the-BA : Science News Digest

Dark Matter (Copyright: iStockPhoto.com)

In the news this week: overcoming the stem cell taboo, healing the hole in the ozone layer and the British obesity epidemic. Plus, dark matter, why you should drink tea rather than water and meet the battlefield robo-surgeon.

On Thursday the Times reported that a breakthrough in stem-cell technology by a team at Advanced Cell Technology, a private company in the US, offers hope of overturning ethical objections to this potentially lifesaving research. The company is able to create stem cell lines using a technique similar to that used for pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (currently used to test embryos for crippling genetic diseases). Single cells are detached from a blastocyst (a very early embryo) without destroying the embryo in the process — an advance that could open the door to billions of dollars in research funding. John Harris, Professor of Bioethics at the University of Manchester, said: “The science is wonderfully interesting and important and will convince those who already accept pre-implantation genetic diagnosis that the use of these cells is ethical.”

The Guardian reports that Britain is facing an obesity crisis that will mean one in three men are likely to be dangerously overweight by 2010, according to a report by the Department of Health. A total of more than 14 million children and adults are forecast to be obese by the end of the decade, largely because of poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles. Thousands more cases of heart disease, cancer and diabetes are likely to result from the nation’s expanding waistlines, increasing the obesity cost to the NHS, which already stands at about £1 billion and 9,000 premature deaths a year. Speaking of potential solutions to the problem, public health minister Caroline Flint said: “The biggest gains to health and to the economy will be made by encouraging more physical activity among groups of people who don't normally do any.”

BBC News reports that the two US scientists whose work first alerted the world to the problems of ozone-depleting CFCs have revealed that the hole in the Earth's ozone layer above the Antarctic appears to have stopped widening. Dr David Hofman, of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Dr Susan Solomon, of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, are both hopeful that the hole, which increases the planet’s exposure to harmful ultra-violet rays, may ‘heal’ itself fully over the next 60 years. “I'm very optimistic that we will have a normal ozone layer sometime, not in my lifetime, but perhaps in yours,” said Dr Hofman.

In an update on last week’s heated debates over the proper definition for a planet, BBC News reports that Pluto has lost its status as a planet. The distant world will now be officially known as a “dwarf planet” following the decision of 2,500 scientists meeting at the International Astronomical Union conference in Prague. Speaking of the change, Professor Iwan Williams, chair of the panel that has been working on the new definition said: “I have a slight tear in my eye today, yes; but at the end of the day we have to describe the Solar System as it really is, not as we would like it to be.”

In other science news…

BBC News reports that chemical company BASF has asked for permission to grow the first trial crop of genetically modified (GM) potatoes in the UK. It hopes GM potatoes could be sold in the UK within 10 years and claims they would be resistant to late blight disease, eliminating the need for spraying fields with fungicides, and preventing the loss of millions of pounds in damaged crops. Environmentalists have criticised the plan, suggesting that consumers do not want GM crops, even if it means cutting back on chemicals.

The Independent reports that Britain's horse chestnut trees are dying in their thousands in the worst case of tree blight since Dutch elm disease 30 years ago. The trees are being hit by a “triple whammy” of drought, pest attack and disease. On many, the leaves have already withered and shrunk, and conkers, the fruits of the tree, are not being produced at all.

BBC News reports that US space agency NASA has named its new manned exploration craft 'Orion'. The vehicle is being developed to take human space explorers back to the Moon and potentially then on to Mars. Its first manned flight - to the International Space Station - will take place no later than 2014 and its first flight to the Moon no later than 2020.

BBC News reports that drinking tea may be an even healthier alternative to drinking water. The perennial British favourite not only rehydrates, but is also a source of flavonoids – antixoxidants that are thought to protect against heart disease and some forms of cancer.

The Guardian reports that scientists at the University of Sheffield are growing cells on synthetic ‘scaffolds’ in a project that combines polymer science, chemistry and cell biology and could revolutionise the skin grafting process.

Nature News reports that the strongest evidence yet for the existence of dark matter (particles that don't interact with light) has been found by astronomers from the University of Arizona, whilst they were making observations of colliding galactic clusters.

And finally…

New Scientist reports that potentially life-saving operations for soldiers injured in combat zones could soon be performed by portable robotic surgeons - enabling doctors to operate by remote-control without endangering their own lives. Large and cumbersome surgical robots are already used in some hospitals, but scientists at the University of Washington, in Seattle have come up with a system small enough to travel with troops in the back of an armoured vehicle. The new equipment, developed with funding from the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) may also prove useful for civilian hospitals in remote locations.