Antibiotic used on drug-eluting stents may lead to advances in heart disease and cancer treatment

Researchers have identified the mechanism of how a drug commonly used on stents to prevent reclosure of coronary arteries regulates cell movement, which is critical to wound healing and the progression of diseases like cancer.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am

Cat brain: A step toward the electronic equivalent

A cat can recognize a face faster and more efficiently than a supercomputer. That's one reason a feline brain is the model for a biologically-inspired computer project. A computer engineer has taken a step toward developing this revolutionary type of machine that could be capable of learning and recognizing, as well as making more complex decisions and performing more tasks simultaneously than conventional computers can.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am

'Love handles' repurposed for breast reconstruction in women without enough belly fat

A new technique using tissue from those below-the-waist "love handles" improves cosmetic breast reconstruction in slim, athletic cancer patients without adequate fat sources elsewhere, a small study has found. The method also turns out to be less complicated than other options for surgeons as well, the research shows.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am

Tapeworm brain infection 'serious health concern'

Tapeworm infections of the brain, which can cause epileptic seizures, appear to be increasing in Mexico and bordering southwestern states, researchers report.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am

Quick fix for coal mine methane emissions

A new methane burner has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from underground coal mines by almost 90 per cent.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am

Childhood body size affects future breast cancer chances, study finds

Thinner girls may be at higher risk of breast cancer. Researchers have found that girls who were leaner at age seven were at higher risk of cancer later in life.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am

Graphene: Super-thin material advances toward next-generation applications

Graphene maintains its superior thermal conductivity even when supported by a substrate, according to new research. The findings by a team of researchers underscore graphene's potential role in the next generation of nano-electric devices.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2010 | 6:00 am

Scientists create 'molecular paper' -- largest two-dimensional polymer crystal self-assembled in water

Scientists have created "molecular paper," the largest two-dimensional polymer crystal self-assembled in water to date. This entirely new sheet material is made of peptoids, engineered polymers that can flex and fold like proteins while maintaining the robustness of synthetic materials.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2010 | 6:00 am

New targeted therapy effective in treating advanced prostate cancer

An experimental drug is showing promise for the treatment of men with an aggressive form of advanced prostate cancer. A new multicenter study has concluded that the targeted therapy MDV3100 is safe and effective for patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer, known for its poor prognosis and limited treatment options.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2010 | 6:00 am

Changes in fetal epigenetics found throughout pregnancy

Researchers have found that epigenetic marks on human placentas change from the first trimester of pregnancy to the third, a discovery that may allow clinicians to prevent complications in pregnancy.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 15 Apr 2010 | 6:00 am

Obama: America's still got adventures in space (AP)

AP - Near the launch pads where U.S. space voyages begin, President Barack Obama will try to reassure workers that America's space adventures sail on despite the coming end of space shuttle flights.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 15 Apr 2010 | 4:13 am

Fellow creatures

EU drafts new rules to control tests on animals
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 15 Apr 2010 | 3:51 am

The nation's weather (AP)

AP - Another dose of wet weather and cloudy skies was expected over the Central U.S. on Thursday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 15 Apr 2010 | 3:42 am

Case dropped against Simon Singh

The British Chiropractic Association drops its libel action against the science writer Simon Singh.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 15 Apr 2010 | 3:13 am

Zoo fights to save snail colony

The last known colony of a species of tree snail decimated by 'cannibal snails' is entrusted to Bristol Zoo.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 15 Apr 2010 | 2:37 am

Cell Phones Help Fight Fake Drugs in Nigeria

When you go to the pharmacy to pick up your prescription, I'm sure you feel pretty much assured that the drugs you're getting are the real deal. Not so in many parts of the world. Fake pharmaceuticals are a big, ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 15 Apr 2010 | 2:18 am

Canada's seal hunt to close early after low harvest (AFP)

AFP - A lack of sea ice in one of the warmest Canadian winters on record and a European boycott have ruined what was to be a banner seal hunt off Canada's Atlantic coast this month, according to officials and sealers.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 15 Apr 2010 | 2:03 am

Report: Allergy Season to Get Worse with Climate Change (Time.com)

Time.com - Thanks to an unusually cold winter, followed by an early, warm spring, pollen counts are through the roof in much of the U.S. this spring -- bad news for allergy sufferers
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 15 Apr 2010 | 1:00 am

China Shifts Space Station Project Into Overdrive (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - COLORADO SRINGS, Colo. – China is planning to launch three spacecraft between 2011 and 2016 to form the basis of a manned space station, the director of the Chinese Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) said Wednesday.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 15 Apr 2010 | 12:33 am

'Avatar' director lauds ruling on Brazilian dam (AP)

AP - Director James Cameron is applauding a Brazilian judge's decision to temporarily halt bidding on a huge hydroelectric dam, yet he warns the fight is not over in what he calls a "real-life Avatar" battle in the Amazon.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Apr 2010 | 11:58 pm

Saturn's North Pole Hexagon Mystery Solved?

