Striped mice -- the neighbors from hell

Fighting, paternity tests and infidelity. No, not a daytime talk show, but the results of new research examining why the fur will fly if a four-striped grass mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio) wanders into his neighbor's territory. Researchers investigated aggression in the mammalian species, finding that breeding males are much more concerned with repelling their neighbors than with defending their partners from complete strangers.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Jun 2010 | 9:00 am

Chemical element 114: One of heaviest elements created

An international team of scientists in Germany has succeeded in the observation of the chemical element 114, one of the heaviest elements created until now. The production of element 114 is very difficult and requires dedicated particle accelerators. So far, this feat was achieved at only two other research centers, in the US and Russia.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Jun 2010 | 9:00 am

Humans have a mighty bite, new research shows

The robust jaws and formidable teeth of some of our ancestors and ape cousins may suggest that humans are wimps when it comes to producing a powerful bite: but a new study has found the opposite is true. The surprise findings suggest that early modern humans did not necessarily need to use tools and cooking to process high-nutrient hard foods, such as nuts, but may have lost an ability to eat very tough items, such as tubers or leaves.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Jun 2010 | 9:00 am

High fructose, trans fats lead to significant liver disease, says study

Scientists have discovered that a diet with high levels of fructose -- levels equivalent to that in high fructose corn syrup -- and of trans fats not only increases obesity, but also leads to significant fatty liver disease with scar tissue.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Jun 2010 | 9:00 am

Brain structure corresponds to personality

Personalities come in all kinds. Now psychological scientists have found that the size of different parts of people's brains correspond to their personalities.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Jun 2010 | 9:00 am

Decay of baby teeth may be linked to obesity, poor food choices, study suggests

Preschool children with tooth decay may be more likely to be overweight or obese than the general population and, regardless of weight, are more likely to consume too many calories, a new study indicates.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Jun 2010 | 9:00 am

'Hidden' tuberculosis raises drug-resistance fears

New study doubles known rate of infection at a South African hospital.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/news/rss/today/~4/hkUPDs2ipzE" height="1" width="1"/>
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 23 Jun 2010 | 7:22 am

New lung cancer drug shows dramatic results for shrinking tumors: Phase III clinical trial being offered

Patients with a specific kind of lung cancer may benefit from a Phase III clinical trial being offered. The new drug, crizotinib, under development by Pfizer, showed dramatic results in reducing lung cancer tumors in some patients during Phase I and II clinical trials.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Jun 2010 | 6:00 am

Mothers' high blood sugar in pregnancy is linked to children's reduced insulin sensitivity

Children of mothers whose blood glucose (sugar) was high during pregnancy are more likely to have low insulin sensitivity -- a risk factor for type 2 diabetes -- even after taking into consideration the children's body weight, a new study shows.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Jun 2010 | 6:00 am

Organic pesticides not always 'greener' choice, study finds

A new study reveals some organic pesticides can have a higher environmental impact than conventional pesticides. Researchers investigated the effectiveness and environmental impact of organic pesticides to those of conventional and novel reduced-risk synthetic products on soybean crops. The researchers found the organic pesticides required larger doses and were more harmful to pests that help protect the crop compared to the synthetic pesticides.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Jun 2010 | 6:00 am

Researchers create self-assembling nanodevices that move and change shape on demand

By emulating nature's design principles, researchers have created nanodevices made of DNA that self-assemble and can be programmed to move and change shape on demand. Double helices fold up into larger, rigid linear struts that connect by intervening single-stranded DNA. These single strands of DNA pull the struts up into a 3D form. The resulting nanodevices are light, flexible and strong "tensegrities," so-called because they balance tension and compression.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Jun 2010 | 6:00 am

Sound of 'God particle' simulated

Scientists simulate sounds set to be made by sub-atomic particles such as the Higgs boson when they are produced at the LHC.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 23 Jun 2010 | 4:16 am

Legal drilling battle looms as Gulf spill spreads (Reuters)

Reuters - The White House is set to step up its legal battle to keep deepwater drilling on hold in the Gulf of Mexico after oil companies persuaded a U.S. judge to overturn a six-month ban.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 23 Jun 2010 | 4:04 am

Lost birds

Row over Indian national park is bad news for bustards
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 23 Jun 2010 | 4:02 am

Far from Gulf, a cloudy picture for oil fund czar (AP)

AP - Is a strip club that caters to oil-rig workers entitled to a piece of the $20 billion fund for victims of the Gulf of Mexico disaster? How about a souvenir stand on a nearly empty beach? Or a far-off restaurant that normally serves Gulf seafood?

