the-BA : Science News Digest

Image of a bee (copyright: istockphoto.com)

In the news this week: the world’s first full-face transplant gets the go-ahead, our future fertility may be at risk, and Europe’s worst energy waster is named and shamed. Plus, bees create a buzz and martian life remains possible.

In a major advance for transplant surgery, it was announced that a London surgeon has been given the go-ahead to perform the world’s first full-face transplant. The process of selecting the first patient is now underway, and the operation may occur within months.

More than 30 potential candidates have been identified in Britain and Ireland and of these, four will be selected for the first transplants, reported the Independent. The operation will involve removing the skin, fat and various blood vessels from the donor, and then connecting the face onto the recipient. While skin tone and colour will come from the donor’s face, computer modelling suggests that the main facial features will reflect the bone structure of the transplant patient and so they will essentially have a new, unique face.

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference was taking place in New Orleans this week, and as a result there were several fertility-related news items...

The Guardian reported a suggested fertility risk for men using mobile phones for long periods of time. American scientists studied sperm samples from men attending a fertility clinic. Compared to men who did not use a mobile phone, those who used their mobiles for more than four hours a day had sperm that was 30% less mobile or viable, the researchers observed. The study is thought to be too preliminary to prove an unequivocal link between mobile phones and falling sperm counts, but suggested the need for further studies to rule out other potential contributory factors such as age, weight, smoking, stress and sedentary jobs.

Meanwhile, women over 50 who become mothers using donated eggs can cope with motherhood just as well as those who give birth in their 30s, according to a new study. On average, little difference in the overall parental stress levels was found between those in their 30s, 40s and 50s. And while the women in their 50s scored less than those in their 30s with respect to physical function, their mental functions scored higher. The study was though to be the first to evaluate the abilities of mothers in their 50s, reported the Daily Telegraph.

Considering the report in the Times that doctors believe the number of older women giving birth via IVF will surge in the coming years due to technology advances, the findings are perhaps welcome.

More worrying were the new findings that women who delay motherhood risk the fertility of their daughters, and children born to couples with fertility problems face greater health risks.

In the first study, 74 women attending a fertility clinic were asked about their parents’ ages when they were born and at what age their mother underwent the menopause. The researchers discovered that the women who failed to conceive had mothers who were older and, on average, five years closer to the menopause when they were born, compared to the women who became pregnant. The findings suggest that the closer a woman is to menopause when she gives birth, the greater the chance that her daughter will have impaired fertility, reported the Guardian. This could have serious repercussions in our society, where babies are being born to increasingly older mothers.

Other research, reported in the Times, looked at the prevalence of autism, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, seizures and cancer in children. Scientists from the University of California found that children born to couples with a history of infertility were 2.7 times more likely to develop problems by the age of six than those born to couples who had no difficulty conceiving. An increased risk still applied when a natural birth occurred despite fertility problems, suggesting that underlying infertility was likely to be the major factor, rather than IVF treatment.

In other news, Energy Saving Week brought a focus back to our personal responsibility to help secure a decent future for our planet.

The Habits of a Lifetime report, commissioned by the Energy Saving Trust to mark the start of the week, pointed an accusing finger at Britons: apparently we are the worst energy wasters in Europe. 5,000 people in Europe’s five most populous nations (the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy) were surveyed. 71 per cent of UK consumers admitted to leaving standby buttons on once a week and 48 per cent said they use their car for short journeys. Compared to Germans, the most energy efficient consumers according to the report, Britons leave chargers on three times as much, leave standby buttons on twice as much, and forget to switch off lights four times as much. Our bad habits could cost £11bn by 2010 and, if the levels of wastage continue, an extra 43m tonnes of carbon dioxide will be pumped into the atmosphere by then, reported BBC News.

Richmond council in London announced a pioneering plan to tackle climate change. They will pilot a scheme in which residents’ parking fees will be linked to how polluting their vehicle is, reported the Guardian. Gas-guzzlers that release large amounts of carbon dioxide will cost up to £450 a year to park, while owners of cleaner cars will see their costs decrease.

In related news, the BBC reported that three-quarters of Europe’s car brands are failing to improve fuel efficiency quick enough to meet European carbon dioxide reduction targets. And in the US, the Supreme Court is debating whether the government should regulate carbon emissions from new cars, reported Science.