The bizarre hexagon etched into the clouds above Saturn's north pole has foxed scientists for over quarter of a century, but the mystery may have been solved with some laboratory fluid dynamics.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 Apr 2010 | 11:02 pm

Decision on Cape Cod wind project due this month (AP)

AP - The Obama administration decides this month after a nine-year review whether the nation's first wind farm should be built off Cape Cod. If it says no, the industry faces another question with no easy answer: "What's next?"

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Apr 2010 | 10:41 pm

T. Rex of Leeches Has Enormous Teeth (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - A new T. rex of the leech world has been named - one with ferociously large teeth, but only a tiny body and just one jaw.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Apr 2010 | 10:05 pm

Jealously Really Is Blinding, Study Finds

Jealousy can distract a woman so much she misses crucial information right in front of her eyes, a new study finds.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 Apr 2010 | 10:04 pm

Ebbing sunspot activity makes Europe freeze

350 years of data link low solar activity to cold winters.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/news/rss/today/~4/cfpra4vtZ3c" height="1" width="1"/>
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 14 Apr 2010 | 9:01 pm

So Many Earthquakes! The End is Nigh!

After China's quake, it's hard not to wonder -- is something crazy going on with Earth's crust?
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 Apr 2010 | 7:35 pm

Calls to reduce light pollution

Most people feel their view of the night sky is spoiled by artificial light, a survey for the Campaign to Protect Rural England suggests.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Apr 2010 | 6:46 pm

The T. Rex of Leeches Found in Amazon Swimmers’ Noses

A toothsome leech found in the noses of Peruvian swimmers has called attention to an unrecognized and gruesome branch on the tree of life.

Dubbed Tyrannobdella rex, “tyrant leech king,” the pinkie-finger-sized bloodsucker has a single jaw, with teeth five times longer than those found in any other leech.

Described in a paper published April 14 in PLoS ONE, the first specimen was found by doctors in 1997 in the nose of a six year old boy in San Martin, Peru. He had complained of headaches.

Another specimen was taken that year from a 16-month-old boy in Ayacucho, Peru. A decade later, a third T. rex was taken from the nose of a nine year old Peruvian girl who felt a “sliding” sensation in her nose. All had bathed frequently in Amazonian streams.

The habit of invading an orifice and feeding on mucous membranes is known as hirudiniasis, and had been seen in a variety of leech species in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Scientists assumed these species to be unrelated, regarding their feeding habits “only as a loathsome oddity and not a unifying character for a group of related organisms,” wrote the researchers.

But when they took a closer look at these species, the researchers noticed anatomical similarities. Genetic comparisons supported the observation. T. rex and the other mucous membrane feeders actually belong to a single group. DNA differences between them, combined with known mutation rates, suggest a last common ancestor about 200 million years ago, when dinosaurs rose to Earthly dominance.

An ancestor of T. rex may have swum up the other T. rex’s nose.

Images: From PLoS ONE: 1. A close-up of the T. rex jaw at left, and its front sucker at right; 2. Examples of other mucous membrane-feeding leech species.

See Also:

• Giant Spider Species Discovered in Middle Eastern Sand Dunes
• New Giant Prehistoric Fish Species Found Gathering Dust in Museums
• New Giant Lizard Discovered in the Philippines
• 10 Strange Species Discovered Last Year

Citation: “Tyrannobdellarex N. Gen. N. Sp. and the Evolutionary Origins of Mucosal Leech Infestations.” By Anna J. Phillips, Renzo Arauco-Brown, Alejandro Oceguera-Figueroa, Gloria P. Gomez, Maria Beltran, Yi-Te Lai, Mark E. Siddall.

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 | 14 Apr 2010 | 6:30 pm

White House defends space plan from astronaut critics

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday defended President Barack Obama's new space policy after Apollo 11 hero Neil Armstrong and other astronauts called it a step-down that would make NASA's program dependent on Russian goodwill.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 14 Apr 2010 | 5:56 pm

Harrabin's Notes

How will security fears affect nuclear power's image?
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Apr 2010 | 5:48 pm

Caterpillar Communication: Do The Butt-Scrape!

Caterpillars warn rivals by taping and scraping their hindquarters and mandibles. Scientists think it's a clue to how communication began out of other behaviors.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 Apr 2010 | 5:41 pm

Sun activity link to cold winters

The UK and northern Europe could be gripped by more frequent cold winters as a result of low solar activity, say researchers.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Apr 2010 | 5:33 pm

'Cool' science is still underfunded and undervalued

While the many contributors to your article on the new "cool" image of science make some valid points they also gloss over the less positive state of the field (How the geeks inherited the earth, G2, 13 April). Most notably the poor prospect for most of those that work in the field, where pay conditions and prospects have been in decline for many years, not just recently due to the latest government cuts. Some such as Laura Spinney take the headline figures without looking at where the money is being spent. For example, in Newcastle millions of pounds of "Science City" money earmarked for developing the science infrastructure have been spent demolishing the Tyne Brewery so that the site can be used for a new business school with a hotel, shopping area and housing.

