.
Page 1: human_01Sep2002.html
. HUMAN HISTORIC SECTION. . . ... 7. HI for Human Interest . . .x Thursday, 12 September, 2002, 00:34 GMT 01:34 UK . Bio-pacemaker offers patients
hope
. A traditional electronic
pacemaker Scientists have created the first biological pacemaker using gene
therapy in guinea pigs.
They say the development could one day lead to an alternative to implanted electronic pacemakers for humans. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, US converted guinea pigs' heart muscle cells into "pacing" cells. In healthy hearts, two tiny sets of these cells make the organ beat regularly by stimulating other cells to contract.
But the US researchers say the "biopacemaker" could help people for whom such an operation carries too high a risk of infection. Such a "biopacemaker" is a potentially important option for patients at too high a risk for infection from implanted electronic pacemakers or too small for an implanted device, say the researchers Virus They were able to change the role of the guinea pigs' heart cells by genetically altering the balance of potassium within them. This made the cells spontaneously and rhythmically "fire". The majority of heart muscle cells do not have the right level of potassium to generate electricity on their own and must rely on the pacemaker cells. This is controlled by a special channel within the cell. The researchers used a virus to carry the gene with a genetically altered virus into the body. Using a virus means the genetic alteration would be replicated in all infected cells. A few days after the guinea pigs were injected, heart cells began acting as pacemaking cells. Adaptable Professor Eduardo Marbán, of Johns Hopkins' Institute of Molecular Cardiology, who led the research, said: "We now can envision a day when it will be possible to recreate an individual's pacemaker cells or develop hybrid pacemakers - part electronic and part biologic. "Most applications of gene therapy try to cure a disease caused by a single defective or missing gene, but we used the cells' genes as a tool box to tweak its function. "This is akin to turning a clunky old car into a hot rod - if you have the parts and expertise, it can be done." He added: "A biologic pacemaker should also be able to adjust to the body's changing needs, whereas an electronic pacemaker, at least in its simplest form, does not. "Anything that normally makes our heart go pitter-pat doesn't change the steady rhythm of the electronic pacemaker. Instead, people get tired very quickly." The team admit much more work is needed before the biopacemaker would be an option for human heart patients, but they say there is "light at the end of the tunnel". Professor Marbán added: "We believe the same principles will prevail in humans." Fiona Kirkwood, cardiac nurse advisor at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Application of gene therapy is a growing area in cardiovascular research. "This new research showing that the cells of guinea pigs can be turned into biological pacemakers is interesting, and in the future could offer an alternative to the well established method of implanting pacemakers. "However, as the researchers themselves admit it is very early days for research of this kind. Much more research is needed in this area before it could be considered for clinical application." The research is published in the journal Nature. . Thursday, 12 September, 2002, 10:11 GMT 11:11 UK . Pensioners 'enjoy
sex'
. Older people are often
regarded as asexual The myth that old people never have sex must be dispelled, say
experts.
The British Society of Gerontology's annual meeting in Birmingham will hear that sex plays an important part in the lives of many elderly people. However, experts will tell the conference that there is widely held theory that most older people are asexual.
The researchers also identified a reluctance to explore the issue of sex and older people. Few studies have been carried out in this area in the UK. Sex life Another study found that many pensioners regard sex as important even if they are not actually engaging in it. In interviews, pensioners said sex remained important until such time as there were insurmountable barriers to intercourse. However, the authors of that paper warn that their findings should not give rise to a new myth of a "super oldie" who has sex all of the time. They said that such a myth would be as damaging as the asexual myth. Other speakers at the conference will also examine the lives of older gay and lesbian people. Another team of researchers will examine how institutional care impacts on the sex lives of the elderly. They will claim that many nursing home workers look negatively at older people's expression of their sexuality and particularly so if they are not heterosexual. The researchers from Stirling University have produced a CD Rom to show ways in which residents can create opportunities for sexual experience, sexual meaning and sexual expression. Tackling stereotypes Mary Gilhooley, president of the British Society of Gerontology, said the conference was aimed at sweeping many of the existing stereotypes aside. "The sexual desire and expression of older people is often neglected. We have taken up the challenge to rectify the stereotyping and discrimination of older people. "Our task is to make sure that older people are seen in all their diversity and not diminished by the narrow and harmful stereotypes which persist in our society. This has implications for us all, whatever our age." .
Thursday, 12 September, 2002, 16:40 GMT 17:40 UK . Human ancestors 'dodgy at
DIY'
. It appears the tools
were discarded after use
Excavations at an archaeological site in India suggest early humans living there about a million years ago ran a primitive tool factory. The implements were probably used by Homo erectus to process meat, wood and plants. It appears, however, that their labours stopped short of actually storing the tools for future use. Most were found scattered within a kilometre or two of the quarry, suggesting they were simply thrown away after the task was completed. Archaeologists think early humans at this stage in evolution did not have the brain power to plan ahead. With brains about half the size of modern humans, they probably lacked the behaviour and thought patterns needed to make better use of technology. Hybrid behaviour It is a big enigma, said Dr Michael Petraglia of the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies at the University of Cambridge in the UK. "It's truly a hybrid between something like a chimp, and us," he told BBC News Online. "It's so unfamiliar, there's no modern animal close to it." The research gives an insight into the evolution of the modern mind. It suggests human behaviour did not take shape slowly and gradually over the passage of time, as some have suggested. Rather, there were big leaps in human behaviour relatively recently as brains approached the sort of size seen in anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals. Unique site This is the first quarry uncovered in India from the Acheulean period. It is in central India in the state of Karnataka. Stone tools produced during this era are found over a wide geographical area, including India and Africa. The period also spans a long time - between 250 thousand and 1.7 million years ago. Full details of the discovery are being prepared for publication, Dr Petraglia told the British Association's festival of science in Leicester. . Thursday, 12 September, 2002, 08:52 GMT 09:52 UK . Catalan nationalism hits
the web
. Catalan president
Jordi Pujol: Backing the changes The Spanish region of Catalonia has made a declaration of
independence in cyberspace.
The regional government in Barcelona has changed the address of its website from .es for Spain to .net. The change is largely symbolic and will make little difference to visitors to the site as the former web address still works. But the domain switch is an example of Spanish regional pride popping up in unexpected places. Economic powerhouse Officials said they decided to dump the national domain in favour of .net as it sounded more international. Catalonians would have preferred the .cat domain, but this was not available as the region is not a country. In any case, national suffixes are restricted to just two letters. Catalonia is one of Spain's wealthiest and most powerful semi-autonomous regions. It is controlled by a centre-right nationalist coalition that is pushing for more autonomy from central government. Smaller parties in the regional parliament are more outspoken in demanding independence. The change was timed to coincide with the region's national holiday. The regional government's new web address is www.gencat.net. . Thursday, 12 September, 2002, 10:55 GMT 11:55 UK . Phones join file-sharing
revolution
. Pass on those sounds
via your mobile phone Soon you could be using your phone to share music, games and images
with almost anyone, just like you used to do with Napster.
French company Apeera has developed technology that turns the mobile phone network into a potentially vast peer-to-peer network. The technology gives users a digital store cupboard for their own media files and lets them pass them on to anyone who wants to use, listen or look at them on their own handset. Apeera's creators said it could prove popular with phone companies keen to convince customers to start using new multimedia services. Big success Ever since the appearance of Napster, peer-to-peer networks have been hugely popular with internet users.
Now Apeera has found a way to do something similar for mobile phones. Its peer-to-peer system gives users their own storage area into which they can upload images, music files and games for use on their handset or to pass on to anyone else. "Peer-to-peer is the cornerstone of making a service successful," said Adrian Bisaz, Apeera spokesman. Mr Bisaz said mobile phone operators got most money from customers calling each other or sending text messages and passing on ring tones than they did from other services. As phones start to handle more sophisticated types of data files, being able to swap and share them easily would be key, he said. "Logos and icons are going to become pictures, ringtones are going to become music files," said Mr Bisaz. Locked out Currently many operators are trying to persuade customers to swap their handset for one that can handle multimedia files such as images and polyphonic ringtones.
Sites such as Midlet.org are springing up that let people download new Java games into their handsets. However, most handsets have a small on-board memory limiting the number of messages, images, sounds or games they can store. Apeera, said Mr Bisaz, gave a phone an effectively unlimited memory. The Apeera system can be used by any phone that can use Wap - a set of specifications that converts webpages into a format that a handset can understand and display. Apeera users can send files to any Wap or Java phone, even those that are not signed up to the service. Mr Bisaz said many operators were interested in Apeera because it allowed customers to get more out of their handset and gave the operator a regular point of contact with subscribers. They also liked it, he said, because pre-paid customers can also use it. Key groups of users, such as teenagers, are effectively barred from using many multimedia services because operators have not worked out how to let them pay for them. . Sunday, 15 September, 2002, 00:58 GMT 01:58 UK . DNA find could aid cancer
treatment
. It is difficult to
prevent cancer treatment harming healthy tissue The discovery of a molecule that repairs damaged DNA could pave the
way for more effective and reliable cancer treatment.
