Scientists have discovered a planet not much bigger than Earth that could be covered in oceans and has the right temperature to support life. And it is only 20.5 short light years away. By 2020, it should be possible for a telescope to take a close look at the planet, which has not yet been named, to see if there is any sign of life. The newly found planet is older than our solar system. It is revolving around the star known as Gliese 581, a red dwarf in the Libra constellation.
Main Source: The Independent

A French TGV train broke a world speed record when it hurtled down a newly built track at 574.8 km per hour in France's Champagne region. Both the president and the prime minister saluted the achievement, a morale-booster for a nation that prides itself on its technological know-how, but is grappling with high unemployment and a trade deficit. The train, called V150, is an enhanced version of trains that will run on the Paris-Strasbourg line from June 10. The previous record of 515.3kph was also set by a TGV train in 1990.
Main Source: Agencies

The 2007 Atlantic hurricane season will probably be "very active" with 17 named storms, including nine hurricanes, five of them major, storm forecasters William M. Gray and Philip J. Klotzbach said Tuesday. They said there was a 74% chance that a major hurricane would strike the US coast between northern Maine and South Texas. That prediction is higher than the long-term average of 52%. Though considered the top in his field, Gray was famously wrong in predicting 2006’s season would be extraordinarily strong.
Main Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

A University of Wisconsin study has predicted that by 2100 up to 2/5 of the Earth's land will have a hotter climate than any currently in existence. Global warming could even result in the total disappearance of the current climatic conditions on another 48% of land. The acceleration of changes that already have species shifting toward the poles at around 4 miles a decade will devastate biodiversity hotspots such as Amazonian and Indonesian rainforests, wiping out numerous species unable to move.
Main Source: The Guardian

A large and long-awaited study has found that angioplasty works no better than medication at preventing heart attacks or death. The conclusions could slow the growth of one of medicine's most common cardiac interventions. The research comes on the heels of a growing debate over whether some patients are getting unnecessary angioplasty, a procedure that involves using a tiny balloon and metal scaffolds called stents to prop open clogged arteries.
Main Source: Boston Globe

Genetically-engineered mosquitoes that cannot transmit malaria could help stop the spread of the illness, according to a new study. Researchers in the US found the malaria-resistant mosquitoes outbreed their natural counterparts, suggesting they could eventually help fight the infection which kills up to 3 million people a year, mostly children. Because malaria hinders mosquitoes’ breeding efficiency, the resistant could spread the attribute through the wild population.
Main Source: The Independent

The number of computers hijacked by malicious hackers to send out spam and viruses has grown almost 30% in the last year, according to a survey. More than 6 million computers worldwide are now part of a "bot network," unbeknownst to their owners, reported security firm Symantec. More than a third of all computer attacks in the second half of 2006 originated from personal computers in the US, the threat report said.
Main Source: BBC

Robots that bond like human children and display emotion are being developed at a British university. The $3.3 million Feelix (Feel, Interact, eXpress) Growing Project, a global partnership of robotic experts, psychologists and neuroscientists, aims to produce machines that will be able to see, hear, touch and judge the distance between themselves and humans. They will supposedly recognize human body language, and respond to emotional states such as anger, fear and happiness.
Main Source: The Independent

Overturning a century of conventional medical wisdom, Japanese researchers found chest compressions without mouth-to-mouth ventilation saves twice as many heart attack victims. Victims use less air and blood is oxygenated enough usually to last 7–8 minutes. Experts cautioned that the new rules apply only to sudden collapses from heart attack. Respiratory arrest, as from drowning and drug overdose, still requires conventional CPR. As many as 3/4 of people observing strangers' heart attacks decline to perform CPR, fearing infectious diseases.
Main Source: LA Times

Degrading treatment and psychological manipulation cause as much emotional suffering and long-term mental damage as physical torture does, researchers reported Monday. Psychiatric evaluations of 279 victims of torture and other abuses from the Balkan wars of the 1990s showed that both types of ill treatment led to similarly high rates of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The victims themselves rated the psychological tactics on par with the physical abuses they suffered.
Main Source: LA Times

It is food scarcity, not dietary preferences, that motivates birds to migrate thousands of miles back and forth between breeding and non-breeding areas each year, new research shows. To figure out the underlying pressures that drive some birds to leave home for the season, researchers examined 379 related species and compared their size, food type, habitat, migratory behavior and whether or not they fed in flocks. They then constructed a “supertree” showing the exact evolutionary relationships among different species.
Main Source: LiveScience

