SCIENCE IN THE NEWS
from Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society

Today's Headlines - January 24, 2008

Virgin Unveils Spaceship Designs

from BBC News Online

Virgin Galactic has released the final design of the launch system that
will take fare-paying passengers into space. It is based on the X-Prize-
winning SpaceShipOne concept - a rocket ship that is lifted initially by
a
carrier plane before blasting skywards.

The Virgin system is essentially a refinement, but has been increased in
size to take eight people at a time on a sub-orbital trip, starting in
2009. Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson said the space business had huge
potential.

"I think it's very important that we make a genuine commercial success
of
this project," he told a news conference in New York. "If we do, I
believe
we'll unlock a wall of private sector money into both space launch
systems
and space technology."

To read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7205445.stm

Or: http://tinyurl.com/2m5vnw


Some Kidney Transplant Patients OK Without Years of Drug Treatment

from the Chicago Tribune (Registration Required)

A new transplant technique has enabled five kidney recipients to survive
for several years without taking drugs that suppress their immune
systems,
scientists reported Thursday.

Doctors produced the groundbreaking result by injecting transplant
recipients with blood stem cells taken from their donors' bone marrow.
The
stem cells multiplied and protected the transplanted organ from an
immune
system attack.

Normally, recipients must follow a lifelong regimen of immunosuppressant
drugs for their transplanted organs to survive. Those drugs greatly
increase the risk of infections, cancer, high blood pressure and other
serious medical problems.

To read more:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/health/chi-
transplant_24jan24,1,7130030.story

Or: http://tinyurl.com/3d6nw6


For Troubled Orcas, Relief May Be Near

from the Seattle Times

They've been shot at and starved and have had to suck up terrible
contaminants in their mothers' milk. By now, orca whales are at risk of
extinction, with the southern resident population of Puget Sound
numbering
a mere 87 animals.

While the days of fishermen plinking away at the mammals are over, orcas
still face a barrage of a different sort: tourists and their cameras,
aboard some 90 commercial whale-watching boats working Puget Sound in
the
summertime - more than one for every orca.

But orcas may be closer to getting some relief on several different
fronts.
Today, the National Marine Fisheries Service is expected to issue a
final
recovery plan for orcas, including plans to study vessel traffic and
noise
as risk factors, along with environmental contamination and shortage of
their food supply.

To read more:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004142015_orca24m.htm
l

Or: http://tinyurl.com/2pueue


How Many Papers Are Just Duplicates?

from Nature News

As many as 200,000 of the 17 million articles in the Medline database
might
be duplicates, either plagiarized or republished by the same author in
different journals, according to a commentary published in Nature
[yesterday].

Mounir Errami and Harold 'Skip' Garner at the The University of Texas
Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, used text-matching software to
look
for duplicate or highly-similar abstracts in more than 62,000 randomly
selected Medline abstracts published since 1995. They hit on 421
possible
duplicates.

After manual inspection they estimated that 0.04 percent of the 62,000
articles might be plagiarized, and 1.35 percent duplicates with the same
author. These percentages are lower than those calculated by similar
previous studies. As yet, the researchers aren't sure why that is.

To read more:
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080123/full/news.2008.520.html

Or: http://tinyurl.com/2fcnfg


Jupiter's Raging Thunderstorms a Sign of 'Global Upheaval'

from New Scientist

Towering storms more than 100 kilometres tall have been caught punching
up
through Jupiter's cloud deck for the first time, thanks to a series of
Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observations.

The rare storms - a sign of recent turmoil on the planet - are helping
scientists deduce what lies hidden beneath the clouds that shroud the
solar
system's largest planet.

The Hubble Space Telescope captured the first of the two clouds by
chance
just as it was forming on 25 March 2007. A second, very similar cloud
appeared just 9 hours later in an image taken by a team of amateur
astronomers from the ground.

