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Fukushima neighbourhoods may be uninhabitable for years
bob strong/reuters
UPFRONT
Libya and oil price jitters AS REBEL forces entered Tripoli on Monday, crude oil prices fell on the expectation that Libya’s six-month civil war would soon come to an end and the country would resume supplying oil to the global market. But they rose again on Tuesday when the rebels’ victory seemed less assured. The rapid fluctuations are down to market speculation; even if exports did resume immediately – an unlikely prospect – this would have little impact on the amount of oil moving through international markets. “The situation on the ground is so uncertain, it’s very difficult to come to any view,” says Paul Stevens of London think-tank Chatham House. What is clear is that Libya accounts for about 2 per cent of the global oil market, having exported 1.8 million
barrels of crude oil every day back in 2009. Exports have fallen sharply during the on-going conflict. The loss of supply could be made up twice over by the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, which between them have 4 million barrels of spare capacity per day. But it isn’t that simple: Libyan oil is suitable for making gasoline, while Gulf state oil is better for diesel and fuel oil. Regardless, “what happens in Iraq is probably more important than what happens in Libya” for future oil prices, says David Aron of Petroleum Development Consultants based in London. Already a bigger producer than Libya – it produced 2.4 million barrels in 2009 – it is opening new fields and hopes to quadruple its output by 2017.
Laser power
are absorbed by uranium-235 – the fissile isotope wanted in the fuel – but not by uranium-238. Excited U-235 can then be separated from the unexcited U-238. But the benefits of laser enrichment – its efficiency and low power requirements – could also be its biggest drawbacks. Rogue states could find it easier to make atom-bomb fuel in secret as smaller facilities are needed for this method, making it impossible to detect using satellite imagery. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is set to review the proposal on 30 June next year.
–Zawiyah refinery in rebel hands–
Come out, come out
“A deluge of new data means we are definitely approaching the endgame in looking for the Higgs” bulk of the mass range that is easiest to explore. Teams at the LHC hope to double the amount of data collected by the end of this year, but they will need to double 4 | NewScientist | 27 August 2011
james whitlow delano/redux/eyevine
YOU can’t hide for much longer, Higgs. A deluge of data from the Large Hadron Collider has ruled out a slew of possible masses for the still theoretical Higgs particle. “We are definitely approaching the endgame in looking for the Higgs,” says James Gillies, spokesman for CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, where the LHC is based. Data released from the LHC’s ATLAS and CMS detectors have now ruled out, with 95 per cent confidence, all masses for the elusive Higgs between 145 and 466 gigaelectronvolts (GeV). The Higgs is thought to give all other particles mass. If it exists, it is most likely hiding out between 115 and 145 GeV. That rules out the
that again to confirm if the Higgs is within the remaining range. That should take the better part of a year, Gillies says: “We don’t want to give the impression that the answer is just around the corner.” If the Higgs isn’t there, we will have to come up with another explanation for why matter has mass, or embrace other, stranger versions of the Higgs that aren’t part of the standard model of physics, the leading theory for how particles and forces interact. The new results were revealed on 22 August at the Lepton-Photon conference in Mumbai, India.
IT’S pretty hard to disguise the fact you are enriching uranium, whether for use in nuclear power stations or bombs. Now a method that uses lasers to complete the process could make it more efficient – and easier to hide. General Electric and Hitachi are joining forces to build a laser facility in Wilmington, North Carolina, powerful enough to produce more than 1000 tonnes of enriched fuel every year. They plan to use lasers that emit a narrow range of wavelengths that
No going back SOME Fukushima residents may never return to their homes. While work to shut down the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan is proceeding steadily, outgoing prime minister Naoto Kan is now expected to announce that some neighbourhoods will be uninhabitable for many years. Data from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, –Nuclear legacy– Science & Technology suggest
For daily news stories, visit newscientist.com/news
Racial grant gap
that in some places the yearly radiation dose would be over 500 millisieverts, far in excess of the suggested maximum for the general public of 1 millisievert each year. Meanwhile, allegations that Fukushima was crippled by the earthquake, not the ensuing tsunami as previously thought, are “not correct”, says Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA). The implication was that Japan’s nuclear reactors could not cope with earthquakes, but the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria, supports NISA’s conclusion.