The molecule, called AlkB, can hamper chemotherapy treatments purposely targeted to damage tumour DNA, says the study published in the magazine Nature. Inhibiting the mechanism or using it to shield healthy tissue from chemotherapy damage could thus mark an important advance in cancer treatment, say the study's authors. The discovery of the mechanism "was both surprising and very exciting," lead researcher Barbara Sedgwick said. 'Surprise' AlkB uses a chemical process called oxidative demethylation to repair DNA, depending on the presence of iron and several other chemicals. But the mechanism can resist conventional cancer treatment, weakening its effects on tumours - which is why changing its response could prove important. Dr Sedgwick - who works at Cancer Research UK's London Institute - said: "The process for repairing DNA has been studied intensively for many years now, so to discover a completely new mechanism of action was both surprising and very exciting.
There were a number of ways manipulating the molecule's response could improve cancer treatments, she said. "Testing for the molecule could help us to predict whether chemotherapy is likely to be successful, while drugs to inhibit it could boost the effectiveness of conventional drugs," she said. "It might also be possible to use AlkB to protect cells in the bone marrow that can otherwise get damaged by chemotherapy, which may reduce the side-effects of treatment." Natural resistance Sir Paul Nurse, Cancer Research UK's chief executive, explained: "Our cells are constantly suffering genetic damage and without systems for patching up our DNA they quickly die as a result. "Chemotherapy tries to take advantage of the lethal effects of DNA damage to kill cancer cells, but sometimes our natural repair systems get in the way and cause resistance to treatment. "One of those systems involves AlkB, so knowing how the molecule works is an important development." . Sunday, 15 September, 2002, 00:02 GMT 01:02 UK . River blindness drug
revives village life
. Celestina Hiza
taking the river blindness drug
A ceremony was held in the village of Bombani in Tanzania, attended by the country's Vice President, Dr Ali Mohammed Shein, and 2,000 villagers to mark the event. The Tanzania initiative is part of a worldwide bid by health experts to eradicate the disease, which is endemic in some Latin American countries and Yemen. But it is most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, where 28 countries are affected.
It is the leading cause of blindness in the developing world. Most of those cases are found in Africa in countries stretching from Senegal in West Africa to Ethiopia in the east and from Sudan to the southern extremities of Mozambique and Angola. Skin rashes Celestina has suffered from the condition for some years, although it has not reached its most mature stage at which irreversible blindness can occur. But she has suffered uncontrollable itching and developed "lizard skin", a chronic swelling and thickening of the skin. She told BBC News Online: "I have been taking the drug for three years now and the itching has stopped. "This has been a relief to me. I am now able to go back to farming my land and looking after my family."
Unlike many other waterborne diseases, river blindness only occurs around fast flowing rivers and not in pools of stagnant water. The parasite once in the bloodstream, multiplies and spreads throughout the body. The adult parasite, which can survive for up to 15 years, produces offspring called microfilarie. It is the microfilarie which cause the acute skin rashes, itching, disfigurement and in many cases blindness. Villages abandoned In addition to the disease's effect on health, river blindness can also have long-term social implications. In some cases, entire villages have been abandoned with the inhabitants fleeing fertile land along river banks in the search for safer, although less fertile soil. Young people especially have left their communities to avoid the disease. Dr William Mwengee, the Regional Medical Officer for Tanga region, where Bombani is located said: "Eradicating the threat of the disease has given a new lease of life to villages like Bombani. "It has meant that the inhabitants are healthier and are more productive from an economic point of view. "Most importantly, village life has not been destroyed by people moving elsewhere. Free medication The drug that Celestina Hiza has been taking is called Mectizan. One dose a year is enough to prevent the onset of river blindness. Doctors believe that if taken over 15 years, the life of the adult parasite, it is almost 100% effective. Celestina, like 30m other people in Africa and Latin America, have received Mectizan free of charge. It has been donated by the US-based pharmaceutical company Merck, which has been running its programme in conjunction with WHO, non-governmental organisations and national and regional governments since 1987. Merck said it donated 100-120 million tablets at a cost of $1.50 each in 2001. Raymond Gilmartin, chief executive of Merck, was in Bombani to administer the 250 millionth dose. He told BBC News Online: "The image of a young boy leading a blind man through an African village is now largely a thing of the past due to the Mectizan programme. "We are committed to continuing the supply of Mectizan free of charge to whoever needs it wherever they are in the world." . Monday, 16 September, 2002, 10:49 GMT 11:49 UK . Pollen link to asthma
risk
. Breathing
easy: Could pre-natal pollen trigger asthma? Women exposed to high levels of pollen in the last third of pregnancy
are much more likely to have asthmatic children, suggests
research.
It is thought that antibodies produced by the mother in response to pollen may cross into the foetus and make allergies more likely. A team of Swedish scientists looked at pollen records during the pregnancies of tens of thousands of women.
They found that women who endured high pollen counts in the last 12 weeks of pregnancy were on average three times more likely to have a baby who developed early asthma. Dr Bertil Forsberg, who led the research at the University of Umea, said: "It is clear that maternal pollen exposure in the last 12 weeks plays a major role." However, he said that while this was important, the actual month of birth was not so crucial to the baby's chance of avoiding asthma. The researchers found that the increase in risk was greatest in babies born in April and May, and lowest in August and September. Other research, from Serbian scientists at the Belgrade Center for Paediatric Respiratory Medicine, placed more emphasis on month of birth. It found that babies born in Serbia between April and May, and October and January, were at greater risk of later grass pollen allergy than those born between June and September. Diet boost However, two teams of British researchers found that plenty of selenium and iron in the diet of mothers-to-be might actually protect their babies against wheezing. The scientists, from Kings College London and Bristol University, looked at levels of these minerals in the umbilical cords of more than 2,000 babies. Higher levels were associated with babies at lower risk of wheezing in early childhood. Dr Sheelagh Fleming, from the University of Aberdeen, also presented results which suggested that a maternal diet rich in selenium - found in nuts, cereals and fish - and fatty acids found in oily fish was linked to lower risk of wheezing. In a study of 1,499 children, the risks of such breathing problems in the first year of life were cut by 25% by prenatal maternal diets with plenty of fish oils, and by 12% by those including selenium rich foods. . Monday, 16 September, 2002, 10:49 GMT 11:49 UK . California's redwoods
fight infection
. Infected:
Discolouration of needles on a redwood sapling
There is also one case of the pathogen infecting a Douglas fir in Sonoma county. The revelation comes after months of studies conducted by Matteo Garbelotto, a forest pathologist at UC Berkeley, and David Rizzo, a professor of pathology at UC Davis. They stress that so far the infections are only in saplings and sprouts and that there is no evidence that the disease can actually kill grown trees. Early days Dr Garbelotto told BBC News Online: "We haven't seen any evidence of mature trees being killed or of smaller trees being killed. "In the case of the Douglas fir, we believe we're looking at something that's just started, so we're looking at a new host. What the future holds we can't predict.
The researchers note that the symptoms have been detected only on the needles and very small branches of redwoods and that more work needs to be done to chart the course of the disease. "We need to look at it through time and see what the effects are," said Dr Garbelotto. "We have two new tree species that are extremely important ecologically, that are infected in a way we don't know and this complicates our understanding of what the final impact is. At this point it is so early in the game." Economic impact Professor Rizzo agrees. "We have a lot of unknowns," he said. "We really don't have a good sense of the progression of the disease over a period of years." While the study poses more questions that it perhaps answers, the presence of Phytophthora ramorum in both redwoods and Douglas firs has caused alarm among those in the $1bn a year timber industry. Both trees represent two of the state's most valuable timber resources.
California's Governor Gray Davis is in agreement and has called on President Bush to release $10m to combat this highly contagious fungus. "The announcement about sudden oak death in Douglas fir and coast redwoods significantly raises the stakes," said Governor Davis. "As a state, we will continue to tackle this serious economic and environmental problem but we need federal resources as well." State lines To ensure the fungus is not spread around the country, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has also just announced that existing regulations restricting movement of the 15 known species that can harbour SOD will be extended to include redwoods and Douglas fir.