To read more:
http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn13217-jupiters-raging-
thunderstorms-a-sign-of-global-upheaval.html

Or: http://tinyurl.com/ynm2w3


Bird Flight: It's All About Wing Angle

from National Geographic News

Young birds must master the right wing angles to become good fliers,
according to new research that may shed light on the origins of flight
itself.

Kenneth Dial of the University of Montana and colleagues have previously
documented how birds can run up vertical trees, boulders, or cliffs by
angling their wings to create wind force that holds them to the surface.

Even young birds use their small developing wings to perform these
incredible feats. Babies master 60-degree slopes the day they hatch, and
they tackle steeper challenges during the vulnerable period before they
reach level flight. "It has profound implications that an [undeveloped
wing] has a function shortly after hatching for many birds," Dial
explained.

To read more:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080123-bird-
flight.html

Or: http://tinyurl.com/2d3gyg


Work Stress 'Increases Under-50s Heart Risk'

from the Telegraph (UK)

Stressed workers under 50 are two-thirds more likely to suffer from
heart
disease, a new study shows.

Employees with heavy workloads and little control over decisions that
affect their professional lives were found to be 68 per cent more likely
to
suffer from heart disease than those who had easier jobs.

While previous studies have also suggested stress is linked to
cardiovascular problems, the new research sheds light on the specific
changes to the nervous system and the body's hormone levels that cause
the
increased risk. Researchers found stress at work increased the risk of
heart attacks by undermining the body's natural mechanisms for coping
under
pressure.

To read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?
xml=/news/2008/01/23/nstress123.xml

Or: http://tinyurl.com/2edb92


Can the Crown Jewel of World's Coral Reefs Be Saved?

from the Christian Science Monitor

Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia - It's 10:39 a.m. on an overcast Tuesday when
the
skipper points his 40-foot pontoon boat toward a trio of islands off
southern Bali.

... As the boat closes on Nusa Lembongan, the nearest of the three
islands,
a pod of bottlenose dolphins appears off the starboard side - the first
hint visiting landlubbers get of the marine riches these waters hold.

Now, local residents and businesses, conservation groups, and the
Indonesian government are laying plans to preserve those riches. In
February, the parties are scheduled to meet to begin figuring out how to
set up an effective marine-management plan for the islands.

To read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0124/p13s02-sten.html

Or: http://tinyurl.com/yuwj3u


High Mercury Levels Are Found in Tuna Sushi

from the New York Times (Registration Required)

Recent laboratory tests found so much mercury in tuna sushi from 20
Manhattan stores and restaurants that at most of them, a regular diet of
six pieces a week would exceed the levels considered acceptable by the
Environmental Protection Agency.

Sushi from 5 of the 20 places had mercury levels so high that the Food
and
Drug Administration could take legal action to remove the fish from the
market. The sushi was bought by The New York Times in October.

... Dr. [Michael] Gochfeld analyzed the sushi for The Times with Dr.
Joanna
Burger, professor of life sciences at Rutgers University. He is a former
chairman of the New Jersey Mercury Task Force and also treats patients
with
mercury poisoning. ... Although the samples were gathered in New York
City,
experts believe similar results would be observed elsewhere.

To read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/dining/23sushi.html

Or: http://tinyurl.com/ysldh3


Werner K. Dahm, 90; German Rocket Expert

from the Los Angeles Times (Registration Required)

Werner K. Dahm, an aerodynamics expert credited with ensuring the
flight-
worthiness of everything from the early Redstone launcher to the space
shuttle, has died. He was 90.

Dahm died Thursday at an assisted-living center in Huntsville, Ala., his
family announced, without specifying a cause of death. Dahm was part of
the
German rocket team headed by Wernher von Braun that was brought to the
United States after World War II to build intercontinental ballistic
missiles.

In Texas and later at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, he
developed rockets for the Army and for NASA's manned and unmanned
spaceflight programs.

To read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/scimedemail/la-me-
dahm23jan23,0,7049421.story