network, which is now run as the Nature's Calendar project by the Woodland Trust and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. Richard Smithers, senior conservation adviser for the Woodland Trust, said the index helped scientists to see what was happening to the natural world as a whole – and acted as the canary in the coalmine. "We used the plant data set because it's the best set. You could expand it across all species and all countries to come up with a global index," he said. The most comprehensive records are from recent years, with the Nature's Calendar project dating back to 1998. There are now 40,000 people across the UK registered as recorders and there were more than 93,000 submitted records in 2005 when the project was promoted on the BBC's Springwatch and Autumnwatch programmes. But Smithers said there were also robust records dating from 1875-1947 as part of a project run by the Royal Meteorological Society. And from the 18th century, naturalist Robert Marsham began recording a series of indicators of spring including the flowering of snowdrops and wood anemones, with his descendants carrying on the work up to the 1950s. While spring this year is several weeks late because of the cold winter, Smithers said there was no doubt that long term changes could be seen in Britain's temperatures. He warned that the response by plants could have negative impacts across the natural world. "Plants are at the bottom of the food chain and we know from other work using Nature's Calendar that the higher up the food chain you go, the less responsive our animals are ... "It could lead to a breakdown in the food chain with the result that things at the top of the chain will struggle and will need to move." He called for more joined-up landscape, including more woodland cover to provide a number of benefits for humans such as air quality and flood defence – as well as helping wildlife to move. 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 | 7 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Gene Mutations Up Risk for Cancer in Opposite Breast (HealthDay)HealthDay - TUESDAY, April 6 (HealthDay News) -- Women diagnosed with breast cancer before age 55 who also have a genetic mutation that boosts their risk for the disease are more likely to get cancer in the opposite breast than are women who don't have the genetic mutations, a new study has found.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 6 Apr 2010 | 9:48 pm iPhone Ranked Best Smartphone by ConsumersA recent report shows that two things in the cell phone world make consumers the happiest: touchscreens and the Apple iPhone.Source: Livescience.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 9:37 pm What Is the Great Barrier Reef? (LiveScience.com)LiveScience.com - Australia's Great Barrier Reef is the largest living organism on the planet, stretching some 1,430 miles (2,300 kilometers). Home to 400 coral species, the Great Barrier Reef is a mosaic of approximately 2,900 offshore and inshore reefs. For comparison, the 135,000-square-mile reef ecosystem is about the size of Germany.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 6 Apr 2010 | 9:35 pm Massive Quake Shakes SumatraThe initial shock and a brief tsunami warning sent residents fleeing from their homes.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 8:30 pm Flowers bloom earlier as UK warmsBritish plants are flowering earlier now than at any time in the last 250 years, according to new analysis.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 6 Apr 2010 | 7:42 pm To return or not to return... Egypt wrestles with 'stolen' antiquitiesGlobal culture officials gather in Cairo to discuss how to recover ancient treasures which they say have been looted.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 6 Apr 2010 | 7:23 pm Giant Lizard Eluded Science, Until NowA giant, spectacularly colored new species of monitor lizard has just been revealed to scientists in the Philippines.Source: Livescience.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 6:13 pm Giant Lizard Eluded Science, Until Now (LiveScience.com)LiveScience.com - A giant, spectacularly colored new species of monitor lizard has just been revealed to scientists in the Philippines.