While a person's accidental death reported on the evening news can bring viewers to tears, mass killings reported as statistics fail to tickle human emotions, a new study finds. People typically react strongly to one death, but their emotions fade as the number of victims increases, Paul Slovic, a University of Oregon researcher reported Thursday at an annual meeting of scientists. Slovic said his study revealed that human compassion begins to fade even as the number of suffering people increases to two.
Main Source: LiveScience

One of the world's largest species of squid has been filmed for the first time hunting in the wild by Japanese researchers. The meter-long 8-armed squid, Taningia danae, was caught on camera as deep as 900 meters in waters off the Chichijima Islands in the North Pacific. The latest footage reveals a squid circling and finally attacking a baited line that was lowered to depths of between 240 meters and 900 meters. On one of the squid's arm-tips is an organ that produces bright flashes of light prior to attacking, possibly to blind its prey.
Main Source: The Guardian

The largest-ever study on napping, tracking 23,681 healthy Greek adults for an average of 6 years found that those who napped at least 3 times weekly for about a half-hour had a 37% lower risk of dying from heart problems. Most participants were in their 50s, and the strongest evidence was in working men. Researchers said naps might benefit the heart by reducing stress, and jobs are a common source of stress. It's likely that women reap similar benefits from napping, but not enough of them died during the study to be sure, said a study author.
Main Source: Associated Press

The first large-scale trial of an HIV vaccine is set to begin in South Africa, researchers have announced. Some 3,000 HIV-negative men and women who are sexually active will be involved in the 4-year study. Half will receive the vaccine. An international team of researchers, led by experts from the US, will oversee the trial of the vaccine, created by the drug company Merck. The test vaccine does not include HIV. Even if the trial provides positive findings, there would have to be further studies before the vaccine could be licensed.
Main Source: BBC

Two newly reported complete skeletons of primates show that this group, which includes humans' closest relatives, is 10 million years older than scientists previously thought. This discovery, the most-primitive known skeleton of a primate, extends the primate record by a big chunk of geologic time and changes the prevailing view of how primate traits evolved. The fossil record now places primates in existence 55 million years ago, just 10 million years after the mass extinction of dinosaurs.
Main Source: LiveScience

Computer hackers are off and running trying to find vulnerabilities in Microsoft's new Windows Vista operating system, putting to test the software maker's claim that it is the most secure Windows program ever. The new version of Windows, the brand of operating system that runs over 95% of the world's computers, became available to consumers on Tuesday after 5 years of development and a number of delays to improve security. Computer-security experts say hackers are working furiously to win recognition as the first to expose a hole in Vista.
Main Source: Reuters

Nearly 150 years ago it was no more than a concept by a visionary scientist, but researchers have now created a minuscule motor that could lead to the creation of microscopic nanomachines. Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell first imagined an atom-size device dubbed Maxwell's Demon in 1867. Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have made it a reality. Their mechanism traps molecular-sized particles as they move. As Maxwell had predicted long ago, it does not need energy because it is powered by light.
Main Source: Reuters

The US government wants the world's scientists to develop technology to block sunlight as a last-ditch effort to halt global warming. It says research into techniques such as giant mirrors in space or reflective dust pumped into the atmosphere would be "important insurance" against rising emissions, and has lobbied for such a strategy to be recommended by a major UN report on climate change, the first part of which will be released Friday.

Washington has also attempted to steer the UN report away from conclusions that would support a new worldwide climate treaty based on binding targets to reduce emissions. The US has demanded a draft of the report be changed to emphasize the benefits of voluntary agreements and to include criticisms of the Kyoto Protocol, the existing such treaty that the Bush administration opposes.

Main Source: The Guardian

Scientists soon will lose access to crucial information that helps them better understand and predict everything from hurricanes and earthquakes to global warming and environmental decay, according to a candid and sobering report by the National Academy of Sciences. The report blamed this reversal of scientific fortunes on sharp budget cuts, ill-advised technological compromises, and a botched partnership between government agencies.
Main Source: McClatchy Newspapers

Humans, not climate change, wiped out large beasts such as marsupial lions and tree kangaroos that roamed Australia thousands of years ago, scientists have concluded based on a remarkable new set of fossils. Some researchers had previously argued that harsh dry conditions during the height of several ice ages in Australia might have caused some of the region's large mammals to disappear. Scientists have also announced the discovery of several new kangaroo-like species, some of which dwelled in trees.

