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Dark matter no-show at sensitive underground lab
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Still no dark matter
area by 1.6 °C, but a subsequent switch to sugar cane cooled it by 0.9 °C (Nature Climate Change, DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1067). That’s because sugar cane reflects more of the sun’s heat and releases extra water vapour. Loarie says that if sugar cane is to be grown as a biofuel, it is best to use existing farmland – although this leaves less land for growing food, and so raises prices. Timothy Searchinger of Princeton University says that might lead to more savannah being cleared for food crops, so local temperatures would rise, not fall – something Loarie also emphasises.
60 Seconds
But no unexpected signal was seen in 100 days (arxiv.org/ abs/1104.2549). The result sets a new maximum on the possible strength of WIMPs’ interaction with normal matter, writes Sean Carroll of the
IT’S just like a wimp to be a no‑show when summoned for interrogation. That seems to be the result of an experiment to detect the weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs, thought to make up the universe’s “WIMPs should produce telltale light signals. But elusive dark matter. no unexpected signal The Xenon100 experiment, was seen in 100 days” deep below a mountain at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory California Institute of Technology near L’Aquila, Italy, uses a tub of in Pasadena in his blog. It also liquid xenon to detect WIMPs. The particles, if they exist, should “calls into question” hints of occasionally hit the xenon atoms, lightweight WIMPs seen at two other dark-matter detectors. producing telltale light signals.
A real pain for astronauts
Vaccine row over
NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
A FOUR-year dispute ended with WHEN astronauts reach for a painkiller in space they might not an all-night bargaining session in get the relief they expect. A NASAGeneva, Switzerland, on Saturday, funded investigation has found that as rich and poor countries and medicines can be compromised by big pharma agreed a deal to share conditions in space. This could be a virus samples and vaccines in a big problem for astronauts on longer bid to fight flu pandemics. space flights, such as a trip to Mars. The deal, which makes part of If stored correctly most drugs the world’s voluntary system for have a shelf life of between one and monitoring flu legally binding, must be approved by world health two years, during which time they should retain most of the potency ministers in May. indicated on the label. To investigate Vaccine production depends on how space travel might affect drug countries sharing virus samples potency, Brian Du, at the Wyle with a network of labs that report Engineering Group, and colleagues to the World Health Organization. In 2007, Indonesia, then a hotspot sent four medical kits containing 35 medicines commonly used by for H5N1 bird flu, stopped astronauts into space, while four exporting samples, saying that identical kits were stored in a they would be used to make vaccines which countries like Indonesia could not afford. That confrontation has now led to an agreement under which poor countries will get help accessing vaccines and antiviral drugs in return for providing virus samples. The industry has reportedly promised to help such countries monitor viruses, and to use 10 per cent of manufacturing capacity to supply them with cheap or free drugs and vaccines. But the key, according to a WHO analysis, will be to increase the vaccine supply. It is not yet clear if this week’s agreement will do that. –Just don’t get sick–
controlled environment on Earth. The kits were sent back at intervals over 28 months. At the end of the study, less than a third of the solid formulations kept in space met US requirements for levels of active ingredients. The longer the kits were in space, the fewer formulations came up to scratch (The AAPS Journal, DOI: 10.1208/s12248-011-9270-0). Pharmaceuticals are packed in compact flight kits during missions, not in the manufacturers’ packaging. This, along, with higher levels of ionising radiation in space, seems to be responsible for the degradation, says Lakshmi Putcha, a NASA researcher who co-authored the study.
Tornadoes hit US Tornadoes swept through six US states late last week, leaving over 40 people dead. North Carolina has declared a state of emergency after 62 tornadoes hit the state on Saturday. The storms have now moved out into the Atlantic Ocean.
Robots in Fukushima Robots sent into Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have detected high levels of radiation that make it too dangerous for workers to go back inside. The two remote-controlled “Packbots”, developed by US firm iRobot, took photos and analysed radiation levels. They are normally used for bomb disposal operations.
Stillbirths still common Around 2.6 million stillbirths occur worldwide every year, according to a number of studies published last week in The Lancet. While 76 per cent occur in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia, rates are high in richer countries too. Around half of stillbirths could be prevented for just $2.32 per pregnant woman each year.
Unprotected wolves For the first time, the US Congress has stepped in to take an animal off the endangered species list, rather than leaving the decision to Fish and Wildlife Service scientists. Grey wolves are now unprotected in Montana, Idaho and parts of Oregon, Utah and Washington.
Texas shunned Where do space shuttles go when they die? Texans are up in arms that not one of NASA’s four shuttles is bound for their state, home to the city that features in the famous line: “Houston, we’ve had a problem”. The shuttle programme is due to end in June. Museums in Florida, New York and California, plus the National Air and Space Museum near Washington DC, will get one each. Texan members of Congress have cried foul.
