ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Researchers off Mexico’s Pacific coast are observing what they say could be a case of global warming’s effects in the far north: gray whales returning to calving grounds malnourished. Layers of fat should have covered whales’ spines last winter, but instead researchers saw vertebrae sticking out. They spotted other signs of malnutrition – depressions around the blowholes and head, and protruding shoulder blades – that may indicate declining health. At least 10% of gray whales returning to Laguna San Ignacio, 1 of 4 main calving and breeding lagoons off Baja California, Mexico, showed signs of being underfed. That’s according to Steve Swartz, a National Marine Fisheries Service whale expert based in Silver Spring, Maryland. Researchers are trying to find out if it’s a warning sign that climate change in the North Pacific is affecting the tiny crustaceans the whales suck up from the ocean floor, and if switching to alternative prey will affect their well-being.
Plans to allow British scientists to create human-animal embryos are expected to be approved tomorrow by the government’s fertility regulator. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority published its long-awaited public consultation on the controversial research yesterday, revealing that a majority of people were ‘at ease’ with scientists creating the hybrid embryos. Researchers want to create hybrid embryos by merging human cells with animal eggs, in the hope they will be able to extract valuable embryonic stem cells from them. The cells form the basic building blocks of the body and are expected to pave the way for revolutionary therapies for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and even spinal cord injuries. The consultation papers were released ahead of the authority’s final decision on the matter, which will mark the end of almost a year of intense lobbying by scientists and a fervent campaign by organisations opposed to research involving embryonic stem cells. Using animal eggs will allow researchers to push ahead unhindered by the shortage of human eggs. Under existing laws, the embryos must be destroyed after 14 days when they are no bigger than a pinhead, and cannot be implanted into the womb. Opponents of the […]
Parents may be able to predict how tall their children will become, with the discovery of the first gene linked to height. Researchers said the find, based on a study of the DNA of almost 35,000 people, was expected to herald a flood of other discoveries about genes that contribute to stature and different physical traits. People who inherit one copy of the ‘tall’ genetic variant are about half a centimetre taller than those with none. Having two copies adds about one centimetre in height. Tim Frayling, of the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, a member of the international research team, said hundreds of genes were thought to contribute to stature. ‘This is just the first of many that will be found.’ Nature, rather than nurture, is most influential in determining how tall people grow. Better diets have meant each generation has got progressively taller, but studies of twins show that about 90 per cent of the normal variation in height between people is determined by genes. Joel Hirschhorn, of Harvard Medical School, said the research could benefit parents of very short children who were often referred to doctors in case delayed growth was a […]
The race to decode the human genome may not be entirely over: the loser has come up with a new approach that may let him prevail in the end. In 2003, a government-financed consortium of academic centers announced it had completed the human genome, fending off a determined challenge from the biologist J. Craig Venter. The consortium’s genome comprised just half the DNA contained in a normal cell, and the DNA used in the project came from a group of people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. But the loser in the race, Dr. Venter, could still have the last word. In a paper published today, his research team is announcing that it has decoded a new version of the human genome that some experts believe may be better than the consortium’s. Called a full, or diploid genome, it consists of the DNA in both sets of chromosomes, one from each parent, and it is the normal genome possessed by almost all the body’s cells. And the genome the team has decoded belongs to just one person: Dr. Venter. The new genome, Dr. Venter’s team reports, makes clear that the variation in the genetic programming carried […]
Imagine a bookstore that prints your purchases while you settle the bill or a personalized newspaper that contains only the news you want to read. Such expedient printing may soon become a reality using a new Israeli technology that will enable printing 1,000 pages a minute at affordable prices. Two researchers from The College of Judea and Samaria – Moshe and Nissim Einat – have developed a revolutionary printing technique called Jetrix, which enables simultaneous high- speed printing of an entire page of text. The technology combines printing and Liquid Crystal Technology (LCD) methods to make a page-sized printing array that emits ink instead of light. ‘We are reducing the limitations of printing heads,’ explains Moshe Einat, senior lecturer at the college’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Einat’s inspiration for rethinking print methods came from flat-screen display technologies. In the past display screens used a cathode ray tube to ‘scan’ the picture across the screen similar to the way a printer fills a page with text. With LCDs a screen-sized array of light emitting diodes creates the displayed picture and simultaneously changes to display each new image. Einat posed the question whether the same concept could […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
