Neuroscientists identify synaptic defect in brain area involved in Fragile X syndrome

Researchers have identified novel synaptic defects in an area of the brain that is involved in the debilitating emotional symptoms of Fragile X syndrome.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Jun 2010 | 12:00 pm

X-ray diffraction microscope reveals 3-D internal structure of whole cell

Three-dimensional imaging is dramatically expanding our ability to examine biological specimens enabling a peek into internal structures. Recent advance in X-ray diffraction method has greatly extended the limit of this approach. Method can be applied to organelles, viruses and cells and could impact treatment of human diseases.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Jun 2010 | 12:00 pm

Alcohol use and smoking are associated with headaches in high schoolers

Alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking were associated with increased migraines and tension-type headaches in high school students, according to new research. Coffee drinking and physical inactivity were associated specifically with migraines.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Jun 2010 | 12:00 pm

Scientists uncover protein that thwarts tumor invasion

Researchers have determined that cancer cells lacking a key protein are more invasive and more likely to metastasize, providing a possible drug target to combat certain tumor types.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Jun 2010 | 12:00 pm

Detecting tumors faster

To diagnose cancer reliably, doctors usually conduct a biopsy including tissue analysis, which is a time-consuming process. A microscopic image sensor, fitted in an endoscope, is being developed for in vivo cancer diagnosis, to speed up the detection of tumors.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Jun 2010 | 12:00 pm

CPAP therapy restores brain tissue in adults with sleep apnea, study finds

Obstructive sleep apnea patients had reductions of grey-matter volume at baseline but showed significant grey-matter volume increase after three months of CPAP therapy, according to new research.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Jun 2010 | 12:00 pm

New myeloma drug shows promise in early testing

A drug designed to target cancerous plasma cells appears promising in treating multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Jun 2010 | 9:00 am

First images of sub-nano pore structures captured

Moore's law marches on: In the quest for faster and cheaper computers, scientists have imaged pore structures in insulation material at sub-nanometer scale for the first time. Understanding these structures could substantially enhance computer performance and power usage of integrated circuits, say scientists.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Jun 2010 | 9:00 am

Prismatic eyeglasses for headaches and dizziness caused by traumatic brain injury appears promising, study finds

A recent retrospective study shows strong evidence that symptoms of headache, dizziness and anxiety in some patients with traumatic brain injury potentially could be alleviated or even eliminated with specialized eyeglass lenses containing prisms. These lenses resulted in 71.8 percent reduction of symptoms.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Jun 2010 | 9:00 am

Artificial aurora created to help predict space weather

For more than 25 years, our understanding of terrestrial space weather has been partly based on incorrect assumptions about how nitrogen, the most abundant gas in our atmosphere, reacts when it collides with electrons produced by energetic ultraviolet sunlight and solar wind. Now scientists have fired electrons of differing energies through a cloud of nitrogen gas to measure the ultraviolet light emitted by this collision.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 9 Jun 2010 | 9:00 am

Malfunction delays South Korea satellite launch (AP)

AP - South Korea's space program suffered a setback Wednesday when the planned launch of a satellite was postponed due to malfunctioning firefighting equipment.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Jun 2010 | 3:57 am

AP journalist dives into Gulf, can only see oil (AP)

AP - Some 40 miles out into the Gulf Of Mexico, I jump off the boat into the thickest patch of red oil I've ever seen. I open my eyes and realize my mask is already smeared. I can't see anything and we're just five seconds into the dive.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Jun 2010 | 3:53 am

BP shares and CDS hurt by dividend concern: traders (Reuters)

Reuters - Shares in British oil company BP fell 4.9 percent on Wednesday on concern over its dividend payment, as it continued battling to contain an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Jun 2010 | 3:45 am

The nation's weather (AP)

AP - Another active weather day was expected over the Midwest on Wednesday as a low pressure system would continue slowly moving eastward throughout the day.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Jun 2010 | 3:16 am

Fire system glitch halts South Korea rocket launch

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea scrapped plans to launch a scientific satellite into orbit on Wednesday due to a glitch in the fire-extinguishing system on the launchpad in the latest setback for the country's space program.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 9 Jun 2010 | 3:13 am

