Science News

Yesterday a paper was published that describes the use of genotyping arrays to detect genetic determinants of autism: Here the abstract: Pinto et al. Nature (2010) (online) One interesting finding is that no single locus was found to be responsible for the condition, but that many pathways are involved. However, the identification of these pathways may prove to be crucial for the understanding of the underlying mechanisms.

From BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10139906.stm http://z8.invisionfree.com/DYK/index.php?showtopic=908 From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiversity

someone knows some agar to Bacillus pumilus to show me their colony morphology...pleaseeee

https://www.survey.bris.ac.uk/sussex/healthprofessionals I am currently studying at the University of Sussex and am conducting research for my Health Psychology MSc. I would be really grateful if you would spend less than 10 minutes completing my online questionnaire by clicking on the above link. ***By completing the questionnaire you will be entered into a draw to win £50, and you will also be contributing to valuable psychology research*** In order to take part, you must be fluent in the English language and also work in the healthcare profession. Please contact me by emailing eloise.harris@sussex.ac.uk if you have any questions. This research is being…

http://edge.org/discourse/creation/creation_index.html I'll just leave this here. But really, though, thoughts? Predictions?

according to the BBC News.

http://swns.com/new-evidence-suggests-dinosaurs-wiped-out-by-big-freeze-231717.html So apparently dinosaurs could have been wiped out by a sudden drop in temperature. But what might have caused the drop?

See the IOP news report by Michael Banks here. Here is the BBC news report by Jonathan Amos. He is Member of Parliament for Havant. He has his own website. Here is what Wikipedia says.

This has been in the news lately. "Getting less than six hours sleep a night can lead to an early grave, UK and Italian researchers have warned." I've been getting lots of non-sciency people asking me about this as they're very skeptical. Does anyone have the reference for the paper this refers to so I can be a bit more informed? As far as I can tell, the results of this study were actually published in 2007.

STS-132 is going to be the last planed flight of the space shuttle Atlantis. The launch time is 2:20 p.m. EDT - May 14, 2010. It will however be made ready for flight if needed for the planned flight of Endeavour in November. Have a look at what Jonathan Amos of the BBC says about this here. STS-133 by Discovery in September will be the penultimate shuttle mission. Endeavour's flight STS-134 will be the final mission of any space shuttle and marks the end of an era.

Interesting article that correlates to politics but since it's science news I'll post it here.. Lemme know what you thinks Cheers

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/57997/title/Pigeons_usually_let_best_navigator_take_the_lead This article just blows me away, and begs the question, how do the members of the flock know what bird has the best navigational skills. This must imply some level of communication and/or observation amongst the birds that is then remembered.

UK scientists were told just before Christmas that the funding for their work will stop. This is despite NASA saying that the mission will be extended until 2017, when the spacecraft will be commanded to plunge into the ringed planet's atmosphere. STFC is trying to save money over the next few years. What other astronomy projects will suffer? See the BBC news report here.

The manifesto itself can be found here.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/58275/title/Backward_planets_may_have_flipped_into_place I read through and I though interesting article. Maybe systems like this are more common than we previously thought. I wanted to find out some more about the individual systems, specifically how far some of these systems were from Earth. So I followed the link to the other article in the third paragraph down, that further explained the information gathered on extra solar planets. http://www.sciencenews.org/index/generic/activity/view/id/46658/title/Extrasolar_planets_at_full_tilt There I found a few of the names of the extra solar planets COROT-Exo-1b …

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/58095/title/Copycats_prevail_in_computerized_survival_game Pretty interesting little article, here is a peak, I wanted to know what you guys think. Does this study accurately reflect nature? On another point. I am guessing the independent thinkers, however, do play a necessary role in the game, despite the copycats being more successful. The reason I say this, is because someone has to break the ice initially and try something. However beneficial or detrimental the actions of a bold individual are serves as a lesson to the other individuals in the environment. Even though the risk takers/individuals may have a …

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/04/scienceshot-animals-that-live-wi.html?rss=1 So, life can exist without oxygen. Does this mean there are far, far more possible places (and planets) that can support life?

UC Santa Barbara geologist correlates patterns in sediment cores to climate cycles, particularly glaciation periods........ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100406133707.htm

Press conference/ web cast. Live right now! http://webcast.cern.ch/lhcfirstphysics/

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/24841/page1/ You gotta check this article out it is sweet! "RNA-Loaded Nanoparticles Fight Cancer" "The researchers developed a nanoparticle carrying a molecular marker that binds to the surface of cancer cells, triggering the cells to absorb it. The siRNA carried within the particle was designed to silence a gene called ribonucleotide reductase M2 (RRM2), which regulates DNA synthesis and repair and is known to be an anticancer target. Because it was the first trial using targeted RNAi delivery for cancer, says Mark Davis, a professor of chemical engineering at Caltech and the study's lead author, "we wanted to choo…

This was posted by my tutor on our Uni forums, thought some of you may be interested.... http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic1005.html From the article...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8548190.stm Interesting, but not quite what I want to talk about. If the Internet is important enough to be considered a "right" for every human, it must bring benefits to every human. What benefits does regular Internet access bring for the average human? (I don't mean things like electronic banking systems, since those are used by the banks, not individuals. And "more cute cat pictures!" is not a valid answer.) It's often said that the Internet allows free discourse and cross-cultural discussions, but just how often does that really occur and how much does the average person benefit from that?

General relativity still seems the most accurate theory of describing gravitational phenomena. It has now been tested on very large scales and again has proved itself to be very reliable. The claim is that the latest studies of galactic motions rules out tensor, vector scalar gravity but does not rule out f® theories (which also look better than general relativity from a renormalisation group flow point of view towards quantum gravity). says Robert Caldwell. Have a look at the IOP news report here.

Featured on Science Daily, really good article. "If harnessing the unlimited solar power of the sun were easy, we wouldn't still have the greenhouse gas problem that results from the use of fossil fuel. And while solar energy systems work moderately well in hot desert climates, they are still inefficient and contribute only a small percentage of the general energy demand. A new solution may be coming from an unexpected source -- a source that may be on your dinner plate tonight." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100304112237.htm

"Tiny clusters of aluminum atoms may be able to quickly extract pure hydrogen from water, a new simulation suggests. The results offer an incredibly detailed view of how the molecules react and may help scientists develop new ways to produce pure hydrogen-based fuels, researchers report in an upcoming Physical Review Letters." http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/56911/title/Aluminum_superatoms_may_split_water