Welcome to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew informs and entertains you with this week's news about science, space, and the environment.
This week's featured story comes from Wired.
Obama and Science: So Far, So Good
By Brandon Keim
Seven days into his presidency, Barack Obama is making good on his inaugural promise to "restore science to its rightful place."
Shortly after taking office, he lifted the ban on federal funding for international health groups who support abortion rights. Instituted by Ronald Reagan, the ban had been reversed by President Clinton and reinstated by President George W. Bush.
On Monday, he ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to consider allowing states to set their own standards on automobile emissions and fuel efficiency. The EPA, with the support of the Bush administration, had refused to grant the necessary waivers, though stronger-than-federal state pollution standards have historically been granted without fuss.
More science, space, and environment news after the jump.
Slideshows/Videos
Reuters: Dog cloning cheaper but still bites
PRESIDENT OF RNL BIO, RA JEONGCHAN: "Since it is easier to reprogram and experiment the stem cell, we can produce a 'model dog,' which has human's genetic disorders with this technology. We expect this technology to greatly help studying those genetic illnesses in the future."
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Reuters: Davos 2009: Climate change prospects
The change of U.S. leadership and the scale of the financial crisis have made agreement on a new climate change treaty more likely, according to the Danish Climate Minister.
Reuters: Environment watch
Vivid scenes of nature, from soaring temperatures in Australia to ice storms across the United States
Astronomy/Space
Wired: Spectacular New Image of Black Hole Jets
By Betsy Mason
The APEX Telescope in Chile has produced a spectacular, high-resolution image of jets and lobes emanating from the supermassive black hole at the center of Centaurus A, our nearest giant galaxy.
The galaxy is located 13 million light years from Earth and is actually the combination of an elliptical galaxy merging with a spiral galaxy. It has a very active star forming region and is a strong source of radio radiation emitted in the form of jets.
Wired: Billions and Billions of Baby Stars
By Clara Moskowitz
When Carl Sagan said there were billions and billions of stars, he wasn’t wrong. But just how many billions, we still don’t know.
Moreover, scientists would like to know how many of each size and type of star there is, and how our sun fits into the larger populations of stars in our galaxy and our universe.
To further that goal, astronomers recently used the CISCO infrared camera on the Subaru telescope in Hawaii to observe a region called W3 Main, a well known baby star factory. The new images revealed the area, located about 6,000 light years away in the constellation Cassiopeia, in unprecedented detail.
Wired: Extreme Exoplanet's Wild Ride
By Clara Moskowitz
While many exoplanets are extreme environments, this one could take the cake.
As the planet, HD 80606b, whips around its star in a tremendously oblong orbit, its temperature rises from 980 to 2,240 degrees Fahrenheit in just six hours. Astronomers recently measured this intense heating using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to take infrared measurements of the heat emanating from the planet as it veered in close to its star.
"We're looking at a planet that is subject to extraordinarily extreme conditions," University of California, Santa Cruz astronomer Gregory Laughlin, lead author of the research published Wednesday in Nature. "The planet is able to heat up and cool down much more quickly than Earth."
Wired: Spirit's Low on Mars
By Alexis Madrigal
800 Martian days after it landed on the planet, the Mars Spirit Rover is acting strangely.
The unexpected bad behavior isn't strange like HAL, but it could be strange like an old laptop. For some unknown reason, the rover has had on-and-off problems accessing its permanent memory and completing standard operations like driving around taking pictures of Mars.
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UPDATE 1/30: NASA mission controllers said Thursday that Spirit continues to function normally, but no explanation of its strange behavior over the last week has been found. They plan more diagnostic tests for Friday, focusing on the Rover's internal measurement system, a Wii-controller like combined gyroscope and accelerometer that tells Spirit where on Mars it is. NASA officials are hopeful that the robot will be back in action this weekend.
Reuters: Earth-hunter telescope prepared for launch
By Irene Klotz
TITUSVILLE, Florida (Reuters) - NASA unveiled a modest telescope on Friday with a sweeping mission -- to discover if there are any Earth-type planets orbiting distant stars.