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 23 Jun 2010 | 3:48 am

Dolphins prefer high-energy fish

Common dolphins carefully select which fish to consume, preferring to eat high-quality energy-rich species.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 23 Jun 2010 | 3:46 am

UN climate panel names authors for 5th report (AP)

AP - The U.N. science body on climate change has released a list of 831 scientists who will write its fifth report on global warming.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 23 Jun 2010 | 3:37 am

Russia cuts Belarus gas again as energy feud escalates (AFP)

AFP - Russia on Wednesday cut gas supplies to Belarus by 60 percent as a payment feud between the ex-Soviet neighbours that has raised fears for European consumers went into a third day.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 23 Jun 2010 | 3:09 am

The nation's weather (AP)

AP - The threat of severe weather was forecast to continue Wednesday, though the main focal region for thunderstorm development would shift to the east.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 23 Jun 2010 | 2:42 am

Polar weather satellites twin up

The next-generation of Europe's polar orbiting weather satellites will fly as pairs when they launch late this decade.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 23 Jun 2010 | 2:23 am

Israel launches spy satellite (Reuters)

Reuters - Israel has launched its latest military spy satellite, boosting its intelligence-gathering capabilities in the face of Iran's nuclear program, a cabinet minister said on Wednesday.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 23 Jun 2010 | 1:48 am

Hopes of whaling compromise fade

Prospects of a compromise between whaling countries and their opponents appear to be receding after two days of talks.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 23 Jun 2010 | 1:34 am

Malaysia to probe killing of tiger (AFP)

AFP - Malaysian wildlife authorities said Wednesday they are investigating the killing of a three-year-old tiger as the country battles to double the population of the endangered species.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 23 Jun 2010 | 12:05 am

Flood-hit dyke in south China suffers new breach (Reuters)

Reuters - A flood-battered dyke in China suffered a fresh breach on Wednesday as heavy flooding that has killed nearly 200 people in the past week intensified and about 100,000 residents fled after an earlier break in its wall.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Jun 2010 | 11:38 pm

Bacteria Turn Coal and Oil Into Renewable Energy

Underground microbes have been found converting waste CO2 and coal into natural gas. Left in the ground, the dirty fossil fuel might be transformed into a source of renewable energy.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Jun 2010 | 8:59 pm

Japan science research output flat as China soars

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The output of scientific papers from Japanese researchers has stayed largely flat over the past decade while output from China has risen fourfold, according to a report released by Thomson Reuters.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 22 Jun 2010 | 7:28 pm

Can the President Summon Anyone He Wants?

As Commander in Chief of the United States military, the president can summon any member of the military to his office. But, it turns out, he can't summon just anyone.
Source: Livescience.com | 22 Jun 2010 | 7:12 pm

Human Bite Force Compares to Chomp of Chimps (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Humans are often considered wimps compared with our strong-jawed relatives, but now scientists find that our bites might be far mightier than before thought. Relative to our size, humans could chomp down with as much force as a chimpanzee or even the so-called huge-jawed extinct "nutcracker man."
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Jun 2010 | 6:20 pm

Large study finds no cell phone mast link to cancer

LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists who conducted the largest study yet into cell phone masts and childhood cancers say that living close to a mast does not increase the risk of a pregnant woman's baby developing cancer.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 22 Jun 2010 | 5:09 pm

Experts demand European action on plastics chemical

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists and international health organizations from around the world called on Europe's food safety watchdog on Wednesday to regulate against exposure to a potentially harmful chemical found in plastic containers.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 22 Jun 2010 | 5:06 pm

No link to child cancer from phone masts, finds study

Imperial College London researchers dismiss link between living near mobile phone masts while pregnant and risk of cancer among children

Pregnant women who live close to mobile phone masts do not need to move house, scientists said today, following the publication of a study which found no link to early childhood cancers.

There has been public concern over the possibility that living near phone masts could raise the cancer risk of small children and clusters of cases around masts have been reported. But a study published in the British Medical Journal – the first to examine possible links between phone masts and childhood cancer across Britain – found no cause for concern.

Researchers from Imperial College London identified 1,397 children under five who were diagnosed with leukaemia or a tumour of the brain or central nervous system between 1999 and 2001. They compared each child with four children of the same gender who were born on the same day but had not developed cancer.

The researchers studied the distance of the mother's home at the time of the birth from a phone mast, the total power output for base stations within 700 metres and the power density for base stations within 1,400 metres.

"We found no pattern to suggest that the children of mums living near a base station during pregnancy had a greater risk of developing cancer than those who lived elsewhere," said Professor Paul Elliott, one of the report's authors and director of the MRC-HPA centre for environment and health at Imperial.

The authors said they would like to investigate the exposure of the children to mobile phone base stations, which this study did not cover.

In a commentary published with the study, John Bithell of the childhood cancer research group at Oxford University said the risks of cancer from mobile phone masts were dwarfed by those from driving while using mobile phones – even in hands-free mode. Doctors, he said "should reassure patients not to worry about proximity to mobile phone masts. Moving away from a mast, with all its stresses and costs, cannot be justified on health grounds in the light of current evidence."

The use of mobile phones has soared in recent years, the report said, from just under 9m connections in 1997 to almost 74m in 2007. There are 4bn connections worldwide.

However, health fears have grown in parallel. Questions have been raised not only about a possible raised incidence of brain and other cancers but also a suggested increased risk of neurological conditions such as migraine and vertigo.

The few reports there have been of cancer clusters near a mobile phone base station "are difficult to interpret because of small numbers and possible selection and reporting biases", the authors wrote. They added that there is no known radiobiological explanation – although they said it is possible cumulative exposure is important – and the rise in the use of mobiles has not been matched by an upward trend in the numbers of brain tumours.

Dr Eileen Rubery, former head of the public health prevention department at the Department of Health, said: "It is reassuring that no adverse affects have been found and this fits with the anticipated and known biological affects from such sites, and so is consistent with the physiology and biology."

