New Scientist Magazine - 24 April 2010

THINKING CELLS

Our brains just got a trillion times smarter

BLINGTRONICS

Computing with diamonds, silver and gold

TOUCHING TALE

How to make virtual worlds feel real

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WEEKLY April 24- 30, 2010

3.8 billion years in the making

Unique in the known universe

And here's what happens next Science and technology news

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CONTENTS

Volume 206 No 2757

NEWS 3

EDITORIAL Social media foil knee-jerk drug laws

4

UPFRONT The perils of standing on asteroids, New law claims fetuses feel pain

6

THISWEEK

COVER STORY

31

All life is here It's been 3.8 billion years in the making ... now what does the future hold?

Tracking down the first Darwinian ancestor, Mind gym skills of limited use, Cave dwellings on Mars, The curious link between smell and aging 9 INS IGHT It takes more than barbed wire to secure weapons-grade nuclear material 14 IN BRIEF Algae get sexy. Why acupuncture works, Bubble-blowing black holes 17 TECHNOLOGY Touchscreens touch back, Robots feed on ocean heat. Quantum broadband

Cover image SarahJ. Coleman

OPINION 22 A platform for science New Scientist

consultant Michael Brooks on why he is standing for Parliament in the UK general election 23 One minute with Anil Seth How redness and feeling unreal can help crack consciouness 24 LETTERS Humanity's cradle, Are we zombies? 26 Thinking cel l s Forget molecular minutiae: amazing things emerge when you focus on neurons as a whole, says BrianJ, Ford

Bli ngtronics Gold, silver and diamonds will be at the heart of tomorrow's gadgets

FEATURES 28 Bl ingtronics (see right) 31

LIFE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE 32 The hot zone Why are the tropics

so rich in biodiversity? 36 Paradise regained Conservation can

be a frustrating business - which makes this rare success all the more gratifying 38 After the fal l Humans are causing a mass extinction, but we will shape life's recovery too

Coming next week Vote of no confidence

42 Mephedrone, fact and fiction Was the UK

government right to ban this "legal high"?

T h e math proves it -

REGULARS

fa i r elections a re i m poss i b l e

24 EN IGMA 46 BOOKS & ARTS Reviews The hidden powers of human senses, Neither biology nor upbringing dictate our destiny 56 FEEDBACK Crispy." but where's the seaweed? 57 THE LAST WORD How long is a pencil line?

Womb with a view A "picky" uterus boosts the chances of a successful pregnancy

PLUS Why whales are left -handed

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24April201O 1 N ewScie ntist 11

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EDITORIAL

Psychonaut Research Project monitors the web for novel recreational drugs. It has already identified MDAI, developed as an antidepressant, and NRG-l, prescribed as an appetite suppressant in France, as candidates for the next wave of legal highs. Tra d it i o n a l knee -je rk reactions Prohibitionist approaches to such drugs to new leg a l h i g hs are i ncreas i n g ly have long been seen by many as futile at best mi spl aced i n the i nternet age and harmful at worst. What few in power seem to have noticed is the game-changing role of THE recreational drug mephedrone, aka the internet. In today's connected world of miaow-miaow, was banned in the UK last social media, reactionary, prohibitory policies week, a month after front-page stories of still are increasingly irrelevant. Experimental chemists and "psychonauts" unproven links between it and a number of deaths. By the time the law came into force chat in web forums. Young people who used to on 16 April, online dealers were already selling new legal alternatives. "Free flow of i nformation on the web It's a well-established cycle: the authorities is exposing the wild exaggeration of crack down on illegal drugs or ban legal ones, mainstream reporting on drugs" underground chemists do some molecular tweaking or dust off old research chemicals to ignore their parents and politicians in favour of friends now get their drug information create a new legal high, dealers order in new stocks from primarily Chinese manufacturers from Twitter, Facebook or myriad other social sites. In the US, 18 to 30-year-olds trust non­ and set up shop online, the police encourage government websites more than their parents. the media so that political pressure builds The free flow of information on the web is up, a ban follows, and around we go. So far, so predictable, but the cycle is speeding exposing not only the wild exaggeration and up. The UK's Advisory Council on the Misuse speculation of much mainstream media of Drugs was pushed into recommending a reporting, but also undermining populist mephedrone ban when there was little hard politicians whose instincts are to ban first evidence of its effects (see page 42) - although and ask questions later, if at alL its chemical similarity to amphetamine and If governments continue to tailor their anecdotal reports suggest large doses probably drugs policies to pacify loud but ignorant newspaper editors, their policies will soon are dangerous, and potentially fatal. A ban might save lives,but it may lead mephedrone cease to be relevant in the real world. If they users to try more impure, illegal drugs, boost want their drugs policy to work, it must be the trade of criminal gangs and certainly drive thoughtful, rational and evidence-based, not a cynical, politically motivated stunt to pacify the development of legal alternatives. The European Commission-funded the editors of tabloid newspapers.•

Ban later, ask questions first

Let's put an end to biosentimentality THE introduction of the dingo to Australia might have contributed to the downfall of some native species, such as the thylacine, but it is now protecting others by keeping foxes and cats in check. While a few introduced species have wreaked havoc, some biologists argue that most increase biodiversity, both directly and by spurring evolution. With a large proportion of species set for extinction in the coming century, we cannot be choosy about future sources of diversity. If we want thriving ecosystems we may have to embrace exotic invaders, feral animals like the dingo and perhaps even some genetically modified, cloned or artificial additions (see page 38). This prospect will horrify many. But it is too late to be sentimental about the past. •

Mind that elephant POLICY-MAKERS have been much occupied with so-called "black swans" - rare, disruptive events that lie well beyond normal expectations. Is the current air-travel pandemonium across Europe such a bird (see page 4)? No. We've long known that Iceland has active volcanoes and that ash and jet engines don't mix. It seems we need a term for big, obvious threats that are sure to emerge­ think asteroid impacts - but which few want to face. Handily, students of "collapsonomics" have already coined one: "black elephants".•

,+ What's hot on NewScientist.com D

TECH Virtual characters get real sense of balance

Computer-animated characters with a new awareness of physics react to blows with realistic staggers and stumbles. They should make for more convincing computer games and movies BLOG One US-state m icrobe chosen, 49 to go Wisconsin has appointed the cheesemaking bacterium Loctococcus loctis as its official state microbe.

It's the first state to do so, which got us thinking: what should the other states' microbes be?

ail GAL LERY The b iggest

• • I

electricity - whether to power a cellphone or a shopping mall

WOULD you l ike to take part in a research project to improve New Scientist through the appl ication of neuroscience?

BUMPOLOGY How a fetus affects its mother

You will need to be based in the London area and be prepared to give us up to 2 hours of your

bangs in h istory Our planet has taken its share of hard knocks overthe years - here's our rundown of chart-topping blasts from the past

Fetal jiggles increase maternal heart rate and stimulate the sympathetic nervous system even when mother's unaware of the movements

time, though you must cover your own trave l.

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24 April 2010 1 NewScientist 1 3

UPFRONT

Out of gas IT'S a lesser-known downside of stricter homeland security. This week, members of the US Congress will discuss what to do about a helium-3 shortage that is hampering both scientific research and the policing of illicit nuclear materials. In 1988, the US stopped making tritium, which decays into helium-3. Until recently, stockpiles were adequate for helium-3's major uses in neutron detection and cryogenics, but that changed when neutron detectors were deployed to search for nuclear materials at ports. The shortage is hindering the study of quantum computing and other fields that require

"Stockpi les were adequate until neutron detectors were deployed to search for n uclear materia ls"

Get used to ash-carrying weather A BLOCKAGE caused by a pile-up is

on Climate Change simulations of

compounding the atmospheric chaos

air flow, Cassou and colleague Eric

The sun has just passed a peak

caused by Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull

Gui lyardi show that global warming

of activity, suggesting that blocking

where the jet stream blows.

vo lcano. And although trolls have yet

will i ncrease blocking weather

patterns will become more common

to be blamed for this disruption, a

patterns in summers over Europe

over Europe.

modern-day bogeyman - climate

(La Meteor%gie,

change - has been. Ash-laden Arctic air is blowing

The phenomenon occurs when a powerful, high-altitude, westerly air

to melting glaciers. This could relieve

over Europe because the preva iling

current called a jet stream suddenly

so potentially i ncrease volcanic

westerly winds have been "blocked" by

slows down, and mea nders as a

activity - but climate change could

a high-pressure weather system . We'd

result. Sometimes the meanders

a lso make the blocking worse. "As the

better get used to it: solar variability

double back, allowing north-easterly

troposphere becomes warmer you

and climate change means such

winds to fill the gap.

get more vertica l mixing but less

blockages may become more common.

no 59, p 22).

When solar activity is low this

G loba l wa rming has been linked pressure on magma chambers and

horizontal mixing, making it easier for a blocking eventto occur," saysJulian

"The frequency and length of blocking

jet stream "pile-up" tends to sh ift

events will i ncrease in a wa rmer

eastwards across the Atlantic Ocean,

Hunt, a climate scientist at Un iversity

climate," says Christophe Cassou of the European Centre for Research

bringing blocking weather systems to Europe. The reason seems to be that

College London. Hunt's research suggests that

and Advanced Training in Scientific

solar activity influences stratospheric

blocking events may become more

Computation in Toulouse, France.

winds, which eventually feed

frequent in summers to come, and

through to the troposphere,

sit over Europe for 20 days or more.

Using Intergovernmenta l Panel

4 1 NewScie ntist 1 24 Apri l 2010

extreme cold. "Everyone who uses helium-3 is getting pinched," says William Halperin of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, who runs cryogenic equipment at his lab. Security systems and labs that use neutron detectors have also been left short. Lithium and boron can be used instead, but they are less sensitive. A House of Representatives subcommittee was to discuss the problem on 22 April.