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 6 Apr 2010 | 5:20 pm Philippines dragon-sized lizard is a new speciesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A dragon-sized, fruit-eating lizard that lives in the trees on the northern Philippines island of Luzon has been confirmed as a new species, scientists reported on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 6 Apr 2010 | 5:07 pm Waterloo Road | Cracking Antiques | Beautiful Minds | Bruce Forsyth: A Comedy Roast | Watch thisWaterloo Road | Cracking Antiques | Beautiful Minds | Bruce Forsyth: A Comedy Roast Waterloo Road 8pm, BBC1 Back after its mid-season hiatus, Waterloo Road might be rested, but it's no less volatile. The story of the last few episodes – merger with "posh school" as directed by Mad Max, the regional superhead, brings chaos among teachers – all peacably resolved, the show returns with a bang. The grumpy and bewildered Grantley doesn't know he's doing anything particularly stupid when he lets Bianka Vale go home with her father, Gary. As it turns out, there's a court order against him, and things do not proceed smoothly. Luckily, head Rachel is primed to smoulderingly intervene. Cracking Antiques 8.30pm, BBC2 Antique doesn't necessarily mean expensive. That's the central message of a makeover show that cleverly combines recession-friendly penny-pinching with "oh-we-found-that-in-a-little-place" snobbery. Each week jolly interior designer Kathryn Rayward and antiques expert Mark Hill, who is possibly part-Vulcan, help a nervous buyer pick out pieces that are cheaper than new yet better, and with a resale value. First up, Rebekah Prince from Essex dreams of a rococo-style boudoir. Don't tell anyone we said this, but it's guilty pleasure telly of the highest order. Beautiful Minds 9pm, BBC4 A new series that looks at the thinking of three influential but offbeat scientists whose pioneering work has led to some startling scientific discoveries. Sir Tim Hunt and James Lovelock are coming up, but we start with Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell who, though she may not be a household name, is a hugely important astrophysicist. When she was a PhD student she discovered the pulsar, a phenomenon linked to supernova explosions, which changed the way we think about the universe. Bell Burnell talks about how she overcame sexist attitudes when she first studied physics and how we are all children of the stars. Bruce Forsyth: A Comedy Roast 10pm, Channel 4 A "roast" in this instance is a kind of good-natured ragging session: the elderly golfing enthusiast is mocked by a panel of comedians, all of whom seem as perplexed as he is as to what they're doing there. Jimmy Carr, not a performer known for his amiability, is the master of ceremonies, seemingly on his best behaviour while a panel including Jack Dee and Barry Cryer share their Brucie-based reminiscences. 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 | 6 Apr 2010 | 5:05 pm Arctic Winter 2010: More Thin IceArctic sea ice extent is at its largest extent since 1979 entering this year's melt season. Scientists will have to wait out the summer to to see how much of the thin, newly-formed ice survives.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:54 pm What Caused the Deadly Coal Mine Explosion in West Virginia?It will be some time before we know for sure how the tragic explosion happened, but the findings could affect safety laws for mines across the country.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:41 pm Why Do Coal Mines Explode?Coal mine explosions can be blamed on Methane and coal dust.Source: Livescience.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 4:07 pm What Is a Kraken?Kraken is a monster in "Clash of the Titans."Source: Livescience.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 3:50 pm Migratory Birds’ New Climate Change Strategy: Stay Home
Birds may have an unexpected strategy for adapting to climate change. In addition to migrating at different times to newly hospitable locales, they may also shorten their migrations, expending energy on breeding and eating rather than flying. “There’s lots of data on bird arrival and bird breeding times, and that gives the impression that these are the most important phenomena,” said zoologist Francisco Pulido of the Complutense University of Madrid. The basic impulse to migrate is likely just as important, “but it’s been much more difficult to show, and so it hasn’t been appreciated,” he said. Pulido and Max Planck Institute ornithologist Peter Berthold describe patterns found in 13 years of data from a southern German population of blackcaps, a common migratory songbird, in a study published April 5 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. As temperatures in central Europe have risen, blackcaps have arrived earlier at summertime breeding areas and departed later for their winter homes. Some researchers have predicted blackcaps would also migrate over ever-shorter distances, and in some cases stop altogether, allowing them to save energy and concentrate on finding food and mates. But this hadn’t been tested.