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 22 Jun 2010 | 5:01 pm

Methane in Gulf "astonishingly high": U.S. scientist

CHICAGO (Reuters) - As much as 1 million times the normal level of methane gas has been found in some regions near the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, enough to potentially deplete oxygen and create a dead zone, U.S. scientists said on Tuesday.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 22 Jun 2010 | 4:58 pm

Research project takes genetics to African roots (Reuters)

Reuters - A $37 million international collaboration by major research bodies in the United States, Britain and Africa wants to take the fruits of the genetic revolution to a continent it has largely bypassed until now.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Jun 2010 | 4:43 pm

Now scientists read your mind better than you can

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Brain scans may be able to predict what you will do better than you can yourself, and might offer a powerful tool for advertisers or health officials seeking to motivate consumers, researchers said on Tuesday.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 22 Jun 2010 | 4:19 pm

Bean Nebula's Bubbles of Glowing Gas

Today's dose of spectacular space imagery comes courtesy of Hubble: a colorful close-up view of one of the many bright bubbles of glowing gas that make up the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Jun 2010 | 4:06 pm

An Island of Honeybees in the African Desert

A genetically distinct population of honey bees has been found, isolated in the Libyan desert for the last 10,000 years.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Jun 2010 | 3:52 pm

Coffee's Mysterious Benefits Mount

From lowered cancer risks to a sharper memory, more studies are showing that coffee is good for you – but why?
Source: Livescience.com | 22 Jun 2010 | 3:33 pm

'Human Terrain' hits rocky ground

US Army social-science programme loses director.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 22 Jun 2010 | 3:30 pm

Human Bite Force Compares to Chomp of Chimps

Humans can bite down with the best of them, including chimpanzees.
Source: Livescience.com | 22 Jun 2010 | 3:19 pm

'Don't Blame El Nino for Global Warming'

Leading scientists say the idea of blaming global warming on El Nino doesn't look so hot.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Jun 2010 | 3:15 pm

Soothing Words Ramp up Pain

Saying, "Don't worry," to reassure an injured or fearful child could do more harm than good.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Jun 2010 | 3:00 pm

Oil Drilling to Resume in Gulf; Defenders of Wildlife Responds

Defenders of Wildlife responds to today's lift of a moratorium on deep-water oil drilling in the Gulf.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Jun 2010 | 2:52 pm

EPA Reverses Controversial ‘Human Guinea Pig’ Rule

Under proposed changes to federal research ethics standards, the Environmental Protection Agency will no longer accept studies that use people as guinea pigs in chemical tests.

In 2006, under chemical-industry pressure, and over arguments that the studies were scientifically and ethically bankrupt, the EPA declared such data acceptable. On June 16, the EPA reversed its decision.

“What we were really concerned about is toxicity studies, where they’re trying to do a study on humans to determine the dose response of a chemical,” said Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a liberal nonprofit. “If the EPA stops accepting them, there’s no motivation for companies to conduct them.”

Almost every standard code of medical ethics — including the Nuremberg Code, written in response to Nazi doctors’ nightmare studies — forbid human tests of drugs or chemicals that may cause harm, but can provide no direct benefit.

The chemical industry, however, has long argued that the EPA should accept data from tests in which healthy volunteers are paid for exposing themselves to pesticides and other known toxins. The industry says such data provide a more accurate picture of chemical effects than animal studies.

Critics say the resulting science is worthless, with companies running tests on small, non-representative groups of people, such as healthy young men, in order to create a false impression of safety. More importantly, the tests put people at potentially grave physical risk, with no benefit but a cash payment.

“These pesticides are intentionally designed to be toxic. Their whole purpose is to kill insects and invasive plants,” wrote senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) in a 2005 report (.pdf) on the industry’s tests. “Yet in the experiments, test subjects swallowed insecticide tablets, sat in chambers with pesticide vapors, had pesticides applied to their skin, had pesticides shot into their eyes and noses, and were even exposed in their homes for six months at a time.”

Continued Waxman and Boxer: “The subjects were not told of the dangers of exposure to the pesticides. Sometimes, they weren’t even told the substances being tested were pesticides. They were misled into believing that they were participating in ‘drug’ trials, not pesticide experiments.”

Nevertheless, the Bush-era EPA — led by Stephen Johnson, a former tobacco-industry scientist — said they’d accept data from those studies. The NRDC, along with liberal nonprofits Pesticide Action Network and Earthjustice, filed suit in federal court.

Proposed rule changes announced by the EPA on June 16are the result of negotiations that accompanied the legal battle. They extend protections from the Common Rule (a widely accepted set of medical ethics that forbid intentional-dosing studies that have no benefit) to all people involved in EPA-accepted studies. Extra protections are given to children and pregnant women.

“EPA expects its tougher new rules will decrease the number of systemic intentional dosing toxicity studies conducted for pesticides,” reads the EPA website. “We expect the number of systemic toxicity studies to drop to as few as zero or one per year.”

The rules will be opened to public comment in January of 2011, and will need court approval to finally become law.

The American Chemistry Council, the major chemical industry trade group and an advocate of expanded human testing, did not respond to requests for comment.

According to Sass, Some data on human exposures to chemicals may still be used. Reports from accidental poisonings, worker exposures and other unintentional dosing exist, and “EPA could incorporate a lot of that unfortunate, real-world data,” she said.