Field trial of GM potatoes begins

UK researchers begin a field trial of GM potatoes made resistant to late blight - a major threat to the crop.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 9 Jun 2010 | 3:05 am

Laser tech could sense explosives

A team of UK scientists say they have developed laser sensors that are able to sense hidden explosives.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 9 Jun 2010 | 2:29 am

German space escapes budget cuts

The chairman of Germany's space agency says he does not expect space to be affected by the nation's big austerity drive.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 9 Jun 2010 | 2:18 am

Cane toads kill Caribbean animals

Cane toads, one of the world's most destructive invasive species, have started killing native wildlife outside of Australia.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 9 Jun 2010 | 1:43 am

3 people killed in 2 Texas natural gas explosions (AP)

AP - An explosion in the Texas Panhandle that killed two men was the second deadly blast in the state in two days involving workers who have accidentally hit natural gas lines.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Jun 2010 | 1:23 am

Obama's getting really, really mad — or is he? (AP)

AP - First he was going to make BP pay for the Gulf oil mess. Then he declared himself in charge. Now he's trying to find out "whose ass to kick" and making clear he'd fire BP's chief if only he could.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Jun 2010 | 1:16 am

Badger cull faces legal challenge

The Badger Trust wins leave to appeal against a legal ruling in favour of Wales's badger cull, and asks for a suspension.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 9 Jun 2010 | 12:44 am

S Korea postpones rocket launch

South Korea delays the launch of a rocket to put a satellite into space due to fire safety problems, officials say.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 9 Jun 2010 | 12:24 am

Fire system glitch halts South Korea rocket launch (Reuters)

Reuters - South Korea scrapped plans to launch a scientific satellite into orbit on Wednesday due to a glitch in the fire-extinguishing system on the launchpad in the latest setback for the country's space program.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 9 Jun 2010 | 12:08 am

The science of cake

As Britain tightens its belt for a new era of austerity, Andy Connelly takes solace in the science and magic of cake

"I am inclined to think that cakes and ale prevail most freely in times that are perilous and when sources of sorrow abound." Anthony Trollope

There's nothing quite like sharing generous slices of mouthwatering homemade cake with family or friends. In making a cake you are taking advantage of some magical scientific transformations to create something sugary, delicate and delicious that everyone will love – and love you for.

Like many people, I was inducted into cake making at the apron of my mother. Some of my most treasured memories are of scooping fairy cake mixture into little paper cases, dipping my fingers into the melted chocolate icing, and the satisfaction of eating the misshapen creations for tea.

Making cakes like these might seem like an ageless tradition, but actually this type of light, airy cake is a relatively new invention.

The first skilled bakers were probably the ancient Egyptians. At this time cakes were basically breads, with egg, fat and honey added to create the recognisable essence of cake: richness and sweetness. The earliest English cakes were still essentially bread, their main distinguishing characteristics being their shape – round and flat – and that they were hard on both sides as a result of being turned during baking.

Cakes as we know them today only came on the scene during the 18th and 19th centuries when the lightness created by the leavening power of yeast was replaced, first by eggs, and then by chemical raising agents such as bicarbonate of soda. Raising agents provided a greater leavening power than yeast with much less time and effort.

A classic of risen cakes is the English pound cake, on which the Victoria sponge is based. These cakes generally contain equal weights of the four major ingredients: structure-building flour and eggs; and structure-weakening fat and sugar. This recipe provides the perfect balance of these ingredients. With any more fat or sugar the delicate scaffold of egg and flour collapses, making a dense, heavy cake (like a fruit cake).

Recipe

250 g (10oz) of self raising flour
250g (10oz) of caster sugar
250g (10oz) of butter (at a cool room temperature) or margarine
Five lightly beaten eggs (assuming each egg weighs about 50g (2oz))
Pinch of salt

Take the sugar and fat and beat together until the mixture reaches a fluffy consistency similar to whipped cream. This can be done either by hand if you are feeling strong, otherwise use an electric whisk.

Much of the tender, melt-in-the-mouth texture of cake comes from gas bubbles, which subdivide the batter into fragile sheets. The majority of this air is added in this initial stage by vigorous mixing of the fat and sugar – a process called "creaming". Air is carried along on the rough surfaces of the sugar crystals. This is why we use caster sugar, as the smaller the crystals, the more air is incorporated. These bubbles of air are encased by a film of fat, creating a foam.