60 Seconds
publication record, the gap was still 10 per cent (Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1196783). The team offer several explanations, including the possibility that some fundingreviewers are biased against black
BLACK scientists receive 10 per cent fewer funding awards than would be expected if race were not an issue, a new analysis of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant data has found. “White scientists had a Donna Ginther at the 29 per cent success rate University of Kansas in Lawrence but for their black peers and colleagues analysed over it was just 16 per cent” 80,000 applications for funding from scientists with a PhD. Whites scientists. “I am very discouraged had a 29 per cent success rate but blacks received funding just 16 per by these results,” says Ginther. The NIH will trial thoroughly cent of the time. When the team anonymised grant applications controlled for country of origin, in a bid to explore any racial bias. training, previous awards and
Doubts cast on fish provenance
Healthy X-rays?
paul sutherland/national geographic
HOSPITAL workers who are SUSTAINABILITY logos on fish may not be entirely trustworthy. Some fish regularly exposed to “safe” levels that the Marine Stewardship Council of X-rays have experienced (MSC) have certified as sustainable changes at the cellular level that come from unsustainable fisheries might actually prove beneficial. Gian Luigi Russo and colleagues or are the wrong species altogether, according to a study of Patagonian at Italy’s National Research toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides), Council took blood samples sold as “Chilean sea bass”. from 10 cardiologists who are Only one fishery, around the island exposed to 4 millisieverts of of South Georgia in the Southern radiation per year from X-rayOcean, is certified as sustainably guided surgery. Those levels fished by the MSC, so all Chilean sea are slightly above natural levels bass (pictured) bearing the MSC logo but well within the US Code of ought to come from South Georgia. Federal Regulation’s safe limit They don’t, though. Peter Marko of of 50 millisieverts per year. Clemson University in South Carolina Russo’s team found that and colleagues bought 36 certified the blood contained levels of fish from shops across the US and hydrogen peroxide – a marker checked their DNA. Three came from of cell damage – three times higher than expected. On the flip side, it also contained twice the normal level of glutathione, an antioxidant that protects cells (European Heart Journal, DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehr263). Tommaso Gori, a cardiologist at the University Medical Center Mainz in Germany, who was not involved in the study, points out that boosted antioxidant levels are known to offer a degree of protection against heart attack in some individuals. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” he says. “That might be the case with –The real McCoy– low-dose radiation.”
entirely different species and five carried genetic markers not found in the South Georgia population (Current Biology, DOI: 10.1016/ j.cub.2011.07.006). “A significant proportion is coming from some other place,” says Marko. Rob Ogden of the TRACE Wildlife Forensics Network in Edinburgh, UK, says the sample size is small for such a strong claim. “I don’t dispute their data, but I’m concerned with the strength with which it’s presented.” The MSC is taking the finding seriously. “We are very concerned about the results,” says Amy Jackson, MSC’s deputy standards director. The group has launched an investigation. Whoever is responsible could have their certification withdrawn.
Tap into wildlife There’s an app for almost everything these days. What was missing was one to tell you about endangered bear species near you. In the US, the wait is over: the Center for Biological Diversity, based in Tucson, Arizona, has produced Species Finder, an Android App that uses GPS to tell you about endangered plants and animals in the local county.
Space for innovation NASA is investing $175 million in a solar sail seven times bigger than the current record holder, plus a clock that keeps time using atoms of mercury, and a high-speed lasercommunication system for deep space. As well as driving NASA missions, it says such innovations will also lower the cost of commercial space activities.
Bisexual reality Some men who identify themselves as bisexual genuinely become sexually aroused by both sexes. The finding contradicts previous studies which suggested that bisexuals are aroused by members of one sex only but identify themselves as bisexual for social or psychological reasons (Biological Psychiatry, DOI: 10.1016/ j.biopsycho.2011.06.015).
The key to hoppiness There’s a gene for hopping. It is switched on in the developing limbs of the tammar wallaby, which has become the first kangaroo to have its genome sequenced. The gene helps it develop its distinctive legs (Genome Biology, DOI: 10.1186/ gb-2011-12-8-r81).
Dead giveaway Our greenhouse emissions may be sending out the wrong signal, warn US researchers. Aliens could interpret changes in the spectral signature of Earthshine, due to the changing composition of the atmosphere, as a sign that we are technologically advanced and therefore dangerous (arxiv.org/abs/1104.4462).