Similarly, thousands are being spent on promoting science as a well-paid career with prospects at the same time as many students who obtain science PhDs are unable to find employment. When Labour took power a successful PhD virtually guaranteed at least a first postdoctoral contract. Even those who obtain positions are faced with long hours, comparatively poor pay, no job security and very little hope of career progression, a far cry from the "MPs, PRs, CEOs, quacks and journalists" who the scientists are now supposed to have the upper hand on.

Dr Jon Booker

Newcastle upon Tyne

• Alice Roberts complains that our education system "still encourages us to think of ourselves as either 'artists' or 'scientists'". Actually, much of our education system struggles to do just the opposite, but we're faced by ranks of commentators who perpetuate old stereotypes. Ian Sample suggests that "MPs, PRs, CEOs, quacks and journalists are now being challenged by a rising army of sceptics", but it is a scepticism supported by a powerful blend of science, social science and the humanities that is moving us towards the golden age. Our education system can take some credit for training these critical minds in the value of inter- and trans-disciplinary thinking.

Justin Dillon

King's College London

• Of course science deserves respect and to be well funded, but so do the humanities, for all the truths they teach us. Placing any one area of human endeavour above the rest has been proved over and over to result in disaster. Couldn't we start to be eclectic and holistic in our approach? After all, this country is where the great thinkers of the Enlightenment made so many great discoveries, and they made them by being well-rounded and open-minded.

Olivia Byard

Witney, Oxford

• How come if science is so cool you dropped the Science and Technology supplement from the paper?

Nigel Wood

Langar, Nottingham

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 14 Apr 2010 | 5:05 pm

Judge warns EPA of contempt in Everglades case (AP)

AP - A federal judge threatened the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with contempt of court in a ruling Wednesday that accuses the agency of ignoring Clean Water Act requirements in Florida's Everglades.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Apr 2010 | 4:48 pm

Seismic surge is 'only a media theme'

Seismologists claim attention has been drawn to quakes recently because of their 'unusual severity and unfortunate geography'

In Haiti, 230,000 people were estimated to have died in January's earthquake. Nearly 90,000 were killed in Sichuan in 2008. And now at least 400 people are feared lost in China's Qinghai province. It might appear quakes are happening more frequently, but media attention, rather than a surge in seismic activity, could be the reason.

Richard Luckett, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey, said earthquakes as large as the one that struck Qinghai happen somewhere in the world every few weeks. "This is definitely not a spike," Luckett says. Attention has instead been drawn to quakes recently by their "unusual severity and unfortunate geography".

The earthquake that hit Chile in February was the fifth biggest ever recorded, with a magnitude of 8.8, and the biggest since the quake that triggered the 2004 tsunami. The Haiti earthquake occurred a few miles from the capital, Port-au-Prince. "Both of those were very unusual, because of the size of the one in Chile, and the closeness to the capital city in Haiti," Luckett said. "I think the press has tuned in as a result. But statistically there is nothing unusual going on."

While quakes are unpredictable, they can be made more likely by some events, chiefly other earthquakes. A magnitude 7.7 earthquake in Sumatra this month was linked to the 2004 tsunami, Luckett said, which would have piled stress along the Indo-Australian and Eurasian tectonic plates. However, quakes "remain essentially random," Luckett said. "You can't use one to predict when another will happen." The Qinghai quake occurred on a different fault to the one that triggered the Sichuan quake in May 2008. David Rothery of the Open University told the BBC: "It's not the same fault, it's a consequence of the same bit of global tectonics, which is the collision of India with Asia."

The Qinghai quake was caused by a different mechanism to the Sichuan event, which was a "thrust". The latest was a "strike-slip", caused by sideways movement along the fault. "India bumped into Asia millions of years ago and threw up the Tibetan plateau," Rothery said. "That high ground is now being squeezed out to the east and down to the south-east."

He added that Qinghai did not lie on a tectonic plate boundary. "The plate boundaries get very messy as you go into the middle of the continent. There's not a single line you can point to and say, that's a plate boundary. You can more or less do that on the San Andreas fault in California. But here you have one continent that has collided with another. You have lots of faults and the continent is changing shape gradually because of these faults."

