High-altitude research advances low-altitude medicine

High altitude medicine is a "natural research laboratory" for the study of cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology. It can shed light on conditions and diseases that mimic the low oxygen content of the atmosphere at the top of mountains.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2010 | 12:00 pm

Tiny hydrophobic water ferns could help ships economize on fuel

The hairs on the surface of water ferns could allow ships to have a 10 percent decrease in fuel consumption. The plant has the rare ability to put on a gauzy skirt of air under water. Researchers now show how the fern does this. Their results can possibly be used for the construction of new kinds of hulls with reduced friction.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2010 | 12:00 pm

Less sleep may add up to more pounds in adolescents

Adolescents who don't get enough sleep may gain more than some extra time to play video games or text their friends. They also may gain weight.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2010 | 12:00 pm

Densest dice packing: Tetrahedral dice pack tighter than any other shape

Tetrahedral dice, which have four triangular sides, pack more densely than any other shape yet tested, according to new research.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2010 | 12:00 pm

Purple bacteria best for harvesting solar energy

Purple bacteria seem to have the best structural solution for harvesting solar energy. A physicist thinks its cellular arrangement could be adapted for use in solar panels and other energy conversion devices to offer a more efficient way to garner energy from the sun.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2010 | 12:00 pm

Melanoma not caused by early ultraviolet (UVA) light exposure, new fish experiments show

Early life exposure to ultraviolet A light does not cause melanoma in a fish model that previously made that connection, scientists report. UVA exposure is unlikely to have contributed to the rise in the incidence of melanoma, the researchers conclude, because the fish model had been the only animal model to link UVA exposure and melanoma.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2010 | 12:00 pm

Salad spinner useful to separate blood without electricity in developing countries

A simple salad spinner will save lives this summer, if everything goes as planned by two undergraduates. The spinner has been turned, so to speak, into a rudimentary centrifuge that medical clinics in developing countries can use to separate blood without electricity.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2010 | 9:00 am

Global warming: Future temperatures could exceed livable limits, researchers find

Worst-case scenarios for global warming could lead to deadly temperatures for humans in coming centuries. Researchers for the first time have calculated the highest tolerable "wet-bulb" temperature and found it could be exceeded for the first time in human history in future climate scenarios. A warming of 21 degrees Fahrenheit would put half of the world's population in an uninhabitable environment.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2010 | 9:00 am

Valve-in-valve implants via catheter effective in high-risk patients

Mechanical heart valves can be successfully implanted via catheter inside failing animal-based tissue valves. The catheter-based technique provides an option for valve replacement to select patients who would not be candidates for another open-heart surgery.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2010 | 9:00 am

Male obesity linked to low testosterone levels, study shows

Obesity, a condition linked to heart disease and diabetes, now appears to be associated with another health problem, but one that affects men only -- low testosterone levels.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 5 May 2010 | 9:00 am

Not over yet

What effects will new volcanic ash plume have?
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 5 May 2010 | 3:55 am

'Profound' decline in fish stocks

Over-fishing means that UK trawlermen have to work 17 times as hard for the same fish catch as 120 years ago, a study shows.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 5 May 2010 | 3:13 am

The nation's weather (AP)

AP - Wet weather was forecast to move into the Great Lakes region Wednesday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 May 2010 | 3:13 am

Sleeping for less than six hours can cause early death, study finds

Researchers find 'unequivocal' link between lack of sleep and increased risk of premature death

Sleeping consistently for less than six hours a night can cause an early death, but too much sleep could also mean problems, according to a study that claims to have found unequivocal evidence of the potential harm from abnormal sleep patterns.

The research, by academics in the UK and Italy, analysed data from 16 separate studies across Europe, the US and Asia over 25 years, covering more than 1.3m people and more than 100,000 deaths.

It found that those who generally slept for less than six hours a night were 12% more likely to experience a premature death over a period of 25 years than those who consistently got six to eight hours' sleep. Evidence for the link was unequivocal, the researchers concluded.

The study, published in the scientific journal Sleep, was carried out by a team from the University of Warwick and the Federico II University medical school in Naples.