27 August 2011| NewScientist | 5
UPFRONT
Libya and oil price jitters AS REBEL forces entered Tripoli on Monday, crude oil prices fell on the expectation that Libya’s six-month civil war would soon come to an end and the country would resume supplying oil to the global market. But they rose again on Tuesday when the rebels’ victory seemed less assured. The rapid fluctuations are down to market speculation; even if exports did resume immediately – an unlikely prospect – this would have little impact on the amount of oil moving through international markets. “The situation on the ground is so uncertain, it’s very difficult to come to any view,” says Paul Stevens of London think-tank Chatham House. What is clear is that Libya accounts for about 2 per cent of the global oil market, having exported 1.8 million
barrels of crude oil every day back in 2009. Exports have fallen sharply during the on-going conflict. The loss of supply could be made up twice over by the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, which between them have 4 million barrels of spare capacity per day. But it isn’t that simple: Libyan oil is suitable for making gasoline, while Gulf state oil is better for diesel and fuel oil. Regardless, “what happens in Iraq is probably more important than what happens in Libya” for future oil prices, says David Aron of Petroleum Development Consultants based in London. Already a bigger producer than Libya – it produced 2.4 million barrels in 2009 – it is opening new fields and hopes to quadruple its output by 2017.
Laser power
are absorbed by uranium-235 – the fissile isotope wanted in the fuel – but not by uranium-238. Excited U-235 can then be separated from the unexcited U-238. But the benefits of laser enrichment – its efficiency and low power requirements – could also be its biggest drawbacks. Rogue states could find it easier to make atom-bomb fuel in secret as smaller facilities are needed for this method, making it impossible to detect using satellite imagery. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is set to review the proposal on 30 June next year.
–Zawiyah refinery in rebel hands–
Come out, come out
“A deluge of new data means we are definitely approaching the endgame in looking for the Higgs” bulk of the mass range that is easiest to explore. Teams at the LHC hope to double the amount of data collected by the end of this year, but they will need to double 4 | NewScientist | 27 August 2011
james whitlow delano/redux/eyevine
YOU can’t hide for much longer, Higgs. A deluge of data from the Large Hadron Collider has ruled out a slew of possible masses for the still theoretical Higgs particle. “We are definitely approaching the endgame in looking for the Higgs,” says James Gillies, spokesman for CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, where the LHC is based. Data released from the LHC’s ATLAS and CMS detectors have now ruled out, with 95 per cent confidence, all masses for the elusive Higgs between 145 and 466 gigaelectronvolts (GeV). The Higgs is thought to give all other particles mass. If it exists, it is most likely hiding out between 115 and 145 GeV. That rules out the
that again to confirm if the Higgs is within the remaining range. That should take the better part of a year, Gillies says: “We don’t want to give the impression that the answer is just around the corner.” If the Higgs isn’t there, we will have to come up with another explanation for why matter has mass, or embrace other, stranger versions of the Higgs that aren’t part of the standard model of physics, the leading theory for how particles and forces interact. The new results were revealed on 22 August at the Lepton-Photon conference in Mumbai, India.
IT’S pretty hard to disguise the fact you are enriching uranium, whether for use in nuclear power stations or bombs. Now a method that uses lasers to complete the process could make it more efficient – and easier to hide. General Electric and Hitachi are joining forces to build a laser facility in Wilmington, North Carolina, powerful enough to produce more than 1000 tonnes of enriched fuel every year. They plan to use lasers that emit a narrow range of wavelengths that
No going back SOME Fukushima residents may never return to their homes. While work to shut down the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan is proceeding steadily, outgoing prime minister Naoto Kan is now expected to announce that some neighbourhoods will be uninhabitable for many years. Data from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, –Nuclear legacy– Science & Technology suggest
For daily news stories, visit newscientist.com/news
Racial grant gap
that in some places the yearly radiation dose would be over 500 millisieverts, far in excess of the suggested maximum for the general public of 1 millisievert each year. Meanwhile, allegations that Fukushima was crippled by the earthquake, not the ensuing tsunami as previously thought, are “not correct”, says Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA). The implication was that Japan’s nuclear reactors could not cope with earthquakes, but the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria, supports NISA’s conclusion.