David Adam

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 14 Apr 2010 | 4:44 pm

Bringing Nanoscience to Disney World

Nanoscientist helps create exhibit at Disney World to teach kids about science.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 Apr 2010 | 4:20 pm

Leech With Enormous Teeth Discovered

An enormous-toothed leech, pulled from the nose of a girl who was bathing in a river, has just been documented in the journal PLoS ONE. Named Tyrannobdella rex, which means "tyrant leech king," the new species of blood sucker sports ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 Apr 2010 | 4:20 pm

Navy SEALs Recognize Anger More Quickly

Navy SEALs spot anger in a face more quickly than non-SEALs. Their brains work differently, study finds.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 Apr 2010 | 4:04 pm

T. Rex of Leeches Has Enormous Teeth

A new leech species discovered in the nose of a Peruvian girl has teeth that are five times taller than its kin.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 Apr 2010 | 4:01 pm

Freeing human eggs of mutant mitochondria

Transmission of mitochondrial diseases from mother to offspring could be prevented.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 14 Apr 2010 | 3:01 pm

A truth test for randomness

Quantifying just how unpredictable random numbers really are could aid quantum cryptography.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 14 Apr 2010 | 3:01 pm

News briefing: 15 April 2010

The week in science.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 14 Apr 2010 | 3:00 pm

Big science: The cancer genome challenge

Databases could soon be flooded with genome sequences from 25,000 tumours. Heidi Ledford looks at the obstacles researchers face as they search for meaning in the data.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 14 Apr 2010 | 3:00 pm

Generation gap: Obama space plan angers old hands (AP)

AP - Call it NASA: The Next Generation. The president is pointing America toward a new direction in space, and some heroes from NASA's long-ago glory days don't like it.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 Apr 2010 | 2:06 pm

Telescope team may be allowed to sit on exoplanet data

NASA panel agrees to Kepler team request to withhold key observations.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 14 Apr 2010 | 1:46 pm

Library of Congress to House Entire Twitter Archive

The Library of Congress plans to archive the billions of tweets broadcast through Twitter over the last 4 years.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 Apr 2010 | 1:23 pm

NASA grapples with space station cooling problem

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A problem with a cooling system aboard the International Space Station may prompt NASA to extend shuttle Discovery's mission for an unplanned fourth spacewalk, NASA officials said on Wednesday.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 14 Apr 2010 | 1:04 pm

Stem-cell funding in sight

Most popular cell lines close to approval for US federal funding.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 14 Apr 2010 | 1:00 pm

Cassini Captures First Video of Extraterrestrial Lightning

The Cassini spacecraft has captured lightning flashing in a cloud on Saturn’s dark side in a first-of-its-kind video.

Scientists have picked up radio signals for years that indicated that lightning storms happened on the planet, but this is the first time that they were able to see and “hear” the electrical storms at the same time.

“This is the first time we have the visible lightning flash together with the radio data,” said Georg Fischer, a radio and plasma wave scientist based at the Space Research Institute in Graz, Austria, in a press release. “Now that the radio and visible light data line up, we know for sure we are seeing powerful lightning storms.”

The video was shot over 16 minutes and compressed down into the 10 seconds that you see here. The cloud, which is about 1,900 miles along its longest side, is illuminated by the reflection of Saturn’s rings. Each flash is about 190 miles (300 kilometers) across with an energy comparable to the most intense lightning here on Earth. In real time, they lasted for about one second.

The crackling soundtrack to the video is synthetic. It approximates the actual sounds received by Cassini’s radio recording instrument, which are above the human hearing range.

Images: NASA/JPL/SSI/University of Iowa

WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal’s Twitter, Tumblr, and green tech history research site; Wired Science on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 14 Apr 2010 | 12:45 pm

Acid Ocean Meets Clean Water

Can the the United States' Clean Water Act be used to combat carbon dioxide emissions?
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 Apr 2010 | 12:21 pm

Is Earth Shaking More?

With the China earthquake today following several others in this year alone, some might wonder if Earth is shaking more.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 Apr 2010 | 12:18 pm

Pentagon turns to 'softer' sciences

US defence research to focus more on biology, cybersecurity and social sciences to help win conflicts.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 14 Apr 2010 | 12:00 pm

Obituary: John Pemberton

Epidemiologist with a key role in social and preventive medicine

John Pemberton, who has died aged 97, was an epidemiologist prominent in social and preventive medicine, and in the international dissemination of research in the field. His interest manifested itself early. In 1934, while still a medical student, he published a paper entitled Malnutrition in England. During the Jarrow marches of 1936, John met some of the marchers, helping to feed them and tending their feet. This experience, along with his contacts with Jerry Morris, Somerville Hastings (president of the Socialist Medical Association), Philip D'Arcy Hart and FAE Crew (later professor of social medicine at Edinburgh University) reinforced his belief in the importance of social and environmental factors in the aetiology of many diseases.

As a Rockefeller travelling fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health in 1954, he met the American Harold Willard. Both men felt they were handicapped in the development of their interests in social and preventive medicine because of their ignorance of research and teaching in other countries. So they established a corresponding club to facilitate communication between physicians worldwide. This club, the International Corresponding Club, grew into the International Epidemiology Association (IEA), with a renowned journal, the International Journal of Epidemiology.

John had a talent for setting up organisations. At the first meeting of the charitable CIBA foundation in London in 1956, he persuaded the British and Irish participants to accept the need for an independent scientific society, and thus created the Society for Social Medicine. A multidisciplinary academic society devoted to the study of health in its widest sense, it addressed the impact of factors such as income, environment and education on health. In 1967, while professor of social and preventive medicine at the University of Belfast, he persuaded the Geigy pharmaceutical company to sponsor the all-Ireland social medicine meeting. This meeting, which looks at health issues across national borders, continues to take place every two years.