It also concluded that those who consistently sleep more than nine hours a night can be more likely to die early. Oversleeping itself is not seen as a risk but as a potential indicator of underlying ailments.

"Whilst short sleep may represent a cause of ill health, long sleep is believed to represent more an indicator of ill health," said Professor Francesco Cappuccio, who led the study and is head of the Sleep, Health and Society programme at the University of Warwick.

"Modern society has seen a gradual reduction in the average amount of sleep people take, and this pattern is more common amongst full-time workers, suggesting that it may be due to societal pressures for longer working hours and more shift-work. On the other hand, the deterioration of our health status is often accompanied by an extension of our sleeping time.

"Consistently sleeping six to eight hours per night may be optimal for health. The duration of sleep should be regarded as an additional behavioural risk factor, or risk marker, influenced by the environment and possibly amenable to change through both education and counselling as well as through measures of public health aimed at favourable modifications of the physical and working environments."

The study noted that previous research into lack of sleep had shown it was associated with ailments including heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 5 May 2010 | 2:05 am

Curious creature

Meet the animal they call the 'sabre-toothed sausage'
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 5 May 2010 | 1:55 am

Intelligent design is an oxymoron

Intelligent Design theory is a mountain of waffle resting on analogy. Neither scientists nor believers should touch it

The question: Is intelligent design bad theology?

At the heart of Steve Fuller's defence of intelligent design theory (ID) is a false analogy. He compares the struggles of the ID supporters to the travails of the Protestant Reformers. Just as they stood against the established Catholic church, so the ID supporters stand against establishment science, specifically Darwinian evolutionary theory. Where this comparison breaks down is that the Protestants were no less Christians than the Catholics. It was rather that they differed over the right way to get to heaven. For the Protestants it was justification through faith, believing in the Lord, whereas for Catholics, it was good works. Given that Saint Augustine, some thousand years before, had labeled the Catholic position the heresy of Pelagianism, the reformers had a good point.

In the ID case, whatever its supporters may say publicly for political purposes – in the USA thanks to the First Amendment you cannot teach religion in state-funded schools – the intention is to bring God into the causal process. ID claims that there are some phenomena (like the bacterial flagellum and the blood-clotting cascade) are so "irreducibly complex," that to explain them we must invoke an "intelligent designer." As they admit among themselves – the philosopher-mathematician William Dembski is quite clear on this – the designer is none other than our old friend the God of Christianity. The logos of the early chapters of the Gospel of Saint John, as Dembski confidently states.

The trouble for the Fuller analogy is that science simply does not allow God as a causal factor. It is not a question of being an atheist or not. In the nineteenth century, even those who thought that there could be no natural explanation of organic origins realized that the appeal to divine intervention takes one out of science. In the words of the English historian and philosopher of science, William Whewell – an ordained Anglican who so disliked evolutionary speculations that, when he was master of Trinity College, Cambridge, he would not allow a copy of the Origin of Species in the college library – when it comes to science on origins: "The mystery of creation is not within the range of her legitimate territory; she says nothing, but she points upwards."

In the 20th century, two of the most important Darwinian biologists – Ronald Fisher in England and the Russian-born Theodosius Dobzhansky in America – were deeply committed Christians. But they would never, ever have introduced God into their work. Like all scientists, they were "methodological atheists." You don't have to be at one with Richard Dawkins on the God question to do evolutionary biology. ID is not science and, like its predecessor, Scientific Creationism, it only pretends to be science to do a political and legal end-run around the US Constitution.

Contrary to Fuller, although ID is not bad science – it is not science at all – its intent is deeply corrosive of real science. As Thomas Kuhn pointed out repeatedly, when scientists cannot find solutions, they don't blame the world. They blame themselves. You don't give up in the face of disappointments. You try again. Imagine if Watson and Crick had thrown in the towel when their first model of the DNA molecule proved fallacious. The very essence of ID is admitting defeat and invoking inexplicable miracles. The bacterial flagellum is complex. Turn to God! The blood clotting cascade is long and involved. Turn to God! That is simply not the way to do science. And as it happens, both the flagellum and the cascade have revealed their very natural, law-bound mysteries to regular scientists who keep plugging away and wouldn't take "no" for an answer.

