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Earth-hunter makes the cut
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Planet hunter A MISSION to find nearby alien planets to search for signs of life is a step closer to lift-off. While NASA’s Kepler space telescope is already looking for
NASA/JEFF CAPLAN
60 SECONDS
Less-lethal peanuts A treatment that reduced the effects of peanut allergy in a small group of children will now be tested on more than 100 people. Andrew Clark of Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, UK, gave 23 children escalating daily doses of peanut flour mixed with yogurt. After six months, 21 could tolerate the equivalent of five peanuts a week.
”The PLATO space telescope would look for star systems close enough to scan for bio-signatures”
LAUREN LANCASTER/VERAS/REDUX/EYEVINE
Earth-sized planets (New Scientist, 7 February 2009, p 8), most of the worlds it finds will be too distant for their spectra to be scanned for oxygen or other hints of life. The proposed space telescope, called Planetary Transits and Space in a balloon Oscillations of Stars (PLATO), ASTRONAUTS may one day would use the same method as orbit the Earth in roomy balloons Kepler and watch for the brief instead of cramped tin cans, now dimming as a planet passes in that NASA has made inflatable front of its star. But PLATO would space habitats a priority. focus on systems close enough to The White House announced scan for bio-signatures. “PLATO a change in direction for NASA potentially will get us targets,” on 1 February. Instead of the says Jonathan Lunine of the planned crewed missions to University of Arizona in Tucson. the moon, the agency intends The European Space Agency to pour money into research announced last week that PLATO is now one of three finalists vying and development (New Scientist, 13 February 2010, p 8). for two launch slots from the agency. Its competitors are Euclid, “Balloon-like habitats can a space telescope that would be larger, lighter and less measure dark energy and dark expensive than traditional matter, and Solar Orbiter, which ones made of metal” would observe the sun from an orbit approaching closer than The outline listed technologies Mercury’s. The winners could on NASA’s wish list but provided fly as early as 2017. few details. Now NASA has fleshed out its plans in a detailed budget proposal posted on its website on 22 February. One section notes that balloon-like habitats “can be larger, lighter, and potentially less expensive” than traditional ones made of rigid metal walls. They could be used as space stations, or eventually as moon bases. NASA may send inflatable structures to the International Space Station to test their mettle – including their ability to shield against space radiation. The document also reveals that –Languishing in pain– the agency plans to restart the
Mosquitoes grounded
–No more floating in a tin can–
NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts. Until it was closed by budget cutbacks in 2007, the institute funded research into potentially revolutionary technologies, including space elevators and antimatter harvesting. “Its cancellation was very short-sighted,” says John Cramer of the University of Washington in Seattle.
Stem cell redux THE menu of cells that federally funded researchers in the US can work with is set to expand. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is proposing to add cell lines created from early-stage embryos to the list of eligible human embryonic stem cells (ESCs). A year ago, President Barack Obama relaxed previous limits on ESCs, prized for their potential to morph into any cell type. But those revisions covered only cell lines created from several-day-old blastocysts, not those from younger embryos, which, unlike older ESCs, can be obtained without destroying the embryo. “My hat’s off to them for correcting things,” says Robert Lanza. His firm, Advanced Cell Technology, hopes to use one such line in a trial of a treatment for macular degeneration. The NIH will accept public comments on the proposal for the next 30 days.
How do you stop dengue fever? Ground the female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which spread the disease, says UK company Oxitec. The firm has genetically engineered male mosquitoes to have a defective wing-growth gene that is only expressed in females. If modified males are released in dengue hotspots, the gene could be passed to female offspring.
Cluster muster Many dense star clusters dotted around our galaxy appear to be interlopers. The stars in about a quarter of all globular clusters betray a distinct chemical make-up, implying that these clusters formed within dwarf galaxies that later merged with the Milky Way (arxiv. org/abs/1001.4289).
Climate step down The man who many say has singlehandedly held together global climate negotiations for three years will step down in July. Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, will join consultancy group KPMG as adviser on climate and sustainability.
Lapdogs are ancient Love them or loathe them, small dogs have gone the distance. An analysis of DNA from dogs and wolves has revealed that the gene that turned the ancestral wolf into a Yorkshire terrier originated more than 12,000 years ago in the Middle East (BMC Biology, in press).
