the-BA : Science News Digest - 7 September 2007

The Independent reported this week on a possible explanation for honeybees suddenly disappearing in various parts of the world - mainly in the United States but also other countries such as Brazil and the United Kingdom – as being a virus carried by a parasitic mite. The virus has been seen before in bee hives suffering from colony collapse disorder (CCD), which causes worker bees to vanish, leaving nothing but the queen bee and a store of pollen and honey behind. Experts are still uncertain as to whether the virus causes CCD but think that it could be important in explaining why CCD occurs.

Those of us who enjoy honey on our toast may have to start preparing ourselves to opt for an alternative such as jam or peanut butter if the world bee population continues to nosedive but the importance of bees is not restricted to honey production: Nearly 100 major crops worldwide are dependent on bees to be pollinated and in the United States alone the value of these crops is estimated to be £7bn.

Nature reported on research linking different kinds of antibiotic that could result in the creation of superdrugs.

All antibiotics have a limited period before bacteria in our bodies become resistant which is why chemists race each other constantly to come up with new types of drug. The new discovery could be a milestone in producing drugs which can block out bacterial defences and offer stronger and more effective treatments.

A new study by German, Spanish and US scientists in the journal Science is the first to compare both the social and physical learning skills of children and apes, reported the Telegraph.

Scientists observed that two-year-old children and chimpanzees performed just as well as each other using tools and recognising quantities in locating “rewards”, but that when both groups were tested on their ability to communicate, understand what another is thinking and learn from the actions of others, the children performed much better than the apes.

The results correlate with the “cultural intelligence” theory which argues that social cognitive and learning skills are what distinguish humans from their closest relatives, as opposed to the idea that because our larger brains humans have more “general intelligence”.

The government fertility watchdog has agreed “in principle” to allow scientists to create human-animal hybrid embryos to help them develop new treatments for illnesses such as Parkinson’s and motor neurone disease, the Independent reported.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) acknowledges that public opinion is largely opposed to such work being carried out, unless it is tightly regulated and likely to lead to scientific or medical advancements. The HFEA said "In general, people who do not fundamentally oppose embryo research are prepared to accept that human-animal research may have some value… But there is a clear demand from people to know more about what researchers are doing and their plans for future work, highlighting a need for better communication about science and research from both the scientific community and ourselves as regulator," it added.

Dr David King, director of Human Genetics Alert has spoken out against the HFEA saying that "People's objections to violating the integrity of nature in this way are perfectly rational, and the science establishment ignores and ridicules them at its own peril.”

It has been suggested that an asteroid called Baptistina, measuring 100 miles across, played a major role in the extinction of the dinosaurs, reported the Telegraph.

Baptistina was broken up by another large asteroid - approximately 40 miles wide - over 160 million years ago, causing a shower of fragments that still threaten the Earth today. One hit the Earth creating the massive Chicxulub crater on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, which has been linked to the dinosaurs dying out 65 million years ago.

The Guardian has reported that depression can do more physical damage to our health than several diseases such as angina, arthritis, asthma and diabetes.

The research was led by Dr Saba Moussavi of the World Health Organisation, studying the physical effects of various illnesses on more than 245,000 people in 60 countries. Rated from 0 to 100, with 0 being the least healthy and 100 being the healthiest, the average score for patients with depression was 72.9, compared to 80.3 for asthmatics, 79.6 for those with angina, 79.3 for sufferers of arthritis and 78.9 for diabetics. "Our main findings show that depression impairs health state to a substantially greater degree than the other diseases," Dr Moussavi said.

A lab connected with the July foot-and-mouth disease outbreak committed at least five bio-security breaches.

The breaches include a leaking pipe, inadequate drains for floodwater and a lack of monitoring people and vehicles on-site.

Peter Ainsworth, the shadow environment secretary, has spoken out against the government and holds them responsible - "I think it is profoundly shocking and will cause enormous anger in the farming community and the countryside generally that a site licensed by and monitored by the government can have been responsible for a leak of foot-and-mouth.

"I mean [it] absolutely beggars belief and enormous lessons will have to be learnt from this", he told the BBC.

Research into moray eels has uncovered a secret as to how they are able to swallow their prey – akin to the beast from Ridley Scott’s 1979 science fiction horror film Alien, they have a second pair of sharp-toothed jaws further back in their throat which they can extend forward to help them catch unsuspecting fish and shrimp.

Mark Westneat of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago said that the discovery was reminiscent of a time when scientists actually discovered natural phenomena, rather than testing theories. He called it "a classic example of discovery-based science, stemming from a 'wow' moment".

To see x-ray photos and read more go to Nature.