New research suggesting a human cause behind the extinctions is based on a remarkable heap of animal fossils found in 3 caves in 2002. The well-preserved fossils, discovered by cavers in the remote region of Nullarbor Plain of Western Australia, offer clues about the region's animals that lived in the Middle Pleistocene – 130,000 to 780,000 years ago – before human arrival.

Main Source: LiveScience

Scientists have spotted a previously undocumented squirrel-sized rodent in the lofty cloud forests of Peru. Observations and preliminary genetic analyses suggest that the rodent’s nearest relatives are a group called spiny rats, which are restricted to lowlands. Biologists suggest that spiny rats evolved from this newly noticed Andean species. The nocturnal, climbing rodent (Isothrix barbarabrownae) has a broad blocky head, bushy tail and dense, soft fur that is decorated by a black crest on its crown, nape and shoulders.

I honestly can’t tell if the illustration is right-side-up or sideways, as it’s been posted to the Web this way and with the little guy’s head pointing up. I like him better laying flat, but follow the source link to see the other version. –BD

Main Source: LiveScience

The discovery of spherical fossils that resemble tiny baseballs could reveal how the earliest known egg-laying organism developed from embryo to adulthood. The new fossils appear to be of an organism in an intermediate stage of development, between stages of embryonic and grown versions of the same organism discovered around the turn of the Century in South China fossil deposit called the Doushantuo Formation. The finding could provide the missing link between egg and adult versions of one of Earth’s earliest animals.
Main Source: LiveScience

Global warming is destined to have a far more destructive and earlier impact than previously estimated, the most authoritative report yet produced on climate change will warn next week. A draft of the Fourth Assessment Report of the UK’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the frequency of devastating storms will increase dramatically; snow will disappear nearly everywhere; deserts will spread; oceans will become acidic; and deadly heat waves will become more prevalent.
Main Source: The Observer

A new study of mind wandering shows that the mundane moments of life allow brains to shift into a default resting state that invites daydreaming. Some psychologists had suggested that mind wandering could be the brain’s baseline, a place of flitting thoughts from which a person must wrench away for challenging work. The new study agrees and looks deeply into the neural mechanics behind this common and sometimes happy affliction. Individuals who showed more blood flow in the default brain regions also reported more stray thoughts.
Main Source: LiveScience

A conservation program for some of the world's most bizarre creatures is underway by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). Species like the bumblebee bat and the pygmy hippopotamus will be protected under the Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) project. EDGE targets animals with unique evolutionary histories facing a real risk of extinction. The ZSL says many of these species are ignored by existing conservation plans. It defines EDGE animals as genetically distinct and needing immediate protective action.
Main Source: BBC

Scientists in Scotland say they have genetically modified a common breed of hens to lay eggs containing certain cancer-fighting drugs. The same lab that produced Dolly the sheep claims to have successfully introduced an artificial gene that produces a human protein in the embryo of a chicken egg. While most scientists lauded the results, opponents expressed concern for the animals’ welfare and argued cancer prevention research should take priority over extreme treatment studies.
Main Source: Foodconsumer.org

Scientists report they have isolated a variant gene involved in Alzheimer’s disease. The gene was detected through study of Dominican families living in Upper Manhattan. The researchers have not yet isolated the specific mutation that affects the gene, but they believe it reduces production of the gene’s protein and does not harm the protein itself. That raises the possibility of developing a drug to stimulate extra production of the protein, which would be expected to have a protective effect.
Main Source: New York Times

Researchers have identified a Stone Age archaeological site on the banks of the river Don in southern Russia as the earliest known settlement of modern humans in Europe. The discovery of teeth and tools there has provided support for the idea that the first migration of modern humans out of sub-Saharan Africa occurred less than 50,000 years ago. Scientists have dated the artifacts from the Russian site to 45,000 BC, which would make the inhabitants the earliest known ancestors of Europeans today.
Main Source: The Independent