John was born in Romford, Essex. He attended Christ's Hospital school, Horsham, West Sussex, then studied medicine at University College Hospital (UCH), qualifying in 1936. In the same year he married Gwen Gray, with whom he would have three sons. After a house appointment at UCH, he was recruited by Sir John (later Lord) Boyd Orr to be in charge of a mobile nutritional research team which undertook a major survey in England and Scotland. This showed the effects of poverty on nutrition and was acknowledged by Lord Woolton, minister of food during the second world war, to be the foundation for the successful nutritional policy during the war. It has also been considered by some to be the major reason for the improvement in the health of the UK population after 1939. One of the "control" schools in this study was Gordonstoun, where John examined the chest of the current Duke of Edinburgh, the "nearest I ever got to a 'royal'".

Following this, he had a series of academic appointments at Sheffield University, and helped to start the student health service there. During this period he worked with Hans Krebs on a series of nutrition-deprivation experiments for the development of a policy for shipwrecked sailors.

In 1946 he was appointed senior lecturer in Sheffield and started to teach social medicine. His research encompassed the study of the health of the elderly at home, illness in general practice (which was probably the first description of the work of GPs) and socio-medical studies of hospital patients and student health. His fascination with the work of GPs was reinforced by acting as a locum to Will Pickles in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, in his holidays. Pickles was the most eminent GP-epidemiologist and the founder-president of the Royal College of General Practitioners. This led to John writing a biography of his friend, Will Pickles of Wensleydale: The Life of a Country Doctor (1970).

During the early 1950s, John investigated the effects of air pollution on pulmonary illness. This led to the Medical Research Council awarding him funds for epidemiological research into respiratory disease and resulted in several publications. In 1958 he was appointed to the chair of social and preventive medicine in Queen's University, Belfast, where he stayed until retirement in 1976.

While in Belfast, he was the first to show that flax (an important local product) caused the lung disease byssinosis, just as – as was already known – cotton did. As a result, workers who had been exposed to flax fibre became entitled to claim compensation.

John's research interests expanded to include coronary artery disease, and he was instrumental in the establishment in Belfast of a World Health Organisation (WHO) centre for the multinational monitoring of cardiovascular disease.

John was greatly interested in making epidemiology an important tool in global health and, through the IEA, promoted the strengthening of this capacity in developing countries. He served as a consultant to the WHO in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Soviet Union, as well as on many important national committees.

After retirement, he returned to Sheffield as academic co-ordinator of the Northern Consortium for Training in Community Medicine. Over the last 25 years he published research papers on osteoporosis, hip fractures and hypotension.

His hobbies of painting, literature and walking epitomised his approach to life. He was kind and gentle, stimulating yet modest. Gwen died in 1989. John is survived by his partner, Maureen Maybin, and his sons.

• John Pemberton, epidemiologist, born 18 November 1912; died 7 February 2010

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 14 Apr 2010 | 11:59 am

3-Parent Embryos Could Prevent Disease, But Raise Ethical Issues

Researchers have produced human embryos containing DNA from three people, a biotechnological proof-of-principle with profound medical and ethical implications.

To accomplish this, chromosomes were taken from one zygote — the single cell formed when sperm and egg fuse — and put into a zygote stripped of its original chromosomes, but left with its original mitochondria, which provide each human cell with energy.

As they grew, the resulting embryos contained so-called nuclear DNA — the 25,000 genes responsible for physical and developmental traits — from two traditional parents, and mitochondrial DNA from a third.

The technique is a subtle form of genetic engineering, which many people consider taboo, and raises other ethical dilemmas. It could also allow parents whose progeny would otherwise suffer from deadly mitochondrial diseases to have healthy children. It’s been done in mice and monkeys, but not in people.

“Previous work showed that these manipulations were possible. This showed that we can get the development of these embryos up to the blastocyst stage,” said Doug Turnbull, a Newcastle University neurologist and co-author of the study, published April 14 in Nature.

Thousands of mitochondria float freely in each human cell, using 17 genes to convert oxygen and nutrients into chemical energy. During reproduction, mitochondria in sperm are destroyed. Only the mitochondria in a mother’s egg are passed on.

Malfunctions in aging mitochondria have been linked to a variety of common diseases, including Alzheimer’s and cancer, but researchers like Turnbull focus on a subset of rare conditions caused early in life by defective mitochondria. About one in 4,000 children develops a mitochondrial disease by age 10. Such diseases are often debilitating, sometimes fatal and presently incurable.

In recent decades, doctors wondered whether defective mitochondria might be swapped for healthy ones in an embryo. In the last few years, sophisticated reproductive technologies and cell-manipulating tools have made that possible — first with mice, and then with more complex creatures.