Though astronomers have found more than 330 planets circling stars in other solar systems, none has the size and location that is believed to be key to supporting life.
"A null result is as important as finding planets," Michael Bicay, director of science at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, told reporters in Titusville, Florida, where the Kepler telescope is being prepared for launch.
Reuters: Super-rich still want to boldly go into space
By Ben Hirschler
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - The economic downturn has not dampened rich people's enthusiasm for space tourism, the world's first commercial space flight company says.
"Business is good," Eric Anderson, chief executive of privately owned Space Adventures, told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
The U.S. company has sold seats worth about $175 million on Russian rockets to the International Space Station and is preparing to send Hungarian computer software executive Charles Simonyi into space for the second time in March.
Evolution/Paleontology
Wired: Scars Reveal How Triceratops Fought
By Michael Wall
It's the iconic dinosaur battle, seared into every kid's imagination from picture books and cartoons: Tyrannosaurus rex lunges, mouth agape, and Triceratops parries with its horns and bony neck frill. This scene probably did unfold in North American forests 65 million years ago, but new research suggests Triceratops also used its headgear in fights against its own species.
Paleontologists have proposed this idea before. It makes sense, given that other animals with horns or antlers, such as deer, use them against their own kind in battles for dominance or mating rights. The new study, published Wednesday in the journal PLoS ONE, documented wounds on Triceratops fossils, backing the idea up with hard data for the first time.
"Most previous studies have looked at one or two individual specimens," said lead author Andrew Farke of the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology in Claremont, California. "Our study is the first one to look into this in depth. The purpose is to move beyond the speculation and put some hard numbers on the biology."
Wired: Animal Kingdom Gets a New Root
By Brandon Keim
The animal kingdom has gained a cousin and lost a mother.
In a fundamental reconfiguration of the tree of life, scientists now say that the last common animal ancestor is not — as was commonly believed — a sponge or comb jelly, but rather an as-yet-unknown forerunner of amoeba-like creatures called placozoans.
"It's a question that has plagued animal biologists for a couple hundred years: What could be the mother of all animals?" said Rob DeSalle, an evolutionary biologist at the American Museum of Natural History. "We've turned it upside down."
Wired: The Fastest-Evolving Bird
By Brandon Keim
It's official: birds within the family Zosteropidae, also called white-eyes, evolve more rapidly than any other known bird.
The family's apparent evolutionary proclivities earned them the nickname of "Great Speciators" after Jared Diamond and Ernst Mayr, on a visit to the Solomon Islands some 30 years ago, noticed a different species on nearly every island they visited.
Their supposition remained largely anecdotal — until now. Genetic analysis of the 100 Zosteropidae species shows that most emerged in the last five million years.
Biodiversity
Wired: March of Penguins Turning Into Trail of Tears
By Alexis Madrigal
Emperor penguin colonies will face extinction if the warming trend of the last 50 years continues over the next century.
Despite dwindling concern among Americans about climate change, the warming climate continues to change life for animals, particularly at the Earth's poles. In a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, biologists report that the penguins are in trouble.
"To avoid extinction, Emperor penguins will have to adapt, migrate or change the timing of their growth stages," they write. "However, given the future projected increases in [greenhouse gases] and its effect on Antarctic climate, evolution or migration seem unlikely for such long-lived species at the remote southern end of the Earth."
Reuters: Dolphins are capable sea chefs, scientists say
By Rob Taylor
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Dolphins are the chefs of the seas, having been seen going through precise and elaborate preparations to rid cuttlefish of ink and bone to produce a soft meal of calamari, Australian scientists say.
A wild female Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin was observed going through the same series of complicated steps to prepare cuttlefish prey for eating in the Spencer Gulf, in South Australia state.
"It's a sign of how well their brains are developed. It's a pretty clever way to get pure calamari without all the horrible bits," Mark Norman, the curator of mollusks at Museum Victoria and a research team member, told the Canberra Times newspaper.