ID is theology – very bad theology. As soon as you bring God into the world on a daily creative basis, then the theodicy problem – the problem of evil – rears its ugly head. If God works away miraculously to do the very complex, presumably in the name of goodness, then why on earth does God not occasionally get involved miraculously to prevent the very simple with horrendous consequences? Some very, very minor genetic changes have truly dreadful effects, causing people life-long pain and despair. If God thought it worth His time to make the blood clot, then why was it not worth His time to prevent Huntingdon's Chorea?

Keep God out of the day-to-day functioning of things. If, like the archbishop of Canterbury, you absolutely must have God do law-breaking miracles – apparently he would give up and become a Quaker if the tomb had not been empty on the third day – then at least restrict His activities to the cause of our salvation.

ID is the most recent manifestation of a particular form of 19th-century, American, Protestant, evangelical thinking. We don't want it in America and you don't want it in Britain either. Take it from Michael Ruse, a Brit living in America, that you shouldn't listen to Steve Fuller, an American living in Britain.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 5 May 2010 | 1:53 am

Chemicals used to fight Gulf oil slick a trade-off (AP)

AP - A massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico has become the testing ground for a new technique where a potent mix of chemicals is shot deep undersea in an effort to stop oil from reaching the surface, and scientists are hurriedly weighing the ecological risks and benefits.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 May 2010 | 1:30 am

Funnel plan to battle Gulf spill

A giant iron funnel which it is hoped will halt the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is to be deployed on Thursday, BP says.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 5 May 2010 | 1:23 am

Dome to contain Gulf oil the next best solution (AP)

AP - The best short-term solution to bottling up a disastrous oil spill threatening sealife and livelihoods along the Gulf Coast should be arriving on Wednesday in the form of a specially built giant concrete-and-steel box designed to siphon the oil away.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 5 May 2010 | 1:15 am

Zettabytes Now Needed to Describe Global Data Overload (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Humankind will generate over one sextillion bytes of digital information this year, surging into the realm of the "zettabyte" as we create ever more electronic data. In 2010, 1.2 zettabytes of digital information will be created, according to a new "Digital Universe" study from IDC sponsored by IT firm EMC Corporation.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 May 2010 | 6:30 pm

New Orleans without seafood gumbo? Oil spill's unsavory toll. (The Christian Science Monitor)

The Christian Science Monitor - The BP oil spill and its effect on state fisheries may soon force a rewriting of New Orleans menus from the seafood cuisine that the Crescent City is best known for to less distinctive fare.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 May 2010 | 6:11 pm

Designers Want to Improve Your Health With These Strange Objects

SAN FRANCISCO — Most people see health as the output of a few different inputs like food, exercise and medicine. But how good your body and mind feel is mediated by the objects that surround you, too.

In a new design studio at the California College of the Arts, instructors Colin Owen, Charlie Sheldon, and Cary Gibaldi assigned their undergraduate students a theme they called Second Opinion, and asked them to come up with new products that could help make people’s lives healthier and better.

Some of the projects are poignant, others border on the bizarre. A few, like the student who designed a wine glass for his grandmother’s shaky hands, come with stories attached. Others are driven solely by the desire to create something new, like a work desk made for sleeping.

Their designs are eye-catching and clever solutions to the challenges people face trying to stay hale and hearty in a postindustrial society. And they are part of a broader movement that’s gathered steam over the last several years to apply design principles to broader problems. Organizations like Project H and Catapult Design are focused on humanitarian design, while The Soft Spot covers a broader range of themes. Even The Economist held an innovation forum last month on “design thinking.”

But what exactly “design thinking” is remains fuzzy. Design journalist Warren Berger, author of the book Glimmer, argues that the simplest definition is that it’s “how designers think.”

So, in that spirit, we present 11 portraits of designers and their work. The objects they made say something about who these budding industrial designers are and how they think. Plus, like dog owners and their pets, you can almost look at one or the other and match the pair.