To gauge the birds’ migratory energies, Pulido and Berthold removed a few hundred blackcaps from the local population each summer. As captive birds are restless during the time they would typically be migrating, the researchers used them to measure the duration of wild migrations. These dropped slowly but steadily between 1988 and 2001, in keeping with predictions. (Most of the captured birds were released at the end of each season, eventually catching up to their compatriots.) In a second part of the study, Pulido and Berthold bred the most sedentary blackcaps. They wanted to accelerate the natural trend, seeing in a few years what would normally take decades. From this, they extrapolated that some blackcap populations could stop migrating altogether within 40 to 50 years. Other birds may do the same. The next step in the research is connecting changes in migratory impulse to other adapations. Pulido speculates that shorter distances facilitate earlier arrivals, which in turn alter patterns of reproductive development. However, shorter distances may only be an option for some species. Blackcap migration spans a relatively modest 1,000 miles, and sometimes less. For birds that travel thousands of miles, with no hospitable territory between their destinations, there may be no middle ground. Blackcaps are also quite common. Species with smaller populations may be more vulnerable to weather extremes that become more common with warming, said Pulido. “Adaptation requires a large population. Otherwise they’ll go extinct,” he said. Image: Ignacio García/Flickr See Also:
Citation: “Current selection for lower migratory activity will drive the evolution of residency in a migratory bird population.” By Francisco Pulido and Peter Berthold. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 107 No. 14, April 5, 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 | 6 Apr 2010 | 3:42 pm Fossil Turtle Had Extra-Thick Shell to Fend Off World’s Largest Snake
A new fossil turtle species discovered in a Colombian coal mine had a shell as thick as a 400-page book, which may have protected it from crocodiles and the world’s biggest known snake. Scientists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Florida Museum of Natural History uncovered the Cerrejón coal mine. The 60-million-year-old fossilized shell found there was almost 1.5 inches thick and over 3 feet across. The scientists named the species Cerrejonemys wayuunaiki after the language of the local Wayuu people. The giant snake that lived alongside this is called the Titanoboa cerrejonensis. Fossils of the snake, also discovered in Colombian coal mines in the same area as the turtle, show that it grew to be between 40 and 50 feet long. The longest known living snake species, Python reticulatus, has been measured at 29 feet long. “The fossils from Cerrejón provide a snapshot of the first modern rainforest in South America — after the big Cretaceous extinctions and before the Andes rose, modern river basins formed and the Panama land bridge connected North and South America,” Carlos Jarmillo, staff scientist at the Smithsonian who studies the plants from Cerrejón, said in a press release April 5.
Two more new fossil turtle species have turned up in the mines and will be described by Edwin Cadena of North Carolina State University, first author of the C. wayuunaiki paper published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. “I hope this will give us an even better understanding of turtle diversity in the region and some important clues about the environment where they lived,” Cadena said in the press release.
Images: 1) Edwin Cadena. 2) Artist’s rendering of the Titanoboa./Jason Bourque, Florida Museum of Natural History Citation: Cadena, Edwin A., and Jonathan I. Bloch and Carlos A. Jaramillo. “New Podocnemidid Turtle (Testudines: Pleurodira) from the Middle-Upper Paleocene of South America.” Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30.2 (2010): 367-382 See Also:
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 6 Apr 2010 | 3:22 pm Animals thrive without oxygen at sea bottomCreatures found where only microbes and viruses were thought to survive.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/news/rss/today/~4/3m8sWC_mSQU" height="1" width="1"/>Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 6 Apr 2010 | 1:38 pm Earth Gets Geomagnetic WallopA blast of solar wind is currently pummeling Earth's magnetosphere, sparking the strongest geomagnetic storm so far this year, producing some stunning aurorae.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 1:20 pm Why resume the slaughter?Legally and morally, the world has been moving to recognise these wise beings' right to life. We must not throw it all away Whales are dignified, intelligent and sensitive beings. We have known this for some time, and yet still they remain, much to our shame, susceptible to human assault. In recent centuries, great cetaceans have been driven nearly to extinction while nations competed in the hunt without restraint. But we now live in globalised times. The world has become smaller and, of necessity, more co-ordinated. The old order based on full state sovereignty is being partially replaced by an integrated system of international law. While this change is most visible in the domain of human rights – which has become seen as supported by the "universal conscience of the world's peoples" – other spheres have been affected, too. Not least, the worldwide treatment of whales, a subject which has returned to the headlines as the International Whaling