Biotechnology/Health
Wired: Drought-Resistant Grass Genes Could Spur 21st Century Crops
By Brandon Keim
Future generations of drought-resistant food and biofuel crops may have their roots in the genome sequence of sorghum, a tropical grass that's able to thrive in hot, dry conditions.
Having transcribed its DNA, scientists can now set about connecting genes to hardiness, then applying their insights to the development of crop strains suited to a 21st century climate.
"It can grow on marginal land. A lot of our own crops can't," said Joachim Messing, a Rutgers University plant geneticist and co-author of the study published Wednesday in Nature. "A year ago I was in Mozambique, and the corn looked terrible, but the sorghum was strong and tall. It doesn't need all these things that other plants need."
Reuters: Stem cell transplants show promise for MS: study
By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. researchers have reversed multiple sclerosis symptoms in early stage patients by using bone marrow stem cell transplants to reset the immune system, they said on Thursday.
Some 81 percent of patients in the early phase study showed signs of improvement with the treatment, which used chemotherapy to destroy the immune system, and injections of the patient's bone marrow cells taken beforehand to rebuild it.
"We just start over with new cells from the stem cells," said Dr. Richard Burt of Northwestern University in Chicago, whose study appears in the journal Lancet Neurology.
Reuters: S.Korean bio firm says dog cloning to be cheaper
By Jon Herskovitz
SEOUL (Reuters) - Cloning a Chow Chow is expected to be easier and perhaps as much as 50 percent less costly, a South Korean biotech firm said on Thursday as it unveiled a new cloning technology.
But pet owners -- who have to shell out $100,000 or more to clone a pet dog -- will still have to pay tens of thousands of dollars if they want to clone their beloved dogs and should be prepared for long waits because most commercial canine cloning is for working animals including sniffer dogs at airports.
RNL Bio said it has developed a new method to clone dogs using stem cells derived from fat tissue that greatly increases the likelihood of success.
Reuters: Lowly worm offers new clues on stroke, heart drugs
By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Worms that can survive with almost no oxygen are teaching scientists how to rescue oxygen-starved cells in humans who suffer a heart attack or stroke, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.
They identified a gene that can help a cell slow down when oxygen levels get too low, protecting the cells from making fatal mistakes while starved of oxygen.
Researchers hope that some day drugs can be designed to help human cells survive without oxygen.
Reuters: Tadpoles could help develop skin cancer drugs
By Martina Fuchs
LONDON (Reuters) - A compound that blocked the development of the distinctive markings of tadpoles in experiments could help to prevent the deadliest form of skin cancer, British scientists said on Thursday.
It may be able to stop the uncontrolled movement and growth of the pigment cells in tadpoles and humans that cause melanoma, they said.
Melanoma is an aggressive, difficult-to-treat cancer that kills most patients with advanced stages of the disease. Current therapies have only a limited impact or are highly toxic.
Reuters: Genetic inheritance plays role in child cancer: study
By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO (Reuters) - More than 100 small genetic variations affect a child's response to treatment for the most common type of childhood cancer, a finding that might lead to better treatments, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL, is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. About 80 percent of children survive ALL, but they differ widely in their responses to treatment.
While most studies have looked at genetic mutations acquired by leukemia cells, researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee and colleagues looked for inherited genetic variations that affect all cells in the body.
Climate/Environment
Reuters: Pole-to-pole flight finds CO2 piling up over Arctic
By Timothy Gardner
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Scientists who flew a modified corporate jet from pole to pole to study how greenhouse gases move found carbon dioxide piling up over the Arctic, but also higher than expected levels of oxygen over the Antarctic.
The three-week, $4.5 million mission this month in a specially equipped Gulfstream V jet was the first of five flights planned over the next three years by a Harvard University-led project based in Colorado.
The research will help scientists understand how carbon is stored in the planet and how much carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, is released by cars and factories burning fossil fuels, or by the burning of forests.
Reuters: Snow study shows California faces historic drought
By Clare Baldwin
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A new survey of California winter snows on Thursday showed the most populous state is facing one of the worst droughts in its history, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said.