The Second Opinion final show opens Wednesday at Chronicle Books in San Francisco.

Above: Even if you wouldn’t want a mad-scientist designer like Sam Freeman to take out your spleen, you might not mind him designing stress-relief tools for kids. The dolls he holds are designed to break in the most satisfying way possible. To find out what things people find the most satisfying to break, Freeman “took a couple of big bags of stuff to a gallery opening and asked people to break as much stuff as possible.” The winning material, which forms the skeleton inside the dolls, is simple and surprising. It cracks easily in either direction, but immediately springs back into shape.

“It’s two pieces of tape measure held face-to-face so that they’ll work in either direction,” Freeman explained. As for the rest of the dolls, “Something about the fur called out to me. It wasn’t until about yesterday that I realized I was designing a muppet.”

His target audience is “people getting their first full-time job and the big, hair-raising, annoying responsibilities.” We certainly could use a few of these dolls around the office.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 4 May 2010 | 6:00 pm

Chance of oil drilling off Calif coast appears dim (AP)

AP - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to pull support for a proposal to expand oil drilling off the coast of Santa Barbara County effectively killed any short-term prospects for the project.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 May 2010 | 5:03 pm

Fish and Wildlife Service reopens debate on Arctic refuge (McClatchy Newspapers)

McClatchy Newspapers - WASHINGTON — Over the years, little has changed in the debate over whether to allow oil exploration in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 May 2010 | 4:46 pm

Lie-Detection Brain Scan Could Be Used in Court for First Time

A Brooklyn attorney hopes to break new ground this week when he offers a brain scan as evidence that a key witness in a civil trial is telling the truth, Wired.com has learned.

If the fMRI scan is admitted, it would be a legal first in the United States and could have major consequences for the future of neuroscience in court.

The lawyer, David Levin, wants to use that evidence to break a he-said/she-said stalemate in an employer-retaliation case. He’s representing Cynette Wilson, a woman who claims that after she complained to temp agency CoreStaff Services about sexual harassment at a job site, she no longer received good assignments. Another worker at CoreStaff claims he heard her supervisor say that she should not be placed on jobs because of her complaint. The supervisor denies that he said anything of the sort.

So, Levin had the coworker undergo an fMRI brain scan by the company Cephos, which claims to provide “independent, scientific validation that someone is telling the truth.”

Laboratory studies using fMRI, which measures blood-oxygen levels in the brain, have suggested that when someone lies, the brain sends more blood to the ventrolateral area of the prefrontal cortex. In a very small number of studies, researchers have identified lying in study subjects (.pdf) with accuracy ranging from 76 percent to over 90 percent. But some scientists and lawyers like New York University neuroscientist Elizabeth Phelps doubts those results can be applied outside the lab.

“The data in their studies don’t appear to be reliable enough to use in a court of law,” Phelps said. “There is just no reason to think that this is going to be a good measure of whether someone is telling the truth.

General fMRI data from research has been used in sentencing, but an individual’s brain scan has yet to be entered as evidence in a civil or criminal trial to help the jury determine whether someone was telling the truth. Individual fMRI evidence was offered in at least one other case by a San Diego attorney defending a father accused of sexual abuse, but the evidence was eventually withdrawn and did not make it into the record.

But this case could be different, said Ed Cheng, a professor of law at Brooklyn Law School who may serve as a consultant to the plaintiff.

“It’s not like the sex abuse stuff that was going on in San Diego. You can imagine that the case was in many ways a whole lot more complicated. There’s a good reason to believe that the research studies don’t port to the sex abuse case. But they port much better here,” Cheng said. “This is a witness who arguably doesn’t have much at stake. It’s not a criminal case.”

But Phelps strenuously disagrees. She calls attention to the fact that the brain scan was done four years after the witness allegedly heard the CoreStaff manager’s remarks about the plaintiff.

But even in the best of circumstances, Phelps argues that fMRI evidence should not be allowed in court, even if there are at least two companies peddling the service to the legal profession.

“I always come down hard on these companies that are selling it,” she said. “But these companies are going ahead and making claims already, based on some data that’s not so great, that they can do things that they can’t really do.”