Two years ago, Turnbull performed the basic steps of the technique with embryos left over from in vitro fertilization. Last August, other researchers performed a variation of the technique, starting with unfertilized eggs rather than zygotes, on rhesus macaque monkeys.

Of 80 embryos in the the Nature study, again taken from IVF leftovers, eight were sustained for six days, long enough to become blastocysts with about 100 cells.

The technique “introduces some inefficiencies because it’s more complicated” to use a zygote, said Shoukhrat Mitalipov, an Oregon Health & Science University reproductive biologist who led the rhesus macaque experiment. Both techniques may ultimately be used, depending on circumstance, he said. But the new results are still powerful.

“This is great. We’ve been thinking about this for years,” said Eric Schon, a Columbia University mitochhondrial geneticist. “That possibility is now closer.”

Many steps remain before mitochondria swapping could be considered for humans. Though engineered mice have matured and reproduced normally, the monkeys are just a year old. But while safety is yet to be determined, ethical questions are emerging.

One issue involves the nature of parenthood: Would a mitochondrial donor be a parent? Turnbull compared mitochondria to the power source for a laptop. “All the characteristics of the computer are stored on the computer. We’re just changing the battery,” he said.

Potentially more tricky is the healthy mitochondria’s source. While leftover embryos used in Turnbull’s approach are plentiful, eggs used by Mitalipov’s technique would need to be donated. Egg donation involves a series of grueling and potentially risky hormone treatments.

Marcy Darnovsky, executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society, worried that the risks of mitochondrial swapping might not be immediately evident. She mentioned intracytoplasmic sperm injection, in which sperm is injected directly into an egg. It’s an approved workaround for male fertility, but some studies now suggest an increased risk of birth defects (pdf). “Observers have said that human beings were the guinea pigs,” Darnovsky said.

Because mitochondria are inherited, both Turnbull’s and Mitalipov’s techniques are a type of germline, or heritable, genetic engineering. Many people think altering DNA is fine when changes aren’t inherited, as with gene therapy to repair eyes, but troubling when traits are passed on. Fearful of designer babies and long-term health uncertainties, countries like France and Germany have banned germline genetic engineering.

Mitochondrial swapping might seem less controversial than regular genetic engineering, because it involves metabolism rather than obvious physical traits. “On the other hand, when embryo manipulations for heritable changes start being done, even with the best intentions, we’re on slippery ground,” said Darnovsky.

“I think this strategy for handling mitochondrial disease is fascinating, important and ethical, but it certainly crosses the line of engineering genes,” said Art Caplan, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Bioethics. “It’s a quiet intrusion, but it crosses a line that a lot of people said shouldn’t be crossed.”

Doug Wallace, a mitochondrial geneticist at the University of California, Irvine, framed the ethics differently. “Is it fair for society to make it impossible for a woman who has a high percentage of mutant mitochondrial issues to have a healthy baby? That’s what I’m confronted with in my clinic,” he said. “There’s an ethic of what’s best for the patient.”

“For these families, there isn’t a cure,” said Turnbull. “That’s our motivation.”

Image: A nucleus is transferred into a recipient zygote./Nature.

See Also:

• Malfunctioning Mitochondria May Cause Heart Disease
• The Bioethics of a Three-Parent Embryo
• Designer Babies: A Right to Choose?

Citation: “Pronuclear transfer in human embryos to prevent transmission of mitochondrial DNA disease.” By Lyndsey Craven, Helen A. Tuppen, Gareth D. Greggains, Stephen J. Harbottle, Julie L. Murphy, Lynsey M. Cree, Alison P. Murdoch, Patrick F. Chinnery, Robert W. Taylor, Robert N. Lightowlers, Mary Herbert, & Douglass M. Turnbull. Nature, Vol. 464 No. 7291, April 15, 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 | 14 Apr 2010 | 11:54 am

World view: Moment of reckoning

Tough choices lie ahead in UK research policy, and they need to be debated openly in the general election campaign, says Colin Macilwain.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 14 Apr 2010 | 11:30 am

New technique could thwart inherited diseases

Transfer of healthy material from fertilised to donated eggs could stop women passing on incurable illnesses

Scientists today offered new hope for women at risk of passing on certain inherited diseases to their children, in the form of a pioneering technique to move healthy genetic material from fertilised eggs into donated ones.

Researchers from Newcastle University say their breakthrough will help women whose children are at risk of a range of mitochondrial diseases. These disorders can be mild or very severe, and can cause muscle weakness, blindness, heart and liver failure, diabetes and learning disabilities. They affect one child in every 6,500.

The diseases are caused by mutations in the small amount of genetic material in the mitochondria, which provide the cell with energy. Mitochondrial DNA is separate from the nucleus in a fertilised egg, and is passed on solely by the mother.

The disorders their children suffer are untreatable. Women normally discover they are carriers after relatives have had babies with mitochondrial diseases. If they decide to be tested, they must then opt to remain childless or take the chance of passing on the disease to their child.