The state, which produces about half the United States' vegetables and fruit, is in its third year of drought and its main system supplying water to cities and farms may only be able to fulfill 15 percent of requests, scientists said.
The snowpack on California's mountains is carrying only 61 percent of the water of normal years, according to the survey by the state Department of Water Resources. Last year the snowpack held 111 percent of the normal amount of water, but spring was the driest ever recorded.
Wired: Ocean Fertilization Works — Unless It Doesn't
By Brandon Keim
New findings suggest that pouring iron into the ocean could help absorb excess greenhouse gases — unless, that is, it doesn't help at all.
Interpretations of the study, in which researchers measured carbon that fell to the deep ocean after being consumed by plankton, differed widely among media outlets, underscoring the controversial and scientifically tricky nature of iron fertilization.
Some scientists and entrepreneurs say that artificially-added iron can be used to spur blooms of CO2-gobbling plankton — a quick, effective and relatively cheap weapon in the fight against climate change. Other scientists and environmentalists argue that ocean dynamics are too poorly understood to support such radical action, except in small-scale tests designed to provide baseline data.
Wired: Scientists Rank Global Cooling Hacks
By Alexis Madrigal
Not all climate hacks are created equal.
The dozens of ways that scientists, as well as crackpots, have proposed to geoengineer the world's climate won't all be equally effective. In fact, some of them, particularly the ones that rely on sucking up carbon dioxide instead of blocking out solar radiation, will hardly have any impact at all, a new study in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics found.
"By 2050, only stratospheric aerosol injections or sunshades in space have the potential to cool the climate back toward its pre-industrial state," earth scientists Tim Lenton and Naomi Vaughan of East Anglia University in England write.
Psychology/Behavior
Reuters: Surrounded by friends? It's all in your genes
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Are you a social butterfly, or do you prefer being at the edge of a group of friends? Either way, your genes and evolution may play a major role, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.
While it may come as no surprise that genes may help explain why some people have many friends and others have few, the researchers said, their findings go just a little farther than that.
"Some of the things we find are frankly bizarre," said Nicholas Christakis of Harvard University in Massachusetts, who helped conduct the study.
Reuters: Study shows what makes locusts swarm
By Michael Kahn
LONDON (Reuters) - A brain chemical that lifts people out of depression can transform solitary grasshoppers into swarming desert locusts, a finding that could one day help prevent the devastating plagues, researchers said on Thursday.
Increases of serotonin, the nerve-signaling chemical targeted by many antidepressants, appears to spark the behavior changes needed to turn the normally harmless insects into bugs that gang up to munch crops, they said.
"Our paper shows how this change in behavior changes what are essentially large grasshoppers living in the desert into swarming, destructive pests," said University of Cambridge researcher Stephen Rogers, who worked on the study.
Wired: Baby Got Beat: Music May Be Inborn
By Brandon Keim
Newborn babies enter the world kicking, screaming and already able to feel the beat.
They exhibit the same pattern of brain activity as adults listening to an unexpectedly disrupted rhythm, which could be a clue to the nature of the human relationship to music.
"We're interested in finding out what the origins of music could be," said Henkjan Honing, head of the University of Amsterdam's Music Cognition Group. "Is music just a side effect of language?"
Archeology/Anthropology
Northumberland Gazette: Hidden Wrecks Revealed
Published Date: 29 January 2009
By HELEN WOODS
NEARLY a thousand new archeological sites have been discovered off the North East coast as part of an English Heritage-funded project.
During the survey, conducted by EH archaeologists along with help from Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, ship wrecks, wartime defences and medieval remains have been uncovered. The survey has been done to help researchers understand the history of the coastline and damages it may face.