27 February 2010 | NewScientist | 7
Planet hunter A MISSION to find nearby alien planets to search for signs of life is a step closer to lift-off. While NASA’s Kepler space telescope is already looking for
NASA/JEFF CAPLAN
60 SECONDS
Less-lethal peanuts A treatment that reduced the effects of peanut allergy in a small group of children will now be tested on more than 100 people. Andrew Clark of Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, UK, gave 23 children escalating daily doses of peanut flour mixed with yogurt. After six months, 21 could tolerate the equivalent of five peanuts a week.
”The PLATO space telescope would look for star systems close enough to scan for bio-signatures”
LAUREN LANCASTER/VERAS/REDUX/EYEVINE
Earth-sized planets (New Scientist, 7 February 2009, p 8), most of the worlds it finds will be too distant for their spectra to be scanned for oxygen or other hints of life. The proposed space telescope, called Planetary Transits and Space in a balloon Oscillations of Stars (PLATO), ASTRONAUTS may one day would use the same method as orbit the Earth in roomy balloons Kepler and watch for the brief instead of cramped tin cans, now dimming as a planet passes in that NASA has made inflatable front of its star. But PLATO would space habitats a priority. focus on systems close enough to The White House announced scan for bio-signatures. “PLATO a change in direction for NASA potentially will get us targets,” on 1 February. Instead of the says Jonathan Lunine of the planned crewed missions to University of Arizona in Tucson. the moon, the agency intends The European Space Agency to pour money into research announced last week that PLATO is now one of three finalists vying and development (New Scientist, 13 February 2010, p 8). for two launch slots from the agency. Its competitors are Euclid, “Balloon-like habitats can a space telescope that would be larger, lighter and less measure dark energy and dark expensive than traditional matter, and Solar Orbiter, which ones made of metal” would observe the sun from an orbit approaching closer than The outline listed technologies Mercury’s. The winners could on NASA’s wish list but provided fly as early as 2017. few details. Now NASA has fleshed out its plans in a detailed budget proposal posted on its website on 22 February. One section notes that balloon-like habitats “can be larger, lighter, and potentially less expensive” than traditional ones made of rigid metal walls. They could be used as space stations, or eventually as moon bases. NASA may send inflatable structures to the International Space Station to test their mettle – including their ability to shield against space radiation. The document also reveals that –Languishing in pain– the agency plans to restart the
Mosquitoes grounded
–No more floating in a tin can–
NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts. Until it was closed by budget cutbacks in 2007, the institute funded research into potentially revolutionary technologies, including space elevators and antimatter harvesting. “Its cancellation was very short-sighted,” says John Cramer of the University of Washington in Seattle.
Stem cell redux THE menu of cells that federally funded researchers in the US can work with is set to expand. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is proposing to add cell lines created from early-stage embryos to the list of eligible human embryonic stem cells (ESCs). A year ago, President Barack Obama relaxed previous limits on ESCs, prized for their potential to morph into any cell type. But those revisions covered only cell lines created from several-day-old blastocysts, not those from younger embryos, which, unlike older ESCs, can be obtained without destroying the embryo. “My hat’s off to them for correcting things,” says Robert Lanza. His firm, Advanced Cell Technology, hopes to use one such line in a trial of a treatment for macular degeneration. The NIH will accept public comments on the proposal for the next 30 days.
How do you stop dengue fever? Ground the female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which spread the disease, says UK company Oxitec. The firm has genetically engineered male mosquitoes to have a defective wing-growth gene that is only expressed in females. If modified males are released in dengue hotspots, the gene could be passed to female offspring.
Cluster muster Many dense star clusters dotted around our galaxy appear to be interlopers. The stars in about a quarter of all globular clusters betray a distinct chemical make-up, implying that these clusters formed within dwarf galaxies that later merged with the Milky Way (arxiv. org/abs/1001.4289).
Climate step down The man who many say has singlehandedly held together global climate negotiations for three years will step down in July. Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, will join consultancy group KPMG as adviser on climate and sustainability.
Lapdogs are ancient Love them or loathe them, small dogs have gone the distance. An analysis of DNA from dogs and wolves has revealed that the gene that turned the ancestral wolf into a Yorkshire terrier originated more than 12,000 years ago in the Middle East (BMC Biology, in press).
27 February 2010 | NewScientist | 7