23 April 2011| NewScientist | 5
Still no dark matter
area by 1.6 °C, but a subsequent switch to sugar cane cooled it by 0.9 °C (Nature Climate Change, DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1067). That’s because sugar cane reflects more of the sun’s heat and releases extra water vapour. Loarie says that if sugar cane is to be grown as a biofuel, it is best to use existing farmland – although this leaves less land for growing food, and so raises prices. Timothy Searchinger of Princeton University says that might lead to more savannah being cleared for food crops, so local temperatures would rise, not fall – something Loarie also emphasises.
60 Seconds
But no unexpected signal was seen in 100 days (arxiv.org/ abs/1104.2549). The result sets a new maximum on the possible strength of WIMPs’ interaction with normal matter, writes Sean Carroll of the
IT’S just like a wimp to be a no‑show when summoned for interrogation. That seems to be the result of an experiment to detect the weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs, thought to make up the universe’s “WIMPs should produce telltale light signals. But elusive dark matter. no unexpected signal The Xenon100 experiment, was seen in 100 days” deep below a mountain at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory California Institute of Technology near L’Aquila, Italy, uses a tub of in Pasadena in his blog. It also liquid xenon to detect WIMPs. The particles, if they exist, should “calls into question” hints of occasionally hit the xenon atoms, lightweight WIMPs seen at two other dark-matter detectors. producing telltale light signals.
A real pain for astronauts
Vaccine row over
NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
A FOUR-year dispute ended with WHEN astronauts reach for a painkiller in space they might not an all-night bargaining session in get the relief they expect. A NASAGeneva, Switzerland, on Saturday, funded investigation has found that as rich and poor countries and medicines can be compromised by big pharma agreed a deal to share conditions in space. This could be a virus samples and vaccines in a big problem for astronauts on longer bid to fight flu pandemics. space flights, such as a trip to Mars. The deal, which makes part of If stored correctly most drugs the world’s voluntary system for have a shelf life of between one and monitoring flu legally binding, must be approved by world health two years, during which time they should retain most of the potency ministers in May. indicated on the label. To investigate Vaccine production depends on how space travel might affect drug countries sharing virus samples potency, Brian Du, at the Wyle with a network of labs that report Engineering Group, and colleagues to the World Health Organization. In 2007, Indonesia, then a hotspot sent four medical kits containing 35 medicines commonly used by for H5N1 bird flu, stopped astronauts into space, while four exporting samples, saying that identical kits were stored in a they would be used to make vaccines which countries like Indonesia could not afford. That confrontation has now led to an agreement under which poor countries will get help accessing vaccines and antiviral drugs in return for providing virus samples. The industry has reportedly promised to help such countries monitor viruses, and to use 10 per cent of manufacturing capacity to supply them with cheap or free drugs and vaccines. But the key, according to a WHO analysis, will be to increase the vaccine supply. It is not yet clear if this week’s agreement will do that. –Just don’t get sick–
controlled environment on Earth. The kits were sent back at intervals over 28 months. At the end of the study, less than a third of the solid formulations kept in space met US requirements for levels of active ingredients. The longer the kits were in space, the fewer formulations came up to scratch (The AAPS Journal, DOI: 10.1208/s12248-011-9270-0). Pharmaceuticals are packed in compact flight kits during missions, not in the manufacturers’ packaging. This, along, with higher levels of ionising radiation in space, seems to be responsible for the degradation, says Lakshmi Putcha, a NASA researcher who co-authored the study.
Tornadoes hit US Tornadoes swept through six US states late last week, leaving over 40 people dead. North Carolina has declared a state of emergency after 62 tornadoes hit the state on Saturday. The storms have now moved out into the Atlantic Ocean.
Robots in Fukushima Robots sent into Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have detected high levels of radiation that make it too dangerous for workers to go back inside. The two remote-controlled “Packbots”, developed by US firm iRobot, took photos and analysed radiation levels. They are normally used for bomb disposal operations.
Stillbirths still common Around 2.6 million stillbirths occur worldwide every year, according to a number of studies published last week in The Lancet. While 76 per cent occur in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia, rates are high in richer countries too. Around half of stillbirths could be prevented for just $2.32 per pregnant woman each year.
Unprotected wolves For the first time, the US Congress has stepped in to take an animal off the endangered species list, rather than leaving the decision to Fish and Wildlife Service scientists. Grey wolves are now unprotected in Montana, Idaho and parts of Oregon, Utah and Washington.
Texas shunned Where do space shuttles go when they die? Texans are up in arms that not one of NASA’s four shuttles is bound for their state, home to the city that features in the famous line: “Houston, we’ve had a problem”. The shuttle programme is due to end in June. Museums in Florida, New York and California, plus the National Air and Space Museum near Washington DC, will get one each. Texan members of Congress have cried foul.
23 April 2011| NewScientist | 5