Next stop: asteroid THE next American astronauts to travel beyond the International Space Station won't want to take any giant leaps. NASA's next stop will probably be an asteroid, where explorers would have to be careful not to drift into space. Long-awaited details of the White House's plan for the space agency emerged last week in a speech by President Barack Obama. A new spacecraft will be ready by 2025 to carry astronauts into deep space, beginning with a

For daily news stories, visit www.NewScientist.com/news

60SECONDS

trip to an asteroid, he said. Travelling to an asteroid will not be easy. Astronauts will be exposed to higher levels of radiation, and will have to find a way to attach themselves to the asteroid's surface to cope with its weak gravity. But the pay-off for planetary defence could be big. One future mission might be to nudge an asteroid from its original orbit. That "would demonstrate once and for all that we're smarter than the dinosaurs and could therefore avoid what they didn't", White House science adviser John Holdren said in a discussion after the speech.

Dam war rages on A TUG of war that has raged for decades over the construction of what would be the world's third­ largest dam is becoming frantic. The Belo Monte dam on the Xingu river in the Brazilian Amazon could power as many as 23 million homes. But since its proposal 20 years ago, it has been the subject of a vitriolic dispute with the government on one side and indigenous people and green groups on the other. The latter say it would flood 500 square kilometres of farms and rainforest and prevent the migration of fish that are a major food source for 800 indigenous communities. It would also function at full capacity for a mere three months of the year - the dry season means its overall efficiency would be just 39 per cent. Contractors were due to bid for the project at noon on Tuesday but the auction was suspended by an injunction late on Monday. A similar injunction was issued, then lifted, last week. The latest one calls for Brazil's environment agency to revoke a go-ahead it gave the project earlier this year. It claims some evidence was ignored during the environmental impact assessment. As New Scientist went to press, this injunction was still in place.

Paper wastage

recycled paper consumes 64 per cent less energy and 50 per cent less water, and creates 74 per cent less air pollution, compared with paper made from virgin wood pulp. The biggest obstacle to recycling, says Worldwatch, is a

NEXT time you reach for the toilet roll, consider this: 60 million rolls of toilet paper are flushed away in Europe every day. And the average American gets though 57 sheets a day, six times the global average. In a report last week, the "Millions of tonnes of office Worldwatch Institute in paper and newspaper are Washington DC highlighted the dumped, despite being wastage of paper in rich and rapidly recyclable as toil et paper" developing nations. In the US, 14.5 million tonnes of office paper preference for luxury, multi-ply tissues. The problem is growing: and newspaper will be dumped western nations are the biggest this decade, despite being ideal for recycling as toilet paper. users of toilet paper, but its use is The potential savings are huge: increasing in China and Africa.

New law claims fetuses feel pain

CAN fetuses feel pa in - and if so,

The law a lso claims that after 20

T ibetan toll China's Qinghai province is recovering from a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that hit on 13 April, kill ing a round 2000 people. The Un ited States Geological Survey says the quake occurred because the Indian plate is col liding with Asia, causing this part of the Tibetan Plateau to move eastwards.

Halting hepatitis ( Hepatitis C virus - which causes l iver cancer and cirrhosis and infects nearly 200 m illion people worldwide - may have met its match. An experimental drug stopped it repl icating i n test tubes and reduced the levels of virus in eight people with hepatitis C by a factor of more than 1000 (Nature, 001: 10.10381 nature08960).

when? The questions have long been

weeks fetuses have reflex responses

debated by scientists and are key for

to evade pa inful stimuli. Rosen

Sunbed worship

opponents of abortion. But this week

counters that these responses a re

Surveys normally used to identify

Nebraska became the first US state

involuntary, and, like "knee-jerk"

a lcoholism have found that of

to restrict abortion on that basis.

reflexes, don't correspond to pain.

229 users of tanning beds, the

The N ebraska law, passed on 13 Apri l, lays out several arguments

Vivette Glover of Imperial Col lege London says that fetuses may feel

behaviour of 50 i ndicated addiction. The study authors suggest that

about fetal pain. Each was

pain at 20 weeks, but they can be

interventions to reduce skin cancer

contradicted last month in a letter

given anaesthetics in any case.

must address addiction and anxiety in orderto be effective (Archives of

to the Nebraska legislature by Mark

Rosen and others bel ieve the

Rosen of the University of Ca lifornia,

law is designed to provoke a lega l

San Franc isco, co-author of a 2005

challenge from LeRoy Carhart, a

review on the subject.

surgeon who performs late-term

The law states that at 20 weeks a fetus "has the physica l structures

abortions in Nebraska. This could take the claims of feta l pain to the US

necessary to experience pain". But

Supreme Court, which has the power

Rosen argues that fetuses don't have

to overturn the Roe vs Wade ruling

the brai n connections needed to feel

of 1973 that gave US women almost

pain until about 29 weeks.

unrestricted access to abortion.

Derma tology, vol 146, p 412).

Salt licked The US government should curb sa lt levels i n prepared and processed foods, accord ing to a National Academy of Sciences report. The Food and Drug Administration has the authority to force manufacturers and restaurants to reduce sa lt levels. Companies should a Iso cut them voluntari ly, the report says.

Tree data released A UK university has been told to release tree ring data going back about 7000 years. The rul i ng follows a three-year Freedom of Information (FOI) dispute.lnJanuary, the Information Commissioner's office criticised the University of East Anglia for its hand ling of FOI requests from climate change sceptics.

24 April 2010 I NewScientist 1 5

THIS WEEK

Catherine Brahic

IN THE beginning there were Ida and Luca. The initial Darwinian ancestor - Ida - and the last universal common ancestor­ Luca - assembled themselves from the spare parts sloshing around on the early Earth. Once all the ingredients were in place, it looks like life was all but inevitable. The finding comes from recent discoveries about the behaviour of chemicals thought to have been present on the primordial Earth, relating to two key stages in the evolution of life. Ida was the first molecule that was able to self­ replicate. Once it was around, busy making copies of itself, it somehow evolved the ability to store information in the form of the genetic code. That led to the life form from which we all descended: Luca. Luca probably popped up about 4 billion years ago - some 500 million years after a spinning galactic cloud coalesced into

lIThe genetic code is the consequence of chemical affinities between RNA and a mino acidsll planet Earth and a few hundred million years before complex life evolved and began to leave fossil traces. We can deduce Luca must have existed because all life forms that we know of - from bacteria and viruses to T. rex, bananas and humans - share the same genetic code, with a few small exceptions. Luca is thought to have been based on RNA, the close cousin to DNA, because strands of RNA can act as enzymes. This means metabolism could operate before proteins evolved to take over. The genetic code consists of triplets of genetic building blocks, or nucleotides, with each triplet coding for a particular amino acid or acting as an onloff switch for amino acid production. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins and hence of organic life forms. 6 1 NewScientist 1 24 Apri l 2010

In this section • The curious l ink between smell and ageing, page 8 • M ind gym skills of l i mited use, page 10 • Cave dwellings on Mars, page 12

10.1101/cshperspect.ao03S90). The catalyst that allowed the in the development of life happened first RNA chains to form is a missing link in the evolution of early life, says Lane. "There is kind GENETIC CODE of an assumption that it was there Amino acids preferentially cluster around specific triplets of RNA nucleotides, somehow, but no one has ever suggesting the genetic code may have found it." While Lane agrees that arisen through simple chemical bonds cofactors might have been involved in the early stages of life, RNAFRAGMENT he thinks there could be an even simpler way to explain how the NUCLEOTIDE • first chains of RNA appeared. That comes from a team led �AM � I�NO �� AC = ID� --� by Ernesto Di Mauro at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. In their BUILDING CHAINS experiments, they have shown Nucleotides need a catalystto form chains of RNA that cyclic nucleotides, which are CATALYST -. a chemical variation of the � • • nucleotides that make up RNA . (see diagram), will spontaneously • RNA Natural attraction NUCLEOTIDES link to each other and form viable Yarus works with artificial RNA chains (The Journal of But new results suggest cyclic nucleotides - a chemical variant of the kind that make RNA - can form RNA chains spontaneously RNA and has shown that these Biological Chemistry, DOl: • chemical affinities do exist. Mix 10.1074/jbc.M10g.04190S). • • strands of RNA with amino acids This suggests that if there • • were cyclic nucleotides in the and the amino acids will more • • or less spontaneously nestle primordial soup, there was CYCLIC NUCLEOTIDES up to their corresponding triplets. no need for a catalyst, says "Yarus found that anticodons Lane. Given the right ingredients, triplet according to the genetic from a long chain of nucleotides­ the first self-replicating life [a type of triplet found in some assemble itself? RNAs] were particularly good forms would have essentially code (Proceedings of the National Nucleotides don't tend to in this regard and bind the Academy of Sciences, DOl: booted themselves up. "Cyclic form chains without catalysts 'correct' amino acid with up to a nucleotides are just as likely to 10.1073/pnas.1000704107). to help them. In living cells, "Not only is there a chemical millionfold greater affinity than occur in these primordial those catalysts are always environments as any other other amino acids," says Nick Lane reason for these affinities proteins, yet the first proteins of University College London. between amino acids and their nucleotides," he says. triplets but you can see them in were made by Luca; they did not Now David Johnson and Lei For Lane, these reactions in Wang of the Salk Institute for a natural, biological system," says exist in the time of Ida. Something all probability happened around the piping hot black smokers of Yarus. What's more, he adds, the Biological Sciences in La Jolla, California, have shown for the IIWith the rig ht ingredients, the oceanic abyss, where the ribosome is an evolutionarily Earth's crust is wrenched apart by ancient structure, supporting the the first self-repl icating first time that these natural affinities occur in real organisms. idea that these affinities go way l ife forms would have immense geological forces. "In environments like hydrothermal back. All this, he says, backs his Johnson and Wang decided to booted themselves Upll look for evidence in ribosomes­ vents it is likely, but as yet theory that relatively simple is needed that is like RNA but key components of the cellular chemical interactions allowed experimentally unproven, that simple enough to replicate itself machinery that assemble a range of amino acids and Luca to evolve the universal genetic code. without a catalyst. proteins from amino acids. nucleotides would be formed by Yarus says that the answer the laws of chemistry," he says. Ribosomes are made of a tangle It also allows him to speculate lies in small-molecule enzymes of RNA and amino acid chains, about Ida. While the genetic code Local currents, he adds, would called cofactors that help is central to life as we know it, probably draw the molecules so if there was natural attraction going on, it should be found there, there is no reason to think that RNA and DNA do their jobs. together, making it more likely that self-replicating chains of other self-replicating life forms "They're absolutely universal they reasoned. in biology today and therefore Sure enough, when the pair RNA could form and associate have to use it. However, since Ida with amino acids. gave rise to the RNA-based Luca, very old," he says. Because they looked at where amino acids sat in the ribosome, they found Once that happened, the it is logical to assume Ida was also are made of nucleotides, the that 11 of 20 standard amino acids made of RNA or something very emergence of life was all but cofactors could have started RNA chains (Cold Spring Harbor were far more likely than not to similar. But that creates a inevitable. "The Darwinian game problem: how did RNA -made Perspectives in Biology, DOl: be positioned next to the "right" was fully on," says Yarus.• According to Michael Yarus of the University of Colorado at Boulder, Luca evolved the code as a result of natural chemical affinities between nucleotides and amino acids. Chemical bonding, he says, means that different amino acids naturally like to sit next to some triplets and not others. In other words, the genetic code is the inevitable consequence of affinities between the molecular building blocks of RNA and those of the proteins they code for. If he's right, it will explain why individual triplets always code for the same amino acids, whether in a virus or a human.