Creaming can be hard work. In 1857 Miss Leslie (an American author of popular cookbooks) described a technique that would allow cooks to beat eggs "for an hour without fatigue" but then advised: "to stir butter and sugar is the hardest part of cake making. Have this done by a manservant."

Take a break from beating and collect some of the mixture on your finger to taste. Notice how the smooth buttery flavour hits your mouth first, and then the sweetness comes in as the gritty sugar dissolves in your saliva. Notice that the mixture is lighter and softer than butter on its own: this is all the air you have incorporated.

Also notice how the fat coats the inside of your mouth. It is this coating ability that allows the fat to play another crucial role, that of a "shortener". The fat coats the starch and protein of the flour with an oily film, and in so doing reduces the formation of tough (bready) gluten. Fruit purees can also take on this role. This leads to a cake that has a tender and "short" crumb.

In factory cake-making, creating a fat that is plastic enough to spread over a large surface area of flour grains but soft enough to form globules requires the application of much science. Companies spend a lot of time mixing blends of various vegetable oils to get the perfect properties. At home, however, the third role of fat for me takes precedence: flavour. That's why I use butter. Although the fluidity isn't carefully controlled it always makes great cakes, and has done for hundreds of years.

As a child, the overriding characteristic of cakes was the sweetness of refined sugar. However, the role of sugar in cake is much more complex. Initially it carries air bubbles into the mixture. It has a tenderising effect, as it softens flour proteins. It also lowers the caramelisation point of the batter, allowing the cake crust to colour at a lower temperature. Finally, it helps to keep the cake moist and edible for several days after baking.

Salt is another vital ingredient as it acts both as a taste enhancer and to strengthen the gluten network.

Beat the eggs into the mixture and then gently fold in the flour, preferably with a metal spoon.

Beaten egg is added to the mixture to stop the fat-coated air bubbles, created by creaming, from collapsing when heated. The egg proteins conveniently form a layer around each air bubble. As the temperature of the cake rises in the heat of the oven this layer coagulates to form a rigid wall around each bubble, preventing it from bursting and ruining the cake's texture.

The eggs also provide the majority of the liquid (water) for the cake mixture. You will know the water provided by the eggs is sufficient – it usually is – if the mixture forms a thin coat on the back of a metal spoon. If it doesn't, add a little water or milk to loosen up the mixture.

Tasting is vital at every step of cake making, and I love tasting this stage, despite the raw eggs. For me the very buttery, sugary taste is the taste of childhood – the treat of cleaning the bowl out with a spoon. It you concentrate you can taste the eggs and flour as gentle background flavours. The flour gives the mixture a slight clawing texture, which makes it stick to the inside of your mouth.

It was during the 17th century that eggs became the dominant ingredient for raising cakes, gradually replacing yeast. This was before chemical raising agents, so all of the air in the cake had to be added by vigorous beating. One early recipe states that four eggs should be "beaten together for two hours" to lighten a fine biscuit bread. These air bubbles were then trapped during the baking, a little like in a soufflé, to produce a light and fluffy cake.

This all changed with the discovery of chemical leavening agents such as those in self-raising flour. The chemical leavening agent is essentially baking powder: a blend of a dried acid (for example cream of tartar and sodium aluminium sulphate) and an alkali (sodium bicarbonate known commonly as baking soda). Adding water (and heat) to this mixture allows the acid to react with the alkali to produce carbon dioxide gas. This is trapped in the tiny air pockets of the batter that were made when you creamed the fat and sugar.

This means you don't have to add as much air in your mixing because the chemical leavening agent will do some of the work for you. In fact, the quality of modern leaveners and other ingredients (and equipment like the electric whisk) means that mixing all the ingredients together all at once can still produce a light cake. However, I think the traditional method of beating the butter and sugar first is the most satisfying.

Flour takes the role of structure-builder within the cake. The starch in the flour is a reinforcing agent that stiffens and helps strengthen the egg foam. Some of the proteins in the flour join together to create an extensive network of coiled proteins, known as gluten. It is this gluten that holds the cake together. Its elastic nature allows the batter to expand during baking (to incorporate gases) and then it coagulates into a strong network that supports the heavy weight of sugar and shortening.

