Blogs / 80beats

Several medical research institutions are reconsidering the use of five stem cell lines that are approved for federal-funded research by the National Institutes of Health, citing recently discovered problems with the consent forms signed by the patients at fertility clinics who donated their extra embryos to medical research. Now, ethics oversight committees at universities across the United States are questioning which lines should be permissible for research [Nature News].

Stanford and San Francisco-based [California Institute for Regenerative Medicine] — the $3 billion state agency created when California voters approved the sale of bonds to fund embryonic stem cell research — along with Johns Hopkins University have stopped or may stop research on five of the 21 lines that President Bush in August 2001 deemed acceptable for federal funding [San Jose Business Journal]. Researchers had already chafed at the narrow range of genetic diversity available from the 21 lines; this new development is likely to further limit their research options.

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At an aircraft hangar deep in the Mojave Desert this morning, the space tourism company Virgin Galactic unveiled one of the crafts that will boost paying customers up to the edge of space. Called the “WhiteKnight Two” by British tycoon Richard Branson, the vehicle will act as a mothership by flying to 48,000 feet with a smaller spacecraft slung between its twin fuselages. Then the spacecraft, SpaceShip Two, will detach and fire its rocket engines to take the six passengers the rest of the way up.

A crowd of engineers, dignitaries and space enthusiasts gathered inside a Mojave Desert hangar for the unveiling countdown. As the hangar door flew open, White Knight Two appeared outside under the sunny desert sky with Branson and American aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan waving from the cabin. White Knight Two, billed as the world’s largest all-carbon-composite aircraft, is “one of the most beautiful and extraordinary aviation vehicles ever developed,” Branson said [AP].

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Researchers have proposed a new theory for how oxygen production was kick-started billions of years ago, when only trace amounts of the gas existed in the Earth’s atmosphere. When continents collided they started a chain reaction, researchers say, that eventually produced a hospitable, oxygen-rich atmosphere. They argue that the tectonic collisions that created the Superia/Sclavia, Nuna, Rodinia, Gondwana and Pangaea supercontinents also formed supermountains, which eroded rapidly, washing vast amounts of nutrients into the oceans. This fuelled explosions of oxygen-producing algae and bacteria [New Scientist].

The Australian researchers say that each collision of tectonic plates caused a bump in oxygen levels, and that studies of modern mountain formation bear out their theory. Other scientists have already shown that the formation and erosion of the Himalayas led to increases in atmospheric oxygen, [study coauthor Charlotte] Allen notes. “Scale up the Himalaya to supercontinental proportions and you have a modern analogue for what we think happened seven major times in earth’s history” [ABC Science]. However, some experts have expressed skepticism regarding the new theory.

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California is striking a blow against obesity and heart disease: On Friday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill outlawing the use of trans fats in all restaurants and bakeries. The bill creates the first state-wide ban of trans fats, but follows the path set out by cities like New York City and Philadelphia, which have already evicted the substance from restaurants within city limits.

Trans fats are created by pumping hydrogen into liquid oil at high temperature, a process called partial hydrogenation. The process results in an inexpensive fat that prolongs the shelf life and appearance of packaged foods and that, many fast-food restaurants say, helps make cooked food crisp and flavorful [The New York Times]. The artificial fats have been shown to increase levels of “bad” cholesterol and decrease levels of “good” cholesterol, and are therefore linked to heart disease.

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Researchers have caught sight of Alzheimer’s-like plaques in the brains of rabbits using a conventional MRI scan, in what could be an important step towards early detection of Alzheimer’s in humans. Researchers say that an earlier, easier diagnosis of the disease would allow patients to try more drugs and other therapies that could slow the progress of dementia.

Diagnosis by a commonly available clinical MRI scan would be a vast improvement over current methods. Many tools are used to look for signs of Alzheimer’s, including a battery of cognitive and behavioral tests… and imaging studies called PET scans that require the injection of special chemicals that help light up the brain. But doctors can make a definitive diagnosis only after a patient dies by identifying the presence of brain lesions called amyloid plaques [USA Today].

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The commercial bumblebees that are brought to greenhouses to pollinate some vegetables occasionally wander off the job, and researchers say the wayward bees that slip out into the fields are infecting their wild cousins with a nasty parasite. A new study says that parasite may be to blame for the recent decline in wild populations in North America and elsewhere [New Scientist].

Greenhouse growers bring in the bumblebees for tomatoes and other crops that need what’s called “buzz pollination,” a strong vibration that shakes loose the pollen. Honeybees don’t give the buzz, but bumblebees do [Science News]. In the study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, researchers observed several greenhouses in Canada, and saw bumblebees flying out of the greenhouses through vents. When commercial bees landed on flowers in the nearby fields, researchers say they left behind parasites that wild bees later picked up. They found that half of the wild bees living near the greenhouses were infected with the parasite, while those that lived farther away were disease-free.

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The Cretaceous period was such a good time for evolution that researchers talk about the “Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution,” when as an explosion of new plant and animal species appeared. But researchers say that a detailed analysis of dinosaur diversity during this period debunks the prevailing theory that dinosaurs took part in this evolutionary spree; instead, their rapid evolution had taken place millions of years before.

The Cretaceous period, which lasted from 145 million years ago to 65 million years ago… saw the diversification of pollinating insects such as bees, butterflies, and moths. New forms of lizards, crocodiles, and snakes appeared, as did many of the ancestors of modern groups of birds and mammals. The Cretaceous also saw the explosion of angiosperms, or flowering plants [ScienceNOW Daily News]. Some researchers have previously suggested that the wide availability of those flowering plants sparked an evolutionary surge in dinosaurs who fed on the plants, and others who fed on the plant-eaters.