Life gets started

We're getting closer to understanding how two key transitions

1-:Kr\ ------[--7---- ;;\ ( )

------ -----�

J

24 April 2010 1 NewScientist 1 7

THIS WEEK

Sense of smell makes flies' time fly Ewen Callaway

COULD smells affect your lifespan? Female fruit flies deprived of the ability to smell food outlive their peers. The sense of smell may be linked to the cellular ageing process in many other organisms - even people. A link has recently been found between sensory experiences and lifespan in both worms and flies. For example, Scott Pletcher, a molecular biologist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, found that eliminating fruit flies' ability to smell any odour at all enabled them to live nearly 20 per cent longer than flies with an intact sense of smell (Science, vol 31S, p 1133). Why is this so? Pletcher's team reasoned that food smells were the ones most likely to affect ageing, as nutrition and longevity are known to be linked in many organisms. For example, cutting the amount of food consumed lengthens the lifespan of yeast, mice and monkeys, and keeps a variety of diseases at bay in people. To test the idea that food

odours affect lifespan, Pletcher's team eliminated flies' ability to smell carbon dioxide, which is produced by some fly foods, such as live yeast. They left the rest of the olfactory system intact. The intervention had no effect on male flies, but the females lived 30 per cent longer than normal (PLoS Bio[ogy, DOl:

Giant bacteria hog seabed off the coast of Chile J UST off the coast of the world's

of Concepcion. The bug thrives in

driest desert, the lifeless Atacama

water a lmost devoid of oxygen by

in northern Ch ile, lies one of the

extracting energy from hydrogen

largest and densest masses of l ife

sulphide in sed iments on the sea bed,

a nywhere on Earth. The vast tangled

and feeds on nutrients dispersed by

m at of wh ite "hai r", the size of

fish in the waters of the cold, fertile

Greece, was recently mapped as part

Humboldt current above.

of the first com prehensive Census of Mari ne Life.

resemble fossil ised bacterial mats

The g hostly submarine prairie

Gallardo says the wispy bacteria dating back 2.5 billion years.

is made of wispy strings of g iant

In total, he and his colleagues

bacteria, says Victor Gallardo, a

estimate that the mat conta ins

marine biolog ist at Chile's University

hundreds of m i llions of tonnes

8 1 NewScientist 1 24 Apri l 2010

10.1371/journal.pbio.l0003S6). between lifespan and sensory Pletcher reckons eliminating the experience in worms, says tastes are similarly linked to ageing. ability to smell COz may deprive flies of information about food Pletcher isn't sure why the availability. This could signal to change in his fruit flies only cells that food is scarce, triggering affected the lifespans of the processes that promote survival. females, but he suggests that Indeed, his team found that the females may simply be more COz-insensitive female flies stored sensitive to the odour of COz. Meanwhile, he has reason to extra fat and that both males and females rendered immune to COz believe that it's more than a lack of odours that can extend life in were more resistant to oxidative stress than normal flies. flies: specific odours may perform Joy Alcedeo, a neuroscientist the same trick. His says his team has identified a brain circuit that at Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research in Basel, extends lifespan when activated Switzerland, who has found links and which is also linked to the olfactory system. But he has yet to discover what smells might trigger it. A smell or taste that stretches lifespan in humans could be a potential preventative for age­ related disease, he adds. Although in fruit flies it appears to be the smell of COz that affects ageing, he says that an analogue in humans might be a smell or taste linked to human food - or a lack of it. Matt Kaeberlein studies ageing at the University of Washington in Seattle. He cautions that we don't know whether ageing and smell are linked in mammals, but he's optimistic. "We definitely undergo physiological changes in response to smelling food - I'm getting hungry just thinking about it so I think it's possible." •

of bacteria, and that the whole

triangle", the region of coral reefs

system regenerates every 10 weeks.

off south-east Asia, accord ing to

Ind ividual bacteria can reach

Ann Bucklin of the Un iversity of Connecticut - Avery Poi nt.

7 centimetres long. The decade-long census, whose aim is to cata logue all ocean life, is rapidly changing our ideas abo ut how many species there a re on Earth and where they are to be found. The Amazon ra i nforest has long been thought to contain the greatest biodiversity on the planet. In fact, the winner is more like ly to be the "coral

"The wispy bacteria resemble fossil ised bacterial mats dating back 2.5 billion years"

Another, entirely unexpected hots pot is the deep ocean below 1000 metres. This huge ocean wilderness may be low in biomass volume, says Buckl i n, but it is fabulously d iverse. Bacteria and other m icrobes may make up as much as 90 per cent of the oceans' biomass, and there could be up to a b i l l ion species on Earth, says John Baross of the Un iversity of Washington, Seattle, more than 10 times as many as previously suspected. Fred Pearce •

For daily news stories, visit www.NewScientist.com/news

Brain shuts off in response to prayer

INSIGHT

WHEN we fa ll under the spell of a cha rismatic fig ure, areas of the brain responsible for scepticism and vigilance become less active. That's the finding of a study which looked at people's response to prayers spoken by someone purportedly possessing d ivine hea l ing powers. To identify the brain processes

DISTRI BUTION OF HIGHLY E N RICHED U RANIUM

underlying the i nfluence of cha rismatic individua ls, Uffe Schjadt of Aarhus Un iversity in Denmark and colleagues turned to Pentecostal Christians, who believe that some people have divinely i nspired powers of hea li ng, wisdom and prophecy.

Never had

•

significant amounts Past stockpiles cut to less than 1 kg 1 to lOkg

.10tolOOkg

• 100 to1000kg • 1000 to 1O,000kg • More than 10,000kg

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fM RI), Schjadt and his colleagues scanned the brains of 20 Pentecostalists and 20 non­ believers while playing them recorded prayers. The vo lunteers were told that six of the prayers were read by a non-Ch ristian, six by an ord inary Christian and six by a healer. In fact, a l l were read by ord inary Christians. Only in the devout volunteers d id the bra i n activity mon itored by the researchers change in response to the prayers. Parts of the prefronta I and anterior cingu late cortices, which play key roles in vig i lance and scepticism when judging the truth and im portance of what people say, were deactivated when the subjects listened to a supposed healer. Activity diminished to a lesser extent when the speaker was supposedly a norma l Christian (Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience,

001: 10.1093/sca n/nsq023). Schjadt says that this explains why certa in i nd ividuals can gain influence over others, and concludes that thei r abi lity t o do s o depends heavily o n preconceived notions o f the i r authority and trustworth iness. It's not clear whether the results extend beyond relig ious leaders, but Schjadt speculates that bra i n regions may be deactivated in a similar way i n response t o doctors, parents and

Can we keep tabs on stockpiles of nuclear fuel? COULD a terrorist build a nuclear bomb? One urgent task is to find cost­ effective ways to convert HEU-burning Opinion is divided - but someone out there certainly wants to buy the reactors to a safer fuel, especially the ingredients, In March, police in the world's 130 often poorly guarded republic of Georgia stopped a gang research reactors, In the meantime, trying to sell weapons-grade, highly technologies are available that could enriched uranium (HEU) on the black reveal tampering with fuels, The market. It was the eighth such European Commission's Joint Research interception in Georgia since 2000, Centre in Ispra, Italy, has developed a Such tales helped persuade 47 seal for HEU fuel rods with a pattern of world leaders meeting in Washington flaws visible on ultrasound scans that DC last week to pledge to lock up the cannot be removed without leaving telltale signs, The seals were installed world's weapons-grade material by 2014, By current estimates, that's 1600 tonnes of HEU andSOOtonnes "Barbed wire a nd armed guards wo n't be enough. of separated plutonium. But how to do that? One thing is Smarter d etection clear: barbed wire and armed guards technology will be needed" won't be enough, Safer reactor fuels and smarter detection technology will last year in Romania and Pakistan, be needed, says Benn Tannenbaum If thieves steal spent fuel, they will of the American Association forthe need to get the plutonium out of it. Advancement of Science, Current methods for detecting illicit extraction of plutonium require samples The effort is overdue, It used to be assumed that only governments could to be taken nearby, which can be use fissile materials to make a bomb, so politically impossible, But extraction also international safeguards focus on what releases the radioactive gas krypton-8S, national nuclear agencies do with their which can be carried away on the wind stockpiles, "Keeping civilian stockpiles and picked up by distant sensors, safe from criminals has been a poor The iGSE project led by Simon cousin," says Wyn Bowen, director of Hebel of the University of Hamburg, the Centre for Science and Security Germany, has developed ways to Studies at King's College London, detect krypton-8S and track its source

from several hundred kilometres away. It is testing this for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), If all else fails, stolen material could be detected en route to its target. The US had planned to install 1400 detectors in ports worldwide to pick up neutrons and gamma rays emitted by HEU and plutonium, but because the neutron detectors require helium-3, which is in short supply (see page 4), their number has been cut. Gamma rays are more difficultthan neutrons to detect reliably. Existing germanium-crystal detectors have a high false positive rate, and a clued-up smuggler would not find it hard to block the gamma rays altogether, Muon detectors have been developed as a back-up, but they work very slowly. Tannenbaum says the liquid argon detectors now used by physicists to spot neutrinos could, in principle, be used to detect both gamma rays and neutrons, but there are no plans to implement this idea, Funding is a big stumbling block, No money was pledged at last week's summit beyond what countries already contribute to the IAEA's small research programme, Bowen says, The iGSE group's funding runs out next month, Debora M acKenzie .