The gentle folding action used to incorporate the flour avoids breaking the bubbles you have worked so hard to put into the mixture. It also reduces gluten formation because although this is vital to the structure of the cake, excessive beating creates too much gluten, resulting in a cake with a heavy, bready texture. Modern cake flour is made from "soft" wheats with a low protein content, as opposed to bread flour which is "hard" with a high protein content.

Divide the mixture between two greased 20cm cake tins.

I always use my little finger to scrape the excess mixture from the spoon into the tins. My mother used to say that the little finger is the cleanest. While I doubt this, the habit has been passed down to me through her genes. As I pour the mixture into the tins I love to watch its gloopy consistency, its slightly grainy texture and marvel at its rich yellow colour. The beautiful yellow comes from carotene in the butter, the same chemical that makes carrots orange. It originates in the grass on which the cows have grazed.

Place in a pre-heated over at 180C for around 25-30 minutes.

There are few things better than sitting in a kitchen as it fills with the smell of baking. So make a cup of tea and relax for the next 30 minutes, letting the warm smells emanating from the oven envelope you. The smell of warm butter; the slightly sulphury smell of the eggs as they coagulate; the dark caramelising smell of the browning reactions (and, if you get distracted, the acrid smell of burning).

Over time the smells get darker, richer, more caramelised. Baking a cake on a cold, drizzly, miserable day can't help but make you feel better about the world.

Baking can be broken into three stages: expansion, setting and browning. As the batter temperature rises, the gases in the air cells expand the stretchy gluten from the flour, then the chemical leavening agents release carbon dioxide. As the batter reaches 60C, water vapour begins to form and expand the air cells even further. Carbon dioxide and water vapour account for approximately 90% of the subsequent expansion of the batter, the remaining 10% being due to thermal expansion.

At around 80C, the risen batter adopts its permanent shape as the egg proteins coagulate, the starch granules absorb water, swell and form a gel, and the gluten loses its elasticity. The texture produced at this point is then held until the cake is set by the coagulation of the egg and flour proteins, producing the familiar porous structure of the cake crumb.

Finally, flavour-enhancing browning (Maillard) reactions take place on the now dried surface. It is at this point you have to decide whether the cake is ready – one of the most critical points in the whole process. The cake will shrink slightly away from the walls of the tin and the crust will spring back when touched with a finger. Because the batter has coagulated, a wire or thin knife poked into the cake should come back clean.

After removing the cake from the oven, let it stand in the tin for about 10 minutes, then loosen and turn out gently onto a wire rack to cool. Avoid excessive handling while hot.

Something not quite right? If the oven temperature was too low then the batter will have set too slowly, and expanding gas cells will have coagulated to produce a coarse, heavy texture, making the upper surface sink. If the oven was too hot then the outer portions of the batter will have set before the inside has finished expanding, which produces a peaked, volcano-like surface with excessive browning.

While the cake cools, make some of your favourite icing and apply generously. Mine is butter icing – 2:1 icing sugar to butter by weight, beaten together with a little lemon juice or milk.

At last, you can cut a lovely thick slice, sit down with another cup of tea in a comfy chair and enjoy a quiet moment with your beautiful creation. It might not be as good as your mum's but it will taste great and everyone will want a slice.

Dr Andy Connelly is a cookery writer and researcher in glass science at the University of Sheffield

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 9 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am

Second Oil Spill in Gulf Confirmed (So What?)

A second oil spill has been found in the Gulf. It raises questions about what else we'd find, if we looked hard enough.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 8 Jun 2010 | 9:42 pm

Snakes in mystery global decline

Snakes may be declining across the world, according to a global study that found numbers falling steeply in the last two decades.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 8 Jun 2010 | 7:45 pm

Australian study finds crocodiles surf the seas (AP)

AP - Crocodiles can surf ocean currents to take long leisurely journeys across open seas in the South Pacific, a researcher said on Wednesday.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 8 Jun 2010 | 7:34 pm

