Shuttle Atlantis races to space station (AP)

AP - Space shuttle Atlantis is speeding after the International Space Station for a Sunday morning hookup.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 15 May 2010 | 3:39 am

BP works on another attempt to plug oil leak (AP)

AP - At first, BP tried to stop the oil rushing into the Gulf of Mexico by flipping a blowout preventer switch. A week ago, they attempted to capture the leak with a 100-ton box. The latest experiment? Trying to guide what amounts to a mile-long catheter into the gusher.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 15 May 2010 | 3:36 am

The nation's weather (AP)

AP - A strong cold front over the Southeast was forecast to trigger another day of severe weather on Saturday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 15 May 2010 | 3:17 am

BP scrambles to cap flow as oil closes in on marsh (Reuters)

Reuters - Energy giant BP scrambled on Saturday to make good on its latest attempt to contain oil from a ruptured wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico as the government approved the use of dispersants underwater, at the source of the seabed gusher.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 15 May 2010 | 2:35 am

Engineers search for solutions to US oil spill (AFP)

AFP - Engineers frantically searched Saturday for ways to plug an underwater oil gush in the Gulf of Mexico after US President Barack Obama lashed out at oil companies for trying to divert blame for the slick.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 15 May 2010 | 2:19 am

Atlantis heads toward International Space Station (AFP)

AFP - US shuttle Atlantis speeded toward the International Space Station Saturday after a successful lift-off on the final mission for the 25-year-old spacecraft.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 15 May 2010 | 2:04 am

Flying start

How one of earliest computers changed technology
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 15 May 2010 | 1:27 am

BP scrambles to install device to contain oil spill (Reuters)

Reuters - Energy giant BP scrambled on Saturday to make good on its latest attempt to contain oil from a gushing well in the Gulf of Mexico as the region's suffering workers braced for environmental disaster.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 May 2010 | 11:36 pm

Space Junk May Make Shuttle Atlantis' Arrival at Station Trickier (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - A piece of space junk near the International Space Station this weekend may force the massive orbiting laboratory to dodge out of the way, adding a bit more complexity to the shuttle Atlantis' planned arrival at the outpost on Sunday.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 May 2010 | 11:00 pm

BP chief backs future of drilling

BP's boss says the Gulf of Mexico disaster should not end deep-water drilling but admits it is a "transforming event".
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 May 2010 | 10:30 pm

So. Ariz. man pleads guilty in jaguar's death (AP)

AP - A southern Arizona biologist pleaded guilty on Friday to a misdemeanor federal charge for his role in the 2009 trapping and subsequent death of a rare jaguar known as "Macho B."

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 May 2010 | 9:52 pm

Novel pouch could reduce mother-to-infant HIV infection

By using medications packaged just like fast-food ketchup, HIV-positive mothers in developing countries can more easily provide protection to newborn babies born at home.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 May 2010 | 6:00 pm

Eureka! Neural evidence for sudden insight

A recent study provides intriguing information about the neural dynamics underlying behavioral changes associated with the development of new problem solving strategies. The research supports the idea of "a-ha" moments in the brain that are associated with sudden insight.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 May 2010 | 6:00 pm

How microtubules let go of their attachments during cell division

Researchers have determined how cells regulate the chromosome/microtubule interface, which is central to proper chromosomal distribution during cell division. The chromosome/microtubule interface is critical during cell division. If a microtubule attaches incorrectly to a chromosome and cell division proceeds, the chromosomes may divide unevenly, resulting in cells with an incorrect number of chromosomes. Aberrant distribution of chromosomes can lead to cancer or premature cell death.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 May 2010 | 6:00 pm

Going to the dogs: What can shy dogs teach us about longevity?

According to a new study by a Quebec research team, there are strong correlations between dog breeds' typical personalities, how long they live, and how much food they eat.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 May 2010 | 6:00 pm

Cheese -- acting as 'carrier' for probiotic bacteria -- found to improve immune response of elderly

Scientists in Finland have discovered that cheese can help preserve and enhance the immune system of the elderly by acting as a carrier for probiotic bacteria. The research reveals that daily consumption of probiotic cheese helps to tackle age-related changes in the immune system.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 May 2010 | 6:00 pm

Concerns over radiation exposure may overshadow life-saving benefits of cardiac imaging tests

When patients present with chest pain or other high-risk symptoms of heart problems, doctors increasingly rely on nuclear imaging and computed tomography (CT) tests to find out whether there is evidence of heart disease, blockages in the coronary arteries or reduced blood flow to the heart. Results of these procedures can help guide life-saving prevention and treatment options.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 May 2010 | 6:00 pm

Poor Sleep in Aging Men Linked to Lower Testosterone (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - When men reach age 30, testosterone levels begin to drop by 1 to 2 percent annually, researchers say. Coincidentally, many men begin to complainat around age 40 about the quality of their sleep. Are the two linked?
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 14 May 2010 | 5:55 pm

Poor Sleep in Aging Men Linked to Lower Testosterone

Study finds link between testosterone levels in men over 50 and the amount of deep sleep they report.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 May 2010 | 5:40 pm

If we can't help whistleblowers, then we won't hear their call

A BMA survey shows doctors fears over reporting concerns about patient safety. But are they just being melodramatic?

It's worth paying attention to medicine, because when it goes wrong, people suffer and die. But how do we know when things are going wrong? This week the BMA produced a report on whistleblowers. Of the 384 doctors who responded to its survey (that was a dismal response rate of 12%, we should be clear), 40% said they would be too frightened of repercussions to report concerns about patient safety. Of those who had spoken out, one in 10 were told this could have a negative impact on their careers. But are they being melodramatic? And what if life for whistleblowers was better?

A study in the New England Journal of Medicine this week follows up 26 whistleblowers from the pharmaceutical industry. In the US, speaking out is well remunerated and if you help the government bring a successful case, you keep a chunk of the settlement.

The money is big. In September, for example, Pfizer paid $2.3bn (£1.6bn) to settle allegations – backed by evidence from six whistleblowers — that it illegally marketed a painkiller called Bextra which has since been withdrawn. The 26 people in the NEJM study received an average of $3m for their trouble, with sums ranging from $100,000 to $42m.

They say money wasn't the issue – and to be fair most were already on high wages – citing motives such as personal integrity, a responsibility to protect public health, and a fear of being implicated themselves. Nearly all had tried to fix things internally first by talking to their boss, or filing an internal complaint.

But did the money help sweeten things? Almost all were placed under enormous pressure by their companies. Thirteen reported stress-related health problems including shingles, psoriasis, autoimmune disorders, panic attacks, asthma, insomnia, migraines, and more. Six reported divorces, severe marital strain, or other family conflicts.

The majority were clear, furthermore, that the money was no compensation for the years of conflict, and the damage to their careers. Only two still worked in the industry. One said he "should have taken the bribe", another said if she'd "stayed and took stock options" she "would've been worth a lot more". For at least eight, it was devastating. "I just wasn't able to get a job," said one. "It went longer and longer. Then I lost [my home]. I had my cars repossessed. I just went – financially I went under."

These stories come, remember, from a country that makes whistleblowers into millionaires. Here, we expect healthcare workers to speak out when they see people being harmed, but when they do, we offer no such assistance.

In fact, quite the opposite. Dr Stephen Bolsin was the whistleblower on the Bristol heart scandal, where children were dying unnecessarily. It ruined his career, leaving him unemployable in Britain. He is now working in Australia. The examples are endless.