Cheng does not see the fMRI evidence in the same light. Humans, he pointed out, are terrible lie detectors and yet our legal system is based on allowing them to make those determinations. If slightly better than chance is the baseline, any improvement on that could be a reason to allow the evidence into court.

“The validation studies may have some problems,” he said. “But if we can help the jury make this decision even a little bit better, it’s hard to defend keeping this stuff out.”

The latest attempt to use fMRI lie-detection evidence is sure to spark a contentious debate in court over whether the brain scans meet the standard for scientific evidence in New York, which is known as the Frye standard. To clear the bar, the evidence must be “generally accepted as reliable in the relevant scientific community.”

If Phelps is considered to be in the relevant scientific community — and she is — slipping past Frye may be difficult. On the other hand, fMRI has become a well-accepted and oft-used tool for brain researchers over the last decade.

And of course, whether the evidence gets in won’t just affect Cynette Wilson’s case. Due to legal precedence, if fMRI brain scans are allowed in once, they’ll be more likely to be used in more trials down the line.

“Once you have precedent, it’s much harder to keep it out,” Phelps said. “They’ve yet to get it admitted as evidence. So every time it comes up, it’s very important that it doesn’t get in.”

Beginning May 5 in the court room in Brooklyn, we’ll see another skirmish in what’s likely to be a long war over how fMRI machines should be deployed in pursuit of justice.

Cephos declined to comment on the open case.

Correction 11:16 pm EST: Ed Cheng teaches at Brooklyn Law School, not Brooklyn College.

Image: flickr/euskalanato

See Also:

• MRI Lie Detection to Get First Day in Court
• Courtroom First: Brain Scan Used in Murder Sentencing
• Don’t Even Think About Lying
• Scanning Dead Salmon in fMRI Machine Highlights Risk of Red Herrings
• This Is Your Brain on Hillary: Political Neuroscience Hits New Low

WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal’s Twitter, Tumblr, and forthcoming book on the history of green technology; Wired Science on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 4 May 2010 | 4:05 pm

'Wet' Asteroid Could Be a Space Gas Station (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - The recent discovery of an asteroid wrapped in a layer of water ice has revived the possibility that some space rocks would be great potential pit stops – as well as destinations – for manned or robotic exploration missions.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 May 2010 | 4:00 pm

Zettabytes Now Needed to Describe Global Data Overload

Humankind will generate over one sextillion bytes of digital information this year, surging into the realm of the "zettabyte."
Source: Livescience.com | 4 May 2010 | 3:29 pm

Scientists fume over California's pesticide plans

State aims to approve use of strawberry fumigant methyl iodide.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/news/rss/today/~4/mzNpoS5IVZc" height="1" width="1"/>
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 4 May 2010 | 3:23 pm

Life in the Greenhouse: Losing Our Cool

Plants are a natural air conditioning system for Earth. But as CO2 levels in the atmosphere climb, they lose their ability to help keep the planet cool, which amplifies the warming effects of climate change.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 4 May 2010 | 3:20 pm

Surprise! Even Plants Can Contribute to Global Warming

Even though plants absorb some greenhouse gas, rising CO2 levels make leaves contribute to global warming.
Source: Livescience.com | 4 May 2010 | 3:05 pm

Zombiesat Attack! Solar Storm Fries Satellite's Brain

After April's powerful solar storm, a satellite has stopped communicating with Earth. It's now adrift and dubbed a "zombie satellite," potentially interfering with other satellites in the neighborhood.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 4 May 2010 | 2:59 pm

Earth Could Become Too Hot for Humans

Reasonable worst-case scenarios for global warming could lead to deadly temperatures for humans in coming centuries.
Source: Livescience.com | 4 May 2010 | 2:59 pm

Hurricane Season Could Halt Oil Spill Cleanup

Emergency rescue crews in the Gulf of Mexico are in a race against nature to complete oil spill cleanup operations before the start of hurricane season
Source: Livescience.com | 4 May 2010 | 2:38 pm