Commission considers plans to green-light limited commercial whaling. In recent decades, a broadening international consensus has begun to emerge in the policies of those institutions concerned with "whaling" – in itself an unpleasant term for what should accurately be called whale hunting – and in particular that of the IWC, created in 1946 to co-ordinate the different national industries. As legal scholars have noted, such policies, by moving from the initial stage of free resource to the present stage of preservation marked by a moratorium on commercial hunting, have come close to acknowledging a major theoretical shift – the adoption of the view that whales are entitled to life. And, though there still are countries – Japan, Norway, and Iceland – which, through various devices, keep hunting, the relevant premises for such a shift are unquestionable. The idea of duty to whales is gradually being translated into obligation under international law. At the same time, the "universal conscience of the world's peoples" is relevant, too: evidenced by the millions of people who regard the killing of whales as inconsistent with current moral ideals; by the number of international NGOs – such as the UK-based Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society – which constantly work to implement such ideals; and by the global sympathy for those who wage war against whale hunters. To this, a powerful new element should be added. We have discovered that whales "sing". Scientists have explained to us that whale societies display complex and stable vocal and behavioural cultures previously suggested only for humans. More impressively still, research into whale behaviour points to an ability to look to the past, present and future – functions on which consciousness of oneself as a distinct entity existing in time are mounted. A relevant backward-looking attitude is revealed, for instance, when hordes of whales, returning to their original territory after long-distance trips, first sing the old songs of the previous year, and then the new songs; the existence of a conscious self in the present, with the attendant ability to attribute mental states to others, is apparent in cases of whales doing acrobatic manoeuvres to warn approaching vessels of their presence; and female killer whales' tutoring of their offspring in the dangerous activity of shallow-water hunting offers evidence of the capacity for formulating and carrying out plans. Since, according to current ethical reflection, the concept of being a person is the concept not of belonging to a certain species but of being endowed with certain mental properties – particularly, self-consciousness – whales turn out to be nonhuman persons, thus confirming the moral soundness of both the trend in international law and the intuitive popular view. Why, then, hasn't the principle of whales' entitlement to life already been agreed? Because of the continuous, subterranean work of a few governments (governments, not nations, as there is also opposition to whaling in the whaling countries). In fact, the IWC is even considering lifting the moratorium, agreed in 1986, thereby allowing commercial hunts. That is, with the acquiescence of some "anti-whaling" governments, a few pressure groups may block a process that would be almost universally welcomed. And what are the grounds for doing it? First, the claim that the depleted species of whales are flourishing again – a claim that, apart from being contested, misses the point, which is now about moral protection, not conservation, of harvestable resources. Second, a claim of "cultural exception" based on national cultural practices – an argument about as respectable as that of "cultural exception" advanced by countries that would deny women equal human rights. In the face of these contentions, one can only wish that people let their voices be heard, insisting that tactical interests are not placed above legal and moral progress. Questions have been raised in the past about the IWC role, and proposals were made calling for the UN to assume jurisdiction. This idea has become more relevant today. An institution created with the goal of regulating exploitation is no longer the best organisation to deal with whale protection. If, as humanity comes to recognise the moral standing of whales, the IWC fails to act accordingly, the time may be ripe to remove this task from its hands. 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 | 6 Apr 2010 | 1:00 pm Venezuela's Indiana JonesCharles Brewer-Carias, 71, is an explorer, naturalist and author living in the jungles of Venezuela with no intention of retiring It has been a good week for Charles Brewer-Carias. He caught a highly venomous snake. He had a snail named after him. His discovery of a new species of frog was confirmed. And he came a step closer to unveiling what he reckons is the world's oldest living organism. If that sounds implausible it is because Brewer-Carias is implausible: a septuagenarian explorer, naturalist, author and adventurer who belongs in a Victorian novel but lives on a hill overlooking Caracas and plans, among other things, an expedition to El Dorado. "This is what keeps me going: discovery," he said, from a home decorated with butterflies, tarantulas and huge bugs in glass cases. "It's about transmitting information that has been shielded from humans for aeons." Arguably modernity and its rules have been shielded from Brewer-Carias, the grandson of a British diplomat, since he decided more than half a century ago to explore Venezuela's jungles and live a life