politicians. Andy Coghlan •

24 April 2010 1 N ewScientist 1 9

THIS WEEK

Skills from the mind gym don't transfer Ewen (allaway

BR AIN-training software may be a waste of time. People who played "mind-boosting" games made the same modest cognitive gains as those who spent a similar amount of time surfing the web. "It didn't really make any difference what people did," says Adrian Owen of the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge, UK, who tested brain-training software on volunteers recruited through a BBC television programme. Over the past five years, there has been an explosion in the market for brain-training software, which supposedly keeps the brain youthful. The BBC approached Owen with the idea of testing such software after he wrote a review of the scientific literature on it. Only a handful of studies existed on the topic, many lacking good controls or enough volunteers, he says. "The scientific evidence for it was extremely weak." Owen and his colleagues asked 11,000 volunteers to take tests to

"A lot of what is marketed as 'brain-tra ining' is not created based on scientific evidence" gauge their reasoning ability and verbal and spatial memory. Participants then spent six weeks playing on one of two computer programs, or just surfing the web for trivia. In one program, which mimics commercial brain-training software, the volunteers solved simple mathematics problems and puzzles that tested their memories. The other was designed specifically to boost cognitive abilities such as reasoning and planning. After six weeks, the participants underwent a second round of 10 1 NewScientist 1 24 April 2010

cognitive tests. Both groups who played the games made modest improvements, yet so did the web surfers (Nature, DOl: 10.1038/ natureog042). Skills learned via the programs didn't transfer to the cognitive tests, even when they relied on similar abilities, says Owen. For instance, people who played a game in which they had to find a match for a briefly overturned card struggled at a similar test that used stars "hidden" in boxes. "Even when the tests were conceptually quite similar we didn't see any improvement," says Owen. He concludes that brain-training software only makes people better at the specific tasks they have been practising. Torkel Klingberg, a psychologist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, agrees - to a point. "A lot of what is currently marketed as 'brain-training' is not created based on scientific evidence and not properly tested," he says. Yet Klingberg, who founded a cognitive-training firm called Cogmed, bristles at the conclusion that all brain training is bunk. The participants in Owen's study didn't practise for long enough and there was no quality control over what practise people did, he says. "Asking subjects to sit at home and do tests online, perhaps with the TV on or other distractions around, is likely to result in noisy data," he says. "This paper does in no way disprove that the brain is plastic or that cognitive functions can be improved by training." Owen counters that his team's research took place in settings similar to the ones people are likely to practise in. "This is what people are doing. They're sitting at home on their computers doing brain training." •

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THIS WEEK

Miscarriage blamed on non-fussy uterus Linda Geddes

FAR from being a passive container, the human uterus seems to be highly selective about which embryos it accepts. Women with less "fussy" uteruses may be at higher risk of miscarriage. Miscarriage is the most common complication of pregnancy, with around 1 in 3 embryos lost before 6 weeks of pregnancy and a further 10 per

Martian tubes could be home for 'cavenauts' OUR ancestors made their first homes

cent before 12 weeks. For years, faulty embryos or problems such as abnormal clotting or immune responses have been blamed. Jan Brosens at Imperial College London wondered if another process was at work. He had noted that many women who had repeated miscarriages claimed to have conceived incredibly quickly. "Each one of their pregnancies was conceived within one or two months of trying," he says. What's

Ames Research Center in Mounta i n View, California. What's more, the ana lysis suggests

them. They a lso looked at how long it

condensed as frost onto the a l ready icy wa lls. The model showed that

conta in a ready supply of water,

their cave as a box 10 metres square

the ice would be stable, lasting for

in the form of ice.

by 8 metres high, with a single sma ll

up to 100,000 years ( tcarus, 001:

opening to the atmosphere in the roof.

10.1016/j. icarus.2010.03.039).

Lava tubes are the most l ikely form of cave that we could occupy on Mars. These tunnel -like caves

They found that during the Martian day, warm, buoyant air would not

Such ice could prove a handy source of water for habitation and

were created when ancient lava

enter the cool cave, saving the ice

fuel, and could a lso provide she lter

flows so lidified at the surface, while lava inside drained away.

from melting. At night, as the outside

from dangerous solar radiation. Astro nauts would find the caves

the Tharsis rise and the Elysium rise,

The existence of ice in these

conta in volcanic features which may

caves has been suggested before,

be suitable locations for caves," says

but Williams and colleagues have

lead author Kaj Will iams of NASA's

taken the idea one step further by

12 1 NewScientist 1 24 Apri l 2010

air coo led, it would sink into the cave and bring in water vapour that

m ight last. The team represented

in caves. Now it looks like the first An analysis of Martian geography

using a computer model t o f i n d out exactly how ice m ight build up inside

that caves in these reg ions will

humans on Mars will do the same. suggests where to look for the right kind of caves. "At least two reg ions,

more, some studies have hinted in the women who had miscarried that embryos implanting outside than in those who hadn't and the normal window of uterine this was maintained for receptivity were more likely to longer, suggesting that their miscarry. implantation window lasts longer. To investigate further, he and These women also produced far his colleagues took cells from the less prolactin, a sign that their uteruses of women who had cells don't decidualise properly. undergone miscarriages and ones Further studies indicated that this impaired decidualisation who hadn't. They measured the expression of a key regulator of interfered with the signalling uterine receptivity calledPROKl between the embryo and and levels of prolactin, a marker of the uterus at the time of decidualisation - the monthly implantation. The researchers process by which the uterus conclude that these uteruses are prepares to receive an embryo. less picky, allowing abnormal Decidualisation involves a embryos to implant, which later thickening of the uterine wall and spontaneously abort (PLoS One, the growth of new blood vessels. DOl: 10.1371/journaL Expression of PROKl was higher pone.0010287). Abnormal decidualisation may also interfere with placental formation - another reason such women are more likely to miscarry, says Brosens. These are exciting findings says Anne Croy, a pregnancy researcher at Queen's University in Toronto, Canada. "We have invested huge effort in assessing the quality of the embryo. This [study] strongly suggests that we must be aware of the endometrial environment as welL" A test might be developed to predict whether a woman is at high risk of miscarriage before she tries for a baby. With a better understanding of decidualisation, drugs might be developed to reduce miscarriage . •

"Ice formed on the walls of Martian caves would be stable, lasting for up to 100,000 years"

excellent homes, says co-author Brian Toon of the Un iversity of Co lorado, Bo ulder. "Perhaps we co uld ca ll them 'cavenauts'." Stuart (lark .

For daily news stories, visit www.NewScientist.com/news

Warped stars feed black holes to fatten them up W H Y are supermassive black holes

gas, causing d ifferent streams to

so, we ll, supermassive? It has long

co l lide. The gas loses momentum and

been a mystery how enough matter

eventua lly gets close enough to the

can reach these cosm ic g luttons

black hole to be swallowed up. In this

to swell them to such large sizes.

way, black holes could consume as

Now it seems the answer co uld be

much as 10 solar masses of gas each

connected to a starry disc at the heart

year, Hopkins says. That's enough to

of the Andromeda ga laxy. Although

feed ga lactic black holes at the peak

they may be hard to see, such discs

of the ir g luttony, some 10 billion years ago (arxiv.org/abs/1002.1079).

may be common. Black holes m i l lions or bill ions times as massive as the sun reside at

Loo ki n g to h i re i n cl i n i ca l o n co l ogy? Cl i n ica l Oncology Feature J une 5 issue of New Scientist.

Evidence may be in our neighbouring galaxy. Andromeda

the heart of most ga laxies, i ncluding

sports a "double nucleus" - two bright

our own. These black holes have been

spots at its hea rt - thought to be a

fattened up by huge a mounts of gas.

sign of an oval d isc of stars and gas.

But astronomers don't know how that gas makes it through a final hurd le, migrating the last dozens or hundreds of l ight years to be eaten. Philip Hopkins and Eliot Quataert

lIThe ring of stars saps the mo mentu m of incoming gasl so it spira ls in towa rds the black holell

of the Un iversity of Ca l ifornia, 8erkeley, suggest that the formation

One test will be to see whether

O u r part i c i pat i o n i n t h e N ew Sc i e n t i st Ca n c e r Feat u re y i e l d ed a t re m e n d o u s

of a skewed ring of stars facilitates

other ga laxies have this stellar

respo nse to t h e Ca ncer/O n c o l ogy pos i t i o n s

the flow of gas, by sa pping its

feature. "[Andromeda] is not un ique.

ava i l a b l e . W e rece i ved a l a rge n u m be r o f

momentum so that it spirals in

What we see there is likely to be

towards the black hole.

commonplace," says Tod Lauer of

Their simu lations show that

the National Optical Astronomy

extremely q u a l ified a p p l i c a nts, a nd are i n t h e process of h i ri ng based o n t h e stro ng

when there is enough gas present

Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, who

respo nse we rece ived .

to prompt significant amounts of star

has identified several such galaxies.

