Science Magazine: Sign In. Breakthrough of the Year This year's runners-up for Breakthrough of the Year include what makes asteroids red, ancient DNA in modern humans, the structure of photosystem II, pristine gas in the early universe, the microbiome, a new malaria vaccine, alien solar systems, zeolites, and senescent cells.
Asteroid Dust Solves Color Conundrum This year the first samples returned from another planetary body in 35 years settled a decades-old planetary mystery: why the most common meteorites that fall to Earth didn't seem to come from the most common asteroids in the asteroid belt. It turns out they do. By examining bits of asteroid Itokawa brought back by Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft, researchers discovered that the solar wind had been discoloring asteroids enough to cause a massive case of mistaken identity. Made it! Touchdown on Itokawa, as portrayed in the Japanese movie Hayabusa: Back to the Earth. Hayabusa's odyssey to and from the 535-meter-long Itokawa was as harrowing as anything in Homer.
Scicasts - Science and Technology Trade News Network. Education & Outreach. Scicasts - Science and Technology Trade News Network. Mon bouillon, …de culture scientifique, sociologique et numérique » Home » Exploratorium: the museum of science, art and human perception. Biologie, Santé. 15 juin 2015 Biologie et santé Alfred, l'éléphant de mer océanographe Alfred est un éléphant de mer.
Un vieux mâle, près de deux tonnes de muscles et de graisse, doté de crocs dangereux et d’une voix grave avec laquelle il impressionne et écarte ses rivaux. Alfred mène une vie singulière. Neuf mois par an en mer, souvent près des côtes de l’Antarctique, à se goinfrer au maximum de poissons et de calmars pour engraisser, sans répit. Alfred est aussi un instrument scientifique performant. Science retracts paper on detection of XMRV in CFS patients. Bruce Alberts, Editor-in-Chief of Science magazine, writes that the journal is retracting the 2009 paper describing the detection of the retrovirus XMRV in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: Science is fully retracting the Report “Detection of an infectious retrovirus, XMRV, in blood cells of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome”.
He writes that the decision was reached because multiple laboratories have failed to reliably detect XMRV or related viruses in CFS patients. He also cites evidence of ‘poor quality control in a number of specific experiments in the report’, and that Figure 1, table S1, and figure S2 have been retracted by the authors. Finally, he notes the omission of information from the legend of figure 2C, specifically that the authors failed to indicate that the peripheral blood mononuclear cells had been treated with azacytidine, phytohemagglutinin, and IL-2.
Grudgingly, Virologists Agree to Redact Details in Sensitive Flu Papers. Two groups of scientists who carried out highly controversial studies with the avian influenza virus H5N1 have reluctantly agreed to strike certain details from manuscripts describing their work after having been asked to do so by a U.S. biosecurity council.
The as-yet unpublished papers, which are under review at Nature and Science, will be changed to minimize the risks that they could be misused by would-be bioterrorists. But the stricken details may still be made available to influenza scientists who have a legitimate interest in knowing them under a new system the journals and U.S. government officials have been actively debating for some time. The two papers have both been reviewed at length by the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSSAB), and both have been the subject of intense global media attention the past 2 months. They have also triggered debates among scientists, security experts, and officials within various branches of the U.S. government. U.S. Biosecurity Panel Calls for Asilomar-Style Moratorium on H5N1 Papers. The U.S.
National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB), which has asked scientists and journals to redact key details in two explosive influenza papers, is also considering a call for a voluntary broader moratorium on the publication of similar studies while an international debate is held to discuss how the field should proceed. Under such a moratorium, influenza researchers would agree not to publish studies about the transmissibility of the H5N1 avian influenza strain in mammals and not to present data on such studies at scientific meetings. NSABB chair Paul Keim of Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff told ScienceInsider that he believes the gravity of the situation demands a thorough international consultation about the risks and benefits of such studies before more results are made public.
Unlike Asilomar, the moratorium would most likely be on publishing the data, not on conducting the research itself, Keim says. . * This item has been corrected. Security in H5N1 Bird Flu Study Was Paramount, Scientist Says. Q.
What was your reaction to efforts to censor the research? A. Scientist who deliberately created 'Armageddon' bird flu virus in lab says he will not publish details. By Fiona Macrae and Katie Silver Updated: 08:38 GMT, 22 December 2011 A super-strain of bird flu that could infect and wipe out millions will not be published by the virologist developers.
Dutch scientists who created ‘probably one of the most dangerous viruses you can make' have agreed to leave out details on how to construct the virus from published reports.