less ordinary. He had trained as a dentist and ended up using those skills to treat and study the Yekuana tribe, whose language he speaks fluently, and lead expeditions of botanists and geographers. The results are striking: a shelf full of books he has written and illustrated; the discovery of the world's largest quartzite cave and 27 plants, reptiles, insects and a scorpion named in his honour; a raft of diseases including malaria and leishmaniasis in his system; and a record for starting fire with sticks (2.7 seconds). In the process, Brewer-Carias has also earned a reputation for seeking glory, abusing Indians and clandestinely mining gold and uranium, charges he strenuously denies. "Scandalous stuff. Uncouth smears," he said, the English accented with a slight Spanish lilt. There are suggestions the 71-year-old partly inspired the character of Charles Muntz, the sinister explorer in the Oscar-winning computer-animated film Up which is set amid Venezuela's Guayana highlands where Brewer-Carias has made more than 200 expeditions. "I've not seen the film but apparently Charles is an evilish character," he says. Married twice with five children, he lives in a house he built himself high above Caracas's concrete sprawl. He greets visitors, including the Guardian, by inviting them to listen to a creature inside a wooded mound. The host then clambers up a vine, stamps, and sends a shower of seeds raining on their head. "Got you!". He also challenges male visitors to match his chin-ups on an exercise bar. On an average workout, he does 70. "To show off, I do 100." In a jar on the porch is curled a small brown snake: Bothrops venezuelensis, also known as Venezuelan Lancehead. Highly venomous, potentially deadly, and caught just a few days earlier in the garden. Brewer-Carias will take it to a laboratory for the venom to be milked. Last week, a species of snail he found on the peak of Mount Chimanta, amid a landscape which inspired Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, was named Breure in his honour. He is not a professional taxonimist but was struck by how the snail gnawed the surface of a pineapple-type leaf by night and hid inside the plant by day to avoid predatory birds. "I see something in a plant or an insect or a frog, something odd, the colour, or the shape, or the way it moves, and I compare it to my stock of memories." Recently, near his home, he caught a frog of a type he had never seen before. A taxonomist has confirmed it is a new species and will name it later this year. Only a small fraction of the species Brewer-Carias has discovered bear his name, he said, with a tinge of regret. The biggest prize may be yet to come: coral-type silica growing from rock in a cave amid Venezuela's table-top "tepuis" mountains. It is a living organism which dates back at least 317,000 years, according to scientists and could be over one million years old. "This could be the world's oldest living organism," said the explorer, his voice dropping to a dramatic low. "This has never existed for man. But I'm going to make it exist. It's a kind of magic." A former youth minister who holds the Order of the Liberator award, he occupies an awkward position in today's Venezuela. Intruders broke into his house back in 2003: he was shot in the shoulder and killed one of the trio with his shotgun. President Hugo Chavez's socialist revolution has not warmed to an apparent Victorian relic. Brewer-Carias receives no government funding and has little regular income. He drives a battered old car and relies on friends to pay his bills and subsidise expeditions. When he located a 17th century French shipwreck, the government froze his team out of the salvage, he said. He will wait for an "honest government" before launching an expedition to El Dorado: a real place which spawned the legend of a city of gold. "The name refers to a man who lived by a lake near Manoa. I know the site very well." he said. "I've been there, picked up ceramics. I will go back there with my son and two companions. We have made our plans. Together we will discover El Dorado." 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 | 6 Apr 2010 | 12:51 pm Mystery of the Oriental YetiA mammal new to science – or just a sick civet? A mysterious hairless creature, dubbed the "Oriental Yeti", has been trapped by hunters in a remote region of central China. Apparently, it emerged from ancient woodlands. Described by its finders as "a bit like a bear but with a tail like a kangaroo", it reportedly makes a noise like a distressed cat. Chinese scientists are hoping that DNA tests will prove it to be the zoologists' equivalent of the Holy Grail – a mammal new to science. Could it be? Time to examine the facts. First, its size. The Yeti is, according to legend, a mysterious bear-like beast, standing well over the height of a man. The mammal discovered in China is a small, possum-like creature, perhaps two feet long at most. Next, its appearance: particularly its hair, or in this case the lack of it. Photographs reveal a wrinkled, pink animal, sprouting a few tufts of hair and several nasty looking lesions on its exposed skin. Far from being naturally hairless, this is, according to Oxford scientist and TV presenter George McGavin, a very sick animal indeed. "It looks like a shaved civet, and to be honest I think it probably is. You can immediately see that it has lost its hair, probably through illness." And McGavin is highly sceptical about the idea that this animal may be new to science, as has been claimed. "If this truly is a new discovery I would be very