“Pesticide companies should not be allowed to take advantage of vulnerable populations by enticing people to serve as human laboratory rats,” said Pesticide Action Network senior scientist Margaret Reeves in a press release.

Image: Flickr/Michelle Tribe

See Also:

• Dow: Our Unethical Tests Show That Nerve Poison is Safe
• Scientists Stop EPA From Pushing Toxic Pesticide
• Why Testing Pesticides on People is Wrong, Part 1: Unwitting College Students
• Why Testing Pesticides on People is Wrong, Part 2: Devilish Details and the Greater Good

Brandon Keim’s Twitter stream and reportorial outtakes; Wired Science on Twitter. Brandon is currently working on a book about ecological tipping points.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 22 Jun 2010 | 2:50 pm

How Old Is Superman?

Superman looks the same now as he did when he premiered 72 years ago. So just how old is he?
Source: Livescience.com | 22 Jun 2010 | 2:48 pm

Gulf Deepwater Drilling Freeze Blocked

Upholding the moratorium would affect employment and energy supplies, according to the judge who presided over the case.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Jun 2010 | 2:15 pm

Is the Smart Grid a Dumb Idea?

Despite some criticism, many experts think we've chosen the right direction for energy production, transmission, distribution and usage. We just have to fine-tune how we're going to get there.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Jun 2010 | 1:51 pm

Italy puts seismology in the dock

Scientists who assessed earthquake risk at L'Aquila could be indicted on manslaughter charges.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 22 Jun 2010 | 1:50 pm

German states wield the axe

University cuts are out of step with federal government's bid to spare research.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 22 Jun 2010 | 1:30 pm

AIDS researcher cleared of misconduct

Berkeley cites academic freedom and lack of evidence as it wraps up investigation over contentious paper.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 22 Jun 2010 | 1:10 pm

Oil Spill Superimposed on Your City

A home-grown website brings the oil spill to your neighborhood.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Jun 2010 | 1:06 pm

Busted Bedrock Paved Way For Texan Megaflood

In 2002 a violent flood carved a canyon in the Texas landscape in only 3 days. Scientists studying the gash are learning how catastrophic floods carved up landscapes on Earth and Mars in the past.
Source: Discovery News - Top Stories | 22 Jun 2010 | 1:01 pm

Strange lesions after stem-cell therapy

Unproven treatment results in mysterious masses.
Source: NatureNews - All articles published today - nature.com science feeds | 22 Jun 2010 | 12:54 pm

Why Isn't There a Male Birth Control Pill?

A male version of the Pill has never reached the market.
Source: Livescience.com | 22 Jun 2010 | 12:35 pm

‘Lucy’s Grandfather’ Fossil Makes Humanity’s Ancestor Seem More Like Us

A 3.6 million-year-old fossil from one of humanity’s earliest ancestors is more human-like than expected — and much taller.

The discovery makes Lucy, the best-known fossil of all, appear to be exceptionally short by comparison. Lucy and the new skeleton are both Australopithecus afarensis, the first fully bipedal primate and a direct ancestor of humanity. Unlike Lucy and every other A. afarensis fossil, the new skeleton has complete forelimb and hindlimb bones, allowing researchers to estimate its size more accurately.

The new A. afarensis specimen stood a full six feet tall, or almost twice Lucy’s height. Other fossil fragments suggested that Lucy was an unreliable measuring stick for A. afarensis, but the new fossil is the most conclusive evidence yet. Dubbed “Kadanuumuu,” or Big Man, it is described June 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Big Man’s limbs also appear well-suited for running, in contrast to the shambling gait implied by Lucy’s skeleton. The proportions compare to those found two million years later in Homo erectus, and would not be out of place in a modern human, said study co-author Owen Lovejoy, a Kent State University paleoanthropologist.

“The difference between Australopithecus and humans is much less than everyone expected,” said Lovejoy. “Upright walking and running were pretty advanced at 3.6 million years ago, and they didn’t change much over the next two million years. Most of the changes in that period of time took place elsewhere.”

Lovejoy was also part of the team that discovered Ardipithecus ramidus, a 4.4 million-year-old possible human ancestor that was officially described last October. Ardipithecus was far less chimp-like than expected.

That raises the possibility that it’s the other Great Apes, rather than humans, whose bodies have evolved the most over the last few million years.

Big Man, with a rib cage shaped more like our own than that of a chimpanzee or gorilla, reinforces that notion.

“Chimps and gorillas are again the unusual form. Hominids and ourselves bear many primitive traits that haven’t been specialized like they have in gorillas,” said Lovejoy.

“The classic cartoon of the ape turning into the human doesn’t work at all.”

Image: Yohannes Haile-Selassie/PNAS.

See Also:

• Lucy 2.0: Famous Fossil Hominid Goes Digital
• Humanity Has New 4.4 Million-Year-Old Baby Mama
• Possible New Human Ancestor Discovered
• African Footprint Fossils Are Oldest Evidence of Upright Walking

Citation: “An early Australopithecus afarensis postcranium from Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia.” By
Yohannes Haile-Selassie, Bruce M. Latimer, Mulugeta Alene, Alan L. Deino, Luis Gibert, Stephanie M. Melillo, Beverly Z. Saylor, Gary R. Scott, C. Owen Lovejoy.