University of Munich: Ötzi’s Last Days
Glacier man may have been attacked twice
München, 28.01.2009
Another chapter in a murder case over 5000 years old. New investigations by an LMU research team working together with a Bolzano colleague reconstructed the chronology of the injuries that Ötzi, the glacier man preserved as a frozen mummy, received in his last days. It turns out, for example, that he did in fact only survive the arrow wound in his back for a very short time – a few minutes to a number of hours, but no more – and also definitely received a blow to the back with a blunt object only shortly before his death. In contrast, the cut wound on his hand is some days older. "We are now able to make the first assertions as to the age and chronology of the injuries," reports Professor Andreas Nerlich, who led the study. "It is now clear that Ötzi endured at least two injuring events in his last days, which may imply two separate attacks. Although the ice mummy has already been studied at great length, there are still new results to be gleaned. The crime surrounding Ötzi is as thrilling as ever!"
AP via Physorg.com: Seattle shows little love for Lucy fossil exhibit
(AP) -- Who loves Lucy? Far fewer people than a Seattle science center hoped when officials paid millions to show the fossil remains of one of the earliest known human ancestors.
Halfway through the five-month exhibit, the Pacific Science Center faces a half-million-dollar loss resulting in layoffs of 8 percent of the staff, furloughs and a wage freeze, President Bryce Seidl said Friday.
...
The fossil exhibit was successful at the first stop on the tour - Houston in 2007, but the expenses have other museums reconsidering the planned six-year, 10-city tour.
Smithsonian Magazine: Bodies of Evidence in Southeast Asia
Excavations at a cemetery in Thailand reveal a 4,000-year-old indigenous culture
By Andrew Lawler
Smithsonian magazine, February 2009
The lithe young woman rotates her wrists and hips, slowly and elegantly moving across the stage to the music of a traditional Cambodian orchestra. She seems the very embodiment of an apsara, the beautiful supernatural being that dances for the pleasure of Indian gods and heroes in their heavenly palaces. Reliefs of such creatures dot the nearby temples of Angkor Wat, where graceful poses have been frozen in stone for eight centuries by sculptors of the Khmer Empire.
This real-life apsara is dancing for tourists, but it is the plain white bangles on her wrists that catch my eye. I'd seen similar ones just a few days earlier, not far from this steamy Cambodian lowland, at an archaeological site in northeastern Thailand. They'd circled the arm bones of a woman who had died 2,000 years before the Khmer artisans first made stone sing at Angkor.
Southern Maryland Online: Detectives Experience Forensic Archaeology Training
LEONARDTOWN, Md. (Jan. 23, 2009) -- In December of 2008 members of the St. Mary's County Bureau of Criminal Investigations, along with St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office Crime Lab Technicians, attended Forensic Archaeology Training provided by Dr. Henry M. Miller and Dr. Timothy B. Riordan.
Forensic Archaeology combines osteology (scientific study of bones) and human remains with archaeological techniques to recover vital evidence in critical death investigations. Forensic Archaeology is relatively new to the criminal justice system and provides techniques for excavating and recovering buried human remains, personal effects, weapons, stolen goods, and other potential evidence of crimes.
Wisconsin State Journal: Monona man indicted on charge of violating American Indian artifacts law
GEORGE HESSELBERG
A Monona man, John M. Sheild, 77, has been indicted in South Dakota on a federal charge of trafficking in archeological resources, accused of violating an archeology law that protects American Indian artifacts.
When contacted Wednesday, Sheild, a South Dakota native and retired pastor for Lake Edge United Church of Christ in Madison, referred questions to his lawyer, John Dorsey of Rapid City, S.D., who wasn’t available.
The indictment, from U.S. District Court for South Dakota, was filed Dec. 11, and Sheild appeared in court Jan. 6, pleading not guilty. He was freed on his own recognizance, and a trial is set for June 9.
KELO-TV: Archeology & Economic Stimulus
A South Dakota facility that deals in ancient artifacts might itself become history because of budget cuts. Governor Rounds has proposed trimming more than $300,000 from the state budget by eliminating the archeological research center. But archeologists are coming to the center's defense, by tying the Rapid City facility to the economic stimulus on Capitol Hill.
The archeological research center is one of the lesser-known state agencies. It archives archeological records and research, while warehousing thousands of artifacts. Supporters hope the center can remain open, not just for its scientific importance, but also for the role it plays in construction projects throughout the state.