The General Medical Council insists that doctors speak out, and ultimately blow the whistle, or be struck off. These are admirable ideals which everyone would like to think they could uphold, but we have also chosen to configure our society in a way that punishes people for doing the right thing. If we leave that unchanged, then we may have to accept our collective responsibility for the inevitable consequences: unnecessary deaths, and unnecessary suffering.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 14 May 2010 | 5:36 pm

7 Strange and Sad Facts About the Gulf Oil Spill

As the Gulf oil spill continues unabated, here are seven strange facts you didn't know about the oil spill.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 May 2010 | 5:36 pm

Tents are so last century

Stephanie Hills spends the night in the Loire in France, in a cosy wooden cabin with a glass ceiling made for stargazing

Europe's coolest glamping experiences

"Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises, Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not." So speaks Shakespeare's Caliban of his island home in The Tempest. I was reminded of his words when I awoke earlier this week in a "Carré d'étoiles" cabin in the fragrant, vine-heavy Saumur region of the Loire valley in France.

From my bed, all I could see was the sky. Though I could hear that everything around us was already awake: birdsong filled the air, punctuated by the clucking of chickens and the strident call of a cockerel.

Carrés d'étoiles are a new concept in luxury camping and sustainable tourism: they are cube-shaped micro houses, made from recycled wood, where you sleep in a beautiful platform bed underneath a transparent dome. My friend R and I live in Paris, and waking up in our cosy nest over the hills and far away felt like we'd been whisked away to another world.

At the foot of our bed, there was a wooden ladder leading to the lower level, where loo, splendid shower, coffee machine and kettle, hotplates, microwave, fridge complete with jug of Saumur rosé, compact flatscreen TV, heater and comfy sofa bed all fitted inside a nine-square-metre space that managed to feel cosy, not cramped.

The stellar feature of the concept is that each cabin comes with a night sky observation kit: as well as the ceiling window for stargazing through, there's a €500 astronomical telescope, a star chart and astronomy games.

The Carrés d'étoiles project is the brainchild of Louis and Nathalie Blanco, who make the cabins. The first opened this year in Bourgogne, and there are already 23 available to rent in 12 locations across France, from the bucolic Omignon wildflower meadow site in Picardy in the north, to a site on the banks of the Durance river in deepest Provence.

The cabins are portable and designed to stand almost anywhere – by a river, on top of a hill – while having little impact on the natural habitat.

Our little Carré was in the grounds of the exquisite Hôtel Le Chai de la Paleine, an old wine storehouse in the heart of the Loire-Anjou-Touraine regional park. There are three Carrés d'étoiles here, each enjoying its own corner of the garden, and there is also a roulotte, a glorious gypsy- wagon-esque wooden caravan, perfect for families. For those who are a little camping-wary, the rambling hotel has 12 gorgeous bedrooms, with wine-themed names such as Chenin, Pressoir and Pinot, which sleep up to five people. Upstairs are relaxing lounges and a library, which Carré guests can use too, while the grounds contain an old wash house where you can sip wine in the shade in summer, a play shed with toys, and a large games barn with ping-pong table and an informal dining/drinking area.

On arriving the previous afternoon, we had chosen, for exploration's sake, to head into the slumberous village of Le Puy-Notre-Dame for dinner, rather than take advantage of the Carré's dinner hampers. (The €30 "Country Basket" includes duck rillettes, unpasteurised Camembert, fruit tartlets and a bottle of red Saumur; the €45 "Gourmand's Pause" comes with foie gras, Camembert or goat's cheese, chocolate cake, and a bottle of Coteaux du Layon dessert wine).

Down the winding village streets we came to the only restaurant, Le Bouchon Ponot (24 rue de la Collégiale, +33 2 4153 6946), where we ate splendid hake in Béarnaise sauce, drank fabulous fizzy Saumur rosé and were romanced by some rotund and genial used-car dealers from the nearby town. Escaping back to our dreamy Carré, we despaired that the overcast evening would prevent us from stargazing. So we waited, sitting at the little table outside our Carré, wrapped up against the inclement weather and fortified by, what else? more Saumur. Suddenly, out of the darkness appeared a furry white shape with glowing eyes. It was Poutou, the owners' cat, who stopped for a kiss and a caress before vanishing again.

Poutou turned out to be a purry portent, for lo! . . . around midnight the clouds parted, and there was La Grande Ourse, or the Plough, sparkling above us. We hauled the telescope up the steps of the wooden platform built for the purpose, which stands in pride of place in the garden, and ogled the witching-hour canopy. It was fantastic.

In the morning, over the lovely continental breakfast that had been delivered to our Carré door, I looked at the last words I'd written in my notebook the night before, after watching yet more stars through the ceiling window from bed. They read "utterly snug".

• Les Carrés d'étoiles at Hôtel Le Chai de la Paleine sleep two (plus one on a sofa bed) and cost €90-€95 a night. Prices similar at other Carrés across France

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 14 May 2010 | 5:29 pm

Whodunnit?

Criminal profilers were once the heroes of police work, nailing offenders with their astonishing psychological insights. So why did it all fall apart?

One day, 70 years ago, a package was left on a windowsill at the Consolidated Edison power plant in New York. It was a bomb, with a note attached: "CON EDISON CROOKS – THIS IS FOR YOU." It didn't explode. However, 33 more successful devices did and, at a loss, the NYPD did something no one had ever attempted outside the pages of a Conan Doyle novel. They handed the case file to a psychiatrist, a West Village man called James Brussel. He closed his eyes, went into a kind of trance and – as he later reported in his bestselling memoir, Casebook Of A Crime Psychiatrist – it came to him.

There was, for a start, something overly formal about the wording of his notes. They spoke of "The Con Edison's dastardly deeds". He seemed foreign-born. And suffering from an Oedipal complex. He was unmarried, a loner, maybe living with his mother. Then Brussel delivered his now legendary coup de grace: " 'One more thing,'  I said, my eyes closed tight. I saw the Bomber: impeccably neat, absolutely proper. 'When you catch him he'll be wearing a double-breasted suit.'

" 'Jesus!' one of the detectives whispered.

" 'And it will be buttoned,' I said. I opened my eyes. Without another word, they left."

A suspect soon emerged. He was George Metesky, an unmarried Slavic former employee of Con Edison. They raided his house at midnight. He opened the door in his pyjamas, immediately confessed to being "the mad bomber", went to get dressed and reappeared wearing a double-breasted suit, buttoned. And, with that, criminal profiling was born.

Not much happened in the immediate aftermath of the Brussel triumph. He was considered a bit of a one-off genius, and in the 1960s profiling didn't really enter the fabric of police investigations. But in 1972 a Brussel fan and student, an FBI officer called Howard Teten, created a profiling unit at the FBI academy in Quantico, Virginia. Straight away they scored a hit. A seven-year-old girl had been murdered and the profilers at Quantico determined the killer to be a young, white male who killed for sexual gratification and may have kept body parts as souvenirs. The profile led them to David Meirhofer, who confessed and a few hours later killed himself.

And so it continued, throughout the 70s and 80s, with eminent Quantico profilers such as John Douglas becoming national celebrities and bestselling authors. In his 1995 memoir Mindhunter, Douglas writes: "What I try to do with a case is to take in all the evidence I have to work with… and then put myself mentally and emotionally in the head of the offender. I try to think as he does. Exactly how this happens, I'm not sure, any more than the novelists such as Tom Harris who've consulted me over the years can say exactly how their characters come to life. If there's a psychic component to this, I won't run from it."

Of course, the likes of Douglas were more studious than psychics. They'd travel America interviewing serial killers, attempting to put the minutiae of their behaviour into categories such as "Organised" (the killer takes time to meticulously select and stalk the victim) and "Disorganised" (the killer has no interest in the victim and will sometimes cover their face or knock them unconscious to obliterate their personality). But it was the magical element – the trance-like state that some profilers would go into before emerging to make startling pronouncements – that was most attractive to the police and public.