Brandon Keim’s Twitter stream and reportorial outtakes; Wired Science on Twitter. Brandon is currently working on a book about ecological tipping points.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 22 Jun 2010 | 12:28 pm

Apostle images from 4th century found under street

New laser burnt away centuries of calcium deposits to reveal earliest known pictures of Andrew and John in Rome catacomb

Archaeologists exploring a Christian catacomb under a residential Roman street have unearthed the earliest known images of the apostles Andrew and John.

Using a newly developed laser to burn away centuries of calcium deposits without damaging the paintings beneath, the team found the late 4th-century images in the richly decorated tomb of a Roman noblewoman.

"John's young face is familiar, but this is the most youthful portrayal of Andrew ever seen, very different from the old man with grey hair and wrinkles we know from medieval painting," said project leader Barbara Mazzei.

Discovered in the 1950s and as yet unseen by the public, the St Tecla catacomb is accessed through the unmarked basement door of a drab office building, beyond which dim corridors packed with burial spots wind off through damp tufa stone.

The catacomb is close to the basilica of St Paul's Outside the Walls, where bones discovered in a sarcophagus have been dated to the first or second century and attributed to St Paul.

Working under the supervision of the Vatican's pontifical commission for sacred archaeology, Mazzei first exposed images of fellow apostles Peter and Paul, as well as Jesus, and biblical scenes set against rich ochre, red and black backgrounds – colours commonly associated with imperial Roman art.

"The laser can be calibrated to remove certain colours, in this case the white of the calcium, which just fell away. We are used to finding faded colours, but here they are exceptional," she said.

As the calcium was burned off, John and Andrew appeared on the same ceiling panel as Peter and Paul.

"We already know earlier images of Peter and Paul from group paintings, but all previously known images of Andrew and John date to the mid 5th century," said Mazzei. "We assume it is them because they were the most important apostles after Peter and Paul and would have found space alongside them here."

Mazzei said the tomb was built by a noblewoman as Rome was switching from paganism to Christianity. "This catacomb was not a clandestine burial place, in fact they never were, that was an invention of Ben Hur," she said.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 22 Jun 2010 | 12:04 pm

Archaeologists find oldest paintings of apostles

ROME (Reuters) - Archaeologists and art restorers using new laser technology have discovered what they believe are the oldest paintings of the faces of Jesus Christ's apostles.
Source: Reuters: Science News | 22 Jun 2010 | 11:49 am

Sea Turtles Followed Through Their Hidden Travels

Tracking could help protect the endangered species.
Source: Livescience.com | 22 Jun 2010 | 11:43 am

New Air Conditioning Up To 90 Percent More Efficient

A new air conditioning process needs only 50 to 90 percent less energy than today's top-notch units.
Source: Livescience.com | 22 Jun 2010 | 11:08 am

7 High-Tech Helpers to Get Fit

Technology is giving fitness a makeover, promising simple ways to track performance progress and stay connected with like-minded enthusiasts.
Source: Livescience.com | 22 Jun 2010 | 10:56 am

Ham Radio Gets Upgraded with Modern Technology

A new generation of ham radio operators is keeping the tradition alive by combining decades-old radio techniques with modern technology.
Source: Livescience.com | 22 Jun 2010 | 10:48 am

Coffee may protect against cancers

Drinking more than four cups of coffee a day decreases the risk of developing certain cancers, a study suggests

Do you feel slightly ashamed of your caffeine habit? Perhaps you needn't feel so guilty about all those caffeine-fuelled mornings now that scientists have found further evidence that drinking coffee has health benefits – possibly protecting against certain cancers.

Mia Hashibe of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, pooled data from nine case-control studies of head and neck cancers, which between them compared the coffee-drinking habits of 5,139 cases with that of 9,028 controls. Her analysis showed that people who drank more than four cups of coffee a day had a 39% decreased risk of cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx combined, compared with those who didn't drink coffee.

"Since coffee is so widely used and there is a relatively high incidence and low survival rate of these forms of cancers, our results have important public health implications that need to be further addressed," said Hashibe. "What makes our results so unique is that we had a very large sample size, and since we combined data across many studies, we had more statistical power to detect associations between cancer and coffee."

The results were published online in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, and used studies from the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium.

Hashibe's work adds to the growing body of evidence on the benefits of caffeinated drinks. Scientists at Imperial College London also found that people who drank more than five cups of coffee or tea a day had a decreased risk of a type of brain tumour called a glioma. And, last year, Harvard University researchers showed that men who drank coffee had a 60% reduced risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer compared with men who drank no coffee.

Coffee has also been linked to reduced rates of colorectal and endometrial cancer as well as liver cancer and cirrhosis.

"The fact that this was seen for oral and pharyngeal cancers, but not laryngeal cancers, provides some evidence as to a possible specificity of effect," said Johanna Lampe of the division of public health sciences at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. She is also an editorial board member for the journal that published Hasibe's work. "These findings provide further impetus to pursue research to understand the role of coffee in head and neck cancer prevention," she added.

Though Hashibe's work shows an association between caffeine and cancer risk, it does not shed any light on the mechanisms involved, or what dose of caffeine is healthiest. In the paper, the researchers point out that coffee contains phenols, some of which are known to have antioxidant properties. Others are thought to activate enzymes that help the body deal with carcinogens.