The Archeological Research Center is a time capsule of our ancient past. But time, and budget cuts, may may be catching up with the center. Archeologists say shutting down the facility will leave South Dakota with the enormous and expensive task of moving thousands of documents and artifacts to a new home.
The Independent (UK): Duped council hopes to display fake statue
By Jeananne Craig, Press Association
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
A council which was duped into paying £440,000 for a fake Egyptian statuette said today that it hopes to put the sculpture on display in a local museum.
Bolton Council bought the 20-inch Princess Amarna in 2003 after it was authenticated as 3,300 years old by the Egyptology department at Christie's and the British Museum.
In fact, the figurine of the granddaughter of King Tutankhamun was crafted by master forger Shaun Greenhalgh, 48, in his garden shed in just three weeks.
The Princess Amarna is now in the hands of London's Metropolitan Police, but Bolton Council plans to borrow the statue for a special display in Bolton Museum's Egyptology section.
My Sinchew (Malaysia): Malaysia Says 1.8 Million-year-old Axes Unearthed
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian archeologists have unearthed prehistoric stone axes that they said Friday (30 Jan) were the world's oldest at about 1.8 million years old.
Seven axes were found with other tools at an excavation site in Malaysia's northern Perak state in June, and tests by a Tokyo laboratory indicate they were about 1.83 million years old, said Mokhtar Saidin, director of the Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Science Malaysia.
The group released their conclusions Thursday (29 Jan), and other archeologists have not yet examined the results.
The Art Newspaper: First evidence of damage to Gaza’s cultural sites emerges
Antiquities museum hit; fears grow for excavated archaeology
Lauren Gelfond Feldinger
JERUSALEM. After a 3,500-year history of invasions, the latest war on the beleaguered coastal strip of Gaza has once again put historic sites at risk.
With the fragile ceasefire still in force, The Art Newspaper has learned that Gaza’s only museum has been damaged and other heritage sites and buildings may also be at risk.
The Antiquities Museum of Gaza, privately founded and run by Gazan contractor and collector Jawdat Khoudary, was badly damaged during Israel’s 22 days of air and land strikes. The glass doors and windows have been shattered and the roof and walls have been damaged. Roman and Byzantine pottery, Islamic bronze objects and many amphorae have been destroyed, initially during shooting 20m to 200m away, and later because of nearby shelling, with one direct hit to the museum’s conference hall, Mr Khoudary said. Amphorae, clay and ceramic vessels with two looped handles, were created in Gaza and the region during the fourth to seventh centuries for storing wine, olive oil and food and trading perishable commodities.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman, who sent in the above articles.
Physics
Wired: "Sudden Death" Threatens Quantum Computing
By Brandon Keim
Futuristic applications of entanglement — a mysterious phenomenon in which two quantum states are linked, breaking the traditional laws of physics — may be threatened by another mysterious phenomenon that breaks the traditional laws of physics: entanglement sudden death.
"Quantum computing, cryptography, teleportation — they all require entanglement," said Rochester University physicist Joseph Eberly. "The question is, how long can you safely store it?"
During entanglement, quantum units — typically electrons — exist in a mutually dependent state: if one has an "upward" spin, the other will spin downward. The relationship persists independently of distance, making possible the near-instantaneous transmission of binary information.
Chemistry
Reuters: Studies find mercury in much U.S. corn syrup
Reporting by Maggie Fox; editing by David Wiessler
Many common foods made using commercial high fructose corn syrup contain mercury as well, researchers reported on Tuesday, while another study suggested the corn syrup itself is contaminated.
Food processors and the corn syrup industry group attacked the findings as flawed and outdated, but the researchers said it was important for people to know about any potential sources of the toxic metal in their food.
In one study, published in the journal Environmental Health, former Food and Drug Administration scientist Renee Dufault and colleagues tested 20 samples of high fructose corn syrup and found detectable mercury in nine of the 20 samples.