Britain had no great James Brussel or John Douglas back then. Instead there was a serious young criminology professor at Liverpool University called David Canter who was, with little fanfare, teaching his students concepts of his invention such as geographical profiling. His theory basically stated (and I'm paraphrasing) that if you have a circle of attacks, the killer probably lives in the middle of it. Canter's scrupulous research was proving highly accurate but a bit undramatic. He did not set the public's imagination on fire.

And then Paul Britton came along.

For weeks I've been trying to track down Britton with no success. Although he had at one time been Britain's most renowned criminal profiler, he's become a lot less conspicuous these past years, ever since he became mired in what must surely be his profession's most notorious incident. In fact, if any man could be said to personify criminal profiling's soaring highs and terrible lows, it is him. Now I am grocery shopping when my phone rings. It comes up as "Blocked".

"I'm sorry," says the voice. "My name's Paul Britton. I'm aware you've been trying to… sorry…" He sounds hesitant, self-effacing. I ask him if he'd be willing to talk to me about his criminal profiling days. I hear him sigh. He says he's a jobbing hostage negotiator now.

"Spending your life literally in the entrails of some poor soul who has been butchered is no way to pass your time," he says. (The use of the word "literally" isn't totally accurate. Criminal profilers rarely visit crime scenes. The entrails he went into would have been in police evidence photographs, and in his imagination, when he attempted to visualise the murderer.)

"Will you talk to me about it anyway?" I ask.

"There's a new Premier Inn next to Leicester railway station," he says.

He arrives at the hotel wearing a dramatic long black coat. We order coffee. "I don't know if I should tell you a little about how it all began for me?" he says. "Is that OK? Sorry. You need to stop me trundling off if I'm being redundant. I won't be remotely offended by that. But may I…?"

"Yes, yes, please do," I say.

"It started back in 1984," he says, "when a chap called David Baker, one of the finest detectives you could ever come across, visited my office…"

A young woman's body had been found on a lane near the NHS hospital where Britton then worked as a qualified clinical psychologist. She'd been stabbed while out walking her dogs. There were no suspects, and some instinct motivated David Baker to seek Britton's opinion.

"David is really the father of profiling," Britton says, "because he came and asked me the question. Do you follow me? If David hadn't come and asked, I would have had no reason to get involved."

It is quite obvious he wants me to say, "Oh, but you're the father of criminal profiling."

"Oh, but you're the father of criminal profiling," I say.

"I'm the first person who did it," he concedes. "Yes. But it wouldn't have happened if David hadn't come. Do you follow me?"

"Yes," I say. "I follow you."

And so Baker listened as Britton told him that the killer would be a young man in his mid-teens to early 20s, lonely and sexually immature, probably living at home with his parents, a manual worker comfortable with knives, and possessing a large collection of violent pornography.

"It turned out to be entirely correct and they were very quickly able to lay hands on the person responsible," Britton says. "A man called Bostock, I think it was."

Paul Bostock, who did indeed fit Britton's profile, confessed to the murder, and Britton became a celebrity. Glowing newspaper profiles called him the UK's James Brussel. The Home Office brought him in to finesse a newly created Offender Profiling Research Unit and asked him to appear in an ITV documentary series called Murder In Mind. He says he was reluctant to do it and agreed only after they explained they wanted to be seen to be at the cutting edge of psychological profiling and reminded him that "everything I'd done was very successful".

As the months progressed, he correctly profiled lots more sex murderers, almost all of them young men in their mid-teens to early 20s, living alone or at home with their parents and owning a big collection of violent pornography.

"There is a criticism…" I say.

"A criticism of what?" Britton unexpectedly snaps.

"That many of the murderers you successfully profiled were practically identical personality types," I say.

"Oh, well, that's after the event," he shrugs.

In fact during these golden years he did, according to his bestselling memoir The Jigsaw Man, successfully profile criminals who weren't the archetype. For instance, a blackmailer who slipped razor blades into Heinz baby products turned out to be a former police officer, just as he predicted. He was riding high.

And then it all fell apart.

On 15 July 1992, 23-year-old Rachel Nickell was found murdered on Wimbledon Common. She'd been stabbed 49 times in front of her two-year-old son. The police, as had become customary in cases like this, asked Britton to draw up an offender profile. Britton visualised the crime scene: "Closing my eyes I tried to step back into the pretty woodland glade on Wimbledon Common... I rubbed my eyes until white stars bounced across the ceiling," he later wrote. "I'd been concentrating so hard it was difficult to refocus" – and emerged to say the killer would be a single man, a manual labourer who lived at home with his parents or alone in a bedsit within walking distance of Wimbledon Common, and owned a collection of pornography. His deviancy would be escalating, he added. This would be his first murder (it was messy and amateurish) but he'd already be known for minor sexual offences.

It is, in retrospect, sort of understandable why they wrongly believed Colin Stagg was their man. In a terrible twist of fate, he fitted Britton's profile even more snugly, in fact, than the actual killer, Robert Napper, would turn out to. For instance, Stagg did indeed live in a bedsit a short walk from the common, whereas Napper lived 17 miles across London, in Plumstead.

Stagg had previously been cautioned by the police for sunbathing naked on Wimbledon Common and writing an obscene letter to a woman called Julie he'd contacted via a lonely hearts page in Loot magazine. A sign on his front door read, "Christians keep away. A pagan dwells here." Inside was a collection of pornographic magazines. However, there was no evidence he was in any way sexually deviant. As he writes in his memoir, Who Really Killed Rachel?, "I consider myself to be a perfectly normal person… a normal red-blooded male who yearned for the company of women… what I really craved was a solid, dependable relationship ultimately leading to marriage and children."

But yes, he told the police, he'd been walking with his dog on Wimbledon Common the day Nickell was murdered, as he did every day. The police, strongly suspecting they had the killer, asked Britton if he could devise a clever way to elicit a confession from Stagg, or eliminate him from their inquiry. He suggested that a covert officer should make contact and allow Stagg to befriend them. The police instructed an undercover police woman – "Lizzie James" – to write to Stagg, claiming to be a friend of Julie, the lonely heart from Loot.

And so she did. Unlike the prudish Julie, Lizzie wrote, she couldn't get his erotic letter out of her mind. To hammer home the hint, she added: "I have an odd taste in music, my favourite record being Walk On The Wild Side by Lou Reed."

Stagg, clearly bowled over by this wonderfully unexpected turn of events, responded immediately. "I'm painfully lonely," he wrote, asking Lizzie if she'd mind terribly if he could send her some of his sexual fantasies.

Lizzie replied that it would be a treat: "I'm sure your fantasies hold no bounds and you are as broad-minded and uninhibited as me." And so Stagg wrote back, detailing the two of them making gentle love in a park while whispering, "I love you."

The police were thrilled: Stagg had introduced the location of a park. Britton advised caution. It would clearly have fitted his profile better if Stagg's fantasy had been less tender and more, well, vicious. So, in her next letters, Lizzie upped the ante. Stagg mustn't hold back, she wrote, "because my fantasies hold no bounds and my imagination runs riot. Sometimes this worries me and it would be nice if you have the same unusual dreams as me… I want to feel you all powerful and overwhelming so that I am completely in your power, defenceless and humiliated."

"You need a damn good fucking by a real man," Stagg gamely replied. "I am going to make sure you scream in agony." He immediately clarified that he wasn't really a violent person. He was just saying it because it was the kind of erotic fantasy he gathered she wanted to hear – "If you found it offensive I can't apologise enough" – and it would be brilliant if she'd go round to his flat so he could cook her "my speciality rice bolognaise followed by my homemade raspberry mousse".

Nonetheless, Britton "noticed distinct elements of sadism" in Stagg's letters.

And on it went. Under Britton's direction Lizzie dropped hints to Stagg that she had a "dark secret", something "bad" and "brilliant" she'd done in her past, which aroused in her "the most exciting emotions". Stagg replied that he'd love to hear her dark secret and he had one, too: the police wrongly believed he had murdered Nickell, "because I am a loner and I have ancient native beliefs".