60 Seconds
publication record, the gap was still 10 per cent (Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1196783). The team offer several explanations, including the possibility that some fundingreviewers are biased against black
BLACK scientists receive 10 per cent fewer funding awards than would be expected if race were not an issue, a new analysis of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant data has found. “White scientists had a Donna Ginther at the 29 per cent success rate University of Kansas in Lawrence but for their black peers and colleagues analysed over it was just 16 per cent” 80,000 applications for funding from scientists with a PhD. Whites scientists. “I am very discouraged had a 29 per cent success rate but blacks received funding just 16 per by these results,” says Ginther. The NIH will trial thoroughly cent of the time. When the team anonymised grant applications controlled for country of origin, in a bid to explore any racial bias. training, previous awards and
Doubts cast on fish provenance
Healthy X-rays?
paul sutherland/national geographic
HOSPITAL workers who are SUSTAINABILITY logos on fish may not be entirely trustworthy. Some fish regularly exposed to “safe” levels that the Marine Stewardship Council of X-rays have experienced (MSC) have certified as sustainable changes at the cellular level that come from unsustainable fisheries might actually prove beneficial. Gian Luigi Russo and colleagues or are the wrong species altogether, according to a study of Patagonian at Italy’s National Research toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides), Council took blood samples sold as “Chilean sea bass”. from 10 cardiologists who are Only one fishery, around the island exposed to 4 millisieverts of of South Georgia in the Southern radiation per year from X-rayOcean, is certified as sustainably guided surgery. Those levels fished by the MSC, so all Chilean sea are slightly above natural levels bass (pictured) bearing the MSC logo but well within the US Code of ought to come from South Georgia. Federal Regulation’s safe limit They don’t, though. Peter Marko of of 50 millisieverts per year. Clemson University in South Carolina Russo’s team found that and colleagues bought 36 certified the blood contained levels of fish from shops across the US and hydrogen peroxide – a marker checked their DNA. Three came from of cell damage – three times higher than expected. On the flip side, it also contained twice the normal level of glutathione, an antioxidant that protects cells (European Heart Journal, DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehr263). Tommaso Gori, a cardiologist at the University Medical Center Mainz in Germany, who was not involved in the study, points out that boosted antioxidant levels are known to offer a degree of protection against heart attack in some individuals. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” he says. “That might be the case with –The real McCoy– low-dose radiation.”
entirely different species and five carried genetic markers not found in the South Georgia population (Current Biology, DOI: 10.1016/ j.cub.2011.07.006). “A significant proportion is coming from some other place,” says Marko. Rob Ogden of the TRACE Wildlife Forensics Network in Edinburgh, UK, says the sample size is small for such a strong claim. “I don’t dispute their data, but I’m concerned with the strength with which it’s presented.” The MSC is taking the finding seriously. “We are very concerned about the results,” says Amy Jackson, MSC’s deputy standards director. The group has launched an investigation. Whoever is responsible could have their certification withdrawn.
Tap into wildlife There’s an app for almost everything these days. What was missing was one to tell you about endangered bear species near you. In the US, the wait is over: the Center for Biological Diversity, based in Tucson, Arizona, has produced Species Finder, an Android App that uses GPS to tell you about endangered plants and animals in the local county.
Space for innovation NASA is investing $175 million in a solar sail seven times bigger than the current record holder, plus a clock that keeps time using atoms of mercury, and a high-speed lasercommunication system for deep space. As well as driving NASA missions, it says such innovations will also lower the cost of commercial space activities.
Bisexual reality Some men who identify themselves as bisexual genuinely become sexually aroused by both sexes. The finding contradicts previous studies which suggested that bisexuals are aroused by members of one sex only but identify themselves as bisexual for social or psychological reasons (Biological Psychiatry, DOI: 10.1016/ j.biopsycho.2011.06.015).
The key to hoppiness There’s a gene for hopping. It is switched on in the developing limbs of the tammar wallaby, which has become the first kangaroo to have its genome sequenced. The gene helps it develop its distinctive legs (Genome Biology, DOI: 10.1186/ gb-2011-12-8-r81).
Dead giveaway Our greenhouse emissions may be sending out the wrong signal, warn US researchers. Aliens could interpret changes in the spectral signature of Earthshine, due to the changing composition of the atmosphere, as a sign that we are technologically advanced and therefore dangerous (arxiv.org/abs/1104.4462).
27 August 2011| NewScientist | 5