The presence of P. ramorum in redwoods had been suspected at the turn of the year but these results confirm the rare incidence of the pathogen spreading from one species to another. Professor Rizzo said the California blight, which is related to the organism that caused the Irish potato famine more than 150 years ago, was most similar to a disease now ravaging trees in Western Australia. Last ice age Dr Garbelotto said there was a real urgency about this situation because both trees played an important role in the state's ecosystem. "In forests, size matters.
Coastal redwoods are also a major tourist attraction in California and can reach heights of more than 100 metres (330 feet) and live for as long at 2,000 years. Forestry experts say the ancient trees once grew as far away as Russia, but were killed off by the last ice age in all but the coastal fog belt in California and southern Oregon. . Sunday, 15 September, 2002, 15:13 GMT 16:13 UK . Robot to probe
pyramid's mysteries
. The robot
is being supplied by US firm iRobot
Final checks are under way in the Egyptian capital Cairo on a specially adapted robot that this week will attempt to discover one of the mysteries lying at the heart of Egypt's biggest pyramid. The 12-centimetre tall robot, named Pyramid Rover, is to make its way on Tuesday down a small tunnel in the hope of discovering ancient chambers that may shed light on how the pyramids were built. The Great Pyramid of Cheops is the largest of a family of three pyramids on the Giza plateau near Cairo and a "must-see" attraction for every tourist who has ever visited the Egyptian capital.Deep inside the pyramid, running from the Queen's chamber, is a mysterious 20-cm wide tunnel. In 1993, a German archaeologist sent a small robotic probe into the shaft armed with a fibre-optic camera. It travelled for about 60 metres before it ran straight into a thick limestone door.
This week the new robot will make the same journey - but as well as having a camera on board, it will have a drill. The plan is to make a hole through the limestone door big enough to push a fibre-optic cable inside to discover what lies behind. The organisers say they have no idea what to expect. They hope to find scrolls or tools that may help explain how the pyramids were built and - who knows - perhaps a treasure trove to rival that of Tutankhamen?  . Monday, 16 September, 2002, 12:31 GMT 13:31 UK . World's oldest person celebrates
birthday
. Kamato Hongo is slightly
deaf but otherwise healthy The oldest person in the world, Kamato Hongo, has celebrated her
115th birthday.
.Mrs Hongo, who sleeps for two days and stays awake for two days, slept through the morning of her birthday, but was to celebrate with her family in southern Japan in the afternoon, according to media reports. She is bed ridden and requires continual care, but apart from being slightly hard of hearing, she is otherwise said to be in good health.
Mrs Hongo now lives on the southern island of Kyushu and has seven children and more than 20 grandchildren. She has already outlived her eldest daughter, who died two years ago in her 90s. "If you think about it really, its incredible," one of her daughters, Shizue Kurauchi, told Japanese media when the town major came to visit a couple of days ago. "I mean, I've been taking care of her before she even turned 100 and every year I worry whether she'll be there the following year - even though she's always in fine health." Mrs Hongo was recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest living person in March, after the death of the oldest woman ever, Maud Farris-Luse, who died aged 122 in Michigan in the American Mid-West. Japan's elderly Appropriately Mrs Hongo's birthday fell this year on Japan's Respect for the Aged Day holiday. The world's oldest man is also Japanese. Yukichi Chuganji, who is 113 years old, also lives in Kyushu. Japanese have the longest life expectancy in the world. Their diet of fish and green vegetables are thought to contribute to their longevity. Whilst Japan's high proportion of elderly is testament to its society's healthy diet, the greying population places a heavy burden on Japan's pension system. . Monday, 16 September, 2002, 23:03 GMT 00:03 UK . Gene swap 'reverses' muscular
dystrophy
. Scientists were able
to replace a defective gene Scientists have managed for the first time to improve muscle function
in mice with muscular dystrophy by using a type of gene
therapy.
While there are hopes that this will one day translate into effective treatments for humans, experts have warned against over-optimism. Muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder which progressively weakens the muscles. The body cannot produce a vital chemical called dystrophin, which helps keep muscles structurally strong. The most common form, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, affects one in every 3,500 boys born in the UK. This involves virtually every muscle in the body, and the cumulative damage means that most die before the age of 25. Gene swap Gene therapy centres on replacing the faulty gene responsible for dystrophin production with another which should work normally. In the latest experiments, a modified common cold virus was used to "infect" muscles and swap the bad gene for the correct version. The scientists managed to insert the entire dystrophin gene - previously thought too large to be transported this way. Their weakened version of the viral "vector" was also engineered to reduce any chance that the immune system could attack it. Knee test The gene therapy was injected into a small knee muscle in adult mice suffering from an advanced form of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Some time later, they were re-tested to see if the physical ability of the muscle to withstand movement without injury had increased. They found that this - a key measure of the structural strength of the muscle - had improved by 40%. Professor Jeffrey Chamberlain, from the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, who led the study, said: "We have shown that replacing the dystrophin gene will correct this disease, even in older animals. "In future research we hope to develop better methods to deliver the gene to all the muscles of the body, as currently we are limited to treating relatively small muscles." Hurdles ahead This is not the only obstacle to success in human patients.
Unlike mice, muscle in patients with muscular dystrophy tends to be heavily scarred by repeated injuries suffered while trying to contract it. This may be far more difficult to reverse. And there are still concerns about both the ability of gene therapy to evade the immune system, and whether an effective dose would prove safe in a human. However, UK experts said the research was "highly encouraging". Dr Dominic Wells, a reader in Transgenic Biology in the Gene Targeting Unit at Kings College London, said: "These are incredibly promising results. "The fact that he has been able to functionally restore this muscle is a very, very key finding. "He has managed to achieve a very effective gene transfer." Dr Jenny Versnel, from the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, said: "When children are diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, usually in early childhood, the muscles already display signs of muscle cell breakdown. "Research to date has tested the applicability of gene therapy using young mice, this new research has shown promising results with inserting a full-length gene into older mice who have greater muscle cell weakness." The findings were released in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. . Tuesday, 17 September, 2002, 16:16 GMT 17:16 UK . Pharaoh puzzle
persists
. A fibre optic camera
was inserted inside the door Researchers may be planning new attempts to unlock the secrets of the
Pharaohs, after a robot sent into the heart of Egypt's Great Pyramid found its
way barred.
Despite the disappointment, several scientists called the discovery "very important", believing that "something amazing" may be hidden behind the second door. "The finding... promises almost with certainty that there is a chamber on the other side," Robert Bauvel, expert on ancient Egypt, told the BBC.
"Maybe something belonging to [pharaoh] Khufu is hidden behind the
second one. Maybe there is nothing," Zahi Hawass, director of Egypt's Supreme
Council of Antiquities (SCA), said.
Mr Hawass said the next job for researchers was to study the footage and plan for further inspections, which could take up to 12 months. Scientists hope that the 12-centimetre (five inch) tall robot - dubbed the Pyramid Rover - may yet return for another crack at the mysteries of the Pharaohs. Stellar afterlife Mr Bauvel, who is also the author of The Great Pyramid book, expressed hopes that the robot would find another chamber.
He said that it may be "a room - probably with artefacts - but mainly with the stature of the king... where [the Egyptians] imagined that the soul of the king habits the statue." Mr Bauvel said such rooms were quite common in tombs, especially in the Old Kingdom, and they were usually protected by several sliding doors. "It has been known for a long time that they [the Egyptians] had stellar alignment...to their stellar destiny in the sky. "My guess is that we probably going to have a statue of the king... gazing towards the sky and stars that are relevant." "We know that this shaft is pointed towards Sirius, which is very important to the Egyptians." Show must go on Earlier on Tuesday, audiences watched live on television, as the robot crawled about 65 metres (71 yards) up a narrow tunnel to explore the shaft. Mr Hawass's SCA, along with engineers from the Boston firm iRobot and researchers from National Geographic, had spent a year planning Tuesday's event. The Great Pyramid of Cheops [Khufu] is the largest of a family of three pyramids on the Giza plateau near Cairo and a "must-see" attraction for every tourist who has ever visited the Egyptian capital. Deep inside the pyramid, running from the Queen's chamber, is a 20cm wide tunnel. In 1993, a German archaeologist sent a small robotic probe into the shaft armed with a fibre-optic camera. It travelled for about 60 metres before it ran straight into the thick limestone door that has now been pierced.  Tuesday, 17 September, 2002, 11:58 GMT 12:58 UK . Slapper worm threatens net
attack
. The White House dodged a
web worm in 2001 A
malicious web worm is travelling across the internet enrolling vulnerable
machines into a network that some experts think will be used to attack high
profile websites.