Lizzie responded that she rather wished he was the murderer: "It would make things easier for me, cos I've got something to tell you." It was her "dark secret". Maybe they should have a picnic in Hyde Park and she could reveal it then.

Stagg replied that he'd be thrilled to have a picnic and hear her dark secret, but it was only fair to inform her he definitely hadn't killed Nickell. Still, he inelegantly added, perhaps they could have sex and he could yank her head back with a belt while "indulging in carnal lusts every five minutes".

Lizzie's "dark secret" – as she finally informed Stagg in Hyde Park, a large team of undercover officers monitoring their every move – was that when she was a teenager she'd got involved with some "special people" and "a baby had had its throat cut. And then the baby's blood was put into a cup, and everybody had a drink, and it was the most electrifying atmosphere." After she and her satanic cult had drank the baby's blood they killed its mother: "She was laid out naked and these knives were brought out and this man handed me one of the knives and he asked me to cut the woman's throat, and I did, and then there was this big orgy, and I was with this man, well, this man was the best ever."

Lizzie looked Stagg in the eyes and said she could only ever truly love a man who'd done a similar thing. Stagg replied: "I think you're aiming a bit high."

During the weeks that followed, Lizzie persevered: "The thought of [the killer] is so exciting. It's a turn-on to think about the man that did it… I want someone like the man who did this thing. I want that man… If only you had done the Wimbledon Common murder, if only you had killed her, it would be all right."

"I'm terribly sorry," Colin would sadly reply, "but I haven't."

Still, he dutifully sent her increasingly violent sexual fantasies, involving knives and blood, etc, and when Britton read them he solemnly told the police: "You're looking at someone with a highly deviant sexuality that's present in a very small number of men in the general population. The chances of there being two such men on Wimbledon Common when Rachel was murdered are incredibly small."

Soon after, Stagg was arrested, charged with Nickell's murder, and spent the next 14 months in custody, during which time the real murderer, Robert Napper, killed a mother and her four-year-old daughter, Samantha and Jazmine Bissett, near his home in Plumstead. Finally the case went to the Old Bailey. The judge took one look at it and threw it out. He said the honey trap was "deceptive conduct of the grossest kind". And with that Britton's reputation, and the reputation of the criminal profiling profession, was ruined.

Now, at the Premier Inn, I say, "I'd like to talk about Colin Stagg." At this, Britton holds up his finger, silently riffles through his bag, and hands me a sheet of paper. It takes me a moment to understand what I'm reading. Then I get it: it is a statement, prepared by him, for anyone who might ever ask that question.

At the very beginning of the Nickell investigation – his statement claims – he told the Metropolitan police that Napper was their man. But they wouldn't listen because he had an alibi.

I look up from the page.

"Did you really tell them that?" I ask. Britton nods. "Can you give me proof?" I ask. "Is there anybody out there who'd be willing to say, 'Absolutely yes, this is totally true'?"

"There are a number of people who could say that. None of them will."

"Because of their vested interests?"

"Because of their pensions and their situation and their interests. But I had a phone call from two people who said, 'I was there. I know what happened. You're right. Forgive me for not saying anything. Maybe when I've collected my pension I'll say so.' "

"I don't suppose any of them have collected their pensions yet?"

"Folks look after their own lives. You can't blame them. It's rough and tumble…"

"Oh," I say.

He looks at me. "Let me try and help you with this…" he says.

For the next half-hour he patiently breaks down the events of the honey trap for me to demonstrate that at no point did he do anything wrong. His rule throughout was that "the suspect, Colin Stagg, must be the person who introduces every single element. What you may then do is reflect that back. You must never introduce it first. If you do, you're fulfilling your hopes, you see?"

I am open-mouthed. "But what about Lizzie's past ritual murders?" I say.

"How… sorry… what are you thinking there?" Britton softly replies, shooting me a hostile glance.

"She said she could only love a man who'd done something similar," I say.

"If someone who you were walking out with said that to you," Britton says, "what would you do?" He pauses. "What would you do?"

"He was clearly desperate to have sex with her," I say.

"I don't know the answer to that," Britton says.

He glares at me and repeats his position. At no point during the operation did he cross the line.

"Not even when you said that the chance of there being two such 'highly sexually deviant' men on Wimbledon Common at the same time was incredibly small?" I ask.

"Well, remember," he replies, "Robert Napper was there, Colin Stagg wasn't. Therefore…?"

"Stagg was there that morning," I say.

"But he wasn't on the common at the same time!" says Britton.

He shoots me a victorious look. There is a silence.

"Do you think Colin Stagg has a deviant sexual personality?" I ask.

"I don't know Colin Stagg," he replies. There is a frosty silence. "Are these the questions you came to ask?" he says.

A few moments later we get the bill.

Two weeks later and I'm attending a conference for criminal profilers organised by David Canter, the now not so young criminology professor, at South Bank University, south London. The spectre of Paul Britton hovers grimly over the proceedings. During his opening address, Canter flicks a switch and photographs of Rachel Nickell and Colin Stagg fill the screen. "This is the bane of our lives," he roars.

Indeed, when Mr Justice Ognall threw out the case against Stagg on the first day of his trial in 1994, he was scathing. "The notion of psychological profiling in any circumstances as proof of identity is redolent of considerable danger," he told the court. "I don't wish to give encouragement to investigating or prosecuting authorities to seek to construct or supplement a case on this kind of basis."

During a break I get talking to Lee Rainbow. He's a behavioural investigative adviser ("profiler" being a prohibited word in this post-Britton world) with the National Policing Improvement Agency. People such as Rainbow – former students of Canter – are now trying to pick up the pieces, make profiling respectable.

"Paul Britton, and people like him, had a mystical status," he explains. "The police would go to them, and they'd give an opinion, and there was no requirement to back that opinion up. And the police were seduced by it. They were like deity figures. Psychologists! They were never challenged."

Rainbow says that for the past 10 years he and his colleagues have been quietly "professionalising the discipline", working out of an old mansion in the woods near Basingstoke, trying to turn the pseudoscience into an actual science. I ask if I can visit the mansion and he goes quiet and says they'll let me know.

The conference speakers are scrupulous about presenting only papers based on statistics. And so, as the day progresses, I learn that in New Zealand sexual fantasy rapists (who act out their long-harboured daydreams) are willing to travel 6.62km to commit their crimes, whereas violent, spur-of-the-moment rapists tend to travel only 3.71km. Almost everything here is stranger rape related. It's the meat and potatoes of the profession because, as one profiler tells me, the mind of, say, a robber is not a mystery.

An irrational part of me can't help missing the crazy psychological profilers of old. At least, as they madly flailed around, they sometimes got it magically right. The facts presented here seem so cautious as to be unnecessary.

The next day I email the National Policing Improvement Agency and tell them this. How can these things ever translate into convictions? They email back to say it's a fair point and why don't I come over to Bramshill House, their mansion in the woods near Basingstoke, to see for myself?

The mansion looks huge and impressive as you approach it through the woods. A herd of white deer grazes in the grounds. All this once belonged to the 2nd Baron Brocket, the notorious Nazi sympathiser from The Remains Of The Day, but now the police own it, for free, though they need to spend £1m a year on upkeep. This is where they look after the DNA database and the national injuries database (a computer filled with lots of pictures of wounds) and Missing Persons Bureau.

Lee Rainbow and Sean Sutton (the head of Crime Analysis here) meet me. Sutton points to an ugly low building inside which, he says, his 72 staff sit at computers all day, watching DVDs of rape victim testimonies, feeding every bit of information, however tiny, into a vast "question set", including sex acts enacted or attempted, verbal "behaviour" (were they insulting, apologetic, reassuring?), age, description and on and on, an ever growing bible of data, every permutation considered and cross-referenced.