Meanwhile, the environment is becoming an increasingly politically charged issue in this country. The Times reported that David Cameron challenged the Prime Minister to accept his proposals for annual targets on cutting greenhouse emissions, saying they were necessary for the country to meet its climate change goals. However, Tony Blair ruled them out, stating that they would be impractical. The Government instead believes that three, five or ten year targets are more suitable.

The environmental group WWF issued dire warnings in its biannual Living Planet Report. They stated that if the current consumption rate of global resources continued, two planets would be needed to meet the demand by 2050. And again the UK’s excessive lifestyle was highlighted; if it was shared by the global population, the number of planets needed would increase to three. The report called for significant action now, on issues such as energy generation, transport and housing, to deliver a shift towards a sustainable society, reported BBC News.

To this end, Australia provided more positive news with the announcement that it will build the world’s most advanced solar power station. The Times said it will operate without producing greenhouse emissions, using thousands of mirrors to concentrate the Sun’s energy onto high-performance solar cells, and ultimately providing enough electricity for 45,000 homes.

Bees buzzed into the headlines with both the publication of the honeybee genome and the discovery of a 100-million-year-old specimen.

The genetic blueprint of a western honeybee was published in the journal Nature. The Guardian discussed some of the questions that this may now help to answer, such as how worker bees are able to perform and coordinate so many tasks, including semantic communication via the waggle dance, despite their tiny brains. Bees also have impressive memories for flower odour and location. Comparison of the new genetic sequence with fruit fly and mosquito genomes has already provided hints as to how they do all this, including the observation that they have far more genes for odour receptor proteins – important for distinguishing complex pheromone signals.

A tiny bee, found preserved in amber, is the world’s oldest identified example; it’s at least 35-45 million years older than other known bee fossils. BBC News reported that the well-preserved discovery supports theories that pollen-dependent bees evolved from carnivorous wasps, and shares features of both insects.

Another fossil discovery, this time of a type of bird, is the largest example to date of a group of birds known as phorusrhacids. These flightless carnivores roamed South America some 60 million to 2 million years ago and could grow up to 3 metres tall. This new fossil challenges ideas about how the huge birds moved – the long, slender foot bones suggest they could run quickly, like an emu or ostrich, whereas they have generally been assumed to be cumbersome and move slowly, reported Nature.

NASA finally launched two spacecraft which the agency hopes will provide the first-ever 3D views of the Sun and vital information about its violent eruptions, reported BBC News. The mission aims to study coronal mass ejections – which can damage satellites, endanger astronauts and disrupt electrical and communications systems on earth. Both satellites will orbit the Sun, one slightly ahead of the other, to provide stereovision so that scientists can determine the direction of the eruption and whether the resultant plasma cloud is heading towards our planet.

Also this week, the journal Science told us not to give up on the idea of martian life. A report has concluded that assays performed by the Mars Viking landers in 1976, which failed to detect living organisms, may simply not have been sensitive enough. A reanalysis of Earth soil samples which had also come up negative for organic material has now revealed trace amounts, thanks to more sensitive instruments. A new study has also found that some Earth microbes can survive and reproduce at the subfreezing temperatures experienced by Mars.

The future of scientific research in this country got a boost with the announcement that the government intends to establish a Rhodes scholarship-type scheme to attract the world's best scientists to the UK. The Royal Society scheme will build on the £100m already available for scholarships, noted BBC News.

Meanwhile, the Royal Family celebrated the achievements of UK scientists with an exhibition at Buckingham Palace. 800 students were invited to view the displays highlighting advances made in fields such as medicine, engineering and space study, reported BBC News, and in the evening, 500 members of the British scientific community got to attend a reception hosted by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

And finally…

Ever fancied being bilingual? Wish there was such a thing as the Babel Fish in Douglas Adams’ book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? Well a device that would enable you to mouth a phrase in one language but be heard in another is currently under development, according to New Scientist. As the user mouths words, the automatic translator uses electrodes placed on the face and neck to detect and interpret unique electrical signals sent to face muscles and the tongue. By basing the system around the detection of phonemes, which are the building blocks of words, the team of scientists have developed something that can potentially recognise an unlimited vocabulary.