The Newcastle University researchers write in the journal Nature that they have successfully transplanted the healthy DNA in human eggs from women with mitochondrial disease into the eggs of women donors who are unaffected.

"What we have done is like changing the battery on a laptop," said Professor Doug Turnbull, one of the study leaders. "The energy supply now works properly but none of the information on the hard drive has been changed.

"A child born using this method would have correctly functioning mitochondria but in every other respect would get all their genetic information from their father and mother."

So far, the work has not gone beyond the lab, because there are significant legal and ethical hurdles to surmount. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which regulates all work on embryos, will have to decide on the ethical propriety, for instance, of discarding the fertilised nuclear material from the donated egg. Both eggs must be fertilised, and at the same stage of development, the scientists say. The donated egg would be fertilised with unidentified donor sperm in the laboratory.

But the scientists have succeeded in making the DNA switch and in growing the resulting embryo for six to eight days, to blastocyst stage, where it is a collection of around 100 dividing cells; they have applied to the HFEA for permission to go further.

Members of the Newcastle team used a DNA-transfer technique similar to that employed in cloning.

A newly fertilised egg normally contains two "pronuclei", containing genetic material from the egg and sperm as well as mitochondrial DNA. Soon after fertilisation, the pronuclei fuse to form a single nucleus.

The scientists extracted the pronuclei from fertilised eggs in the laboratory, leaving behind the mitochondria. They then implanted the pronuclei into fertilised donor eggs whose own pronuclei had been removed. The eggs were left with the transferred pronuclei plus working mitochondria from the women who donated them.

A total of 80 embryos were created using the technique. Under the HFEA research licence granted for the experiments, they then had to be destroyed.

In some cases, a very small amount of mitochondrial DNA was carried over to the new egg. However, the scientists believe it would not be enough to affect a child's health.

Prof Turnbull said: "This is a very exciting development with immense potential to help families at risk from mitochondrial diseases.

"We have no way of curing these diseases at the moment, but this technique could allow us to prevent the diseases occurring in the first place. It is important that we do all we can to help these families and give them the chance to have healthy children, something most of us take for granted."

The Muscular Dystrophy Association, which helps some of the families whose children have a condition called mitochondrial myopathies, has been part-funding the research for the last 10 years. Its chief executive, Philip Butcher, said: "These findings will be a ray of hope for people affected by mitochondrial diseases, who can often be left with the heartbreaking decision of whether to have children who may be born with a serious illness.

"In the future, this technique may give parents the choice to have a healthy child and end the tragic cycle that some families go through, passing on these conditions from generation to generation.

"I would urge the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority to permit fertility treatment using these techniques as soon as the method is proved to be effective and safe in humans."

The other funders were the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust.

Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, chief executive of the MRC, said: "This fantastic piece of research just goes to show how first-class research can yield real results, unveiling new hope that a range of incurable diseases might be preventable in the future.

"Research such as this can only flourish where there is a robust regulatory framework, and we are delighted to see UK researchers at the cutting edge of this developing field."

Sir Mark Walport, director of the Wellcome Trust, said: "This is exciting research that could lead to the major clinical advance of preventing devastating mitochondrial diseases by curing the disease in fertilised eggs."

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 14 Apr 2010 | 11:22 am

The Scent of a Titan: Stinky

Think twice before beaming up any life from Saturn's moon Titan. It's very likely the sludge will explode and/or overwhelm your entire spaceship crew, eventually killing them with the stench.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 Apr 2010 | 10:59 am

International iPad Delayed Due to Strong U.S. Demand

Apple announced that international sales of the iPad will be postponed until the end of May.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 Apr 2010 | 10:58 am

Tomb Of Ken-Amun, Royal Scribe, Unearthed In Egypt

Beautifully decorated, the tomb of Ken Amun features scenes from the Book of the Dead.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 Apr 2010 | 10:39 am

Robonaut Headed to Space

A prototype robot, jointly developed by NASA and General Motors, will be flown to the International Space Station for tests working alongside the live-aboard crew. Robonaut 2, nicknamed R2, won't be making any spacewalks -- it's not designed to handle ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 Apr 2010 | 10:23 am

Iceland Volcano Erupts Again

The eruption under the ice cap was 10 to 20 times more powerful than one last month.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 Apr 2010 | 10:15 am

Even Toddlers Appreciate Altruism

Toddlers care more about whether others try to help than if they actually succeed.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 Apr 2010 | 10:01 am

U.S. Military Supply of Rare Earth Elements Not Secure

A government report finds that much of the U.S. military's high-tech arsenal relies upon rare earth elements, and that the U.S. might need 15 years to build its own independent rare earth supply chain.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 Apr 2010 | 9:50 am

Studies show more evidence of water on moon, Mars

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ice deposits at least 6 feet thick can be found in some small craters on the moon, researchers reported Monday in one of two studies showing more evidence of water on the moon and Mars.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 14 Apr 2010 | 9:10 am