On World Oceans Day, a U.S. Plan for Wind

The Obama Administration uses World Oceans Day and the Gulf oil spill as a launchpad for a new program of offshore wind energy.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 8 Jun 2010 | 5:27 pm

Heart Disease Risk Higher for Short People (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Short people have a greater risk of developing heart disease than tall people, researchers now suggest.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 8 Jun 2010 | 5:20 pm

Heart Disease Risk Higher for Short People

Short people have a greater risk of developing heart disease than tall people.
Source: Livescience.com | 8 Jun 2010 | 5:14 pm

New Comet Visible in Early Morning Sky (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - A recently discovered comet is surprising skywatchers by becoming brighter than predictions had first suggested and can now be seen with the unaided eye during the next few weeks.  
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 8 Jun 2010 | 4:15 pm

Experts: Kill, Don’t Clean, Oiled Birds

Wildlife experts are suggesting it is more humane and less costly to kill doomed, oiled wildlife.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 8 Jun 2010 | 3:31 pm

Diabetes Linked to Brain Disorders

Malfunctions in how the body processes sugar that occur in diabetes and obesity could also explain mood and other mental disorders such as schizophrenia.
Source: Livescience.com | 8 Jun 2010 | 2:59 pm

U.S. Leading Charge on Synthetic Biology Funding

Synthetic biology received about $430 million in U.S. government funding from 2005 to 2010, far outpacing European governments, which gave their synthetic biologists $160 million over the same period. The emerging field received nearly no funding before 2005, according to a new Woodrow Wilson Center report.

The numbers are the latest indication that synthetic biology has become a buzzword at the highest-levels of politics and policy. Last month, President Obama convened a special commission to study synthetic biology and the House held a special hearing on the topic. Both events were apparently prodded by the J. Craig Venter Institute’s announcement that they implanted a genome that was once a text document filled with letters into a living cell.

Though synthetic biology support is growing, it’s far from a major research area for any government. The U.S. government alone spends almost $150 billion on R&D, the majority of which goes to “defense,” broadly construed. The largest part of the civilian science budget, about $30 billion, goes to “health,” which includes biomedical research.

The new numbers on synthetic biology, while interesting, are not definitive, said Todd Kuiken, a research associate on the Synthetic Biology Project at the Wilson Center. Government agencies don’t specifically track synthetic biology projects as a line-item, and even the definition of the field is squishy. For example, Stanford synthetic biologist Drew Endy says the field’s long-term goal is to “help make biology easy to engineer.” No government process exists that sorts out projects fitting Endy’s definition, especially from the genetic engineering that scientists have long done.

Because of the difficulty categorizing what is and isn’t synthetic biology as well as extracting the information from the agencies, Kuiken said he thinks the real amount of money being spent on synthetic biology is higher than the number in the initial research brief. But he hopes that putting a provisional number on it will cause the government to start tracking their investments.

“If you at least get a number out there that is public, it forces the agencies to look deeper at it,” Kuiken said.

One interesting twist to the numbers is the lack of funds dedicated to evaluating any peculiar risks posed by synthetic biology techniques.

“There is no project that we’ve seen looking at the risk,” Kuiken said.

That said, about 4 percent of the research money is going to study the “ethical, legal and social implications” of the technology, which is comparable to how much nanotechnology money is spent on those issues.

The Synthetic Biology Project also assembled a map of all the institutions working on synthetic biology problems, which you can see above.

See Also:

• Scientists Create First Self-Replicating Synthetic Life
• Congress, Obama Take Sudden Interest in Synthetic Biology
• Synthetic Biology: It’s Not What You Learned, But What You Made
• Synthetic Biology Under Government Surveillance … and Liking It

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 | 8 Jun 2010 | 2:09 pm

Tibetans Carry Unique Gene to Combat Mountain Sickness

A genetic variant specific to Tibetans may explain why they can live at such high altitudes.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:57 pm

Commercial GM wheat 10 years away: report

LONDON (Reuters) - Australia needs to focus on wheat breeding technologies including genetically modified wheat, Peter Reading, managing director of Australia's Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) said on Tuesday.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:55 pm

Is Global Warming Real?