Ed Yong, head of health information at Cancer Research UK, said: "Coffee is a cocktail of hundreds of different chemicals and we don't know which of these, if any, could affect the risk of cancer. You often only see benefits in people who drink a great deal of coffee. And studies like these rely on people with cancer remembering how much coffee they drank years ago. We now need studies that look at larger groups of initially healthy people to see if the amount of coffee they drink affects their cancer risk over time."

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 22 Jun 2010 | 10:43 am

Chimp Conservation Plan Drafted

Roadmap to protect chimps from hunting, habitat loss and disease.
Source: Livescience.com | 22 Jun 2010 | 10:24 am

Row over Meteosat project settled

The long-running dispute over the contract to build Europe's next set of weather satellites is settled.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Jun 2010 | 10:08 am

Rapists going free through errors by inexperienced doctors, says BMA

Vital clues being missed due to shortage of fully trained forensic experts, according to British Medical Association

Rapists are not being convicted because doctors are making errors when examining victims, according to medical experts specialising in sexual assaults.

Vital clues are being lost because of the large number of doctors conducting forensic examinations who are not up to the job, it is claimed.

Dr George Fernie, chairman of the British Medical Association's forensic medicine committee, told the Guardian: "Rape victims are being let down. If you don't have a doctor that knows what he or she is doing, and doesn't conduct an effective examination, then they are being let down by that."

The inexperience and lack of expertise of such doctors is leading to cases in which a defendant escapes conviction, said Fernie. He is concerned that a shortage of forensic medicine experts, known as sexual offence examiners, means that "there are some cases that don't have doctors that are properly trained and skilled in this area of practice and therefore that they are contributing to a reduction in the rape conviction rate because they haven't conducted the crucial initial examination properly".

Doctors will debate the issue at the British Medical Association's annual conference next week. A motion from the BMA's Yorkshire regional council laments "the patchy provision of fully trained sexual offence examiners across the UK and believes that this contributes to a reduction in rape conviction rates". It has been submitted by Dr Rachael Pickering, a sexual offence examiner in South Yorkshire and member of the BMA's forensic medicine committee.

"I'm concerned about the variation in the quality of care delivered to victims of sexual offence crime", said Pickering.

"Gold-standard sexual offence examiners combine compassion and professionalism, have rigorous training and develop significant experience, which is often needed in court. Being examined by less ideal doctors can be traumatic in itself for an already traumatised victim, and more likely to lead to unnecessary problems in court."

Forensic physicians, who used to be called police surgeons, examine detainees in custody, cases of sudden death and victims of violent and sexual crimes. Their evidence-gathering, especially with victims of rape and child sexual abuse, can prove crucial in court cases.

But there are "many too few" with the right skills and experience to cover such cases because training in this work is no longer given at medical schools, some private firms employed by more than half the 43 police forces in England and Wales employ doctors who are not suited to the task, and recruitment into the specialism – especially of women – is difficult because of the antisocial hours involved.

Although 58% of rape cases that reach court result in a conviction, there is great concern that these represent just 6% of the total number of rapes reported to police. Many cases never get as far as court because victims decide not to pursue their complaint or prosecuting authorities decide the chances of a conviction are too low.

Women Against Rape said the doctors' worries tallied with "some major concerns" it has about how forensic medical examiners work. "I'm sure that rapists are going free because of this problem. I'm not sure if the quality of forensic medicine examiner is what it should be," said the group's Lisa Longstaff.

"We have issues with no evidence being gathered at all, and with the quality of evidence being gathered in some cases, and [with] how this evidence is presented in court by doctors who are called as witnesses."

The poor quality of evidence gathered in some rape cases could be down to certain doctors bowing to pressure from police not to record an incident as a rape, rather than a lack of training, she said.

"If the forensics aren't good quality and not independent, what does that tell you about the importance of rape investigations? It seems to be not a priority for the police or the medical authorities," added Longstaff.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said the funding and commissioning of forensic medical services should be transferred from the police, who currently employ individual doctors or private contractors to do the work, to the NHS, as proposed in Lady Stern's recent review of how public authorities respond to rape complaints.

"It is important to stress that this is not a criticism of current doctors, but a recognition that high levels of training should be provided to professionals in this field," said Dave Whatton, Acpo's lead for rape and serious sexual offences. "Equally, the importance of having female medical staff who are able to carry out very sensitive examinations with survivors, who are often highly traumatised, is accepted."

The Fawcett Society, which campaigns on women's equality issues, urged every police force to set up sexual assault referral centres where victims of such crimes should have access to a fully trained forensic medical examiner. London, for example, already has some.

"This gold-standard service plays a vital role in providing high-quality medical and emotional support to victims of rape and sexual assault," said the charity's Daisy Sands.

"However, we are extremely concerned that due to a postcode lottery of provision, around two-thirds of rape victims who report their crimes to the police will not currently have access to this level of provision. It is simply unacceptable that a progressive society such as ours is failing to provide victims of one of the most heinous crimes with the level of service and care that they deserve."