.The US net security watchdog, the Computer Emergency Response Team, has issued a warning about the "Slapper" worm that has infected thousands of Linux web servers. The worm exploits a known loophole in a popular security program and is slowly recruiting machines into its attack network. Security experts are urging people to update software to close the loophole and check to ensure their machine has not been infected. Huge network Home users have little to worry about as the Slapper worm only targets servers running the popular Apache software. This free Linux-based program is by far the most widely used web server software. The worm exploits a vulnerability in Apache servers running software called OpenSSL. Ironically, this is used to make web transactions secure. The worm marks something of a departure for virus writers which typically target programs made by Microsoft. "Unix is becoming more and more popular, with Apache beating Microsoft as the web server of choice for many companies," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "However, this popularity attracts attention from the cybercrime community, so fans of Unix need to remember to take security seriously," he said. Anti-virus firm F-Secure has inserted a dummy machine into the peer-to-peer network being created by Slapper and the company estimates that, so far, the worm has recruited more than 6,000 machines. Experts speculate that the creator of the worm wants to build a large network of slave machines that can be used to trigger denial of service attacks. These flood target sites and servers with data hoping to knock them offline. Potential threat So far the worm seems content to build up its own network and has only been used to carry out one attack on a net service provider. Security experts are divided on the threat that Slapper poses. Some fear that if all the recruited machines are activated they could launch devastating attacks. But other anti-virus companies are reporting that none of their customers have been infected by the worm and say the threat it poses is low. Like many other malicious programs, the worm is exploiting a vulnerability that has been known about for some while. The loophole was first discovered in August and patches for it were posted soon after. Anyone using OpenSSL up to and including versions 0.9.6d or 0.9.7beta1 is strongly advised to upgrade to the newest version. . Thursday, 19 September, 2002, 17:57 GMT 18:57 UK . Secrets of women's longer
lives
. Women on average live
at least five years more than men Men may have shorter lives than women because they are naturally less
able to fight off bacterial infections, suggests research.
This key difference appears to exist in many types of animals, including many mammals, according to a study carried out at the University of Stirling. Currently, women tend to live approximately five to six years longer than men in the UK. Men currently live to an average age of 75 while women are in make it on average to 79.9 years. This differential has not closed in recent years despite advances in medical science. Worldwide, men on average live to 65 and women to 70. More infections The research, which looked at various types of animal, found that males suffered a disproportionate level of "parasitic" infection compared with females. This included infection with bacteria as well as more conventional parasites such as ticks and worms. It was previously thought that the excess death risk for men in the animal kingdom was mainly due to males taking more risks - but the researchers, writing in the journal Science, believe that this vulnerability could be another factor. Dr Ian Owens, of Imperial College London, said that it was already known that in the US, UK and Japan, men are approximately twice as vulnerable as women to "parasite-induced" death. In other countries, he said, the risk was even higher for men. He said that the way men's body's worked tended to reduce the efficiency of their immune systems. Cutting off risk He said: "The classic explanation for low immunocompetence in male mammals is that masculinization depends on the male sex hormone testosterone - an immunosuppressant. "Long-term comparisons between castrated and 'intact' males show that the former outlive the latter by up to 15 years." He said that the precise reasons why testosterone had this effect will still unknown. But he said that it was possible that males suffered more simply because they tended to be bigger than females - offering a "bigger target" to infection. The fact that they needed to eat more food to stay that way might also put them at greater risk. , Thursday, 19 September, 2002, 12:59 GMT 13:59 UK . 'Missing link' black holes
found
. Artist's view of a
black hole in a globular cluster
Globular star clusters contain the oldest stars in the Universe, and if they contain black holes now they most likely had black holes when they originally formed. "These findings may be telling us something very deep about the formation of star clusters and black holes in the early Universe," says Roeland Van Der Marel of the Space Telescope Science Institute. "Black holes are even more common in the Universe than previously thought," he adds. Cosmic building blocks The black holes found in globular clusters may provide a link between stellar-mass and the supermassive black holes found inside galaxies. "Not only will we learn about the formation of black holes, but these new data from Hubble help us connect globular clusters to galaxies, providing information on one of the most important unsolved problems in astronomy today: how galaxies form in the Universe," says Michael Rich of the University of California.
An unexplained fact is that a black hole's mass is related to the mass of the stellar environment it inhabits. That is, supermassive black holes are found in the centres of galaxies. The newfound black holes in globular clusters, which are 10,000 times less massive than a galaxy, also obey the trend. Astronomers speculate that some unknown process ties a black hole to its host in a fundamental way. "The intermediate-mass black holes that have now been found in globular clusters may be the building blocks of the supermassive black holes that dwell in the centres of most galaxies," says Karl Gebhardt of the University of Texas at Austin. Two main theories Dr Van Der Marel led a team that uncovered a black hole in the centre of the globular star cluster M15 which is 32,000 light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. It has a mass some 4,000 times that of our Sun. A separate series of observations found a 20,000-solar-mass black hole in the giant globular cluster G1, located 70 times farther away. By contrast, stellar-mass black holes are only a few times the mass of our Sun, and galactic-centre black holes can be millions or billions of times more massive than our Sun. "There are two main theories of black hole formation," says Dr Gebhardt. "You could either make the black hole all at once, when the galaxy is forming, by dumping a lot of material in the middle, or you could start with a seed black hole that subsequently grows over time. "The observational evidence now points to the idea that you start out with a small seed black hole." . Thursday, 19 September, 2002, 13:28 GMT 14:28 UK . Trouble for British Mars
lander
. Beagle 2: Will it
be ready to fly?
Engineers are working extra hours on Beagle 2, amid concern the project is running over budget and behind schedule.
It would be a major embarrassment to Britain if the craft - designed to land on Mars - was left on the launch pad. David Southwood, Director of Science at the European Space Agency (Esa), said the Mars Express spacecraft would take-off with or without Beagle. Speaking at a press conference in Toulouse, France, he said Beagle had to meet Esa's requirements in order to fly. Express journey "We have a first responsibility to get Mars Express into orbit," he said. "The second responsibility then is to get Beagle to the surface [of Mars]." Esa's contribution to the budget for the Mars lander is limited by an agreement among member states.
"The prime responsibility for Beagle is with the British Government and I believe that in recent weeks they have had to find more money," said Professor Southwood. The lander is part of Europe's first mission to the Red Planet. The space craft, Mars Express, will drop Beagle on to the planet's rocky surface. The main goal is to look for water on Mars and find signs of life, past or present. The ideal time to leave Earth for Mars is May/June 2003 when the position of the two planets makes for the shortest journey time.There will not be another opportunity for several years. Time pressures Professor Southwood said the Mars Express programme had already been adjusted to accommodate Beagle 2's tight schedule. But he said Esa was committed to delivering Beagle to Mars to the best of its ability.
Beagle is being built at the Open University in Milton Keynes in a specially constructed sterile assembly area. It must be kept free of terrestrial micro-organisms and other possible contaminants. Team leader Professor Colin Pillinger said they were working as fast as they possibly could to meet Esa's requirements. "We are most certainly going to do everything in our power to make sure we do not miss the schedule," he told BBC News Online. Mars race The lander must be ready by January, when it is due to be shipped to the Russian launch site at Baikonur in Kazakhstan. Mars Express is due to take off in May/June 2003 and will arrive at the Red Planet in time for Christmas. It will orbit the planet and look for signs of water and life with seven scientific instruments. The US space agency (Nasa) is planning to send a spacecraft and landers to the Red Planet about the same time. . Friday, 20 September, 2002, 14:52 GMT 15:52 UK . Telescope finds Big Bang
evidence
. Dasi makes
observations of the sky in microwaves
Almost 5,500 hours of observations by a radio telescope at the South Pole have shown the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) to be polarised. The CMB has been called the afterglow of the Big Bang. It is radiation that comes from all directions in space and has its origin when the cosmos was just 400,000 years old. The polarisation can be used to probe conditions in the early Universe. Cosmologists say although such an effect was expected they are relieved to find it. The discovery should open a new era of cosmic measurements and understanding. Prediction 'bang on' The discovery was made by the Degree Angular Scale Interferometer (Dasi) at the Amundsen-Scott base at the South Pole. It makes observations of the sky in microwaves. The CMB has transfixed astronomers since it was discovered in 1965 by radio astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson. Detailed observations of it can reveal clues about the structure and evolution of the cosmos. The CMB is difficult to study from the ground: many of the better observations of it have been made from satellites. On Earth, the South Pole is a good place to look at it as the local atmosphere lacks the water vapour that obscures the CMB at other places on the Earth's surface. Faint detail in the CMB has been seen before but Dr Carlstrom of Chicago University, US, says mapping its polarisation has the potential of obtaining much more information, "like going from a black-and-white to colour". 'Preposterous Universe' "It's going to triple the amount of information that we get from the CMB," says researcher John Kovac. "The prediction is bang on," says Dr Carlstrom. "We think we know the Universe, but if the polarisation was not there at the predicted level we were back to the drawing board." However, the new observations are pointing to an ever-more puzzling Universe: a Universe whose birth was dominated by mysterious dark matter and dark energy. "We're stuck with a preposterous Universe," he says. The observations confirm the inflation theory of the early evolution of the Universe, which describes an explosive spurt of expansion when the Universe was young. "We can go from checking inflation to actually testing it," Dr Carlstrom adds. The next step astronomers say is to achieve a tenfold increase in instrumental sensitivity that is required to detect the signature of inflation in the CMB. Only then will they have detected definite proof of cosmic inflation. Friday, 20 September, 2002, 23:00 GMT 00:00 UK . Drug could prevent lung
infections
. Damaged lungs can be
vulnerable to infection Bacteria which invade the lungs of patients with smoking-related
damage might be prevented from taking hold, say
researchers.