The "controversy" behind global warming is understandable, given the effects that climate legislation would have on our carbon-based economy. But the science is incontrovertible.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:36 pm

Endangered-porpoise numbers fall to just 250

Time is running out for vanishing vaquitas.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/news/rss/today/~4/jLuMxzgCo2s" height="1" width="1"/>
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:27 pm

‘Smart’ Clothing Responds to Wearer’s Emotions

Researchers are experimenting with a new interface system for mobile devices that could replace the screen and even the keyboard.
Source: Livescience.com | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:09 pm

Engineer set to run NSF

MIT's Subra Suresh poised to take top job.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:06 pm

Videos worsen Iran scientist row

The mystery surrounding the fate of an Iranian nuclear scientist in the US deepens as two videos emerge with differing accounts.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 8 Jun 2010 | 1:02 pm

NASA to Go Boldly … to the Arctic

NASA's first oceanographic voyage to the Arctic.
Source: Livescience.com | 8 Jun 2010 | 12:59 pm

Flu experts rebut conflict claims

Reports throw unsubstantiated suspicion on scientific advice given to the World Health Organization.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 8 Jun 2010 | 12:30 pm

Jacques Cousteau's ship the Calypso is set to be relaunched

Marine explorer Jacques Cousteau's vessel the Calypso will be relaunched to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 8 Jun 2010 | 11:55 am

How the iPhone 4 Will Change Smartphones

It's only been a year since the iPhone 3GS was announced, and yet the smartphone landscape has changed dramatically in that time.
Source: Livescience.com | 8 Jun 2010 | 11:23 am

Underwater Plumes of Oil Confirmed

Experts are putting together a three-dimensional view of the oil spill -- and what they're finding is more bad news.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 8 Jun 2010 | 11:20 am

'Imaginary' Interface Could Replace Screens and Keyboards

Researchers are experimenting with a new interface system for mobile devices that could replace the screen and even the keyboard.
Source: Livescience.com | 8 Jun 2010 | 11:17 am

Female Whales Forge Long-Lasting Friendships

Humpback whales were previously believed to be less social than other whales, but a new study found that they actually form friendships that last for years.
Source: Livescience.com | 8 Jun 2010 | 11:16 am

'Beautiful Math Equation' Found in Crop Circle

A strange 300-foot pattern of circles and lines recently appeared in a farmer's field in the English countryside.
Source: Livescience.com | 8 Jun 2010 | 10:44 am

Real or Fake? 8 Bizarre Hybrid Animals

Ligers and camas and mules, oh my. Animal hybrids are not sci-fi anymore.
Source: Livescience.com | 8 Jun 2010 | 10:31 am

Galileo's fingers to be displayed in Florence science museum

Museum named after 16th-century astronomer to display fingers removed from corpse by admirers

Two of Galileo's fingers, removed from his corpse by admirers in the 18th century, have gone on display in a Florence museum now named after the astronomer.

The Museum of the History of Science had shut down for two years for renovations. It reopened on Tuesday, calling itself the Galileo Museum.

Last year, the museum director announced that the thumb and middle finger from Galileo's right hand had turned up at an auction and were recognised as being the fingers of the scientist, who died in 1642. The fingers are now displayed in slender, glass cases. Also on display is his tooth. A third finger was already in the museum.

In 1737, admirers of Galileo Galilei removed the three fingers, plus the tooth and a vertebra, from his body as it was being moved from a storage place to a monumental tomb – opposite that of Michelangelo, in Santa Croce Basilica in Florence.

The vertebra is kept at the University of Padua, where Galileo taught for many years.

The tooth, thumb and middle finger were held in a container passed from generation to generation in the same family, but in the early 20th century all traces of the relics disappeared. The container turned up at auction late last year, and detailed historical documents and the family's own records helped experts to identify them, according to museum officials.

A wooden bust of Galileo tops the container in which the relics had long been kept.

Visitors can also view what the museum says are the only surviving instruments designed and built by Galileo, including two telescopes and a lens he used to discover Jupiter's moons.

