the-BA : Science News Digest

Brain (Image copyright: istockphoto.com)

In the news this week: a genetic test for lung cancer, an indication that subliminal advertising may work (if you’re paying attention) and rose-scented memories aid recall…

This week saw the start of National Science and Engineering Week. And, as Newsnight’s Steve Smith waited anxiously for the results of his physics A-level module, the programme came along to the launch of the week and found out about the search for “The Nation’s Favourite Experiment”. Watch Thursday’s programme to see how he got on and to see the Science Minister trying one of the experiments.

The Independent reported that an international team of over 60 scientists have carried out the widest survey to date of cancer-causing mutations. The findings could help develop targeted anti-cancer treatments, and the systematic exploration of mutations involved in cancer development will ultimately help build up a catalogue of the mutations involved in each class of cancer.

200 samples of cancerous tissue were analysed and 500 genes were compared to those in healthy cells from the same patient. The scientists focussed on a class of gene, known as kinases, that are known to play a role in cancer. About 1,000 mutations were initially discovered – but many were found to be harmless ‘passenger’ mutations that simply accumulate with age. Searching specifically for mutations that could be implicated in the growth of tumour cells led to the identification of 158 mutations in 120 genes – more than scientists expected.

In a related story, the Daily Telegraph revealed that scientists have developed a genetic test that could identify lung cancer at an earlier stage – when treatment is more effective. At present, lung cancer is the world’s leading cause of death from cancer, and this is partly due to a lack of early diagnosis tools. The gene expression profile of 80 genes, developed by researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine, can distinguish between smokers with and without the disease. The scientists anticipate that their method could improve the sensitivity of diagnosis from 53 to 90 per cent.

Thanks to efforts led by British scientists and a project named OneGeology, it should soon be easier to locate resources such as oil and gas, plan international projects, and predict natural disasters such earthquakes. The project aims to collate all the known geological information about every country worldwide, reported the Guardian, and to make the data freely available – eventually searchable via the internet. The first data is expected to be available in 2008 and will be from the UK, US, Canada, Sweden and France.

In other news in the Guardian, hundreds of scientists met in Washington this week for the Planetary Defence Conference, to discuss how to avoid a future potentially catastrophic asteroid impact. Near-Earth objects (NEOs) – asteroids and comets – that are wider than 1km collide with the planet on average every few hundred years. NEOs larger than 6km, capable of causing mass extinction, collide every 100million years. And, say experts, we’re overdue one.

Proposed technological solutions discussed at the meeting include nuclear detonations, tug boats and “gravity tractors”. In addition to this, psychologists weighed up the pros and cons of revealing details of an impending impact.

For the first time, brain scans have demonstrated that subliminal images are indeed registered by the brain, reported the Guardian. Subliminal advertising is banned in the UK but still legal in America.

In the study, conducted by a neuroscientist at University College London, images were flashed up on a screen and, even though the viewers were unaware of them at a conscious level, an fMRI scanner recorded extra brain activity in the primary visual cortex. However, the research highlighted that the brain’s response to subliminal images is not automatic, but depends on attention. When the viewers were given a simple task of clicking when they saw a T among a stream of letters, the subliminal images got through. But when the brain had less processing resources available – when given a harder task with two targets – the subliminal brain activations were noticeably reduced.

An independent scientific audit of the UK’s climate change policies, commissioned by Channel 4’s Dispatches, has concluded that carbon dioxide emissions are more likely to be reduced by between 12 to 17 per cent by 2020, rather than the self-imposed 30 per cent target set by the government. The latest figures for 2005 show a 15.3 per cent reduction compared to 1990 levels.
(The Guardian)

Another report, by Cambridge Econometrics – which was based on computer models using economic, environmental and energy parameters – has concluded that the percentage of the UK’s electricity generated by renewables in 2010 will most likely be only 8 per cent, missing the government’s 10 per cent target.
(BBC News)

Meanwhile, at the latest climate change summit in Brussels, EU leaders agreed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.
(BBC News)

And finally…

Do you have a big presentation or exam coming up and want to increase your recall ability? Well, a new study published in the journal Science has shown that an odour (in this case the scent of roses) can enhance memory.

74 male volunteers were asked to remember locations of picture pairs from cards turned over randomly in a grid formation. As they tried to remember the pair locations, they were presented with a rose fragrance. Those that later received the same scent while they were in the slow wave phase of deep sleep had much better recall of the picture pairs the next day – scoring 97 per cent correctly compared to 86 per cent for those that hadn’t been presented with the odour at night. Brain scan analysis revealed that the second exposure to the smell during sleep activated the hippocampus, a part of the brain which is important for memory storage.

The head of the team, Professor Jan Born, told the Daily Telegraph: ‘The smell of the rose during sleep had reactivated the memories of the learned picture pairs, thereby enhancing the consolidation of these memories. Since the mechanisms that promote memory formation during sleep become more and more clear, techniques could be easily developed that use smells, nice or nasty, to improve schoolkids' performance during napping after school.’