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A report from an European Union agency says that while meat and milk from cloned animals appears to be safe for human consumption, more studies are needed to prove the point. While the document from the European Food Safety Authority is not the final word on the matter, it seems to indicate that European consumers won’t be chowing down on steaks from cloned cows anytime soon.

“For cattle and pigs, food safety concerns are considered unlikely. But we must acknowledge that the evidence base is still small. We would like to have a broader data base and we need further clarification” [Reuters], said an agency official. The report also said that cloning has a negative impact on the health and welfare of the animals, as clones are more likely to be born with birth defects and often die younger.

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A genetic study of worms has challenged the prevailing theory of aging, which holds that organisms eventually break down and die as a result of wear-and tear on their bodies. Researchers have found that certain genes in the worms are genetically programmed to stop functioning as the worm ages; while there’s no guarantee that a similar process takes place in humans, the results nevertheless give hope that science eventually may find a way to stop or reverse the aging process [HealthDay News].

Researchers have thought that aging is due to damage inflicted on our cellular DNA (genetic material) by factors such as smoking, disease, the sun’s ultraviolet rays and chemically reactive molecules called free radicals, which are produced when our cells make energy. [This study] suggests instead that a combination of factors is at play—that in addition to [environmental factors], there are also certain genes that may carry instructions to start the aging process [Scientific American].

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It seems that the long debate over whether boys are naturally better at math than girls can finally be put to rest. Researchers examined the standardized test scores of over 7 million students in grades 2 through 11, and found no difference in performance between girls and boys.

They also checked to see if a gender gap appeared in high school, as had been shown in a study 20 years ago. But researchers found no difference in scores among today’s students, which they attributed to an increased number of girls taking advanced math classes. “Now that enrollment in advanced math courses is equalized, we don’t see gender differences in test performance,” said [study coauthor] Marcia C. Linn…. “But people are surprised by these findings, which suggests to me that the stereotypes are still there” [The New York Times].

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The mechanism that triggers the colorful auroras that dance across the night sky near the Earth’s two poles has been revealed by a quintet of NASA satellites. Scientists already knew that disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field, called “substorms,” bring charged particles into the Earth’s upper atmosphere, where they collide with gas particles. Those gas particles then release energy as light, which flickers across the sky in waves of greens, reds, and blues.

Now, researchers with NASA’s THEMIS mission say they’ve discovered what sets off those magnetic disturbances. The substorms begin far out in space, roughly a third of the way to the Moon, where magnetic fields from the Earth are thrown together and reconnect to sling charged particles back toward the planet, they say [New Scientist].

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Victor McKusick, the visionary researcher who is often called the father of medical genetics, died on Tuesday at the age of 86, from complications from cancer. “Today we have lost a giant,” said Johns Hopkins Medicine dean… Edward D. Miller. “He spent virtually all of his incredible career at Hopkins, but his influence and legacy reach around the world” [AP].

McKusick began his career as a cardiologist, but in the early 1950s he shifted focus. While examining a patient with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, a rare inherited disease that puts patients at high risk of developing intestinal cancer and causes odd skin pigmentation, Dr. McKusick became curious about how a single genetic mutation led to problems in various organs…. In the late 1950s, just a few years after DNA was discovered, he decided to devote his career to medical genetics [Baltimore Sun].

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There’s oil in that thar Arctic, and lots of it; that’s what the U.S. Geological Survey has to say after conducting the most comprehensive survey of the Arctic’s energy resources to date. The USGS says the polar region contains one-fifth of the world’s undiscovered oil and natural gas resources, which amounts to 90 billion barrels of oil and 1,670 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The report is bound to fuel calls for oil companies to increase drilling in the Arctic Ocean, and is also guaranteed to spark protests from environmentalists who advocate a shift away from fossil fuels.

The oil is considered “technically recoverable” using existing technology, but the survey did not consider the cost of overcoming obstacles to drilling, such as permanent sea ice or deep ocean waters…. Oil companies have already spent billions to secure leases to explore some of the uncharted waters [AP]. Ironically, much of the new exploration is being made possible by global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels; melting ice caps have opened up prospects that were once considered too harsh to explore [The New York Times].

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The director of a cancer research center in Pittsburgh issued a surprising warning to his staff yesterday, advising them to avoid using cell phones as much as possible, because of the possible risk of brain cancer. The memo was promptly leaked to the media, igniting a firestorm of debate over whether the ubiquitous devices are dangerous.

The claim from the Pittsburgh researcher, Ronald Herberman, was particularly unexpected because numerous academic studies have found no connection between cell phone use and the risk of brain tumors. But Herberman says he’s basing his alarm on early unpublished data. He says it takes too long to get answers from science and he believes people should take action now — especially when it comes to children. “Really at the heart of my concern is that we shouldn’t wait for a definitive study to come out, but err on the side of being safe rather than sorry later,” Herberman said [AP].

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Researchers have used nets of carbon nanotubes to print electronic circuits on to thin, flexible sheets of plastic, in yet another example of nanotechnology’s expanding possibilities. The work is a major step towards the development of ‘plastic electronics’, where circuits on light, flexible surfaces could provide a range of products from paper-thin displays to intelligent food packaging and smart clothing [Chemistry World].

Everyone from entrepreneurs to the military is dreaming up applications for flexible electronics: They could be used to make a single-page electronic newspaper, for example, or could be formed into an electronic “skin” that covers an entire airplane, and checks the plane’s surface for cracks. Since the typical silicon-based circuits are too rigid to use in such devices, researchers have been trying out new materials. The other major contender is semiconductors that use organic molecules, but those have been shown to have poor performance and reliability.

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