AIDS contrarian ignored warnings of scientific misconduct

Peter Duesberg was told publication of paper carried risk of charges.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 4 May 2010 | 2:35 pm

Woolly mammoth blood protein 'resurrected' in the lab

Scientists have discovered genetic mutations that allowed woolly mammoths to survive freezing temperatures.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 May 2010 | 2:30 pm

Green patents corralled

Intellectual-property database could ease technology transfer.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 4 May 2010 | 2:23 pm

Greeks hope crisis may spark reform

Financial troubles could be the stimulus for a fairer distribution of science research funding.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 4 May 2010 | 2:09 pm

European funding may get simpler

Research commissioner promises to cut red tape in framework programmes.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 4 May 2010 | 1:58 pm

Flooding kills at least 18 in Tennessee: officials (AFP)

AFP - Widespread flooding in the southern US state of Tennessee caused by torrential rains has killed at least 18 people, emergency officials said Tuesday, as thousands sought shelter from muddy river waters.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 May 2010 | 1:57 pm

How Capt. Kirk Changed the World

A NASA spacecraft inspired by Star Trek technology is en route to explore a giant asteroid and a dwarf planet.
Source: Science@NASA Headline News | 4 May 2010 | 1:38 pm

Zombiesat! What's Next for the Out-of-Control Galaxy 15 Satellite (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - The Galaxy 15 commercial satellite that recently lost contact with the ground has joined the ranks of a boatload of other debris adrift in space. It's now termed a "zombiesat" by engineers who have a better sense of humor than you might have imagined.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 4 May 2010 | 1:30 pm

Hand-Clapping Songs Improve Child's Cognitive Skills

Clapping along to childhood songs can improve motor and cognitive skills in children, a new study suggests.
Source: Livescience.com | 4 May 2010 | 1:02 pm

Lack of Sleep in Teen Boys Linked to Obesity

Less sleep is associated with obesity among adolescent boys, a new study suggests
Source: Livescience.com | 4 May 2010 | 12:43 pm

Teens' Facebook Profiles Reveal Sexual Intent

Sex talk on teens' Facebook profiles is associated with their intention to have sex.
Source: Livescience.com | 4 May 2010 | 12:37 pm

Are 'I Love Mom' Tattoos Still Popular?

The stereotypical "Mom" tattoo is deeply ingrained in our culture - even Bart Simpson got one! Tattoo artists and experts explain why this tattoo is so appealing.
Source: Livescience.com | 4 May 2010 | 12:31 pm

Do Tasers Hurt?

Since the advent of our nation's pastime, there has been a longstanding tradition of the fan who thinks it will be just HILARIOUS to jump onto a baseball diamond and get his or her 15 minutes of fame before getting ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 4 May 2010 | 12:13 pm

Dwarf Dinosaur Once Roamed Transylvania

A dwarf dinosaur about the size of a horse once lived on what is now Transylvania.
Source: Livescience.com | 4 May 2010 | 11:53 am

Bizarre Super-Small Microbes Discovered

One of smallest microbes ever discovered is found in old copper mine.
Source: Livescience.com | 4 May 2010 | 11:35 am

French To Return Maori Heads

For years, the Maori tribes have sought the return of artifacts kept in collections abroad.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 4 May 2010 | 11:33 am

SNP and Plaid Cymru are talking about a green revolution

Both the Scottish and Welsh nationalist parties are passionate advocates of action against climate change, writes Martin Robbins, but other areas of their science policies are sketchy

Read Plaid Cymru's responses in full here

So far I've covered the major UK parties, but in Scotland and Wales elections are contested between a different set of players, with the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Plaid Cymru representing nationalist voters in their respective countries. Discussion of these parties' policies is often centred around devolution, but how do they perform on science?

I also take a brief look at the BNP and the Christian Party towards the end of this article.

Plaid Cymru's manifesto shows a business-minded attitude to science and technology, with pledges to upgrade Wales' IT infrastructure. On the environment it calls for nothing less than a 'green revolution', emphasising job creation and initiatives that enable communities to take part in projects suchs as small-scale energy production and community-based farming. Some leaders promise a Ferrari in every garage, Plaid Cymru promises a goat – and I highlight that as a compliment, although given the lack of efficiency of small farms I'm not sure how viable a strategy they are for curbing emissions.