Lara Hess, Children 's Memorial Research Center

formation, the newly formed stars

11

"The attractive feature of this model

orbiting a black hole natura l ly a l ign

i s it seems to be a single ca lculation

to create an elliptica l d isc that can

that can get the gas all the way in,"

stretch out dozens of l ight years from

says Scott Tremaine of the I nstitute

the centre of the galaxy. This oval

for Advanced Study in Princeton,

structure tugs uneven ly on i ncom ing

New Jersey. Rachel Courtland •

R eserva t i o n s m u st be rece i ved by M ay

2 6 , 20 1 0 .

E ma i l N SSa l es@ N ewSc i e n t i st . com Ca l l Fax

78 l . 734 . 8 7 7 0 720.356.92 1 7

Ne-

"en "st J

5

24 Apri l 2010 I NewScientist 1 13

IN BRIEF

Fatty diet bad news for granddaughters

Be a good dog and you'll live a long, healthy life

breeds, such as German shepherds, poodles and bichon frises, tended to be the longest lived, wh ile hard-to-train dogs such as pomeranians and beagles were more l i kely

GENES may not be the only way cancer passes down the generations. Feeding pregnant rats a fatty diet puts both their daughters and granddaughters at greater risk of breast cancer. Sonia de Assis of Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington DC and colleagues had discovered that the daughters of pregnant rats fed unhealthily are more likely to develop breast cancer. Now they have shown that even if these daughters eat healthily, their offspring are still at greater risk of disease. De Assis, who presented the work at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Washington DC, says a fatty diet may cause "epigenetic" DNA modifications that can be passed on to future generations. If the process applies to people, genes may not be the only reason why a family history of breast cancer puts a woman at risk.

to die younger. Another trait, aggressiveness, was linked LIVE fast, die young: it's an adage that appl ies not just to

to metabolic rate, with docile dogs such as collies burning

humans. Disobed ient dog breeds tend to die earlier than

calories more slowly than territorial great danes, for

docile dogs, according to a study that compared the

instance (The American Naturalist, 001: 10.1086/652435).

longevity of different breeds. Vincent Careau at the University of Sherbrooke in

Dogs were domesticated from wolves more than

Even algae can get sexy

10,000 years ago, but Careau doubts that long lifespan

Quebec, Canada, compared data from previous studies

or rapid metabolism were selected on purpose. Most

of personal ity in a number of dog breeds, and mortality

of today's 400-plus recognised breeds are the product

TWO algae may hold the secret to the evolution of sex cells. of intensive breeding over the past 100 years and it is data on the same varieties. Some of the data came lames Umen of the Salk more likely that by selecting dogs that are easier to trai n Institute for Biological Studies from insurance compan ies that sell pet policies. After in La Iolla, California, compared or more aggressive, we ended u p with long-lived and controlling for size - big dogs tend to d ie younger than Chlamydomonas reinhardtii small ones - Careau's team found the most obed ient calorie-hungry breeds, he says. and Volvox carteri. They diverged 200 million years ago, yet V. carteri that the filaments have their shape produces eggs and sperm, while Bubbly black holes stop stars appearing because they are made of dragged the sex cells of C. reinhardtii are BLACK holes blowing huge Edward Pope of the University cold gas. By removing so much similar in dimensions and cannot bubbles may explain the lack of of Victoria in British Columbia, gas from near the core, the bubbles be described as male and female. Umen focused on the "mating Canada, and colleagues. These make star formation there less star formation in the cores of locus" (MT) - the genetic sequence galaxy clusters. likely, the team say. Their paper form when a black hole belches Gas at the centre of galaxy out jets of hot plasma, which are will appear in Monthly Notices of behind the making of sex cells. He the Royal Astronomical Society. clusters should be cooling as it then pushed out of the core by found five genes that were only loses energy; this would allow The research is a new take on an in female V. carteri and eight new surrounding denser gas. Pope and his colleagues studied old problem, says Brian McNamara male-only genes. C. renhardtii had nearby material to compress the gas and create ideal conditions for filaments of material - some up to of the University of Waterloo similar genes near but outside its MT. Like so much else, it seems sex making stars. But giant "bubbles" 30,000 light years long - trailing in Ontario, Canada. "They have cells are all about location, location, of hot, low-density gas may be in the wake of such bubbles in the their own angle on it, which is location (Science, vo13 28, p 351). dragging away the cool gas, say Perseus cluster. They calculated pretty interesting." 14 1 NewScientist 1 24 April 2010

For new stories every day, visit www.NewScientist.com/news

M82 calling Earth:

explain, please THE RE is something strange in the cosmic neighbourhood. An unknown object in the nearby ga laxy M 82 has started sending out rad io waves unlike anything seen before. "We don't know what it is," says co-discoverer Tom M uxlow of Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics near Macdesfield, UK. The powerful radio emission emerged over a few days last May - quite rapidly in astronom ica l terms - and its intensity has hard ly varied since. That means it is

'Fatness gene' may thin your brain A GENE variant that helps us gain Africans have a variant of a gene weight may shrink our brains into called FTO that increases the risk of obesity by two-thirds. The the bargain. Elderly obese people are likelier variant is thought to affect to develop dementia and their metabolism and fat storage. brains tend to be smaller than When Thompson's team looked those of people of normal weight. at brain scans of 206 healthy This has been put down to clogged people aged 70 to 80, they found arteries slowing the blood flow that those with at least one copy of the FTO variant had 8 per cent to the brain, killing neurons. But now Paul Thompson's team at less volume in their frontal lobes the University of California, Los and 12 per cent less in the occipital Angeles, has found that a gene lobes, compared with their variant linked to obesity may counterparts lacking the variant harm the brain directly. (Proceedings of the National Academy ofSciences, DOl: 10.1073/ Half of Europeans and west

pnas.og10878107). The brains of those with the variant "looked 16 years older", Thompson says. His participants did not have cognitive problems. However, these brain areas are critical to problem-solving and perception, and brain atrophy there increases the risk of dementia and memory problems, Thompson says. The FTO variant could be damaging the brain indirectly by helping to make people fatter, but Thompson reckons it plays a more direct role, too, as FTO is expressed at high levels in the brain.

probably not a supernova, because supernovae usual ly brighten over weeks then fade over months. And it's too far from the middle of M82 to be a supermassive black hole.

Why acupuncture aids spinal recovery

It could be a "microquasar" - a black hole feeding on gas from a nearby star - but the X-rays typically em itted from such objects are absent. "So that's not right either," says M uxlow, who reported the discovery at the Roya I Astronomical Society National Astronomy Meeting in Glasgow, UK, last week. M uxlow's best g uess is that the thing is a dense object accreting surrounding material - perhaps a large black hole i n an unusual environment. The phenomenon might be more common in M82 because it is a "starburst" galaxy, where massive stars form and explode at a high rate, creating a lot of new b lack holes.

RATS with damaged spines can walk again thanks to acupuncture. But it's not due to improvements in their energy flow or "chi" : acupuncture seems to stop nerve death by reducing inflammation. Acupuncture's scientific credentials are growing. Trials show that it improves sensory and motor functions in people with spinal cord injuries. To probe why, Doo Choi and his colleagues at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, South Korea, damaged the spines of 75 rats. One-third were given acupuncture in two locations: Shuigou - between their snout and mouth, and Yanglingquan­ in the upper hind leg. Others received "simulated acupuncture" with a toothpick or no treatment. After 35 days, the acupuncture group were able to stand at a steeper incline than the others and walk better. They also had less nerve cell death and lower levels of proteins known to induce inflammation after spinal cord injury and worsen neural damage (Neurobiology ofDisease: DOl: 10.1016/j.nbd.2010.04.003). One explanation is that sharp needles - but not toothpicks­ prompt a stress response that dampens down inflammation.

It may be toxic sludge, but it's home LIQUID asphalt is not a likely home,

range of fungi, bacteria and archaea.

but hardy m icrobes have been found thriving in a natural lake made of the

"We found a thriving ecosystem," says Schulze-Makuch (arxiv.orgl

stuff. The d iscovery hints that alien

abs/l004.2047).

l ife could exist in similar places. M icrobes are known to exist in tar pits, but it was not known if natural

The organisms may feed on the asphalt, but Schulze-Makuch was surprised that they can survive with

asphalt pools, with their more toxic

l ittle water. It's "right at the margin"

composition, could harbour l ife.

of where l ife is possible, he says.

Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington

Saturn's moon Titan has similar

State University in Pullman and his

lakes of hydrocarbons, albeit in a

team analysed samples from Pitch Lake in Trinidad - one of the planet's

much colder environment. "This is a good reminder that we have to keep

three known natural asphalt lakes ­

an open mind about where l ife might

where hydrocarbons seep up from a n

be found in the universe," says Ralph

oil deposit below. They identified a

Lorenz of NASA's Cassini m ission.

24 Apri l 2010 I NewScientist 1 15

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TECHNOLOGY

For daily technology stories, visit www.NewScientist.com/technology

Ca rbon flakes brush u p for sola r

Unbrea ka ble code secures network

GIVING graphene - atom-thick sheets of carbon - a good brush could be the key to boosting the efficiency of cheap solar cells. A graphene-based dye that yields photoelectrons could be used in dye-sensitised solar cells­ a cheaper alternative to silicon­ based cells. But the idea turned out to have a sticky problem. A team of chemists led by Liang-shi Li at Indiana University in Bloomington were able to make graphene flakes of a suitable size for photoelectric dyes - about 2 nanometres across. But usually flakes of this size would coalesce to form insoluble graphite. Li's team found that bonding "brushes" in the form of phenyl groups onto the graphene surface ensured the flakes remained free, and showed that solar cells made using the dye would work (Nano Letters, DOl: 10.1021/nh01060h).