Sutton smiles. "What we have is a marvellous pot of data. We are the Lloyd's underwriting service of linking analysis."

"And now," Rainbow adds, "if a Paul Britton-type profiler proclaims that the suspect is a narcissistic bed-wetter, the police can say, 'So what?' It may be right, but it's of no use whatsoever, because we have no database of narcissists and we have no database of bed-wetters."

They won't show me the room, nor can I see their "unusual activities box", the part of the computer that contains the anomalies. If a rape contains a highly uncommon element, something evident in less than 5% of attacks, it is stored in this "box". I ask Sutton to give me examples and he dispassionately reels off a disturbing list: "Bleach. Lemon-flavoured Jeyes Fluid. Domestos. Superglue." Later, they email me some more: "Cutting of victim's hair (head and/or pubic). Re-dressing the victim in different clothing. Re-dressing self in victim's clothing. Urinating on victim/asking victim to urinate on offender. Licking victim's shoes/feet."

"These things are extraordinarily rare," says Sutton. "They're almost freebies for us, as they stand out like a sore thumb."

One of these incredibly rare events happened on 27 December 2005. A six-year-old girl was snatched from her bath, thrown into a van and sexually assaulted. One of Sutton's staff fed the data into the computer: "Child victims", "Geography", "Abduction/assault in victim's residence", "Abduction – vehicle involvement", "specific speech" (he was threatening, telling her that if she made a noise she would not see her family again), "Type of sexual activity" and so on. Straight away a tiny number of names popped up. One, Peter Voisey, was arrested, convicted, and is now serving life.

But, they say, their work shouldn't be judged on those rare, easy ones. Nor should it be judged on seemingly wild suppositions they still make around here such as, "If a rapist removes only one leg of a victim's trousers or stockings, it means he uses prostitutes."

"How do you know that?" I ask.

"Because prostitutes only take one leg out, for security," Rainbow says.

I look at him. This does seem quite extraordinary, but he's such a meticulous person, I suppose I have to assume he's right.

When I ask what their work should be judged on, their faces light up and they say, "84%."

"84% of what?" I ask.

"84% of rapists have been convicted of a crime," Sutton says. "Any crime! Parking in a disabled bay. Or robbery. So don't go looking for your sex criminals. Look for your burglars."

"Isn't that a bad fact?" I say. "Surely it doesn't narrow down your suspect pool. How's that fact going to help?"

"It's a great fact!" Rainbow says. "It means we already have the rapist's name! He will have a criminal record."

Until now, Rainbow explains, the supposition propagated by people such as Britton was that rapists and sex murderers graduated from committing minor sexual offences. It sounded like a shrewd theory, one that gave psychological profilers reasons for existing. Indeed, it was one of the main reasons they first went after Colin Stagg. The problem is, Rainbow now says, they've taken the time to do the statistical research and it turns out not to be true.

"There's no data to back it up," he says. Whereas, he says, the 84% statistic is true. His point is that the 84% statistic is not the kind of intriguing deduction that would captivate an old-style profiler. It doesn't tell you much about the labyrinthine mind of the sex criminal. It's an ungainly, dull fact, but it is real. And that makes it lovely.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 14 May 2010 | 5:13 pm

What I'm really thinking: The life model

'People usually want to know whether I worry about getting an erection. That's never happened'

Standing naked in front of a group of people isn't the embarrassing part. In fact, it's quite relaxing. There are strict rules about posing for only 20 minutes at a time, and there are heaters blowing hot air to keep you warm. The bit I found daunting to begin with was actually taking off my clothes. There's something much more intimate about undressing in front of another person. I have to ask other people to leave the room while I do it. Once I'm naked, I'm fine.

People always say they could never do what I do, but I think sexuality is more apparent in the clothes you wear. Naked bodies are quite unsexual. They also usually want to know whether I worry about getting an erection while I'm being drawn, but that's never happened.

There are definitely fewer male than female life models, though, and I get big groups in my classes – mostly women. I always put my robe on at the end of the class and go round to see what they've drawn. The pictures are often very good, but older women tend to put a particular amount of detail into certain parts of my anatomy that the younger ones don't bother with.

It is odd seeing my body from so many different angles, but it's also interesting. And I find it very calming to have to keep still for so long. Sometimes I'll be thinking about my next pose, or what people are sketching, but usually I just let my mind wander. It's really nice to have an opportunity to pause and really think about things.

• Tell us what you're really thinking at mind@guardian.co.uk

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

Should Large Moons Be Called 'Satellite Planets'?

If the "Avatar" writer/producer James Cameron had consulted with Pluto researcher Alan Stern, he might have introduced a new term to sci-fi audiences: the "Satellite Planet."
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 May 2010 | 4:55 pm

Atlantis off on NASA's third-to-last shuttle flight

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The space shuttle Atlantis and six veteran astronauts blasted off on Friday from the Kennedy Space Center to deliver a Russian module and spare parts to the International Space Station.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 14 May 2010 | 4:11 pm

Baby coral move towards sound, finds study

Research has found that coral larvae detect and move towards sound when looking for reefs, but that manmade noises may also endanger it

Baby corals find their way to reefs by detecting the sound of snapping shrimps and grunting fish, scientists revealed today.

It had long been assumed that coral larvae drift aimlessly after being released by their parent colonies and almost by chance land back on reefs. But scientists now believe that though they are anatomically very simple, the larvae can pick up the sound of a reef and head towards it.

The discovery is worrying as it is feared the larvae might also be drawn to dangerous man-made sounds in increasingly noisy oceans or struggle to find reefs because human noise masks their sound.

One of the experts involved in the study, Steve Simpson, senior researcher in the University of Bristol's School of Biological Sciences, said: "Until recently we assumed that these larvae drift aimlessly, but this study shows they are able to detect sound and move towards it. This could help them find bustling reef habitats but may also draw them towards human sources of noise such as turbines and drilling operations."

Simpson said a reef was a noisy place but usually when humans dive they hear little but their own breathing. But actually a reef is full of "clicks from snapping shrimps that combine to produce a crackling noise and grunts and chirps produced by fish as they communicate."

Simpson explained how larvae are separated from reefs in the first place: "Coral eggs and larvae are released by their parent colonies (often in dramatic mass spawning events – analogous to a fireworks night on the reef) and then drift out to sea where they spend a few hours to days growing and developing in the plankton.

"When they are competent to settle onto the seabed they seek out suitable solid substrate (eg a bare patch of rock), and then cement themselves and gradually start to lay down their skeleton. Over time they bud – split – asexually, and eventually build a new colony, sometimes metres across."

Simpson discovered several years ago that baby reef fish use sound as a cue to find coral reefs, but was amazed when his Dutch collaborators working in the Caribbean started finding that coral larvae, which must quickly find a safe place to land or die, can do the same thing.

The team designed a "choice chamber", offering small invertebrates two or more contrasting conditions and allows them to move freely towards the one they prefer.

They played recordings of a coral reef in one area and the results clearly showed that the flea-sized larvae were strongly attracted to the noise.

How the creatures, which look like tiny eggs covered in hairs, detect sound is unknown. Simpson said: "At close range sound stirs up water molecules, and this could waggle tiny hair cells on the surface of the larvae, providing vital directional information for baby corals."

Simpson said the increase of manmade noise in oceans and seas was a worry.