The Vatican condemned Galileo for contradicting church teaching, which held at the time that the Earth, not the sun, was the centre of the universe. Two decades ago, Pope John Paul II rehabilitated the astronomer, saying the church had erred.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 8 Jun 2010 | 10:21 am

Calvin Klein Cologne Attracts Wild Cats and Other Animals

Calvin Klein Obsession for Men cologne attracts jaguars and other wild animals.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 8 Jun 2010 | 10:15 am

Sticky Rice Made Ancient Mortar Stronger

This secret ingredient in ancient Chinese buildings could help with restoration efforts of historic sites.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 8 Jun 2010 | 10:15 am

Mystery gray whale sighted again

A mysterious gray whale sighted off the coast of Israel in the Mediterranean Sea has now been seen again off the north east coast of Spain.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 8 Jun 2010 | 10:07 am

It's World Oceans Day: High Time to Save the Seas

On World Oceans Day, a group of scientists is calling for a dramatic increase in the amount of our planet's oceans that are protected from pollution and overfishing.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 8 Jun 2010 | 9:44 am

Friday News Feedbag for June 4, 2010!

If this is your first exposure to the Friday News Feedbag... we're glad to have you in the club. Welcome to Feedbag Nation, which stems from our weekly science news podcast that you can subscribe to here on iTunes and ...
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 8 Jun 2010 | 9:27 am

Quacks and Cures

Alex Julyan talks us through a night of bloodsucking leeches and fake Victorian doctors at the Wellcome Centre in London

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 8 Jun 2010 | 8:45 am

Americans Sleepier Than Europeans

Americans are sleepier than European, a new sleep study finds.
Source: Livescience.com | 8 Jun 2010 | 8:37 am

Monckton's climate denial is a gift

Monckton repeatedly exposes the shallow fallacy of climate denial, dragging down those stupid enough to believe him

• Monckton takes scientist to brink of madness
• Viscount Monckton, another fallen idol of climate denial

The longer this goes on, the better it will be for all those who take science seriously. Lord Monckton is digging his hole ever deeper, and dragging down into it everyone stupid enough to follow him. Those of us who do battle with climate change deniers can't inflict one tenth as much damage to their cause that Monckton wreaks every time he opens his mouth.

He has now answered the devastating debunking of his claims published by the professor of mechanical engineering John Abraham with a characteristically bonkers article. It conforms to the cast iron rules of climate change denial, which are as follows:

1. Falsely accuse the other person of ad hominem attacks, while making vicious ad hominem attacks of your own.

I have seen it done many times before, but never as blatantly as this. Monckton manages to pack his double standards into a single sentence:

"So unusual is this attempt actually to meet us in argument, and so venomously ad hominem are Abraham's artful puerilities, delivered in a nasal and irritatingly matey tone (at least we are spared his face — he looks like an overcooked prawn), that climate-extremist bloggers everywhere have circulated them and praised them to the warming skies."

Those who have followed Abraham's destruction of Monckton's wild claims will know that he doesn't make any ad hominem attacks at all: in fact he goes out of his way to be civil and courteous to his subject and does his best to give him the benefit of the doubt. Unlike the bad-mannered lord, he sticks to the facts. Just for the record, Abraham looks nothing like an overcooked prawn, but quite normal and pleasant.

Does Viscount Monckton possess so little self-awareness that he couldn't spot the contradiction between the standard of argument he expects of others and his own behaviour? Or does he take his followers for morons?

2. Ignore or gloss over the most substantial criticisms. Monckton concentrates on some of the least damaging of Abraham's revelations. Abraham has replied to him. You'll note that, unlike Monckton, he remains courteous and calm. And that he swiftly destroys the viscount's specious responses.

3. Never admit that you are wrong. Even when your errors are staring you in the face, do not acknowledge them. Never apologise, never concede. This is the crucial difference between scientists and charlatans. True scientists welcome challenges to their work, admit their mistakes and seek to refine and improve their hypotheses in the light of them. Charlatans raise the volume and denounce the people who expose their errors. Or they quietly drop their claims, without ever acknowledging that they were wrong, and replace them with a new set of implausible assertions.

I have now read thousands of articles by climate change deniers - far more than I would like to have done - and have never come across a single admission that they have got something wrong. I challenge the deniers who are about to populate this thread to produce an example of someone on their side of the debate acknowledging an error.