THE first high-speed network link that is so secure it is theoretically unbreakable has been created, thanks to quantum physics. A team at Toshiba Research Europe in Cambridge, UK, has sent encrypted data at over 1 megabit per second along 50 kilometres of optical fibre. That's fast enough to stream video. Secure links like Toshiba's involve one user sending a secret "key" to the other, encoded into the quantum properties of a string of single photons. Quantum mechanics ensures that any attempt to intercept

88 per cent of Fortune 500 companies have had their computer networks infected by Zeus malware, RSA Security says

this quantum key will change it, revealing the attack. Until now, the fastest way to send the encoded photons was through the air, but the best spanned not much more than 700 metres. For quantum encryption to be practical, the photons need to travel further and use existing infrastructure, such as the optical fibre that already forms the internet's backbone. Unfortunately, optical fibre can only transmit light over long distances when it is of a certain wavelength. Individual photons of that wavelength are difficult to detect, but Toshiba has now developed a detector that can pick them up (Applied Physics Letters, DOl: 10.1063/1.33852 93).

"We wi l l have a wide ra nge of laser weapons" Douglas Graham of US security com pany Lockheed M a rtin

is adama ntthat laser- based weapons wi 11 be operational in five to 10 years, d espite the Airborne Lase r p roject he was working on being sca led back (San Francisco Ch ran ic/e, 16 A pri l)

24 April 2010 I NewScientist 1 17

TECHNOLOGY

Putti ng the touch back i nto touchscreens By m a ki ng use of the way ou r senses ca n be fool ed, e n g i neers a re m a ki n g featu rel ess flat screens fee l l i ke a proper keyboa rd Hayward's team has been working on similar systems, using YOUR eyes tell you that your hand surface vibrations to generate is locked in a vice-like mechanical sensations of texture. By altering device, but your fingertips tell the frequencies of the vibration, you you're stroking fur. Welcome they are able to make the surface to the world of haptics, where feel rougher or smoother at wilL nothing is quite how it feels. Others, like Gabriel Robles De As neuroscientists decode La Torre, a neuroscientist and computer engineer based in how we process signals from nerves that sense touch, engineers Mexico City, have used vibrating surfaces to simulate sensations of are beginning to use their discoveries to dupe us into feeling sharpness, again by using motors something that isn't there. Given to impart lateral movement to a the right kind of manipulation, smooth, flat surface. This produces a smooth surface can be made a sharp change in the resistance to mimic the feel of a range of a user's finger feels as they move materials, and a solid slab can be made to feel like shifting sand. As well as producing weird tactile illusions, haptics have practical uses. For example, tactile feedback can make touchscreen devices more intuitive to use, says Vincent Hayward, head of haptics at the Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics at Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris, France. Such systems are already in use on some smartphones in which actuators within the touchscreen produce a basic "clicking" sensation when the screen is pressed. Immersion, a company in San Jose, California, is attempting to push haptics further. In a system planned for later this year, users will be given the tactile illusion that touchscreen buttons protrude from the surface. This will be achieved by using a piezoelectric motor to vibrate the screen laterally, though beyond that Immersion is not revealing how its system will work. Duncan Graham-Rowe

18 1 NewScientist 1 24 Apri l 2010

it across a particular portion of the screen, and this change is perceived as a sharp edge. Meanwhile Ed Colgate, a mechanical engineer at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, has used vibrations to achieve a very different effect - making objects feel more slippery. His system vibrates their surface at high frequency with an amplitude of a mere 2 micrometres. "It's not much but it's enough to act like a pump, pumping a little bit of air underneath a finger when touched."

Under normal circumstances, our sense of touch combines input from different kinds of sensory nerves to build up a model of what we are touching. Some of the nerves in our skin sense pressure, while others detect stretching of the skin. Systems like Robles De La Torre's show that it is not necessary for both kinds of nerves to be stimulated. Though his device only mimics the way an edge stretches the skin, the brain is fooled into feeling pressure. A force-feedback system devised by Ian Summers at the University of Exeter, UK, expoits pressure-sensitive nerves, rather than stretch-sensitive ones. It is able to simulate the feel of a range of flexible materials, including silk, hessian and fur. Subjects place their hand in a constraining device inside which are 24

"Our brain combines input from different kinds of nerves to build up a model of what we are touching"

For daily technology stories, visit www.NewScientist.com/technology

computer-controlled actuators that make contact with the skin. "The computer imagines you are moving each bit of your finger over the material, and works out what mechanical input would be applied to your finger," says Summers. "With something like fur it doesn't have to press very hard." Our sense of touch can also use temperature changes to helps us identify materials. Haptics researcher Lynette Jones at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has devised a mouse­ like contraption that exploits this, in which the temperature changes are produced by the Peltier effect­ the heating or cooling that occurs when current flows between two dissimilar metals. Running current through strips of metal laid one on top of another on the surface of the mouse allows rapid changes to be made to the temperature sensed by the subject's fingers when they graspit. "You can get them to respond very quickly, on the order of milliseconds," says Jones. This can be used to induce rapid

Where's the feedback?

changes of skin temperature, simulating the different rates at which heat is transferred to and from the skin by different materials. Jones says her team has identified how different materials conduct heat, and how to adjust current in their device to convince subjects that they are touching metal or plastic, for example. Jones is exploring how this could help people with impairment to their sensory systems, such as the nerve damage caused by diabetes. Haptic devices could be used to retrain their senses, by tricking them to grasp objects more tightly than their damaged nerves suggest is needed. It is not just the sense of touch in our fingers that is attracting the attention of haptics researchers. Instead, Yon Visell at the Centre for Intelligent Machines at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, is focusing on the feet, and has developed a novel surface designed to simulate walking on different types of ground. It uses a series of 30-centimetre tiles, each with sensors at its corners and an actuator similar to a loudspeaker coil mounted beneath it. By modelling the properties of various surfaces and calculating what vibrating forces the coil should apply as different parts of the foot make contact with it, Visell has been able to mimic the sensation of walking on solid ground, gravel or sand. Visell's tiles could be used to help rehabilitate people who have difficulty walking. By making them feel as if they are walking on a soft, compliant surface like sand, for example, their muscles could be retrained to lift the foot higher to ensure that it clears the ground between steps. So far, haptics researchers have concentrated on individual facets of our sense of touch, but Hayward looks forward to future applications which will combine them. For example, by vibrating a Peltier device it should be possible to convey temperature and texture information in a single surface . •

Nasa's underwater rover SOLO- TREe gets all its power from changes in sea temperature as it travels from the cold depths to the warmer surface In warm water wax on the craft's surface melts and expands, compressing pipes and squeezing the

oil inside

into a high-pressure tan k

HIGH­ PRESSURE TANK

Once the tan k is full, a valve is released and the oil passes through a hydraulic turbine ­ generating energy to charge batteries - the oil is then held in a low-pressure tan k As the vessel descends,the wax solidifies and contracts, pulling the oil back into the central tubes. Energy stored in the batteries

WAX CYLINDER

can then be used to help the craft rise to warmer waters, where the process can

BAT TERIES

begin again

Ti reless robot runs a nd runs on the ocea n's heat EAT your heart o ut, Durace ll bunny:

can d ive and surface, and also the

NASA has unveiled an ocean-going

float's G PS receiver, sensors and

robot that rea l ly can go on forever.

the transm itter that beams data to

It is the first of its kind to be fuelled

satel l ites when at the surface.

entirely by renewable energy.

"Each fu l l dive generates a bout

Th is month the agency revea led

200 watts for 30 seconds," saysjack

that SOLO-TREC, a wax-filled buoy

jones, one of the project's leaders at

powered only by the temperature

the jet Propulsion Laboratory in

differences in the water around it,

Pasadena, Ca lifornia.

has been tire lessly diving to depths

He and colleagues hope to create

of 500 metres off the Hawa i ian coast

large num bers of the floats to boost

three times a day since November

existing monitoring of oceanic

2009. The float gathers data on

cond itions, which helps in weather

te mperature and sa lin ity to improve

and cli mate pred iction.

studies of ocean currents. SOLO-TREC extracts thermal energy from the ocean each time it travels from the cold depths to the warmer surface. Tubes of oil on its shell are surrounded by a compartment fi lled with two different waxes. They flip from so lid

More mobile robots that use the techno logy are planned. Te ledyne Webb Research in Fa lmouth,

lITh e buoy c a n recharge as it travels to the warm surface. Each d ive generates a bout 200 watts for 30 seconds"

to l iquid when the sea temperature exceeds 10 °C, and expand by 13 per

M assach usetts, makes winged

cent (see d iagram).

robots that "g l ide" underwater using

The expa nding wax squeezes o i l from the tubes into the float's interior, where it is stored at high pressure. The oil can then be re leased

thermal wax t o contro l buoyancy. But they need batteries for the ir e lectronics. The US Office of Nava l Research

to drive a generator and charge

has asked the two teams for ideas for

batteries. They power the pumps that

g l iders that will never need a battery

take on and expel water so the buoy

change. Rachel Courtland •

24 April 2010 1 NewScientist 1 19

TECHNOLOGY

For chea p water purification, look to the cactus FORGET expensive machinery, the best way to purify water could be hiding in a cactus. It turns out that an extract from the prickly pear cactus is effective at removing sediment and bacteria from dirty water. Many water purification methods introduced into the developing world are quickly abandoned as people don't know how to use and maintain them, says Norma Alcantar at the University of 50uth Florida in Tampa. 50 she and her colleagues decided to investigate the prickly pear cactus, Opuntia ficus-indica, which 19th-century Mexican communities used as a water purifier. The cactus is

found across the globe. The team extracted the cactus's mucilage - the thick gum the plant uses to store water. They then mixed this with water to which they had added high levels of either sediment or the bacterium Bacillus cereus. Alcantar found that the mucilage acted as a flocculant, causing the sediment particles Householders in the developing to join together and settle to the bottom of the water samples. The world could boil a slice of cactus gum also caused the bacteria to to release the mucilage and add combine and settle, allowing it to water in need of purification, 98 per cent of bacteria to be filtered says Alcantar. "The cactus's from the water (Environmental prevalence, affordability and Science and Technology, DOl: cultural acceptance make it an 10.1021/es9030744). They now attractive natural material for intend to test it on natural water. water purification technologies."