Some cosmic bodies may have 3 rather than 2 magnetic poles, throwing into disarray the present understanding of pulsars – part of what is left by giant stars that explode. The existence of a third magnetic pole is suggested by the range of signals emitted by the pulsar at the centre of the Crab Nebula, 6,300 light years from Earth. The suggestion is at odds with previous theories, which hold that pulsars, like other bodies, have just north and south poles.
Main Source: The Times of London

Britain's Meteorological Office gives 2007 a 60% chance of breaking 1998's record as the world's hottest year ever recorded. The office claims its last 7 years of global temperature forecasts have been remarkably accurate and blames greenhouse gases due to human activity, as well as the El Niño weather phenomenon, for the global heat wave. When combined with the steady increase of temperatures due to global warming, even a moderate warming event like El Niño is enough to push the global temperatures to new records.
Main Source: CTV News

A satellite has spotted lakes of methane on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, boosting the theory that it bears beguiling similarities to Earth. Titan is the only moon in the Solar System to have a dense atmosphere – and its atmosphere, like Earth's, mainly comprises nitrogen. A flyby by Cassini on July 22 last year has revealed, thanks to a radar scan, 75 large, smooth, dark patches between 3 and 70 km across that appear to be lakes of liquid methane, scientists report on Thursday.
Main Source: Agence France-Presse

Scientists have genetically engineered a dozen cows to be free from the proteins that cause mad cow disease, a breakthrough that may make the animals immune to the brain-wasting disease. The disease didn't take hold when brain tissue from 2 of the genetically engineered cows was exposed to bad prions in the laboratory. The surviving cows are now being injected directly with mad cow disease, known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, to make certain the cattle are immune to it.
Main Source: Associated Press

NASA scientists have snapped a photo of what may be the glow from the first things to form in the universe. NASA said the bizarre objects must have existed within a few hundred million years of the Big Bang, 13.7 billion years ago. What the ancient objects are remains a mystery. They could be the first stars to light up after the dawn of time, or they may be black holes. Whatever these objects are," said Alexander Kashlinsky of NASA, "they are intrinsically incredibly bright and very different from anything in existence today."
Main Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Planting trees to fight climate change is a waste of time, according to a study by ecologists who say most forests do not have any overall effect on global temperature, while those furthest from the equator could actually be making global warming worse. In addition to photosynthesizing carbon dioxide, forests also trap heat from the sunlight they absorb. The research comes in the wake of scientists’ concerns over big-business tree-planting schemes to “offset” carbon emissions, which are meant to let people pollute with a clear conscience.
Main Source: The Guardian

Scientists have created a way to control a robot with human brain signals. By generating the proper brainwaves – picked up by a cap with electrodes that sense the signals and convey the instructions – experimenters can command a humanoid robot to move to specific locations and pick up certain objects. The commands are limited to moving forward, picking up one of 2 objects and bringing it to one of 2 locations. In their “proof of concept” experiment, researchers have achieved 94% accuracy between the thought commands and the robot's actions.
Main Source: LiveScience

Researchers say new modeling shows a regional nuclear conflict could spark devastating climate changes worldwide. Using supercomputers not available 2 decades ago, the team calculated a devastating impact from the exchange of 100 nuclear weapons – the potential of India and Pakistan. The scientists warned of the international spread of nuclear technologies and the risks of massive fires fed by cities' fuel stockpiles. Researchers said smoke would spread across the world within weeks and partially block the sun, producing a cooling effect.
Main Source: Reuters

Scientists discovered evidence of water gushing down gullies on Mars, dramatically boosting the chances that the planet might be capable of harboring life. Pictures taken from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, which has been orbiting the planet for 10 years, reveal distinctive streaks of what is believed to be water, bursting out of crater walls and flowing around boulders and other rocky debris strewn across the surface. This is the first evidence that liquid water, crucial to nurture life as we know it, might still be found on the planet today.
Main Source: The Guardian

Neanderthals suffered periods of starvation and may have supplemented their diet through cannibalism, according to a study of remains from northwest Spain. Paleobiologists studied samples from eight 43,000-year-old Neanderthal skeletons excavated from an underground cave in El Sidrón, Spain since 2000. The study sheds light on how Neanderthals lived before modern humans arrived in Europe. Researchers found cut marks and evidence that bones had been torn apart, bolstering similar evidence from remains found elsewhere.
Main Source: LiveScience