"Anthropogenic noise has increased dramatically in recent years, with small boats, shipping, drilling, pile driving and seismic testing now sometimes drowning out the natural sounds of fish and snapping shrimps," he said.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 14 May 2010 | 4:00 pm

10 Wild Volcano Facts

Here are some amazing facts about volcanoes.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 May 2010 | 3:51 pm

UK doctors demand research reform

Cumbersome rules for clinical trials are driving research overseas, medical scientists warn.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/news/rss/today/~4/TnvCw4Q0PuA" height="1" width="1"/>
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 14 May 2010 | 3:34 pm

All Modern Life on Earth Derived from Common Ancestor

Although life could have originated many times over, only one of those likely primordial events yielded the array of organisms living today.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 May 2010 | 3:15 pm

Setting time limits for hunting and fishing may help maintain wildlife populations

Hunting and fishing quotas limit the number of game animals or fish an individual may take based on harvests from the previous year. But according to a new study, this strategy may jeopardize wildlife populations.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 May 2010 | 3:00 pm

Immune system compromised during spaceflight, study finds

Immunobiologists have discovered that spaceflight changes the activity of genes controlling immune and stress response, perhaps leading to more sickness.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 May 2010 | 3:00 pm

Researchers discover additional benefit of vitamin A

Vitamin A is critical to maternal health and child survival, yet in most developing countries Vitamin A deficiency is a leading cause of blindness and increased child mortality. Scientists recently discovered a link between offspring lung function and maternal vitamin A supplementation.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 May 2010 | 3:00 pm

Black holes: Gas blowers of the universe

Supermassive black holes with the mass of many millions of stars have been detected at the centre of many large galaxies. A super-massive black hole acts like a lurking "monster" at the centre of the galaxy which swallows the surrounding material through the intensity of its gravitational pull. X-ray observations indicate that a large amount of energy is produced by the in-fall of matter into a black hole, and ejected in powerful jets. Astronomers have now shown that these jets eject matter not only from their host galaxies but even the gas between the galaxy group members.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 14 May 2010 | 3:00 pm

Jury Reaches Decision in Brain-Scan Test Case

After a judge excluded brain scan evidence offered by the plaintiff, a jury quickly found for the defense in a Brooklyn sexual harassment case this week.

The case, which drew national attention following a Wired.com article earlier this month, was one of the first times that fMRI brain scanning had been offered as evidence in court.

David Zevin, the plaintiff’s lead attorney, had argued that his client, temp worker Cynette Wilson, had been blacklisted from assignments after complaining about sexual harassment at a work site. The plaintiff’s key witness claimed his boss at the staffing agency, Edwin Medina, told him not to give Wilson any more assignments. The staffing agency denied the allegation.

To try to prove his witness was not lying, Zevin contacted the brain scanning company Cephos, which agreed to provide their fMRI lie-detection test for free. When asked several questions like, “Did Edwin Medina tell you not to place Cynette because she was too legally savvy?” the witness, according to Cephos, answered truthfully.

But the New York State Court jury felt otherwise. They deliberated for less than half an hour before finding for the defense.

“Given that the jury took so little time to deliberate, it certainly suggests that they did not believe that this witness was credible,” wrote Jessica Cortes of Davis & Gilbert, lead attorney for the defense, in an e-mail to Wired.com. “The plaintiff’s witness admitted under oath to the jury that his earlier sworn testimony — which was the basis of the plaintiff’s case and her only alleged evidence of retaliation — was not true. So it certainly begs the question as to how reliable the fMRI test could be?”

But Zevin said that his witness’ statements in the previous sworn testimony were minor timeline issues and that on the core issue of whether Medina had blackballed Wilson, his witness was telling the truth.

Cortes successfully argued in pretrial motions that the fMRI evidence should be excluded because it was the fundamental right of juries, not machines, to determine the credibility of witnesses, regardless of their respective accuracy. In this case, the jury’s estimation of the case presumably differed from that delivered by Cephos’ brain-scan report.

The line-of-attack sidestepped the lively scientific debate over the reliability of brain-scanning techniques. The judge in the Brooklyn case plans to issue a legal opinion on why he excluded the fMRI evidence within the next several days.

Meanwhile, in a Tennessee Federal court, Cephos’ fMRI evidence is getting a much more thorough vetting. In a case involving Medicare and Medicaid fraud, the brain scans are going through a Daubert hearing, the Federal court process that determines the admissibility of scientific evidence. The hearing began yesterday and wrapped up this morning. A ruling will come before June 1, when the trial is slated to begin.

According to an observer at the trial who ScienceInsider’s Greg Miller interviewed last night, the hearing was not clearly going in any direction.

“At the end of the day, it wasn’t clear who was winning,” [University of Pennsylvania cognitive neuroscientist Martha] Farah said. But she says that Judge [Tu] Pham seems determined to hear everyone out.

“I think that we are getting a fairly complete picture of what’s known and not known about the validity of this method,’” Miller wrote.

If the evidence is admitted, it will be the first time fMRI evidence about the truthfulness of testimony makes it into a U.S. court.

See Also:

• Lie-Detection Brain Scan Could Be Used in Court for First Time
• Brain Scan Evidence Rejected by Brooklyn Court
• Scanning Dead Salmon in fMRI Machine Highlights Risk of Red …
• MRI Lie Detection to Get First Day in Court
• Courtroom First: Brain Scan Used in Murder Sentencing

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 | 14 May 2010 | 2:35 pm

Earth in the Balance: 7 Crucial Tipping Points

We examine seven possible tipping points for living beings on Earth, including climate change, fresh water shortages, species decimation and more.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 May 2010 | 2:23 pm

How Does the Sun Affect the Earth?

The 1974 horror film "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" kicks off with brilliant footage of solar flares and descends into violence and mayhem. While there's no evidence to suggest an actual link between increased solar activity and human violence, it can ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 May 2010 | 2:17 pm

Herschel's New Look at Galaxy Evolution

Astronomers and space enthusiasts have been gazing at galaxies for decades and ESA's new space observatory, Herschel, is adding its powerful detection capabilities in the far-infrared to the effort.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 May 2010 | 2:01 pm

Editor's Picks: Iron Man, ZombieSat, Fat Dinos and More

If you weren't able to read every story Discovery News published this week (we forgive you), not to worry. Discovery News has got you covered. Here are the top five stories that we've selected as this week's must-reads: 5. Grown ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 May 2010 | 1:16 pm

Atlantis launches on final voyage

Space shuttle Atlantis launches from Florida on what is expected to be its final mission before retirement.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 May 2010 | 1:07 pm

Shuttle Atlantis Blasts Off on Final Voyage

The 32nd and final flight for Atlantis is taking six astronauts and a lot of gear to the space station.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 May 2010 | 12:41 pm

Facebook: I Can't Quit You

You see, I use you, Facebook, as part of my job. I'm a journalist and Web producer, and as soon as this blog goes live, I'll be posting a link to it on my professional Facebook page as well as ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 May 2010 | 12:31 pm

Beta Version of Microsoft Office 2010 Now Available

The test versions of Microsoft's upcoming Office 2010 became available today.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 May 2010 | 11:58 am

Can I hear the sound of silence?

Silent movies can trigger a soundtrack in our minds, according to research that unravels the inner workings of the brain

The next time you are sat in front of the TV, push the mute button and keep watching the images. What can you hear? The chances are that your brain will try to fill in for some of the lost sound track. The pictures on the screen trigger memories and these are replayed in your mind – along with their accompanying audio. The sounds you are used to hearing when you see certain things will substitute for the sound track you have just silenced. You hear them in your mind's ear.

The effect is strangely fascinating. We know the brain is great at filling in gaps, essentially guessing what is happening when our senses fall short. Ergo, our visual field isn't obscured all the time by the two black dots – the duff patches of the retina where the optic nerves are attached. But it's the extent to which our brains do this, and how oblivious we are to it, that amazes me.

The mind's ear was the focus of a recent study at Antonio Damasio's lab at the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. The design of the experiment was quite simple. Volunteers clambered into an MRI scanner and watched silent movie clips. Each five second video included a scene that implied a sound. There were animals in action: a howling dog, a mooing cow, a crowing cock. There were musical instruments: a violin, a bass and a piano key being struck. Three final videos showed a chainsaw cutting down a tree, coins being tossed into a glass and a vase being dropped and smashed. All played out in silence, but even typing that I could hear the buzz of the saw, the sharp clink of coins, the crash of the vase.