But Colin Horwitz of GreenOx Catalysts in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, says many issues remain, including how much land and water is needed to grow cacti for widespread water purification, and how households will know all the bacteria have been removed. Helen Kn ight .

Bright future projected for ha nd- held games TO TRY a new gaming style, grab some

the computer by a small circuit

plastic and put a chip on your shoulder.

behind the screen.

Zi Ye and Hammad Kha lid of the Human Media Lab at Queen's

Three i nfrared LEDS mounted on the display are tracked by a camera

University i n Kingston, Ontario,

housed with the projector, enabling

Canada, have devised a way of using

the rotation of the screen to be used

a shou lder-mounted projector system

in, say, driving games. "The projection

to display - and play - a game on a

follows the display automatica lly.

bendy A4-sized sliver of p lastic.

A very wide ra nge of game actions

Sensors in the screen al low gameplay

can be supported," says Ye.

to be controlled by bending, shaking

"Cobra provides the gaming power of a laptop while Cobra, was shown last week at the giving the gamer the Computer-Human Interaction meeting freedom of a hand-held"

or tapping it. A prototype of the system, ca l ied

in Atlanta, Georgia. It runs games on a computer housed in a shoulder pouch,

Cobra provides the gaming power of

projector that shines images onto the

a laptop whi le g iving the gamer the

flexible screen, held by the gamer.

freedom of a hand-held.

The back of the screen is criss­ crossed with flex-sensing wires, and other sensors note when the screen

20 1 NewScientist 1 24 Apri l 2010

The upshot, the pa ir say, is that

while the pouch's straps hold a sma 11

There is a growing interest in using projectors to enhance d isplays, says Shah ram Izadi of M icrosoft Research

is tapped or shaken - actions which

in Cambridge, UK. They allow

could be used to, say, swing a virtua l

programmers "to radically augment

sword or reload your trusty bazooka.

the desktop with natural, intuitive

These signa Is are sent wirelessly to

user interfaces". Paul Marks .

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OPINION

Pol itica l science The U K pa rl i a m e nt i s d o m i n ated by scientific i l l iterates, That's why I'm sta n d i ng as a ca ndi date i n the gen era l electi o n , says THIS month I had a new experience: I was front-page news. When I announced my intention to stand in the UK general election, reporters got in touch immediately. The idea that someone with a PhD in quantum physics would be interested in politics seemed so far-fetched that it made the front page of... The Hinckley Times. OK, so it is hardly The New York Times. Hinckley is a small town in the English midlands, part of the Bosworth constituency where I am a candidate. But the question remains: is it so far-fetched to think that scientists might be willing to get involved in politics? Not in Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel holds a doctorate and has research experience in quantum chemistry. In the UK, however, things are a little different. In the last parliament, only 27 members out of a total of 650 held a science degree; 584 members described themselves as having no political interest in science and technology, according to figures from political research organisation Dods People. Some, such as the Conservative MP I am standing against, David Tredinnick, are positively anti-science. When the House of Commons science and technology select committee examined the scientific evidence for homeopathy and deliberated on its use by the National Health Service (NHS), it concluded that homeopathy does not provide value for money, even as a placebo. Tredinnick, an ardent advocate of homeopathy, has 22 1 NewScientist 1 24 April 2010

Michael Brooks

used his MP's expense account to buy astrology software and training for its use. When this emerged, he repaid the money. But he stands by the concept. Last month, Tredinnick told another local newspaper, The Leicester Mercury, that, because healthcare systems in India and China have linked medicine and astronomy for centuries, we should consider doing it too. "Are we really just dismissing their views?" he asked. I don't need to answer that here. What I do need to point out is that we tend to hold our politicians to too Iow a standard. As a human being, Tredinnick is not unusual. Many people hold beliefs that others regard as irrational or eccentric. But very few get to exercise their beliefs in votes on government policy that affect the allocation of scarce resources. Wouldn't it be good to know that those who since led an effort to get the It is only a short step from there exercise that privilege do so report's conclusions dismissed. to finding 70 MPs who are willing from a position of scientific This is an arrogant and to dismiss scientists' research understanding? In a scientific irresponsible stance. For one into climate change. Or to back age, we need scientifically thing, Tredinnick's constituents literate representatives. the idea that the NHS should have a right to have their tax consider including astrology So where are they? Judging money spent wisely and as a means of diagnosis. by the blogs, Twitter feeds and That sounds ridiculous, doesn't other forms of communication accountably. There is another point here, too: Tredinnick clearly it? I only wish it were a reductio ad that the internet provides, it is thinks that the scientific process absurdum, but I am actually clear that scientists are extremely on which entire economies, recounting something Tredinnick interested in politics. But how industries and civilisations have himself has suggested. This MP, many are interested enough to get their hands dirty? been built carries less weight than who has been in a position of his personal beliefs. power, authority and influence Not many. Julian Huppert, Unfortunately, Tredinnick's for more than two decades, even a physicist at the University anti-science attitude is proving of Cambridge, is standing for " In the last UK parliament, dangerously infectious. So far, election. Ex-biologist Stephen he has convinced 70 members 584 MPs described Ladyman is standing for re­ themselves as having no of parliament to sign his motion election, as is Evan Harris, a against the homeopathy report. political interest in science" doctor who routinely stands

Comment on these stories at www.NewScientist.com/opinion

up for science. And now there is me. Maybe there are more, but not enough to counter the influence of Tredinnick and his ilk. Despite my campaign, he is defending a large majority and is the red-hot favourite to win­ and may well be sitting on the government benches rather than the opposition ones after the election on 6 May. Of course, scientifically inclined people don't have to stand for election to have a say in politics. Voting for the party whose manifesto recognises the importance of science and offers the tightest ring-fencing for the science budget makes sense. But manifestos are made for elections, not for the difficult periods when government departments are wrangling over money. The big question is this: will there be enough scientifically literate MPs in positions of influence when the campaigning is a distant memory and realpolitik has taken over? There certainly won't be many. It is worth pointing out that people trust scientists. In surveys of public attitudes, scientists have always been hailed as far more trustworthy than politicians. In an age of cynicism about politics, that trust is an incredible asset. My manifesto is simple. I am standing to highlight the fact that the current spread of politicians' interests doesn't reflect the population they are supposed to represent. Science is not just an indulgence for the curious. It is vital to our life, culture and economic well-being. The Hinckley Times got a lot of things wrong - it described me as a " top scientist" for a start - but it got one thing right: it is surprising to have scientists get involved in politics. It shouldn't be.• Michael Brooks is standing as the Science Party candidate in the Bosworth constituency. He is a consultant to New Scientist and the author of 13 Things That Don't Make Sense (Profile, 2008 )

One m i n ute with ...

An i l Seth

The co-d i recto r of the U K's new centre for co nsc i o u s n ess science on the essence of red ness - a n d fee l i ng u n rea l

What's so special a bo ut this centre?

It opens this week at the University of Sussex, a university founded along interdisciplinary lines in the 1960s, Instead of single-discipline schools, there was, for example, the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences, where I studied, It had a mixture of philosophers, psychologists, linguists and artificial intelligence researchers, Which d isciplines a re you bringing together?

Mainly psychology, neuroscience, medical sciences including psychiatry, and informatics, computer science and AI. Ca n yo u g ive me a l ittle background?

A key feature of the centre will be to integrate theoretical research and practical work into treatments for conditions ranging from coma to schizophrenia, One of the dominant theoretical approaches was championed by Francis Crick and Christof Koch, who wanted to take a pure, simple, conscious experience and match it to something going on in the brain, This correlational approach can leave you dissatisfied, however, because while someone can be conscious of, say, the redness of something, and we can see activity in a region of their brain, it doesn't tell us why that activity and the redness go together, It a l l sounds exceed ingly tricky.

It is very challenging, We think there is no such thing as an experience of pure redness, Every experience is composed of many different parts and influenced by many common things, but they are all bound together into an integrated whole you, the person having the conscious experience,

PROFILE

Anil Seth runs the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, University of Sussex, UK, with Hugo Critchley. The centre is funded by the Or Mortimer and Theresa Sackler Foundation

reports a conscious experience, that explains more about consciousness than an arbitrary correlation, What about the practica l research?

We want to differentiate conscious states between healthy people and people who are anaesthetised, asleep, or have various kinds of post-traumatic brain damage, We are also trying to find out what kind of brain activity might show that someone in a vegetative state still has residual consciousness - without relying on spoken instructions because it turns out that some people can be conscious without understanding language,

What's your co nception of conscio usness?

What a bout psychiatric research?