Egyptian scientists performing the first CT scan of Tutankhamun’s mummy found bone fragments from the pharaoh's first vertebra were not coated with embalming fluid. Instead, they were clean at the breaks, meaning that the damage occurred after the pharaoh's remains were prepared for burial – probably when archeologists mishandled the corpse in 1922 – not from a fatal blow to the head, as previously suspected. The scan also suggested Tut’s leg was broken just prior to his death, and it enabled researchers to graphically reconstruct Tut’s face.
Main Source: Chicago Tribune

Younger women who eat red meat regularly appear to face an increased risk for a common form of breast cancer, according to a Harvard study of women's health. The study of more than 90,000 women found that the more red meat the women consumed when they were in their 20s to 40s, the greater their risk for getting hormonal breast cancer in the next 12 years. Those who consumed the most red meat faced nearly twice the risk of those who ate red meat infrequently. Red-meat consumption is already known to increase the risk for colon cancer.
Main Source: Washington Post

Scientists have created a propulsion system for a miniature robot to travel through the human spinal canal, powering through cerebrospinal fluid. The head researcher, Moshe Shoham, also created the SpineAssist robot that aids surgeons in delicate procedures. The new robot would in essence be a free-swimming endoscope; a robot with 2 actuators – swimming tails – that will have a camera in the head to broadcast images to the physician outside. Shoham estimates that it will take several more years to complete the design of the robot's payload.
Main Source: Technovelgy

Scientists have found genetic evidence that modern humans and Neanderthals probably, though not often, interbred when they co-existed thousands of years ago. New research says interbreeding with species on the brink of extinction contributed to the evolutionary success of modern humans. Other researchers said the study offered strong support for the long-disputed idea that archaic species like Neanderthals contributed to the modern human gene pool. Such matings may also account for the presence of a variant of the gene regulating brain size.
Main Source: New York Times

British scientists are to submit plans to create a hybrid embryo – part human, part cow. They are to develop a way of creating stem cells that does not require human eggs, but the application seems likely to be met with controversy. The team, from the University of Newcastle, would take a cow’s egg and remove the nucleus, replacing it with the nucleus of a cell taken from an adult human to make an embryo that is 99.9% human. It is not yet clear whether the experiment will be permitted under UK law.
Main Source: The Times of London

An HIV virus genetically engineered to fight other HIV viruses has succeeded in renewing the immune systems of a few patients. The study involved just 5 people, and such an approach needs years more study, but the surprising results offer new hope both for gene therapy and for treating AIDS. Gene therapy is based on the premise that altering genes can cure disease. It has cured only a few patients, and some have developed leukemia as a consequence, with one volunteer death in 1999. This new gene therapy approach first cripples the HIV virus.
Main Source: Reuters

worldwide, with potentially dire consequences for humans, a new study suggests. Research shows that insect species living in warmer areas are more likely to undergo rapid population growth because they have higher metabolic rates and reproduce more frequently. Scientists fear global warming could give rise to more fast-growing insect populations. The effects could be devastating if crop-hungry species experience booms.
Main Source: LiveScience

If fishing around the world continues at its present pace, more and more species will vanish, marine ecosystems will unravel and there will be “global collapse” of all species currently fished, possibly as soon as midcentury, fisheries experts and ecologists are predicting. To avoid this catastrophe, the scientists say countries must manage entire marine ecosystems and not just individual fish species as today. They also urge the creation of extensive "no-fish" zones, the aquatic version of national parks.
Main Source: New York Times

Also...

» Ocean species face extinction  (Toronto Star)

Greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial world continued to grow from 2000 to 2004, according to a new UN report. Overall emissions had dropped by 3.3% in the 1990-2004 period, mainly owing to a 36.8% decrease in eastern and central European countries. In the same period, the emissions of the other industrialized countries that have signed the Kyoto Protocol increased by 11%. The UN climate chief said reductions were urgently needed in the transport sector, where emissions grew 23.9% from 1990 to 2004.
Main Source: InterPress Service

British scientists have grown the world's first artificial liver from stem cells. The resulting "mini-liver" is the size of a small coin; the same technique will be further developed to create a full-size liver. The mini-liver is useful as it is. Within two years it can be used to test new drugs, reducing the perceived need for animal experiments by offering a more accurate alternative. The stem cells used by Drs. McGucklin and Forraz in this research are gathered from umbilical cords.
Main Source: Technovelgy