So what did the brain scans show? First, it was clear that watching the silent movies made the auditory cortex spring into action. So visual stimuli triggered activity in the parts of the brain that process sounds. The next interesting result was that the more people said they could "hear" the sound in their mind, the more obvious was the activity in the auditory cortex.

But it is the final part of the study, which has been published in Nature Neuroscience, that is perhaps the most striking. Across the group of volunteers, it was clear that brain activity differed for noises made by animals, instruments or objects. So the dogs and cows may produce a similar level of brain activity, but this was distinguishable from that linked to instruments, and again from crashing vases and chainsawed trees.

What does it all mean? Kaspar Meyer, the lead author of the study, explained the implications of the work in an email. It tells us something about how the brain operates. A visual stimulus is processed along normal visual pathways in the brain; this then triggers a memory in associated cortices that is re-experienced when it is projected back into other parts of the brain, such as the auditory cortex. "You would not hear a howling sound in your mind's ear upon seeing a video clip of a howling dog if you had not (simultaneously) seen and heard a howling dog before," Dr Meyer wrote.

How does our brain know the difference between a real sound and a remembered audio clip that is being replayed in our minds? Whatever we "hear" in our mind's ear is not as crisp and defined as a true sound. Mostly, our brains can distinguish the two. The work might, though, shed light on hallucinations, be they visual or auditory, where people think they are experiencing real sounds or images that are actually generated in the mind.

In the time that's passed since I was in touch with Kaspar, a few other questions have come to mind. Are these sounds always playing out in the mind's ear, even when we don't have the TV on mute? Every time I see and hear a dog bark, am I hearing my memories of dogs barking too? Presumably, if every visual stimuli triggered a memory of a sound, we'd never get any peace. Perhaps our brains know when to stop listening to themselves.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 14 May 2010 | 10:49 am

IPCC chief defends climate body

The IPCC chief defends the work of the climate body, but says it must "listen and learn" from recent criticism.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 May 2010 | 10:47 am

Early Birds’ Wings Probably Didn’t Flap

The wings were willing, but the feathers were weak. Delicate, thin-shafted plumage would have made flapping difficult if not impossible for two prehistoric birds, a new analysis of fossil feathers suggests.

Their feathers probably would have buckled or snapped during strong flapping or sharp maneuvers, so the primitive birds may have been limited to gliding, says Robert Nudds, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Manchester in England. He and paleontologist Gareth Dyke of University College Dublin report an engineering analysis of feathers from the ancient birds Archaeopteryx and Confuciusornis in the May 14 Science.

Nudds and Dyke used a simple formula often applied to bridges and beams to estimate the load-carrying capacities of the birds’ feathers, based on fossil remains. The team also looked at the feathers of four modern birds with a variety of feather and flight types — a pigeon, a gull, an albatross and a vulture.

Even though the feathers of Archaeopteryx and Confuciusornis were about the same size as those of a modern-day pigeon, they had smaller diameter shafts that rendered them much weaker.

“Even if these feathers had solid shafts, they’re not very impressive,” says Lawrence Witmer, a paleontologist at Ohio University in Athens who was not part of the new study. “They’re so flimsy that they couldn’t have supported much weight.”

In straight and level flight, the lift generated by a bird’s wings, tail and other flight surfaces must support the bird’s weight. But during extreme maneuvers such as high-speed turns — analogous to a fighter pilot “pulling g’s” — the forces on a bird’s feathers are much higher, Nudds says. In those cases, birds rely on their bones and feathers having a “margin of safety” that makes them several times stronger than needed for straight and level flight.

In modern birds, feathers typically fail when forces acting perpendicular to the central shaft cause that load-bearing structure to buckle, Nudds says. To prevent this, lift-generating feathers in present-day birds are many times stronger than necessary for level flight, from a factor of around six in vultures to a factor of more than 13 in gulls. But in the ancient birds, margins were much smaller: 2.9 for Confuciusornis and four for Archaeopteryx. If these birds had feathers with partially hollow shafts similar to those of modern feathers, these margins could have been even lower, the team argues.

The ancient birds may have simply glided from one branch to another, the researchers say, or “parachuted” from high spots to low by splaying their wings and slowing their descent.

Other recent studies of Archaeopteryx — a fossil iconic of the transition from dinosaurs to birds — have also cast doubt on the creature’s flying ability.

Research suggests, for example, that although Archaeopteryx had large enough feathers for flight, it didn’t have the right bone structure to take the large upstroke required for efficiently powered flight, says Richard Prum, an ornithologist at Yale University.

“Not only is the shoulder joint oriented wrong for powered flight in Archaeopteryx and Confuciusornis, but the new study shows that even the feathers aren’t built right for it,” says Phil Senter, a paleontologist at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina. “I’ve thought for some time that the feathers of nonavian dinosaurs and [primitive] birds were primarily display structures, and the lack of powered flying ability is consistent with that idea,” he notes.

As far as Archaeopteryx is concerned, Witmer concurs, to a degree. In recent studies, Archaeopteryx “has become less birdlike … and is starting to look like just another feathered predatory dinosaur.” He notes, though, that at this point the features of Archaeopteryx still seem closer to birds than to other dinosaurs.

The lack of modern flying ability shouldn’t cast poor light on Archaeopteryx, Witmer adds. “A lot of ancient birds were probably pretty clumsy.” The ability to glide or parachute from one branch to another was still an advantage, he suggests: “Anything that slows an organism’s descent would add to its survivability.”

It’s possible, Witmer notes, that some aspects of the primitive feathers yet to be recognized by scientists compensated for their structural weakness.

Image: Composite of Todd Marshall

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 14 May 2010 | 10:28 am

Fragmented Forests Could be Boon to Snakes, Bad for Birds

Snakes feast on birds at the edge of fragmented forests
Source: Livescience.com | 14 May 2010 | 10:25 am

New Robotic Stealth Fighter Jet Set to Soar

Boeing’s sleek fighter-size Phantom Ray stealth jet will make its first flight by year’s end.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 May 2010 | 10:20 am

East Africa seeks more Nile water

Four East African states sign an agreement to seek more of the River Nile's water, despite anger in Egypt.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 May 2010 | 10:18 am

Mass Animal Extinctions, Not Climate Change, Killed Plants

A gradual dying out of large mammals 15,000 years ago, lead to the disappearance of certain plant populations, a new study says. The findings contradict pervious ideas that climate change or human hunting could have killed off these plants.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 May 2010 | 9:52 am

Listen to the Haunting Internal Sounds of Bugs

For the first time, scientists have recorded sounds emanating from inside living insects, such as flies, mosquitoes and ladybugs. Listen.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 May 2010 | 9:28 am

Iceland Volcano Ash Plume Collides with Weather Front

Ash plume from Iceland volcano hits weather system, shifts direction.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 May 2010 | 8:58 am

Anti-Aging Secrets in Girl's Genes?

By analyzing the genes of a 17-year-old girl who is the size of an infant, scientists hope to find ways to achieve eternal youth.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 May 2010 | 8:43 am

Dementia Can Render Flavors Meaningless

Dementia can take away the meaning of flavors, a new study finds.
Source: Livescience.com | 14 May 2010 | 8:35 am

Barbie Becomes A Computer Engineer

Barbie is helping to new recruit women for the engineering profession.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 14 May 2010 | 8:26 am

Pachauri: Glaciers mistake in IPCC report was 'human failure'

Head of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change admits error but defends use of 'grey literature'

Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the international body which produces key reports to advise governments on climate change, today defended the use of "grey literature" which is not published in scientific journals.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has come under fire after a high-profile mistake was exposed in its most recent assessment of the scale and impacts of global warming — a claim the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035.