Mycobacterium avium can inflict further damage, or even prove fatal in some cases. However, it finds it much easier to infect people who already have lung damage. Doctors at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London may have found a way of blocking their ability to enter lung cells. It may even be able to help patients who already have infections and are being treated with antibiotics. The research is being presented at the Society for General Microbiology conference in Lougborough on Wednesday. Dr Andrew Middleton, a molecular biologist working at pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, found that areas of damaged lung tissue exposed cells underneath which mycobacteria find it far easier to bind and invade. They do this by linking up with proteins called fibronectin found only on these exposed cells. Protein decoy In laboratory experiments, Dr Middleton mixed lung tissue with proteins synthesised to fit onto fibronectin. With the fibronectin blocked off, mycobacteria are unable to lock onto the cells and infect them. Tissue treated with the blocking protein were found to harbour far fewer bacteria than those not treated. Dr Middleton said: "The work indicates areas that can be explored to help patients with Mycobacterium avium complex infection. "The long-term benefit of our work may be to improve the quality of life of infected people, or even prevent it in patients who are predisposed. "It could be possible to develop inhaled attachment inhibitors or vaccines to work alongside antibiotic therapies." Bird theory Mycobacterium avium infection was originally thought to come from close contact with birds, but is now known to be present in soil and water. It is opportunistic - in most cases only attacking patients whose lungs have already been damaged by smoking or other illness. Although it is in the same family of bacteria as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes TB, unfortunately the Royal Brompton research is unlikely to have any direct impact on the killer infection. TB bacteria appear to have a different method of infecting humans, said Dr Middleton. While treatment with the protein stopped it from sticking to lung tissue cells, it did not prevent them eventually infecting them. . Saturday, 21 September, 2002, 07:58 GMT 08:58 UK . Community forestry takes root
in Bolivia
.
Many of these territories are home to important tropical forests. Both the communities and the forests are under pressure from big logging companies and from displaced families looking for land to farm.
In a wooden schoolhouse, deep in the Bolivian Amazon, some 30 members of the Yuqui indigenous group gathered recently to discuss the first two years of their timber-management plan. "Before the plan we would have destroyed the whole forest," explained Jonathan Isategua Guaguasu, vice-president of a local indigenous organisation and former cacique, or leader, of the Yuqui council. "This is a great advance, one we never could have dreamed of before." Nomads to landlords The Yuquis traditionally lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers. Then five years ago they, and five communities of Mojeno, Mobima, Trinitario and Uracare were given the 300,000-acre Yuqui indigenous territory (TCO). Now, they are using sustainable-forestry practices to conserve the forests and ensure their own survival. That these communities reached this position is down to organisations including the Worldwide Fund for Nature. WWF has launched a regional campaign reaching from Bolivia to Mexico to promote community forestry as an important preservation tool in Latin America, where half the world's tropical forests are located.
Compared with Mexico or Guatemala, Bolivia is new to community forestry. But the country has made strides to improve forestry practices. Since the 1996 enactment of a new forestry law, Bolivia has become the world leader in Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification of natural tropical forests, with nearly 2.5 million acres certified. Another 10-million acres are being operated under management plans that meet many certification requirements, such as 20-year extraction cycles and diameter limits for exploitable trees. Bolfor, a non-governmental group funded by the US Agency for International Development, helped draft the new law and improve standards at timber companies. Now, with Bolivian and US Government backing, Bolfor has shifted its focus to community forestry. Sharing the benefits Initially, the Yuquis wondered why they should give up unrestricted forestry methods to meet the demanding requirements of Bolivia's forestry law. But having decided to try the new approach, the community is warming to the benefits. The first timber sale, organised through a public tender, raised $40,000. In a move that was completely foreign to the communities, the money was placed in a bank account.
"It was very important to put the money straight into a bank and to ensure it didn't pass through the pockets of the leaders," says Raul Lobo, a Bolfor official who works closely with the Yuqui TCO communities. "There is starting to be social control over the leaders. They are beginning to act more democratically and understand that the TCO and the resources in it belong to the whole group." Bright future Over half the money deposited was spent in payments to each family, wages for timber workers and purchases of communal items ranging from metal roofing to outboard motors. And there was still $3,000 left to pay for a timber census in the next area slated for exploitation. Apart from these direct benefits, having a legally respected forestry plan has consolidated the territorial rights of the six communities and given a point for these distinct ethnic groups to unite around.
The communities could also certify their concession, which might improve prices and broaden the variety of wood species they sell. WWF is offering financial support in this area. But Hager says certification will be of no benefit unless the wood can reach US and European markets that place a value on green seals. And for this to happen the wood will have to be transported, processed and sold by companies that are themselves certified. Whatever happens concerning certification, indigenous residents believe the forestry plan is helping ensure their place in the TCO. "This management plan is for the future of our children," says Raquel Guagua Subera Isategua of the Yuqui community. "So they don't have to leave the community and become beggars, like others we know who don't have land." . Wednesday, 18 September, 2002, 21:48 GMT 22:48 UK . Odd dino has rabbit-like
teeth
. The skull would have
been about 10 cm in length One could hardly say it was the prettiest creature ever to have
walked the Earth.
Chinese scientists revealed a 128-million-year-old dinosaur on Wednesday with a large set of rabbit-like incisors. It looks very strange. The creature, called Incisivosaurus gauthieri, belongs to the theropod class of dinosaurs, predators such as the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex, which moved about on two legs.
The remains were unearthed in the Yixian Formation, rocks from Liaoning in northeast China that have produced a wealth of spectacular fossils, including dinosaurs with feathers. Xing Xu, from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, and colleagues describe I. gauthieri and its teeth in the latest edition of the journal Nature. Steak knives They say these prominent features show theropods were more diverse than scientists had thought. "The paired first premaxillary teeth are very similar to the incisors found in a few specialised mammalian lineages, such as rodents... which use them for gnawing, "they write. "Incisivosaurus represents the first theropod displaying distinct dental adaptations for an herbivorous diet." Other experts say the rodent-like teeth do not necessarily mean the dinosaur was a plant-eater, but agree the traditional view of predatory two-legged dinosaurs is changing. Joshua Smith, from Washington University in St Louis, US, said: "The classic view of predatory dinosaur teeth is that they are all basically the same and are shaped more or less like serrated steak knives. "However, it is becoming more and more obvious as we begin to look closely at theropod teeth that they are far more complex than we have been led to believe, and that the steak-knife view isn't accurate." . Monday, 23 September, 2002, 14:34 GMT 15:34 UK , Cocaine weaning drug
created
. Cocaine use can
lead to heart problems Scientists have developed a drug which may help addicts wean
themselves off cocaine in the same way methadone helps heroin
addicts.
Nocaine has been developed by US researchers. Tests on animals showed it provided some of cocaine's effects, but at a much lower level. Researchers at Washington DC's Georgetown University Medical Center's Drug Discovery Program say it appears to blunt the effects of withdrawal.