surprised." McGavin can speak from experience, having led the recent expedition to the jungles of Mount Bosavi in New Guinea, featured on the BBC series Lost Land of the Volcano. While there, McGavin and his team did indeed discover a mammal new to science: a giant rat, provisionally named the Bosavi woolly rat. Such findings are becoming increasingly infrequent, as the vast majority of the globe has now been explored, meaning that most large or medium-sized mammals have already been discovered and named. If you still want to find a creature new to science, and even have it named after yourself, there is still plenty of scope - but you would be best advised to focus on the smaller stuff. In the last decade alone almost a quarter of a million new species have been described – though most are micro-organisms rather than mammals. And, so far at least, there have been no confirmations of a miniature hairless Yeti. 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 | 6 Apr 2010 | 12:30 pm Looking at Sick People Can Keep You HealthySome folks wash their hands or take Vitamin C, zinc or echinacea to keep colds and flus at bay. But a new study shows that looking at sick people could do it. Mark Schaller, a psychologist at the University of ...Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 12:27 pm The Essential Mix: 'Life on the Moon'It's time for a musical interlude as BBC Radio 1 plays host to DJ James Zabiela who mixes an inspiring selection of tunes with a decidedly spacey theme.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 12:09 pm Undersea Robot Powered By Differing Water TemperaturesSOLO-TREC is undersea robot powered entirely by the natural temperature differences found in varying depths of the ocean.Source: Livescience.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:58 am Town from Before Invention of Wheel RevealedEvidence from a prehistoric town in northern Syria is revealing clues about the world's first cities.Source: Livescience.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:47 am Russian Physicists Synthesize New Superheavy Element 117
Physicists have reported synthesizing element number 117, the latest in the quest to create artificial “superheavy” elements in the laboratory. A paper describing the discovery has been accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters.
“These are very, very interesting results,” says Witold Nazarewicz, a theorist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. “This was carefully planned, and it would have been very difficult to synthesize this element without the berkelium target.”
The new work supports that view. Analyses of the radioactive decay of the new element, Oganessian’s team writes in the new paper, “represent an experimental verification for the existence of the predicted ‘Island of Stability’ for super-heavy elements.” Images: 1) Yuri Oganessian walks from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, around 1989 with Ron Lougheed (left) and Ken Moody (right) of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, with whom he has collaborated on previous research into superheavy elements./LLNL. See Also:
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:36 am Animal tragicHas the UN's wildlife trade treaty had its day?Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:33 am 10 Things Every Woman Should Know About a Man's BrainFrom his wandering eye to his real desire to mate for life, here are the top 10 things every woman should know about the male brain.Source: Livescience.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:28 am New Giant Monitor Lizard DiscoveredHow could a colorful, 6-foot-long lizard go undocumented for so long?Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 11:10 am Enhanced Vision Creates 'Sixth Sense'The Internet, GPS and state-of-the-art eye tracking technology could be combined to enhance everyday experiences.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:45 am 'Oriental Yeti' May Be a Sick Common MammalA hairless, long-tailed animal touted as being an "Oriental yeti" may actually be a sick, common mammal.Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 6 Apr 2010 | 10:02 am Cool Handheld Cube Plays 3-D MoviesCubee and pCubee enable interactive 3-D video without the need for glasses.Source: Livescience.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 9:10 am Barrier Reef route 'outrageous'Australia's PM Kevin Rudd says it is "outrageous" that a Chinese ship leaking oil near the Great Barrier Reef was off course.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 6 Apr 2010 | 7:53 am Charities warm to climatePhilanthropic support for climate-change issues tripled in 2008.Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 6 Apr 2010 | 7:15 am Study Sheds Light on What Makes People ShyThe brains of shy or introverted individuals might process the world differently than their more extroverted counterparts, a new study suggests.Source: Livescience.com | 6 Apr 2010 | 7:08 am Turtles die in nets 'in millions'Millions of marine turtles have been killed over the past two decades through entrapment in fishing gear, a survey concludes.