The SNP makes little mention of science in its manifesto, but has some interesting ideas on the environment, including a focus on preserving marine ecosystems, and an initiative to become a world leader in carbon storage. Unfortunately, the SNP did not respond to our questions, so where possible its views have been inferred from its manifesto, website and policy statements.

Brian Cox: Science funding

Do you plan to maintain Britain's science budget below the European average?

Plaid Cymru's response continues the business-oriented theme evident in its manifesto, bringing the party surprisingly close to the Conservative and Labour positions, which seem to view science as primarily a tool for innovation in the economy. It's difficult to tell whether the lack of blue-sky thinking has ideological roots, or if it's simply the consequence of dealing with the needs of a much smaller nation with fewer resources to speculate with. The creation of a national academy is an interesting but slightly vague proposal.

The centrepiece of the SNP's campaign is a pledge to protect Scotland from cuts to public services, including an attack on wasteful schemes such as ID cards. Having preserved Scotland's budget, it would then invest considerably in research, with the ambitious aim of creating 60,000 green jobs.

Alternative medicine

If the balance of evidence suggests that a treatment does not perform any better than placebo, should it be supported by the NHS?

The SNP supported patient access to alternative medicine in its 2007 manifesto. I couldn't find any similar mention in the 2010 campaign, so it's unclear whether the party still supports it. Plaid Cymru, meanwhile, has no specific policies on alternative medicine.

Simon Singh: Libel

What will your party do to reduce the chilling effect of our libel laws on science?

Plaid Cymru has joined the cross-party consensus on the need to change libel laws. The Libel Reform campaign is focused on laws that apply in England and Wales, and so the question is less relevant to the SNP.

Climate change/Energy

Should nuclear power be part of our country's strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions? How soon can we bring new plants online?

Both Plaid Cymru and the SNP are passionate advocates of action against climate change, and both adopt a range of very similar policies in this area, rejecting the need for nuclear power stations in their countries, preferring to draw on their natural resources to develop renewable energy supplies. Plaid Cymru's objection to nuclear appears slightly more ideological, whereas the SNP points to a lack of any need for it for the relatively small Scottish population.

Both parties put a lot of faith in the potential of a green revolution to create jobs, with the SNP aiming for 60,000 new jobs, and Plaid Cymru planning a massive expansion of the renewable energy industry. The differences lie in the details, with the Scottish exploring the possibility of becoming a world-leading carbon importer, and the Welsh seeking to construct local, sustainable communities self-reliant in energy where possible.

How feasible these plans are given the investment available is unclear, and it's interesting that the SNP's policies seem more centralised than the local initiatives outlined by Plaid Cymru. But clearly both parties have a very passionate commitment to this area.

David Nutt: Drug policy

To what extent should drug policy be based on scientific evidence? What evidence, if any, would you require to declassify a drug?

"We believe drug policy should be entirely based on scientific evidence."

It's a bold and welcome statement. Plaid Cymru also clearly sees drug harm as a public health issue rather than a criminal problem, with the party's policies focusing on rehabilitation and education. Its call for "a public debate over drugs laws" is admirable, but given the poor state of media reporting on the issue it would probably backfire. Notably, Plaid is the first party responding to these questions to explicitly state that it would decriminalise a drug – cannabis.

The SNP adopts a similar public health focus, with an emphasis on treatment and rehabilitation. However, the rhetoric on its website still falls into the trap of suggesting that drug use is automatically a problem.

Other parties

The BNP bravely joins Ukip in the fight against the fight against climate change, although it does still take environmental protection and green belts seriously. There appears to be a lack of understanding when it comes to climate change, which the party believes to be a theory "which holds that all western nations need to be stripped of their manufacturing base and pay untold billions to the Third World to build up their industries".

Its ideal of libel reform also bucks the trend, with plans to introduce laws which "will hold journalists and their media outlets criminally liable for knowingly publishing falsehoods".