Experts warn cocaine use can cause heart problems, chest pain and respiratory failure; strokes, seizure, and headaches; and abdominal pain and nausea, Less toxic In their study, the US researchers found that animals worked harder to get doses of Nocaine than to receive a saline solution, but less hard than they did to obtain doses of cocaine. They said this indicates Nocaine is a "weak reinforcer", meaning that it provides some of cocaine's effects, but at a much lower level. Weak reinforcers are less likely to be abused than strong reinforcers such as heroin or cocaine, and therefore less likely to have toxic effects on the body. Other studies have shown it acts to reverse the effects on the brain associated with withdrawal from cocaine, and that it blocks cocaine's stimulant effect. Nocaine has a similar structure to the antidepressant paroxetine, although it acts on different messenger molecules in the brain. Alan Kozikowski, professor of neurology at the university and director of Georgetown's Drug Discovery Program, said: "Our studies have shown that Nocaine would likely blunt the aversive effects associated with cocaine abstinence, enabling addicts to gradually and safely withdraw from the drug." Range of treatments Roger Howard, chief executive of UK charity DrugScope, said: "We welcome the development of any treatment which may assist crack users break their dependence. "It is essential however, that the development of such a drug does not reduce the range of alternative treatment options available. "Different forms of treatment suit different individuals, there is no panacea to dependence." The research will be published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. . Monday, 23 September, 2002, 08:56 GMT 09:56 UK . Q&A: UK's small-scale
tremors
.
What happened and where? Seismographs started to pick up Monday's earth tremor, centred on the English Midlands, at 2353 and 14.7 seconds GMT (0053 BST). Experts at the British Geological Survey say the epicentre was located at 52.52 North/2.14 West - which is close to Dudley.
Just how big is 4.8? Although reasonably big in British terms, this is slight compared with the seven-plus quakes witnessed elsewhere in the world. The Richter scale is a logarithmic measurement: a six is ten times more powerful than a five; a seven is a hundred times more powerful, and so on. Also, the scale is a measure of the energy involved, not of the damaged caused. This will depend on many things: the number and quality of buildings close by, the nature of the soils on which they are built, etc.How often do such tremors occur in the UK? There are 2-300 quakes in Britain every year. Most are so small, no-one notices them. Something on the Dudley size is seen once every 10 years or so. The largest tremor within 100 km of Monday's event in recent times was a 5.1 at Bishops Castle on the Welsh Borders in 1990.The largest recorded earthquake to be experienced in the UK occurred in 1931 and measured 6.1. The epicentre was Dogger Bank in the North Sea and so had little impact on the mainland. The largest earthquake recorded on the UK mainland was in 1984 when the Llyn Peninsula in north Wales suffered a quake of 5.4 magnitude. What causes the earthquakes in the UK? The largest earthquakes in the world occur close to plate margins, areas of the Earth's upper layers which are being rammed together or pulled apart. Tremendous energy is released when these rocks grind past each other. The UK lies well away from the world's tectonic hotspots but they still play a role in the country's relatively small tremors. Researchers studying Monday's quake will centre their attention on a enormous block of rock known as the Midlands Microcraton. This is an ancient, Precambrian (older than 590 millions years) feature that runs up through Birmingham towards the Potteries. It is composed of harder rocks than those either side of it. Although the details are not well understood, it seems likely that, in response to tectonic pressures originating in the Atlantic (where the surface of the Earth is being pulled apart), those softer rocks on either side are disturbed. There are a number active faults that line the Midlands Microcraton and it is almost certainly one of these faults that has moved to cause the tremors felt in Dudley. Will there be more shocks in the area? As with many of the devastating earthquakes that occur in India, Turkey and Japan, there are quite likely to be aftershocks. Some could approach the scale of the Dudley event, but most will likely prove so small they will only show up on special measuring equipment.  .. . Monday, 23 September, 2002, 15:47 GMT 16:47 UK Your genetic code on a
disc
Human genome:
Instructions needed to make a person
A British company says it is close to perfecting a gene sequencing method that could "read" someone's genome in a day.
Dr Venter says he will be able to provide an individual's genome on a CD in about a week for $712,000 (£400,000) from later this year. The data could reveal whether someone has genes that give them a higher risk of developing diseases such as Alzheimer's. It might even give an idea of how and when they will die. Cheaper, quicker The British company, Solexa, was set up by two Cambridge University chemists. It says it has developed a quicker, cheaper method to sequence human DNA.
These minute differences could explain why some people are predisposed to diseases such as cancer and diabetes, while others are not. Solexa's ultimate goal is to sequence an individual's entire genome in 24 hours for $1,000 (£562). Chief executive officer, Nick Mc Cooke, envisages a scenario where you would visit your GP for a blood test and get a complete map of your genetic code. He says such information could potentially improve human health but must be interpreted properly by a health professional. "It is possible to contemplate at some point in the future that your complete code is kept confidentially with the rest of your medical records," he told BBC News Online. "It would shed light on your genetic predisposition to disease and response to certain medications." Ethical concerns Genewatch UK, an independent pressure group, says there is an urgent need for better regulation of genetic testing. "The interpretation of what it means for your future is highly uncertain and often disputed," said Deputy Director, Dr Helen Wallace. "We wouldn't like to see any company marketing this kind of test until a regulation exists to check whether that test is valid or useful." The human genome is a string of three billion DNA "letters", comprising all the instructions needed to build and maintain a human being.
The effort, which took many years, was carried out by an international public consortium of scientists and a private US company, Celera, headed by Dr Venter, who has now stepped down. The DNA came from a small number of undisclosed individuals, who are currently the only people in the world to have had their genomes sequenced. Dr Venter recently disclosed that his DNA was among the samples used in the Celera work. . Sunday, 22 September, 2002, 07:16 GMT 08:16 UK . Learn for free online
. Students will have
free access to MIT's knowledge People will soon be given access to knowledge from one of the world's
foremost technology institutes for free over the internet, as BBC World
ClickOnline's Ian Hardy reports.
 Many other colleges launched online degree courses aimed at anyone with a modem and a big wallet. But MIT has taken a completely different direction with a project called OpenCourseWare (OCW) that could stop the trend of commercialising online education dead in its tracks. The first group of courses are set to be published on the internet on 30 September, including subjects like anthropology, biology, chemistry and computer science. Education revolution "I genuinely think there was an 'a-ha' moment when they said our mission was actually to enhance education," said Anne Margulies, Executive Director of OCW.
Over the next 10 years, MIT will move all its existing coursework on to the internet. There will be no online degrees for sale, however. Instead, it will offer thousands of pages of information, available to anyone around the globe at no cost, as well as hours and hours of streaming video lectures, seminars and experiments. This is just the tip of the iceberg. MIT wants to start nothing short of a global revolution in education. "Our hope and aspiration is that by setting an example, other universities will also put their valued materials on the internet and thereby make a truly profound and fundamental impact on learning and education worldwide," said MIT's Professor Dick Yue. MIT admits that getting OpenCourseWare ready for its internet debut has been a huge challenge. Staff have spent months clearing up complex copyright issues and designing software tools that will enable hundreds of faculty members to upload their daily lecture notes and video clips directly onto the website. Free for all At a time when many internet administrators in America have been removing any technological resources that could be of use to terrorists, MIT will not be sifting online information.
"As we go forward through our pilot project those issues will certainly come up again and be revisited by faculty, administrators and so forth. But at this time we're publishing all the materials we get." Most websites now have abandoned the idea of offering totally free content. The trick is to lure you to the site with good intentions, then start entangling you in charges. MIT are offering an eternal promise, rare these days on the world wide web. "There is no revenue objective for OCW, ever. It will always be free," insisted Ms Margulies. MIT staff point out that if this initiative is successful, and other institutions follow, it will put the net back on track towards its original goal of sharing information and knowledge around the world, rather than selling CDs and t-shirts. . Monday, 23 September, 2002, 11:24 GMT 12:24 UKKey internet body
spared
The US Government is
not pulling the plug on Icann The net's top co-ordination body has been given 12 months to improve
by the US Government.
The agreement giving power to Icann, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, to oversee the net's core addressing system runs out at the end of September. The US Government has extended the agreement for another year but said it wanted to see real progress on reform. Since it was created Icann has been regularly criticised by net luminaries who say it does a bad job of looking after the internet's interests. "Frankly disappointed" Icann was created in 1998 by the US Government to look after the net's addressing system. Although Icann does its job on behalf of all net users, many of its decisions still have to be rubber-stamped by the US Department of Commerce and it only exists because the government lets it. This week the Department of Commerce extended for another year the agreement that gives Icann this right to life. But stringent conditions were added to the extension. Assistant Commerce Secretary Nancy Victory declared that the department was "frankly disappointed" at the slow progress of Icann change. Earlier this year Icann embarked on a reform program that led it to shed links with rank-and-file net users and attempt to get more solid backing by other internet groups. The details of the changes, which will alter the board of the net group, are still being debated. The US Department of Commerce said Icann deserved a chance to prove the changes were working. The Commerce Department said it would take a closer interest in the workings of Icann, demand more regular reports and encourage it to come up with a plan to make core net systems more secure. It also wants Icann to find a way to involve more international groups in the running of the body. . Tuesday, 24 September, 2002, 11:51 GMT 12:51 UK . Slime offers cancer
clue
. The research could
benefit cancer patients The behaviour of primitive cells called slime moulds could help
scientists understand how cancer develops.