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 22 Jun 2010 | 9:23 am

Earth Watch

National interests predominate at whaling talks
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Jun 2010 | 9:22 am

Loss of bees a blow to UK economy

If bees and other pollinators were to disappear completely, the cost to the UK could be up to £440m per year, say scientists.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Jun 2010 | 9:17 am

Climate credibility under review

Most climate experts who publish papers on the topic support the idea of human-induced climate change, a study suggests.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Jun 2010 | 8:10 am

In crisis

BBC News goes inside BP's Gulf oil spill crisis centre
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Jun 2010 | 7:45 am

Action - not research - is needed to save our pollinators | Alison Benjamin

Scientists already know why our pollinators are dying out. We need action now on pesticides and farming, not more money for research

• Bee decline could be down to chemical cocktail

Do we really need to spend £10m on researching why our pollinators are dying out?

There is no doubt that honeybees, hoverflies, wasps, bumblebees, moths and butterflies are all under threat. Since the 1970s, there has been a 75% decline in butterfly species in the UK, three species of bumblebees are now extinct, and honeybees have been having a pretty hard time for the last few years.

But is research into a variety of possible causes from land use, disease, environmental change and pesticides what is needed to save them?

The nine projects that received a share of the £10m funding announced today all sound incredibly interesting, especially the one that includes fitting tiny radio frequency ID tags to pollinators (pdf) to record when bees enter and leave the nest.

Funding for Warwick University to unravel the impact of the varroa mite on transmitting viruses in honeybees (pdf) will be particularly welcomed by beekeepers across the world as they grapple with trying to control the blood-sucking parasite that lives on most of our honeybees and is a major reason for their continual demise.

Anyone wanting to green their city and encourage urban beekeeping will be delighted that Jane Memmott at Bristol has been awarded a grant to answer the question "How can we make our cities more pollinator-friendly?"

Yet the truth is that we already know the answer to many of the questions about why our pollinators are dying out.

As Claire Carvell at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology says: "Bumblebees have declined worldwide, largely due to the loss of flowers and other habitats they need to survive in the countryside."

For bumblebees, read hoverflies, wasps, moths and butterflies.

So rather than spend three years researching how far bumblebees go to forage and make their nests, wouldn't it be better if we reintroduced a more sustainable way of managing agricultural land right now? After all, we know that when the scientists have spent their research money, they will conclude what we knew all along: that we need to manage landscapes in a way that are more effective in conserving bumble populations.

When I researched A World Without Bees, I was surprised by how much scientific research had already been carried out, mainly in France and Italy, into the effects of pesticides on honeybees' communication and navigation. Despite this research, the pesticide companies maintained that the blame couldn't be pinned on their products as there were too many other potential culprits. The United States Department of Agriculture, which has been leading research into colony collapse disorder in the US, now acknowledges - four years after the strange phenomenon which leads to the disappearance of honeybees from their hives – that pesticides are part of the problem.

But guess what? The same pesticides are still being used by farmers. So research on its own is not enough if we are serious about saving our pollinators.

We need action. Action by governments to ban pollinator-toxic pesticides, to toughen the registration tests for pesticide approval so that in the case of honeybees their impact is measured not just on an adult bees but on the colony as a whole, and to develop more organic styles of farming that wean ourselves off the pesticides.

It is the pesticides that go hand-in-hand with the intensive, monoculture farming methods that are responsible for the loss of habitat and flowers that the scientists already know is causing the decline of our pollinators.

The UK has lost more than 3m hectares of wildflower-rich habitat since the second world war, but farming wildlife schemes have only recreated 6,500 hectares. The charity Buglife is calling on government to tackle the issue head-on and create a network of wildflower meadows now. Its "B-lines" would be rivers of flowers in every county, one going east west and the other north-south. The scheme would depend on a new "conservation credits" scheme that would require developers – and others who provide economic benefits but whose sector degrades wildlife – to purchase credits that would secure wildflower habitats.

I know where my £10m would go.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 22 Jun 2010 | 7:15 am

Thatcher becomes latest recruit in Monckton's climate sceptic campaign

Monckton's use of Britain's former PM illustrates that climate denialism is about politics, not science

Climate change sceptics last week co-opted Margaret Thatcher into their lobbying campaigns, illustrating once more the strong ideological streak that drives their efforts.

Viscount Christopher Monckton of Brenchley has posted, on the blog operated by former TV weatherman and prominent "sceptic" Anthony Watts, a personal account of his influence on Lady Thatcher's views about climate change during the 1980s. Thatcher shocked the UN in 1989 with a call to action on man-made global warming, but has since made sceptical public statements about anthropogenic climate change.

As we have come to expect, Viscount Monckton's recollection of events makes for interesting reading.

He begins with the claim that: "I gave her advice on science as well as other policy from 1982-1986, two years before the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] was founded", pointing out that the prime minister's policy unit at that time had just six members and that he was "the only one who knew any science". Monckton then goes on to suggest that "it was I who – on the prime minister's behalf – kept a weather eye on the official science advisers to the government, from the chief scientific adviser downward".

This revelation might be news to Lady Thatcher. On page 640 of her 1993 autobiography Margaret Thatcher: The Downing Street Years, the former prime minister describes how she grappled with the issue of climate change, referring only to "George Guise, who advised me on science in the policy unit". Indeed, given Monckton's purportedly crucial role, it seems to be heartless ingratitude from the Iron Lady that she does not find room to mention him anywhere in the 914-page volume on her years as prime minister.

Viscount Monckton also modestly notes that he was responsible for bringing in "the first computer they had ever seen in Downing Street", on which he "did the first elementary radiative-transfer calculations that indicated climate scientists were right to say some 'global warming' would arise as CO2 concentration continued to climb".