From the desk of the party's sci-fi spokesman we have uncosted proposals for a 200mph intercity maglev network. Under the BNP, soil would be "reinvigorated", GM produce would be banned, and the family farm would become the basic unit of British agriculture. If you want to keep reading the 84 pages I couldn't be bothered to look at, be my guest.

The Christian Party has an innovative approach to policy-making that can be summed up as "what does the Bible say?" This is taken to such extremes that all taxes – VAT, income tax, corporation tax, and so on – would be set at 20%, apparently because this is what the pharaohs of Egypt were told to set their taxes at in Genesis.

Abortion is obviously a big fat no, while the party adopts a zero-tolerance policy on drug abuse (though not, presumably, on the drug that is in Communion wine). Having teased the Jeremy Clarkson vote with promises of raising the speed limit to 90mph, the Christian Party brushes it aside with a surprising focus on the environment.

In terms of education, under the Christian Party children would be taught chastity until marriage, and creationism would be restored to its rightful place in the national curriculum. If that all sounds good to you, then you're probably reading the wrong column. Shoo!

Conclusions

The less said about the BNP and the Christian Party, the better. One MP from either party would be one too many, and many of their policies fall foul of Poe's Law – so absurd as to be indistinguishable from parody.

For Plaid Cymru and the SNP the results are mixed, as you would expect from smaller parties. It's hard not to admire both for their commitment to environmental issues, an area in which they provide glimpses of the sort of thinking that English greens might achieve if they were more willing to engage with real science. That said, while their plans are ambitious, it's difficult to assess how feasible they might be.

Both parties take a very practical view of science funding, placing it at the heart of their economic plans, something on which your mileage may vary.

Where the regional parties falter is in fringe areas – neither party seems particularly strong on alternative medicine, and little thought has been given to areas like stem cell research or GM crops. Plaid Cymru has an excellent policy on drugs, while the SNP doesn't seem to go far enough, and doesn't appear to quite grasp the root causes of the problems it wants to tackle.

In summary, while I wouldn't rush out to cast my vote for these parties on the basis of their science policies, I don't see many problems here either.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 4 May 2010 | 10:53 am

Seeing REDD

Climate policy is marginalising forests peoples
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 May 2010 | 10:52 am

Headless Statue of Ancient Egyptian King‎ Unearthed

The statue emerged from the ruins of a temple believed to be the burial site of Queen Cleopatra and Mark Antony.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 4 May 2010 | 10:32 am

BP to Deploy Domes to Contain Oil Spill

As the massive slick approaches fragile wetlands, the beleaguered energy company is intensifying efforts to contain the spill.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 4 May 2010 | 9:55 am

Warmer Planet to Stress Humans

As global warming pushes up Earth's temperatures, a large number of people won't be able to handle the heat.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 4 May 2010 | 9:43 am

Top Five U.S. Cities for Terrorist Attacks Identified

The top five United States cities for terrorist attacks have just been identified in a new report.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 4 May 2010 | 9:09 am

World's Oldest Person Dies at 114

Kama Chinen, a Japanese woman from Okinawa, died one week before her 115th birthday.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 4 May 2010 | 8:59 am

Enormous Purple-Striped Jellyfish Captured on Video

Diver and underwater photographer Scott Gietler recently encountered a 15-foot purple-striped jellyfish on film and video. Please take a moment to watch the mesmerizing footage.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 4 May 2010 | 8:01 am

Can weather really affect the outcome of an election?

The weather forecast for Thursday is cool and cloudy. So could that affect the outcome of the election?
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 May 2010 | 7:10 am

Mobiles get novel memory material

Smartphones could soon get at images and videos quicker thanks to a memory material that can be turned into different forms.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 May 2010 | 4:54 am

Sloths' bizarre 'toilet habit'

Two-toed sloths are seen descending from the trees to feed out of a human toilet, an extraordinary behaviour that has stumped biologists.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 May 2010 | 4:53 am

Study to 'unlock tornado secrets'

An international team of researchers embarks on what is described as the "most ambitious tornado study in history".
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 4 May 2010 | 3:30 am