Slime moulds are single cell organisms which live among leaf litter. Scientists looked at them because they move around in the same way human cells move within tissues. Most of the time, they exist as single cells. But if food is in short supply, they gather together into slug-like structures and form reproductive structures called fruiting bodies.
This means the amoeba-like organisms allow scientists to carry out experiments which would be too complex in human tissue. 'Marching orders' The Dundee team looked at a gene called APC. If people inherit a faulty APC gene, they are at a high risk of developing bowel cancer. Some who have a non-inherited form of the disease also have the faulty gene. They found that the APC protein molecule appeared to change the way the slime mould cells moved around - as if they had lost the ability to respond to "marching orders". Translating this information into the study of bowel cancer could provide vital information about APC's role, the scientists said. Dr Inke Nathke, who led the research, told a conference in Palermo, Italy: "We've set up a new system to study this key cancer gene - one which in a few years is likely to produce a wealth of information about how the disease develops. "In a relatively short space of time, our studies have provided some interesting information about the role of this gene in cancer and we think the organism will be useful for looking at a number of genes as well." Sir Paul Nurse, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: "The discovery that we can use the slime mould as a model for some of the processes involved in human cancer is an important step forward and one that should help us to discover the function of the number of key cancer genes." . ... 7. HI for Human Interest (end) . . |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.
Page 2
. . HUMAN HISTORIC SECTION. . . ... 7. HI for Human Interest . . . Friday, 27 September, 2002, 11:22 GMT 12:22 UK . Early test for pregnancy
danger
. The test could pick
problems up early Women at risk of a potentially fatal pregnancy complication could be
identified months before symptoms develop through a simple blood test,
researchers say.
Spanish scientists say the test, which can be carried out in the first three months, can identify up to 90% of women who will go on to develop high-blood pressure. And they say it can detect symptoms long before standard tests can. High blood pressure can be linked to complications in pregnancy including pre-eclampsia and gestational high blood pressure. Portable monitor Pre-eclampsia affects about 4% of all pregnancies and is the major cause of maternal and foetal morbidity and death. Women at high risk of developing the condition include those with diabetes, existing high blood pressure, kidney disease, and having had the condition during an earlier pregnancy.
The blood pressure test developed by the Spanish researchers is called the tolerance-hyperbaric test (THT). Women wear a portable blood pressure cuff and purse-sized monitor to record readings at various times during the day and night. The THT test compares both the expected variation in blood pressure during pregnancy and daily pattern, with a particular woman's blood pressure pattern over a 48 hour period. It can identify those who fall consistently outside the expected range. Specific Four hundred women were monitored by the researchers every four weeks during their pregnancy. Of those, 168 developed gestational high blood pressure or pre-eclampsia. The test gave early identification of gestational high blood pressure and pre-eclampsia, on average, 23 weeks before the condition was confirmed. The test can be used as early as the first three-months of pregnancy when researchers say it can identify 93% of women at risk. By the third trimester, it is 99% specific. It is also 99% accurate at ruling out women who are not at risk. Prevention Professor Ramon Hermida, from the University of Vigo in Vigo, Spain, who led the research, said: "This is the first test that provides such high degrees of sensitivity and specificity at such a low gestational age." He added: "The only way to cure pre-eclampsia is to eliminate its cause, which is pregnancy itself. "In most cases, that leads to delivering the baby early. Therefore, it is important to focus on prevention." Many hospitals have the portable blood pressure monitoring equipment used with the THT, although it is relatively expensive, the researchers add. Professor Hermida said: "Women at high risk for pre-eclampsia because of family or medical history, including those over 35 years of age, should have the test without question." Mike Rich, chief executive of the UK charity Action on Pre-eclampsia, told BBC News Online there were tests being developed which could check for key proteins in the blood. "This blood pressure monitoring test might work. It seems to show there might be some prediction for pre-eclampsia. "All of these things are exceptionally useful in the management of pre-eclampsia." But he added there was no cure for pre-eclampsia. "At the moment, all we can do is manage the condition. "If further research proves that this test does work, it could well enable clinicians to identify women who are more and risk and manage them more carefully." The research was presented to the American Heart Association's Annual High Blood Pressure Research Conference in Orlando, Florida. . Friday, 27 September, 2002, 16:46 GMT 17:46 UK . Boost for life on Jupiter
moon
. Jupiter and some of its
16 or more moons
Data from the Galileo space probe's journey to Jupiter suggests an ocean on its moon, Europa, is somewhat Earth-like. Scientists in the United States think the moon's icy crust is relatively thin. There seem to be cracks and vents, which would allow gases, heat and organic matter to reach what may be water beneath.
They were captured by the space probe Galileo, which has been flying past some of Jupiter's many moons over the past few years. Dr Greenberg's team thinks the Europan sea has parallels with some of Earth's icy oceans. Surprisingly, perhaps, it appears to be more like the Arctic Ocean than Lake Vostok. Buried bugs Lake Vostok in Antarctica is one of the deepest-known bodies of fresh water on the planet. At least 30 million years old, it is a model for some of the ice-covered oceans elsewhere in the Solar System. Some have proposed that the lake might contain previously undiscovered life-forms.
Europa, though, appears more like the Arctic Ocean, the Earth's smallest ocean, which occupies the region around the North Pole. The Arctic Ocean is exposed to air and heat by the cracking and melting of ice. Europa too seems to have surface-to-ocean connections via cracks, thermal vents, and tidal displacement, according to the Arizona team. Europa's ocean is turning out to be increasingly unlike Lake Vostok, says Dr Cynan Ellis-Evans of the British Antarctic Survey. He says the latest evidence suggests Jupiter's moon has a frozen layer of ice a few kilometres thick, similar to the sea ice of the Arctic. "In thermodynamic terms life abhors equilibrium," he says. "These new interpretations suggest that a Europan ocean and its ice cap could be dynamically interacting with the moon's surface atmosphere over short time scales that increase opportunities for life to exist and evolve." Seeds of life One intriguing possibility is that clouds of sulphur from Jupiter's volcano, Io, could make it across to Europa. "If we're getting a sulphur source going into the lake it's an exciting possibility," Dr Ellis-Evans adds. "It increases the opportunity for life".
"It is informed speculation which suggests that the condition and environment will be suitable for life," says Dr Mark Burchell, a space scientist at the University of Kent in Canterbury, UK. One scenario is that a meteorite crashing into Europa could have punched through the ice, carrying the building blocks of life. "Dust and meteorites carrying organic or volatile materials could have been delivered to the ocean below the surface," he says. The American space agency is seriously considering sending a robotic probe to Europa to drill through the ice. The research, published in the US journal Reviews of Geophysics, will be welcome news for the scientists lobbying Nasa to go. . Friday, 27 September, 2002, 23:58 GMT 00:58 UK . Tea 'to join health
menu'
. Tea can protect
against cancer and heart disease Tea could soon join fruit and vegetables on the list of must-have
health foods.
Recent studies have suggested the traditional cuppa protects against a range of conditions including cancer, heart disease and Parkinson's. But scientists in the United States now believe that the health benefits are so great that everyone should be urged to drink tea.