The claim came from a report by charity WWF and was based on remarks made by an Indian scientist which were never published in a scientific, peer-reviewed journal.

The IPCC has said it regretted the mistake, revealed at the height of the row over climate science which blew up amid efforts to secure a new global agreement to tackle rising greenhouse gas emissions.

In a hearing today of the InterAcademy Council, an organisation of the world's science academies which is conducting an independent review of the processes and procedures of the IPCC, Pachauri described the inclusion of the glacier claim as "human failure" which should not have happened.

But the IPCC's chairman said there was a need to use information which was not from peer-reviewed scientific journals, because in some places that was the only research that had been done.

He said the media and other sections of society had misunderstood the role of such information, labelling it grey literature, "as if it was some form of grey muddied water flowing down the drains".

Dr Pachauri said academic work being done by bodies including the International Energy Agency, the World Bank, national governments and charities "cannot be ignored", but had to be closely examined to make sure it was robust.

He said the mistake about the glaciers should have been picked up by the authors of the section of the Fourth Assessment report in which it was included, or by its reviewers.

He said there had been comments from contributors before publication but "they were not very specific in this regard".

He told the hearing in Amsterdam: "Somehow it just missed everybody's attention.

"It is in my view a human failure which happened a few times, we just have to make sure something like this doesn't happen once again."

Dr Pachauri said the mistake was buried in the 1,000 page report and did not get used in the much-shorter summary which is written for use by policy-makers.

And he said: "We have been less than adequate in informing the public that, yes, there was an error but that does not take away anything from the fact the glaciers are melting at a very rapid rate.

"This is where our communication skills need to be enhanced."

Even if the Himalayan glaciers did not melt by 2035, glaciers around the world were in decline, with water supplies predicted to fall and the melting ice contributing to sea level rises, he said.

"Although there was this error, there's a whole lot of valid information and assessment on glaciers which we can only ignore at our own peril and the peril of generations yet to come," he said.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 14 May 2010 | 6:10 am

Breast size: a human anomaly

Carole Jahme shines the cold light of evolutionary psychology on readers' problems. This week: breast size

From John, a student

I'm an animal science student and during our mammogenesis lecture a professor brought up the obvious, but seemingly overlooked notion of the size of the female human breast. Other species do have obvious teats and great apes have breasts, but humans are at the extreme end – obviously not all – but it does make one wonder on a selection and genetic level, why?

Carole replies:

The full, plump bosom seen in the human ape is an anomaly. No other primate has a permanent breast. During lactation all the ape species develop a full breast to store milk. In non-human primates (and other mammal species) a full breast is a clear indication the female is suckling young. Not so in humans. In addition, females in early adolescence can start developing a breast before menarche and females maintain breasts post menopause, so the full breast is not a reliable indicator of fertility. Neither is size an indicator of milk production – bigger breasts don't necessarily produce more milk. It is the symmetry of the breasts that indicates the phenotypic quality and fitness of the individual female, not the size.

The sex appeal of rounded female buttocks and plump breasts is both universal and unique to the human primate¹. Fertile women tend not to store fat around the abdomen, so the waist of a fertile female is usually slimmer than her hips. Other female primates do not have fat deposited on the rump. For example, the female gorilla has a skinny posterior and stores fat on her abdomen, as do human males. So it has been widely theorised that the plump buttock and bosom of modern women are sexual ornaments, selected for by ancestral males². Seen from a distance the adult female form, either from behind or from the front, can be recognised as distinct from the male of the species. An hourglass figure, plus youthfulness, would have attracted male hominids looking for mating opportunity³. The hourglass figure remains attractive to modern males. Over the centuries females attempting to increase their mate choice have dressed to exploit this shape (corsets, bustles and wonder bras). If ancestral males had not shown a preference for the mutation producing symmetrical, plump bosoms, modern women's chests would resemble the flat thoraxes of the other apes.

Today, plastic surgery is used by some women, particularly those working in the sex industry, to enhance bust size and exploit ancient male programming. But the ultimate function of the human breast becomes clear only when an infant is born and lactation begins.

1) Miller, G (2000) The Mating Mind: How sexual choice shaped the evolution of human nature. Vintage

2) Moller, AP, Soler, M and Thornhill R (1995) Breast asymmetry, sexual selection, and human reproductive success. Ethology and Sociobiology. 16 (3): 207-219

3) Singh, D (1995) Female health, attractiveness, and desirability for relationships: Role of breast asymmetry and waist-to-hip ratio. Ethology and Sociobiology. 16 (6): 465-481

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Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 14 May 2010 | 4:47 am

Conservationists ask the public to help save moths and bats

Moths and bats are "in crisis", say conservationists, who are asking the public to take part in a national survey.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 May 2010 | 4:24 am

Swan seen eating large eel

A swan nesting on the Neath canal in Wales is seen tackling and then eating a large eel.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 May 2010 | 3:41 am

Warming will 'kill off 20% of lizards'

Reptiles that 'tolerate heat and should be well buffered against warming are the victims' as world enters 'era of climate change extinctions'

One–fifth of lizard species globally will become extinct by 2080 due to global warming, according to a study using data from more than 1,200 populations worldwide.

The research found that more than a 10th of Mexico's Sceloporus lizard populations have been driven to extinction in the last 35 years, with the figure projected to increase to almost 40% by 2080. The scientists projected their findings globally using data from other lizard populations around the world.

The findings come in the wake of immense criticism over the failure of world leaders to live up to a commitment to reduce biodiversity loss by 2010. Professor Barry Sinervo at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who led the study, said he believes "we have now entered the era of climate change extinctions".

Although we may not be accustomed to considering lizards as important players within our ecosystems in the UK, he warns that the reptiles occupy diverse ecological roles in ecosystems across the globe and their reduced numbers will have important implications for ecosystems and maintaining species diversity. "Their loss could cause a collapse at higher levels of the food webs," he said.

"Many people appreciate that climate warming may lead to extinction in the future," said Prof Raymond Huey an evolutionary physiologist at the University of Washington, who was not directly involved in the study. "But this paper shows that climate-induced extinction has already arrived and that more is coming. What is especially concerning is that lizards – a group of animals that tolerate heat and should be well buffered against warming – are the victims."

Scientists made the initial discovery by distributing an electronic device across 200 sites in Mexico where the lizards were both thriving and had already gone extinct. They found that rapid warming was causing the animals to spend more time in cooler retreats, preventing them from finding food and reproducing at a level able to maintain a stable population size. The reptiles do no produce their own heat internally and so are dependent on the sun.

When the researchers plotted the thermal biological data from the Sceloporus lizards, and more than 1,200 other populations found worldwide, against projected temperature rises they discovered that global warming will drive 39% of all global lizard populations and one fifth of all lizard species to extinction by 2080.

A drastic cut in CO2 production which limited temperature rise might enable losses to be limited to 6% of species, the study predicts. However, given the time lag required for current levels of CO2 to decline in the atmosphere and the projected rise in temperatures that we have already observed, Sinervo believes it is unlikely that more extinctions could be avoided.

Huey said the paper was a call to arms for scientists and policymakers. "This is a mission critical paper that sends urgent messages to two groups. First, it should prompt government officials to draft regulatory changes that may slow the growth of greenhouse gasses. Second, it sends a strong message to biologists - we need to get busy and start studying extinctions [their extent and causes] rather than just predicting future extinctions."

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 14 May 2010 | 3:41 am

Climate link to lizard extinction

Climate change could wipe out 20% of the world's lizard species by 2080, according to a global-scale study.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 May 2010 | 3:22 am

Folk medicine threat to wild dogs

Half of all wild dog species such as jackals, foxes and wolves are harvested for traditional folk medicines, scientists warn.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 14 May 2010 | 2:59 am