4. Project your worst characteristics onto your opponent. Without providing any evidence to support his claim, Monckton repeatedly accuses Abraham of being a liar and of using "flagrant and deliberate misrepresentation". This comes from a man who has, among other interesting assertions, falsely claimed to be both a member of the House of Lords and a Nobel laureate. He also lambasts John Abraham for not being a climate scientist, though Abraham does in fact work in closely related fields. Monckton's own qualification, of course, is a classics degree.

To these well-trodden tactics Monckton adds one of his own: run to daddy. He says that "I have already initiated the process of having Abraham hauled up before whatever academic panel his Bible college can muster, to answer disciplinary charges of willful [sic] academic dishonesty amounting to gross professional misconduct unbecoming a member of his profession."

There is, as yet, no evidence that he has done such a thing: the university is not aware of any complaint from Viscount Monckton and nor is Abraham. But it must be the 20th such threat I have seen him make. He throws threats of libel around like confetti, reported me to the Press Complaints Commission (his complaint was not upheld) and claims to have initiated disciplinary proceedings against another academic who criticised him (oddly, this didn't materialise either).

For all his bullying and bluster he is (to deploy the Scots he often uses) a "wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie". He is capable, as you have seen, of astonishing viciousness, but as soon as someone questions or criticises him, he runs off to a complain to a higher authority – or threatens to. This suggests that, like most bullies, he can deal it out but he can't take it.

When Abraham published his destruction of Monckton's claims, the Telegraph had a brief moment of sanity, allowing its blogger Tom Chivers to post a celebration of "one of the most magisterial scientific take-downs on record." Chivers noted that:

"Lord Monckton is a fantasist, a blethering popinjay useful only for amusement. He can be safely ignored in all serious scientific debate. But it reflects badly on those people who want seriously to argue against the science of climate change that this capering jester is among the public figureheads of their movement. If I were, for example, m'colleagues James Delingpole or Christopher Booker, I would publically wash my hands of Lord Monckton, and soon."

No sooner was the post up than it was down again. Monckton phoned the author to express his disappointment regarding Chivers' "popinjay" and "jester" comments. Chivers reported in an update to the blog that he had refused to take it down pending a conversation with his editor. But shortly afterwards the blog was removed from the Telegraph website without explanation. Fortunately Chivers's post had already been reproduced elsewhere.

As Chivers suggests, Monckton's claims to be a serious contender are over. From now on, like the defrocked Vicar of Stiffkey, he'll be a circus act, a figure of fun whose only followers are as crazed as he is.

Delightfully, he has just been given a whole new ring in which to perform. In the craziest political decision since Gordon Brown put Digby Jones in his cabinet, the UK Independence party has just made Monckton its deputy leader. His appointment has provided him with yet another opportunity to inflate his credentials. Among other claims he maintains that he was the, "Author of a 1200-word article for the Daily Telegraph on the reasons in international law why the Falkland Islands are British, read out on the BBC World Service's Argentinian broadcasts every 20 minutes during the Falklands War."

I phoned the BBC World Service. They do not have an Argentinian service, and have never made specifically "Argentinian broadcasts". There was, however, an entirely separate organisation set up by Thatcher's government to beam propaganda into Argentina during the Falklands war, called Radio Atlantico del Sur. It had nothing to do with the BBC. The idea that it might have read out Monckton's essay every 20 minutes is entirely plausible: I can't think of a better means of demoralising the enemy.

His Ukip CV adds more details to Baron Monckhausen's wonderful claim to have invented the universal cure.

"Patients have been cured of various infectious diseases, including Graves' Disease, multiple sclerosis, influenza, and herpes simplex VI."

But what happened to the other diseases? When he joined UKIP in December, he claimed that

"Patients have been cured of various infectious diseases, including Graves' disease, multiple sclerosis, influenza, food poisoning, and HIV."

Never mind. The best bit is the name of the company he has set up to market this miraculous treatment: Resurrexi Pharmaceutical. Last week I proposed that it was only a matter of time before Monckton proclaimed himself the risen Christ. Looks like we didn't have to wait too long.

Anyway, Ukip is now led by two aristocrats. One, Marina Hyde suggests, is "the sort of patrician dullard you pray not to be seated next to at dinner". The other is clearly deranged. This is going to be a lot of fun.

monbiot.com

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 8 Jun 2010 | 8:17 am