Reuters: Plastic chemical may stay in body longer: study
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A controversial chemical used in many plastic products may remain in the body longer than previously thought, and people may be ingesting it from sources other than food, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December said it planned more research into the safety of bisphenol A, or BPA, but the agency indicated no immediate plans to curb the chemical, found in baby bottles and other products.
Dr. Richard Stahlhut of the University of Rochester and colleagues looked at levels of the chemical in the urine of 1,469 U.S. adults who took part in a government health survey.
Science, Space, Environment, and Energy Policy
Reuters: Push for climate deal as Obama lifts hopes
By Ben Hirschler and Jonathan Lynn
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Denmark's prime minister called on rich and poor countries alike to commit to big cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, ahead of key year-end talks on a new climate treaty he will host in Copenhagen.
Hopes that a deal may be possible have increased since the election of what many see as a "green" U.S. president and business is increasingly enthusiastic about the opportunities thrown up by climate change.
"It is essential to engage heads of state and government stronger in the whole process to ensure a positive result in Copenhagen," Anders Fogh Rasmussen told the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos Friday.
Reuters: Oil price slump a challenge to Obama energy agenda
By Matthew Robinson and Richard Valdmanis
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A slide in oil prices may be good for consumers battered by the U.S. economic slowdown, but it could pose a challenge for President Barack Obama's ambitious plan to revolutionize America's energy use.
Obama's plan -- outlined during the campaign last year when oil prices hit a record $147 a barrel -- calls for doubling U.S. alternative energy use within three years while easing reliance on foreign oil.
Oil prices have tumbled to around $40 a barrel, easing the urgency to solve America's energy crisis. Analysts now say bigger government subsidies will be needed to lure private investment into less economical green fuel projects.
Reuters: Clean energy spending needs to more than triple: report
Editing by Simon Jessop
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Clean energy investment needs to more than triple to $515 billion a year to stop planet-warming emissions reaching levels deemed unsustainable by scientists, the World Economic Forum said in a report on Thursday.
The hefty investments required in renewable energy sectors such as solar and wind energy need to be made between now and 2030, the report, which was co-written by research group New Energy Finance, said.
"Clean energy opportunities have the potential to generate significant economic returns," the World Economic Forum said in a statement accompanying the report.
Reuters: EU to debate cloning for food, wary of trade impact
By Jeremy Smith
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU regulators will discuss again in a few months whether to allow meat and milk products from cloned animals into the food chain, despite local consumer opposition and inconclusive data, officials said on Friday.
Animal cloning has been around for years. Dolly the cloned sheep was born in 1996, for example. Now, scientists estimate the EU has 100 cattle clones and fewer pig clones alive. Race horses have also been cloned.
Many consumer and religious groups strongly oppose the technology, which takes cells from an adult and fuses them with others before implanting them in a surrogate mother. They say scientists don't know its effects on nutrition and biology.
Science is Cool
Wired: Make Your Own Scientific Super Bowl Snacks
By Brandon Keim
The problem with Super Bowl snacks is that they're boring. It's time for something new.
On Sunday, most of America will gorge on typical salty, fatty and totally unhealthy foods: buffalo wings, nachos, pizza. And that's just fine. The Super Bowl is all but an official federal holiday, and holiday feasts aren't supposed to scrupulous. But they should be scrumptious.
Wired Science asked leading molecular gastronomists for their own preferred finger foods recipes. Inspired by the experimental spirit of science, they've come up with new variations on old standbys, from Wylie Dufresne's pizza pebbles to Homaro Cantu's olive dipping chips.
Reuters: "Star Trek" creator and wife's ashes space-bound
Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Bob Tourtellotte
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry and late wife Majel Barrett Roddenberry are about to go on their final mission.
The Roddenberrys' ashes will be shot into space in about a year and a half, in accordance with their wishes, memorial spaceflight company Celestis Inc said on Monday.
Majel Barrett Roddenberry, an actress who had roles in nearly every "Star Trek" television show and movie since the original, died on December 18 at age 76. She had been married to Gene Roddenberry for 22 years when he died in 1991, and she was often called "The First Lady of Star Trek."