Exoplanets Orbit Stars in Reverse

These exoplanets are orbiting backwards, and they're turning theories of planet formation upside-down.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 Apr 2010 | 9:00 am

In pictures: Deserts of the World

Captivating pictures released by UK-based scientists reveal the varied and fragile nature of the world's deserts.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Apr 2010 | 8:20 am

Close disasters

Why the two China earthquakes were not related
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Apr 2010 | 7:40 am

'No malpractice' by climate unit

There was no scientific malpractice at the unit at the centre of the "Climategate" affair, a panel concludes.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 Apr 2010 | 6:27 am

UEA scientists cleared of malpractice

Researchers 'dedicated if slightly disorganised', but basic science was fair, finds inquiry commissioned by university

The climate scientists at the centre of a media storm over emails released on the internet were disorganised but did not fudge their results, an independent inquiry into the affair reported today.

The inquiry, the second of three set up in the wake of the controversy, found "absolutely no evidence of any impropriety whatsoever", according to Lord Oxburgh, who led the investigation.

Instead, Oxburgh said, many of the criticisms and assertions of scientific misconduct were likely made by people "who do not like the implications of some the conclusions" reached by the climate experts.

He said the allegations made against the scientists at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, including its director Phil Jones, were serious enough to end their careers if proven correct.

Oxburgh said: "Whatever was said in the emails, the basic science seems to have been done fairly and properly."

The review gave scientific processes at CRU "a clean bill of health" but did raise some issues of concern. Record-keeping was patchy, it said, while the scientists did not use the best possible statistical techniques to analyse their data.

David Hand, a statistician at Imperial College London, who sat on the enquiry panel, said the CRU scientists had been naive over their use of statistics, but there was no evidence that the better techniques would have produced different results. Poor record-keeping was common among scientists, Oxburgh said, while the CRU experts could not have anticipated the future public interest in what had been an "unfashionable" area of science for much of their careers.

The review analysed 11 key scientific papers produced by the CRU scientists over the last 20 years, which included key findings on global warming used in several reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Oxburgh said the scientific papers contained the necessary caveats and expressions of uncertainty where required. But he criticised the way these caveats were often stripped away when such research was presented by other bodies, such as the media, government agencies and the IPCC.

Oxburgh singled out a graph of global temperature used in a 1999 report for the World Meteorological Association, which spliced three different data sets, as an "unfortunate representation of a very complex piece of science". The graph was prepared by CRU experts, and was the subject of the infamous email from Jones in which he described how he had used a "trick" to "hide the decline". Jones said the relevant error ranges were included in the WMO document.

At a press conference to launch the review's findings, Hand re-ignited a long-standing row about a high-profile study published in 1998 by scientists led by Michael Mann at Penn State University, US. The paper featured an emblematic graph known as the "hockey-stick" that showed temperature rise in the twentieth century was unprecedented in recent history. Hand said the study gave him an "uneasy feeling" because it used "inappropriate statistical tools". The hockey-stick effect was genuine, Hand said, but the 1998 paper exaggerated it. He praised Steve McIntyre, a Canadian climate blogger who led much of the criticism of the CRU scientists, for identifying the problem.

Mann told the Guardian that the 1998 study had been approved by the US National Academy of Science and Hand had offered a "rogue opinion" that "should not be given much attention or credence".

Oxburgh said sustained requests to CRU scientists for data and computer codes from McIntyre and others could have amounted to a campaign of harassment, and that the affair left several unresolved questions about how Freedom of Information laws should be applied in an academic context.

The report also said it was "unfortunate" that the UK government had introduced widely copied policies to charge for environmental data sets, such as those used by the CRU scientists and requested by critics. The move impeded the flow of data between researchers, it added.

The Oxburgh review follows a report on the CRU emails last month from the Commons Science and Technology Select Committee, which also cleared the scientists involved of wrongdoing. A third enquiry, led by Sir Muir Russell, is due to report next month.

FAQs

Why did this review take place?

The university set up the inquiry after the controversy caused by the release of thousands of emails from its climate scientists on the internet last November. Critics and climate sceptics used them to claim that the scientists behind many influential climate studies were up to no good, and that the problem was exaggerated.

Did the enquiry agree?

No. It said that the scientists acted honestly and with a genuine desire to report the truth. They were not perfect, but their failure to keep all paperwork for decades-old studies did not influence the findings.

So the scientists are off the hook?

Not yet. A third and final report on the affair is due next month from a panel led by Sir Muir Russell. That will take a deeper look at the culture and behaviour inside the university's climate department. It is likely to take a dim view of the way they responded to requests made under Freedom of Information laws.

Is the report a whitewash?

Some will say so. Oxburgh has links to groups that will profit from policies to tackle global warming, which critics argue is a conflict of interest. The reality of global warming, however, was never in doubt, and the enquiry was concerned with the behaviour of a handful of scientists. The review took less than a month to complete, though Oxburgh says it was thorough.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 14 Apr 2010 | 4:11 am