Damaged cells can lead to cancer and heart disease as well as a host of other serious conditions. Fresh evidence Scientists made their case at a meeting in Washington organised by the US Department of Agriculture, the American Cancer Society and the Tea Council. Officials from the Department of Agriculture outlined findings from a study which suggested tea reduces the risk of heart disease by lowering cholesterol. Joseph Judd, acting director of the department's Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center in Maryland, tested eight men and eight women who agreed, for a period of three weeks at a time, to eat and drink only what they were given at the Beltsville lab. "We gave them a beverage that mimicked tea - water flavoured like tea," he said. For a second three-week period the same volunteers got five cups a day of tea to drink. "We found that their blood lipids, when they drank tea compared to the placebo beverage, had up to 10 % lowering of low density lipoprotein, the 'bad' cholesterol," Mr Judd said. Overall, total cholesterol was lowered 6 % on average over the three weeks, his team found. "There was no effect on 'good' cholesterol," he added. "HDL remained constant." Help for smokers In another study, researchers at the University of Arizona tested 140 smokers to see if drinking tea reduces the risks of cancer. They examined whether tea repaired damage to cells caused by smoking. In particular, they looked at the affects on a chemical called 8-OhDG, which is found in urine and is believe to cause cell damage. For four months, volunteers drank either green tea, black tea or water. "They were asked to eat whatever they were eating and just add tea to their diet," said Dr Iman Hakim, who headed the study. Researchers tested the participants' urine for levels of 8-OHdG. "What we found was a 25% decrease in the green tea group," she said. However, no changes were seen in the people who drank black tea or water. "We think green tea, in our group of smokers, is associated with a reduction of oxidative stress in their urine," Dr Hakim said. The meeting was told that efforts should be made to encourage Americans to drink more tea. More than 135 million cups of tea are drunk in Britain every day but so far Americans have failed to convert from their beloved coffee. William Gorman, executive director of the UK's Tea Council which represents the tea industry, is at the Washington meeting. He said the research being presented there was "very interesting". "The body of evidence has been growing substantially. There is a lot of strong scientific information being presented here," he told BBC News Online. Mr Gorman added: "The tea industry has always been very cautious about presenting the science around tea but certainly the organisations behind this meeting are very confident in the data." . Sunday, 29 September, 2002, 21:33 GMT 22:33 UK . All creatures great and
small
. Oliver Crimmen with
some of Darwin's own collection
For sure, he has some humdrum specimens that can be seen in any fish market around the world - but he also has some real "Penny Blacks": monsters from the deep, Amazonian giants and, of course, the coelacanth, the famous "fossil fish". And you can see all them from Monday when the museum opens its £100m Darwin Centre to the public. Open to all Twenty-two million specimens, from mammals to molluscs, all of them pickled in alcohol, have been moved into the eight-floor state-of-the-art research and display facility.
It was a closed world; the large jars and tanks of the "Spirit Collection" were only available to researchers - and strictly by appointment only. "I guess the Victorians thought of my science as a below stairs activity, but we're out in the light now," says Crimmen, who joined the museum from college 30 years ago.
The guided tours through the dim, cool vaults of the new centre are sure to be the hottest tickets on the London visitors' scene for the next few months. Get over the "urgh" factor and be prepared to be amazed. Creatures, great and small, are stored in 450,000 jars. The smallest will fit in the cup of your hand; others weigh 60 kilograms and are kept in a "monster" basement known as the tankroom. Lights in the dark "My favourite specimen is a deep sea anglerfish with a stalk on its head and a luminous bulb," says Crimmen.
"The lights on its head lure prey within reach because it's living in the total darkness of the deep sea. "It comes from such a different world of massive pressure and darkness and you can tell by looking at it that it is very alien to our own terrestrial habitat - needle sharp teeth, tiny eyes and this amorphous black body totally invisible in the dark except for the little lights."
"The aquatic environment is so huge," says Crimmen. "These animals have invented everything you can possible think of: light, electricity and so many bizarre lifestyle and shapes. And that's just the fish. "The more you look through the Darwin Centre collection, the more wonderful things you find." . Thursday, 26 September, 2002, 11:58 GMT 12:58 UK . W African elephants
'separate' species
. African elephants
have a high conservation profile
Researchers at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) say the elephants of West Africa are a separate species from either the savannah elephants of central, eastern and southern Africa and the forest elephant. Just over a year ago, it was generally accepted that there was one species of elephant with perhaps two sub-species. Then genetic evidence indicated that the forest elephant was a separate species. It is smaller than the savannah elephant with smaller, straighter tusks.
But the DNA evidence is not accepted by all zoologists and mammal specialists as sufficient evidence that there are separate species rather than just sub-species or even just slight variations among a single species. The existence of three separate species or even three sub-species would have strong implications for conservation strategies for elephants in Africa. Each of the three groups of elephants have varying numbers, live in different environments and face a range of threats to their existence. The San Diego researchers say that West African elephants are "genetically and geographically isolated from elephants elsewhere on the continent" and have both savannah and forest forms. They believe the population in the west has been isolated for 2.4 million years. Dishing the dirt The evidence of a new species comes from analysis of DNA from savannah, forest and West African elephants. "This discovery is important, because West African elephants are threatened with extinction as a result of human activities," says David Woodruff of UCSD's biological sciences department.
The DNA evidence was taken from intestinal material found in the dung of the elephants. Not all mammal experts are convinced by the research, however. Professor John Skinner of the Pretoria University Memorial Research Institute told BBC News Online that "the jury is still out" on whether the forest and West African elephants are separate species rather than sub-species. He cautioned against using purely genetic evidence when more work could be done to look at the effects of environment on dispersed elements of the same species. He said there was some controversy about the issue at the international mammal conference in South Africa in 2001. Conservation strategies The World Wide Fund for Nature is concerned with conserving elephant numbers - whether they are one or three species. The fund estimates that there are between 300,000 and 487,000 elephants left in Africa, but says that estimating populations is difficult and can be imprecise.
Of these, the majority (about 250-350,000) are savannah elephants, most of the rest are forest elephants and a mere 12,000 are West African elephants. The main author of the San Diego report, Lori Eggert, says that the differences between the three types of elephants mean that conservationists need to be aware of varying levels of threat. "Overpopulation in some southern African parks should not lead to a relaxation of the protection for elephants elsewhere, especially in the forests." Forest elephants, including forest-dwelling West African elephants, "live in a habitat that is rapidly being logged and converted to agriculture. "Increasingly forests in Africa are becoming fragmented and elephant populations are being isolated in a sea of farms and villages," according to Lori Eggert. The WWF also believes there have been different levels of loss among the three groups of elephants. They point out that elephant populations in West Africa started to decline much earlier than the other populations. Threats vary There are also different causes of decline in different areas. Poaching has been a major problem in eastern Africa, while in the west, this has been combined with the effects of logging and population pressure. Elephant populations in southern Africa are increasing. This has led to differences between eastern and southern African countries over whether the ban on the trade in ivory should be lifted. Southern African countries such as Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe have been in favour of at least a partial lifting of the ban, while Kenya and Tanzania have been opposed on the basis that their elephant populations suffered most from poaching and the ivory trade. Whether the argument for three species prevails, it is clear that the regional variations in the threat to elephant numbers are leading to a renewed debate over the correct strategies for conservation. . Sunday, 29 September, 2002, 08:23 GMT 09:23 UK . Charity web film attacks
EU subsidies
. Subsidies could
send all EU cows around the world It might be a while until pigs can fly but cows are taking a plane
trip around the world in an e-animation film with a serious
point.
The film can be seen on the Cafod (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development) website and is intended to highlight the devastating effect EU farm subsidies can have on the Developing World. According to the charity, EU governments spend enough money on the Common Agricultural Policy every year to fly all their 21 million dairy cows around the world. By comparison, dairy production in Jamaica has collapsed due to the dumping of EU skimmed milk powder, Cafod said. Rich cows The website animation shows the lucky herbivores stopping off in a series of exotic locations, including Hong Kong, Brisbane, Raratonga and Los Angeles, and being given £400 spending money each. "The e-animation is a funny way of looking at the EU. Unfortunately the reality is not so humorous," said Cafod campaigner Sam Goddard. "The support that EU governments give to the dairy industry - £11m a year - means that the average European dairy cow has a yearly income of more than half the world's population," she said. At the end of the film, surfers are asked to send a postcard to the European Commission calling for a cut to EU farm subsidies and the introduction of measures to protect farmers in the developing world. . . ... 7. HI for Human Interest (end) . . |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.
Page 3
. . HUMAN HISTORIC SECTION. . . ... 7. HI for Human Interest . . . . ... 7. HI for Human Interest (end) . . |
.
Page 4
. . HUMAN HISTORIC SECTION. . . ... 7. HI for Human Interest . . . . ... 7. HI for Human Interest (end) . . |
.
Page 5
. . HUMAN HISTORIC SECTION. . . ... 7. HI for Human Interest . . . . ... 7. HI for Human Interest (end) . . |
.
Page 6
. . HUMAN HISTORIC SECTION. . . ... 7. HI for Human Interest . . . . ... 7. HI for Human Interest (end) . . |
.
Page 7
. . HUMAN HISTORIC SECTION. . . ... 7. HI for Human Interest . . . . ... 7. HI for Human Interest (end) . . |
.
Page 8
. . HUMAN HISTORIC SECTION. . . ... 7. HI for Human Interest . . . . ... 7. HI for Human Interest (end) . . |
.
Page 9
. . |
.
Page 10
. . |
.
Page 11
. . |
.
Page 12
. . |
.
Page 13
. . |
.
Page 14
. . |
.
Page 15
. . |
.