the-BA : Science News Digest

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In the news this week: hybrid embryos hit the headlines, dark matter is mapped and the common cold gets some good publicity…

The fertility watchdog – the HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority) – deferred a decision on whether to issue licences granting permission to create human-animal hybrid embryos for research purposes. More than 99 per cent human, the embryos would be created by fusing animal eggs with human DNA. Three teams of scientists have applied for licences to conduct the controversial research which could potentially help patients with currently incurable conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and motor neuron disease, as well as lead to techniques to transform adult skin cells into different tissues and organs.

Earlier in the week, in a letter published in the Times, 45 experts (including three Nobel prize-winners) urged the HFEA not to bar the research. However, the authority has opted to wait until a wide-ranging consultation, including public opinion, concludes later this year. Dr Stephen Minger, who leads one of the teams seeking a licence, said in the Guardian: “We’re happy for the consultation to happen if it means that the public and the HFEA are more informed about what we want to do.”

In related news in the Times, American scientists announced a breakthrough that could provide an ‘ethical’ source of stem cells and avoid the need to harvest such cells from embryos. They have discovered that amniotic fluid contains a small number of stem cells. "Our hope is that these cells will provide a valuable resource for tissue repair and for engineered organs as well," said Dr Atala, Director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest and senior researcher on the project.

However, in an article in the Telegraph, Dr Robin Lovell-Badge of the National Institute of Medical Research at Mill Hill pointed out that the new source of stem cells still carries ethical issues, since harvesting cells from amniotic fluid is linked with a risk of miscarriage. He also queried the flexibility of the cells to develop into other cell-types – stating that while they were clearly highly multipotent, true pluripotency (the ability to develop into all cell types of the adult, including eggs and sperm) had not been demonstrated.

The offspring of a cloned American prize-winning dairy cow, meanwhile, has caused the Food Standards Agency to seek urgent legal advice after it was born in the UK. Frozen embryos from the clone were imported from the US and implanted into surrogates last year. This is the first time that a calf grown from a cloned cow embryo has been born in Britain. Its arrival has highlighted a hole in food safety legislation: whereas meat and milk from cloned animals are classified as novel foods and must pass stringent safety tests before they can be marketed, milk and meat from the progeny of cloned animals are not addressed by the regulations, reported the Guardian.

There were plenty of space-related stories this week thanks to the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) taking place in Seattle…

A 3D map of the Universe’s dark matter has been constructed which gives the clearest view to date of the material which accounts for most of the mass in the Universe, BBC News reported. It provides the best evidence yet that the distribution of galaxies follows the distribution of dark matter. The research included nearly 1,000 hours of observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope and powerful ground-based telescopes provided additional information. A technique called weak gravitational lensing was used to detect the dark matter, since it does not reflect or emit detectable light but does bend the path of any light passing through it (much like a lens) thanks to its gravity.

The first example of a triple quasar has been discovered by astronomers, reported BBC News. Powered by gas falling into a supermassive black hole at the centre of a galaxy, a quasar produces massive amounts of electromagnetic energy – and can be a thousand times brighter than a galaxy containing a hundred billion stars.

Meeting attendees also heard that evidence suggests a supernova explosion may already have destroyed the iconic pillars pictured by the Hubble Telescope in 1995. Part of the Eagle Nebula (otherwise known as M16), the pillars are formed of interstellar hydrogen gas and dust that serve to incubate new stars.

At a two-day European Space Agency workshop held in Edinburgh, British space scientists unveiled details of two lunar mission proposals. The head of space science at the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), David Parker, said: “The UK has already completed a feasibility study of two robotic mission options to the surface of the Moon focused on exploiting the UK’s leadership in small satellites and miniaturised science instruments.”

Development of the missions was lead by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited. The first, named MoonLITE, would fire devices to penetrate the Moon’s surface and investigate its composition and sub-surface temperature. “Looking at the heat flows created by radioactive elements and the composition of the Moon’s interior will help confirm whether the Moon was created following a huge collision with Earth,” said Dr Andrew Coates of the Mullard Space Science Lab at University College London. A second mission, MoonRaker, would then search for sites suitable for future manned bases.

In other news, the European Union (EU) took its first steps towards a common energy policy, reported BBC News. The European Commission urged its members to sign up to a package of measures that include cutting Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, ensuring all new power stations are carbon neutral in 13 years and increasing the usage of renewable energy. Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said: “We need new policies to face a new reality – policies which maintain Europe’s competitiveness, protect our environment and make our energy supplies more secure.”

The Times announced that a system that could cut shipping carbon emissions by 15 per cent has been developed. At least 500 million tonnes of carbon dioxide are emitted from sea vessels each year. The new invention uses a carpet of air pumped under the vessel’s hull to reduce the friction caused by contact with the sea. This decreases fuel consumption and hence carbon dioxide emissions. Sea trials with a 90-metre tanker will soon begin.

A new find in Russia puts modern humans in Europe 5,000 years earlier than previously believed. The new evidence – including ivory carvings, shell ornaments and bone tools – indicates our ancestors reached Europe from Africa between 42,000 and 45,000 years ago, reported the Guardian. A small ivory figurine may be the oldest example of figurative art in the world.

John Hoffecker, one of the researchers working at the Kostenki site on the Don River, said: “The big surprise here is the very early presence of modern humans in one of the coldest, driest places in Europe.” It is possible this route was taken due to the lack of competitors like Neanderthals. “Unlike the Neanderthals, modern humans had the ability to devise new technologies for coping with cold climates and less than abundant food resources,” he said. The site contained evidence that the diet of modern humans was broadening to include small mammals and freshwater aquatic foods, reported the Telegraph.

Trials will be launched later this year that use viruses such as the common cold to kill cancer cells, revealed the Guardian. The new treatment exploits the fact that cancer cells suppress the body’s local immune system – if they don’t it eradicates the cancer. One of the key researchers, Professor Seymour of Oxford University, said: “If you can get a virus into a tumour, viruses find them a very good place to be because there’s no immune system to stop them replicating. You can regard it as the cancer’s Achilles’ heel.”

In order to enable the viruses to travel through the blood to reach the cancer cells, wherever they are, without themselves being wiped out by the immune system, the new therapy includes a polymer coat around the virus particle, effectively ‘hiding it’. Following infection of the tumour, the viruses replicate. “They replicate, you get a million copies in each cell and the cell bursts and they infect the tumour cells adjacent and repeat the process,” said Professor Seymour. The copies do not have the protective chemical modifications and if they escape the tumour the body’s immune system quickly removes them.

In other news...

A simple blood test for the protein NT-proBNP could indicate if a heart patient is at serious risk of a heart attack, stroke or heart failure.

Other research has shown that short telomeres (stretches of DNA at the end of chromosomes) may be an early indicator of heart disease problems.

French scientists revealed that useful DNA information from fossils is being destroyed by museum preservation methods.

And finally...

It seems that a slender waist has been considered a universal thing of beauty throughout the ages. Psychologists examined texts of British, Chinese and Indian writers over two millennia and classified references to waists as either ‘romantic’ or ‘non-romantic’, depending on the context. They found that on the 66 occasions that the reference was romantic, the waist was described as either narrow or small. Bad news for those of us who over-indulged at Christmas...