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 6 Apr 2010 | 6:57 am Pharma seeks genetic clues to healthy ageingLONDON (Reuters) - They may be a little wrinkly, and there may not be many of them, but centenarians are the fastest growing demographic in the developed world.Source: Reuters: Science News | 6 Apr 2010 | 6:22 am Who should a scientist vote for?I once voted Labour twice. But despite its decent record on science, I can't do so again I come from a Labour family, and have selected them every time I've been eligible to vote. Once, due to confusion over my permanent residence while at university, I voted for them twice. But it vexes me that I helped to vote in a party that have displayed sycophancy towards the rich and religious elite, embracing both with special privileges. It bothers me that I chose a government that brokered war in Iraq, and has enthusiastically driven an erosion of civil liberties. This time round, I'm just not sure I can support the current incarnation of the Labour party. Of course, in our representative democracy we vote for individual MPs, but I find no solace here. I live in the Labour stronghold of Hackney South & Shoreditch. My representative toes the party line with the drone-like fidelity of an ambitious career politician, and with a 10,000 majority Meg Hillier is safe. Her voting record typifies that of a government that has performed as if ideology driven, but where the only philosophy was "not old Labour". "Yes" on ID cards, "yes" to replacing Trident, "yes" to 42 days detention, "no" to an investigation of the Iraq war. Obsessed with courting a non-traditional vote, they have managed to nurture a climate of paranoid fear, where CCTV and absurd terror warnings (be furiously vigilant, swivel-eyed citizens, it's Severe!) are part of their legacy. Meg Hillier's loyalty is a depressing reminder of how Labour lost its way. In the reinvention necessary to get themselves elected in 1997 Labour mutated into a confused clusterfuck: ultimately rootless, spineless till-dippers. So what to do? Without electoral reform, my vote is worthless. As it's academic, I have the liberty of viewing May 6 as a single-issue election. My business is science, and at this point in history, science and science funding policy will play a definitive role in determining the future of the country. Science has fared OK under Labour, especially compared with the evisceration it suffered under Thatcher. Investment has gone up above inflation. Last week, the UK Space Agency and a £250m boost to a proposed world-class medical research facility in London were announced. They pushed through bills that protected stem cell research and abortion rights for women. In Lord Drayson, the government has a science minister who is reactive and engaging, and tweeted this week that their science policy is forthcoming. His Conservative shadow Adam Afriyie is clear that policy on science funding will be deep cuts, precisely the wrong thing to do in a recession. That's fortunate for me, as the day I vote Tory, Satan will need ice cleats. As for the Liberal Democrats, for science they hold the trump card: Evan Harris. Apart from being liberal, rational and principled, he understands science and its import. Harris has played key roles in pursuing rational and pro-science policy across the board, from relatively trivial (such as removing alternative medicines from the same regulation as the more demonstrably useful y'know, mediciney medicine) to the embarrassingly necessary (reform of our shameful libel laws). Barack Obama recognised that science underpins economies, and that cuts are not inevitable during recession. Through Evan Harris, the Lib Dems have so far made the clearest statements on ensuring science is at the heart of governance and education. Is there any point in backing the Lib Dems? As far as my vote is concerned, very little. But Labour has betrayed its core supporters, which makes it hard for me to show my support. Without reform, the perpetuation of the two-party system goes unchallenged. But to see George Osborne so dismissively assert the Lib Dems' defeat in the Channel 4 chancellors' debate mocked representative democracy. This makes me feel truculent, especially when Vince Cable performed so much more convincingly than his opponents. Things are better than in 1997. A dispassionate look at statistics reveals that crime is down. The NHS, one of humankind's greatest achievements, appears healthy, and in my experience of dire emergencies, could not have performed better for any money. Hackney, previously one of the poorest boroughs in the country, now feels vibrant, with impressive academies popping up all over the borough. There is no "broken Britain" beyond the rhetoric of soundbite politics. But Labour has issued a deep betrayal of many of the principles that left wing people hold dear. Despite their mantra, the Tories are the same old school self-protecting oligarchy they always were, and anyone who values science should not support them. Unless Labour come up with a seriously far-sighted science and technology policy, I, and I suspect many of my similarly disillusioned nerdish comrades, will find ourselves throwing our lot in with Evan Harris. • The author is one of the undecided voters who will be writing for Cif throughout the election campaign 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 | 6 Apr 2010 | 6:03 am Q&A: BiodiversityHow is biodiversity threatened and what is done to protect it? What is biodiversity?Biodiversity is the variety of life on earth at all levels: from genes to species to ecosystems. An apple variety is an example of biodiversity; so is Siberian coastal tundra. Most of the time, though, biodiversity is spoken about in terms of species.What are the benefits of biodiversity?In two words: ecosystem services. Research has shown that diverse ecosystems are better at supplying amenities like food and clean water, and at recovering from shocks like hurricanes. Biodiversity also means