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Fears of a bigger quake
Anthony Phelps / Reuters
Upfront
Fears of a bigger quake NEW ZEALAND continues to shake after being hit by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake – with fears that the underground stress could set off even bigger tremors. “An earthquake like this can increase the risk of a major earthquake nearby, although it can also decrease stress on a nearby fault and lessen the risk,” says John Ristau at GNS Science, a geoscience research firm near Wellington. There is a 32 per cent chance of a magnitude 7 or larger earthquake within the next 30 days, he says. The quake struck 90 kilometres north-east of Christchurch on the South Island on 14 November, just after midnight local time. It killed two people, tore up buildings and roads in the rural area, and triggered
thousands of landslides and hundreds of aftershocks. It also triggered a tsunami warning that was later cancelled, as waves reached only around 2 metres high. According to preliminary data, the earthquake occurred on a previously unknown fault near the boundary between the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates. The South Island was thrust up over the Pacific plate with some sideways slip. The stress change could trigger a powerful earthquake at the Alpine fault on the plate boundary, says Kevin McCue at Central Queensland University in Australia. If the 600-kilometre fault ruptures for the first time since 1717, it will produce one of the biggest earthquakes in New Zealand since European settlement, says Ristau.
Superbrains
“superagers” to try to understand their exceptional memories. Of the eight donated samples, two contained so many plaques and tangles that they looked like severe cases of Alzheimer’s. We think plaques are linked to the loss of neurons in the brain during Alzheimer’s. But not only do superagers have no symptoms, their brain samples also had many more neurons than those from people who died with the disease. “It points to some unknown factors that protect some elderly from the plaques and tangles of Alzheimer’s,” says Rezvanian.
–Some routes were impassable–
HIV drug on NHS?
NHS England does have the power to commission PrEP, a decision that has now been supported by three Court of Appeal judges. “PrEP works, it saves money, and most importantly it has the power to prevent HIV acquisition for thousands of people, at the same time as beginning to end the HIV epidemic,” says Deborah Gold from the National Aids Trust, which brought the original case. “This judgement brings that possibility one step closer.” It is expected that providing PrEP services could cost up to £20 million annually.
THE UK’s NHS does have the power to fund a preventative HIV treatment. NHS England has lost its appeal over a High Court ruling that it has the legal power to commission PrEP, a treatment
that has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection in people who are at high risk by more than 90 per cent. PrEP, or “pre-exposure prophylaxis”, involves giving people at high risk of HIV the anti-retroviral drug Truvada to avoid infection. In May, a commissioning committee within NHS England decided not to commission PrEP, saying it lacked the power to do so under NHS legislation and regulations. NHS England argues that the responsibility for services that prevent the spread of HIV lies with local authorities. But the High Court ruled that 6 | NewScientist | 19 November 2016
marc Macias Fauria
“It has the power to prevent HIV acquisition for thousands of people, and help end the epidemic”
SOME 90-year-olds manage to retain youthful minds – despite their brains having the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. The finding, presented on 14 November at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego, California, raises questions over the role protein plaques and tangles play in the disease. Aras Rezvanian at Northwestern University in Chicago and his colleagues examined brain samples donated by such
Reindeer tragedy TENS of thousands of reindeer in Arctic Russia starved to death in 2006 and 2013 because of unusual weather linked to global warming. The same conditions in the first half of November led to both famines, which killed 20,000 deer in 2006 and 61,000 in 2013. Sea ice retreated and unseasonally warm temperatures contributed to heavy rains, which later froze the snow cover for months, cutting –Another famine on its way?– off the animals’ lichen food
Upfront
Fears of a bigger quake NEW ZEALAND continues to shake after being hit by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake – with fears that the underground stress could set off even bigger tremors. “An earthquake like this can increase the risk of a major earthquake nearby, although it can also decrease stress on a nearby fault and lessen the risk,” says John Ristau at GNS Science, a geoscience research firm near Wellington. There is a 32 per cent chance of a magnitude 7 or larger earthquake within the next 30 days, he says. The quake struck 90 kilometres north-east of Christchurch on the South Island on 14 November, just after midnight local time. It killed two people, tore up buildings and roads in the rural area, and triggered
thousands of landslides and hundreds of aftershocks. It also triggered a tsunami warning that was later cancelled, as waves reached only around 2 metres high. According to preliminary data, the earthquake occurred on a previously unknown fault near the boundary between the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates. The South Island was thrust up over the Pacific plate with some sideways slip. The stress change could trigger a powerful earthquake at the Alpine fault on the plate boundary, says Kevin McCue at Central Queensland University in Australia. If the 600-kilometre fault ruptures for the first time since 1717, it will produce one of the biggest earthquakes in New Zealand since European settlement, says Ristau.
Superbrains
“superagers” to try to understand their exceptional memories. Of the eight donated samples, two contained so many plaques and tangles that they looked like severe cases of Alzheimer’s. We think plaques are linked to the loss of neurons in the brain during Alzheimer’s. But not only do superagers have no symptoms, their brain samples also had many more neurons than those from people who died with the disease. “It points to some unknown factors that protect some elderly from the plaques and tangles of Alzheimer’s,” says Rezvanian.
–Some routes were impassable–
HIV drug on NHS?
NHS England does have the power to commission PrEP, a decision that has now been supported by three Court of Appeal judges. “PrEP works, it saves money, and most importantly it has the power to prevent HIV acquisition for thousands of people, at the same time as beginning to end the HIV epidemic,” says Deborah Gold from the National Aids Trust, which brought the original case. “This judgement brings that possibility one step closer.” It is expected that providing PrEP services could cost up to £20 million annually.
THE UK’s NHS does have the power to fund a preventative HIV treatment. NHS England has lost its appeal over a High Court ruling that it has the legal power to commission PrEP, a treatment
that has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection in people who are at high risk by more than 90 per cent. PrEP, or “pre-exposure prophylaxis”, involves giving people at high risk of HIV the anti-retroviral drug Truvada to avoid infection. In May, a commissioning committee within NHS England decided not to commission PrEP, saying it lacked the power to do so under NHS legislation and regulations. NHS England argues that the responsibility for services that prevent the spread of HIV lies with local authorities. But the High Court ruled that 6 | NewScientist | 19 November 2016
marc Macias Fauria
“It has the power to prevent HIV acquisition for thousands of people, and help end the epidemic”
SOME 90-year-olds manage to retain youthful minds – despite their brains having the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. The finding, presented on 14 November at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego, California, raises questions over the role protein plaques and tangles play in the disease. Aras Rezvanian at Northwestern University in Chicago and his colleagues examined brain samples donated by such
Reindeer tragedy TENS of thousands of reindeer in Arctic Russia starved to death in 2006 and 2013 because of unusual weather linked to global warming. The same conditions in the first half of November led to both famines, which killed 20,000 deer in 2006 and 61,000 in 2013. Sea ice retreated and unseasonally warm temperatures contributed to heavy rains, which later froze the snow cover for months, cutting –Another famine on its way?– off the animals’ lichen food