It is perhaps surprising that this novel and important innovation by Viscount Monckton was not recognised by the current minister for science and universities, David Willetts, who was also a member of the prime minister's policy unit between 1984 and 1986. In 1986, "Two Brains" wrote a prize-winning essay on the role of the unit, but mysteriously omitted to mention Monckton's historic contribution.

Viscount Monckton also includes an amusing anecdote:

"In 1988 it was my successor at No. 10, George Guise, who travelled one bitterly cold October weekend down to Chequers, the prime minister's country house, and sat in front of a roaring fire writing the speech that would announce a government subsidy to the Royal Society to establish what would become the Hadley Centre for Forecasting. George remembers how he and the prime minister chuckled at the irony of writing a speech about 'global warming' on an evening so cold that he could hardly hold his pen."

But although her autobiography notes that she did indeed spend two weekends with George Guise working on her first speech about climate change and the environment, this was actually delivered to the Royal Society on 27 September 1988. And it was not until a year later, in a speech to the United Nations in November 1989, that she announced the establishment of "a new centre for the prediction of climate change".

However, Christopher Monckton has not been the only "sceptic" to recently explore the origin of Lady Thatcher's views on climate change. In The Sunday Telegraph last weekend, Christopher Booker praised her as "one of the first and most prominent of 'climate sceptics'", pointing out that that her 2003 book Statecraft includes a section on climate change that "amounts to an almost complete recantation of her earlier views.

But Booker neglects to mention some curious aspects about the arousal of Lady Thatcher's "scepticism" over climate change. At the start of the book's passage on Hot air and global warming, she notes that there is "a vast amount of highly technical material on these matters" but points out that "thankfully, the issues have been clearly analysed and debated by scholars in the United States" before providing a long list of publications by "free market" lobby groups, such as the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation.

In her description of the science, the former prime minister draws heavily on a pamphlet called A plain English guide to climate change which was published in December 1997 by the Reason Foundation, another lobby group that the following year received $70,000 from Exxon to "assess public policy alternatives on issues with direct bearing on the company's business operations and interests".

The Reason Foundation's document includes the following statement:

"It is widely acknowledged that the potential temperature changes predicted by global warming theory do not pose a direct threat to human life. Human beings, and a myriad of other organisms, exist quite comfortably in areas with temperature ranges more extreme than those predicted by global warming models."

The former prime minister's book draws heavily on such leaflets produced by US lobby groups, instead of scientific papers, and she refers only briefly to the work of the IPCC, which she was instrumental in bringing about, dismissing its 2001 report as "alarmist".

But Lady Thatcher reveals her true concerns by claiming that "the new dogma about climate change has swept through the left-of-centre governing classes", and warning that the international effort to tackle climate change "provides a marvellous excuse for worldwide, supra-national socialism."

It is this attempt by the former prime minister, who is now 84, to justify her "scepticism" on the grounds of political ideology that perhaps explains why Booker and Monckton feel comfortable using her now to boost their own efforts to influence the public debate on climate change.

• Bob Ward is policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at London School of Economics and Political Science.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 22 Jun 2010 | 4:42 am

From the archive, 22 June 1956: Higher I.Q. in children of the atomic age

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 22 June 1956

Intelligence tests recently carried out among more than a thousand children in Wolverhampton schools appear to show a striking and quite unexpected increase in the mental capacity of children born since 1945. A psychiatrist concerned in the tests has suggested that the most probable hypothesis to account for this change is the effect on the brain of the increase in "background radio-activity".

The tests were carried out under the direction of Dr J. Ford Thomson, consultant children's psychiatrist to the Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury group of hospitals. They were begun after several children, referred to Dr Thomson by the schools on account of educational difficulties, had been found to show quite unexpected abilities. A child of 7½, described as a problem child in the "C" stream at school, was found to be exceedingly clever and well informed on astronomy, and was given an intelligence quotient of 142. Within two months another "prodigy" came along. He was also a "problem child," aged about 10½. He was found to have an I.Q. of 166.

These instances impelled Dr Thomson to search for more "prodigies" in Wolverhampton. He found what he was not looking for – namely, that all the children of this age group were by pre-war standards remarkably advanced. Having failed to find any other convincing explanation of this phenomenon, he has tentatively put forward the theory that only stimulation of the mind of the growing child by "background" atomic radiation seems to fit the facts.

In support of this he notes that the age group tested has been going through its period of quickest growth during the period in which atomic tests have been taking place. These children have been exposed to both man-made and natural radiation; like all other human beings, they are continually absorbing radiation into their bone structure ; but children of this age, it is suggested, absorb it more quickly and it has more effect upon them.

Dr Thomson suggests that that effect is to speed up the development of their brain structure – that is, the process of "cerebral myelinisation". He agrees with the recent report of the Medical Research Council on the hazards of nuclear radiation, that this is not at a stage where one need be alarmist about it. On the other hand, while its effect seems to be stimulating to children now, what will be its effect in the future? He is anxious to dispel what may be "a false sense of confidence".

Dr Thomson intends to pursue these intelligence tests and to collect more evidence from some thousands more Wolverhampton children.

Source: Science news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk | 22 Jun 2010 | 2:59 am