options. From medicines to technologies inspired by plants and animals, the natural world is a vast repository of potentially helpful information. This goes for food too. At the moment, humans eat about two dozen species of the thousands available. In the face of new diseases, pests, and weather patterns, cultivating a diverse portfolio of crops is the best way to ensure food security. Is it threatened?Many scientists believe the earth is undergoing a sixth great extinction event caused by humans. Extinction is natural, but scientists estimate the current pace outstrips the average rate by 100 to 1000%. About a third of assessed species worldwide are threatened with extinction in the wild. Ecosystem diversity is also vulnerable: Mediterranean-climate shrublands, for example, are more endangered than tropical rainforests. How do we know biodiversity is decreasing?Measuring biodiversity is difficult. Scientists don't know how many species exist (estimates vary from 5-30m), and of the 2m they've identified, only about 50,000 are monitored. To get a sense of how biodiversity is doing overall, conservationists have developed the Living Planet Index (LPI). It tracks the populations of 1,686 indicator species around the globe, much like a stock market index. Over the past 35 years, the index dropped 28%, suggesting biodiversity is not doing particularly well. What are the main threats to biodiversity?The greatest threat right now is habitat loss. Agriculture, grazing, and urban development divide and destroy terrestrial habitats. In the oceans, fishing trawlers scrape the sea floor while aquaculture eats up mangroves and other sensitive coastal regions. Overexploitation for food, medicine, and materials also threatens biodiversity. Fishing has depleted 80% of wild stocks, while deforestation and bushmeat hunting in the tropics have pushed many forest species to the brink. The thriving illegal trade in wild plants and animals is second only to the drug trade in profits, according to Interpol. What about pollution?It's a problem. Hazards range from the invisible – pesticides and industrial waste poison rivers and accumulate in food chains – to the inedible: thousands of sea birds and turtles die every year from ingesting bits of plastic. Fertiliser and sewage run-off causes algae blooms and marine dead zones. The CO2 that drives global warming is a pollutant, acidifying the oceans and potentially dooming biologically rich coral reefs. Is biodiversity at risk from fauna and flora, as well as humans?Sometimes. Invasive species like the water hyacinth and asian carp have run roughshod after being transported to distant parts of the globe – native species are often no match for invasives in the competition for resources. On islands, where species have not evolved to cope with imported predators, invasives are as significant a danger to biodiversity as habitat destruction. What about climate change?Climate change will pose an increasing threat to biodiversity in coming decades. Conservationists set up the current global network of nature reserves with today's climate in mind. Plants and animals attempting to migrate with the changing conditions may find themselves in human territory with nowhere to go. How can we better value biodiversity?The UN has launched a global effort to calculate the value of biodiversity – from crop pollination to income from tourism – so it can factor into policy decisions. Biodiversity isn't always of tangible benefit to humans, despite being vital for clean water, air, food and other "services". Some say that its economic benefits are overblown, and that biological richness should be protected for its own sake. Economists, however, call that a benefit too: "existence value" – the comfort that comes from knowing biodiversity is there. What organisations exist to protect biodiversity?The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a conservation giant, operating 1,300 projects in 40 countries worldwide. Another powerful independent, Conservation International, has pioneered the use of biodiversity hotspots – areas with many unique species at risk – as a way of deciding what to protect first. The grandfather of nature conservation, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), was founded in 1948 by a large group of governments and conservation organisations. The IUCN runs the red list of threatened species, the authoritative global database on the conservation status of species worldwide. Several international treaties exist to protect biodiversity, including the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species and the Convention on Biological Diversity. This year marks the culmination of an IUCN initiative to slow biodiversity loss by 2010, and the UN has declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity and 22 May the International Day for Biological Diversity . Celebrations, however, may be muted: despite the participation of governments and organisations worldwide, it's unlikely that biodiversity loss will be slowed by the end of the year. 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 | 6 Apr 2010 | 5:14 am
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The new element, which has yet to be named, slips into a place on the periodic table between elements 116 and 118, both of which have already been discovered. Such superheavy elements are usually very radioactive and decay away almost instantly. But many researchers think it is possible that even heavier elements may occupy an “island of stability” in which superheavy atoms stick around for a while.