Think in terms of the dimensions of experiences: any experience, including redness, will be at a point within that space, Rather than taking a point in that space and working out the underlying neurological mechanism, we want to identify what gives rise to the dimensions themselves, If we can characterise them, and if we find similar brain processes are present when a person

One big area is a condition called depersonalisation disorder, This is the feeling "I am not particularly real", It's not as dramatic as Cotard's delusion, where you think you are dead, but it is very interesting, Even "normal" people experience it: they can be vividly engaged, but at other times, under high stress or fatigue, they feel a little less "there", I nterview by Liz E lse

24 April 2010 1 N ewScientist 1 23

OPINION LETTERS

Hu manity's cradle

From Calvin Malham While reading the many elaborate schemes discussed by Urn Giles for mitigating our effect on the climate (3 April, p 6), I was struck by two salient points about the human condition. First, how innately ingenious and creative we are, and secondly, how unable we are to notice the obvious. Space-based light reflectors,

cloud seeding and artificial trees are all very exciting, but why do we miss, or choose to ignore, the low risk, low cost and middling effectiveness of reforestation? It appeared on the accompanying chart, but was notably absent in the text. Humans are profoundly childlike in outlook. Perhaps it is time we grew up and did the mundane chores, like planting trees globally. Summercourt, Cornwall, UK

No-brainer From Alan Atkinson As part of your "Nine big brain questions" special (3 April, p 26), Celeste Biever made a reference to the familiar problem that we "have no way of proving we are not the only self-aware individuals in a world of unaware 'zombies' ''. I have often wondered

Enigma Number 1592

Seeing spots S USAN DEN HAM

If you take a domino set and discard all those dominoes which involve a 5 or a 5, leaving 15 dominoes with a 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 at each end, then the rest can be laid out, spotty sides up, to form a 5-by-5 rectangle. Then, taking the number of spots in each square as that square's value, the product of each row can be calculated by multiplying together the values of the six squares in that row. Your task is to lay out the dominoes so that the five products are all different, less than 1000, and

in increasing order as you come down the rectangle. Just one row must have a product which is odd, just one must have a product which is a power of 2, and just one other must have a product which is a non­ zero perfect square. List the products of the five rows.

WIN £15 will be awarded to the sender of the first correct

answer opened on Tuesday 25 May. The Editor's decision is final. Please send entries to Enigma 1592, New Scientist, Lacon House, 8 4 Theobald's Road, London WC1X 8 NS, or to [email protected] (please include your postal address). Answer to 1586 So touching: Columns 2, 3 and 4 The winner lan Snell of Oxford, UK

24 1 NewScientist 1 24 April 2010

why this doubt persists when there is a cogent argument for accepting the consciousness of others. The only knowledge we have of the nature of consciousness is our own direct personal experience of it. A zombie, lacking consciousness, could not have any comprehension of conscious experience, in the same way that a person blind from birth supposedly has no understanding of colour. This would mean that a zombie would be unable to discuss the subject with a conscious entity. Since we discuss consciousness with other people, we have good reason to believe that they are as conscious as we are. Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, UK

From Anna Wood The link between the mind and body is interesting and complex, but Linda Geddes should take care when asserting that the wise doctor should "probe the mental state of a patient whose symptoms are hard to explain physically". In fact, it is an arrogant doctor who will do this without being mindful of the deficiencies in medical knowledge. It is naive to believe that we understand everything about the human body, and unacceptable that an absence of certain physical symptoms automatically makes the patient mentally ill. In the past, people with multiple sclerosis and diabetes have been wrongly given a psychological diagnosis, simply because doctors could not find anything physically wrong with them. Today it is patients with ME (myalgic encephalitis) who suffer this mistreatment. Rather than assuming a diagnosis of mental illness, the wise doctor will diagnose both physical and psychological illness according to available evidence­ and be prepared to admit that he or she does not know the

answer when the necessary evidence is lacking. Glasgow, UK

Multiversal mirror From Jim Kemp If I read Amanda Gefter's fascinating article right, for observers outside a black hole all information about stuff that has been sucked through the event horizon is smeared across the surface of the horizon (6 March, p 28). It's a hologram. Thus the holographic principle: that the surface of every volume, including the infinite multiverse, contains all information within the volume. Now, although we may not be able to access the multiverse, the boundary between it and us will contain all multiverse information, so if we can access the boundary we can make predictions about the multiverse and test them, observing and interacting with information about it. Or does this overlook a huge difference between information in black holes and in the multiverse? Everything passing into a black hole started out in our domain, but nothing in the multiverse did. Or did it? Sonoma, California, US

Atheist selection From John Ewing Your editorial "Time to accept that atheism, not god, is odd" makes

For more letters and to join the debate, visit www.NewScientist.com/letters

the case that since atheists are a and allowing a much faster heat minority group, they should be transfer to the freezer. considered abnormal (6 March, Totnes, Devon, UK p 3). However, almost every belief system has a history of stamping From John Eagle out non-believers, whereas there It would be an interesting check are, to my knowledge, no recorded on hypotheses about the Mpemba instances of the reverse, so there effect if the test were to be carried is a definite selective pressure out under zero gravity, which against atheism. Calling atheism would result in suppression of abnormal is then no more logical thermal convection. than calling left-handedness Wilmslow, Cheshire, UK abnormaL Preuschdoif, Bas-Rhin, France

homeopathy is good because it costs less than conventional medicine. Of course, water and sugar should be cheaper than clinically tested drugs, but that does not make it usefuL He then argues that homeopathy satisfies a real demand in healthcare, to the inconvenience of big drug companies, ignoring the fact that selling water and sugar to people is of great convenience to the big homeopathy companies.

Convection conviction Wonderful water

From Jim Logan Scott Turner and Rupert Soar suggest that the circulation of air From Keith Ross in termite nests is driven by wind Marcus Chown reports on James Brownridge's theory that the blowing across the mounds rather reason hot water freezes faster than by convection currents within them (20 February, p 35). than cold -the Mpemba effect is a consequence of supercooling This may be so in the mounds in the water that started off cold they studied in Namibia­ (27 March, p 10). However, after although it does not explain why many years of getting my primary the nest does not overheat and school classes to investigate the the termites suffocate on windless phenomenon, the neatest days - but it is not the case explanation I have found centres everywhere. I have observed that the on the role of convection. We often compared two Macrotermes nests in Sudan and samples, one of which started east Africa, and the Odontotermes hotter than the other, and found nests in India use convection that the hot water contained more currents, as previously suggested ice than the cold. Crucially, they by entomologist Martin Uischer. You can tell by placing your hand were both partly frozen. This discounts the supercooling over the top of a mound chimney: you should feel the warm, moist explanation because once the first ice crystals had appeared in air coming out. It is possible to distinguish live termite nests the supercooled water it would from abandoned ones in this way. have quickly formed more ice A more dramatic than had formed in the hot water. A better explanation relates to demonstration is achieved by the rates at which heat can be dusting talcum powder at the transferred away from the water. base of the mound. After about We postulated that when placed 30 seconds a plume of talc erupts in a freezer, cold water would from the top of the chimney. quickly separate into three layers: Gatehouse ofFleet, water at 4 QC at the bottom of the Kirkcudbrightshire, UK flask, 0 QC ice at the top and room temperature water in between. This separation would leave Sugaring the pill conduction as the only method From Lee Hart available for further heat loss. In the hot water system, Colin Jacobson's letter on homeopathy (20 March, p 25) however, convection currents would persist, preventing this annoyed me. static phase from establishing First, he argues that

I

slow pace of science (19 December 2009, p 58), Stephen Battersby suggests that "a carefully controlled 10,ooo-year experiment should do the trick" of seeing whether " any form of silica glass is fluid at room temperature". That experiment has already been started. I recently saw the exhibition Molten Colour: Glassmaking in Antiquity at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California. On display are beautiful glass vessels dating from 2500 BC, which makes them almost halfway through the time span Battersby calls for. The vessels are all standing upright, showing no sign of either flow or sag. Williamstown, Massachusetts, US

For the record • We mistakenly ill ustrated

a story about "poi ntill ist graphics"

Next, Jacobsen suggests that the author of the original article on homeopathy, Martin Robbins, should take into consideration the anecdotal evidence of his miraculously cured dog, disregarding the importance of the scientific method. Finally, he rounds off by stating that homeopathy is "cheap, effective and safe". There are cheaper placebos on the market, more effective ways to treat people and there are safer, more reliable ways to run a healthcare system. The day we found out we could give sweets to educated adults to make them feel better was the day we should have realised that people really are fools unto themselves, and that fools and their money are soon parted. Oxford, UK

Glass flowing over From Jay Pasachoff In his article about persistent observations and the sometimes

for computers (3 April, p 18) with a standard polygon image; had it been pointi ll ist it would have been less blocky. • The physicist Eugene Wigner was

Hungarian, not German (10 April, p 28). He stud ied in Germany until 1930 and beca me a US citizen in 1937. • We misspelled Kerri Moloughney's surname in our article on aerial

detection of grave sites (10 April, p 18). • The statement "Shakespeare's

prose would have a higher entropy than Egyptian hieroglyphs or Morse code" had low information content (10 April, p 11). Sha kespeare coded in Morse and in Roman script would have the same entropy, higher than that of, say, a laundry list, as it is less predictable and less "ordered".

Letters should be sent to: Letters to the Editor, New Scientist, 8 4 Theobald's Road, London WC1X 8 NS Fax: +44 (0) 20 7611 128 0 Email: [email protected] Include you r fu l l postal address and telephone num ber, and a reference (issue, page number, title) to articles, We reserve the right to edit letters, Reed Busi ness Information reserves the right to use any submissions sent to the letters column of New Scientist magazine, in any other format

24 Apri l 2010 1 NewScientist 1 25

OPINION THE BIG IDEA

The secret power of the si ng le cel l Is a neu ron rea l ly a ti ny com pute r? H ow do lowly a m oebas bu i l d com p l ex s h e l l s? S i n g l e cel l s may tel l us

a lot a bout the roots of i nte l l igence, says BrianJ . LATE at night on a sultry evening, I watch intently as the predator senses its prey, gathers itself, and strikes. It could be a polecat, or even a mantis - but in fact it's a microbe. The microscopic world of the single, living cell mirrors our own in so many ways: cells are essentially autonomous, sentient and ingenious. In the lives of single cells we can perceive the roots of our own intelligence. Molecular biology and genetics have driven the biosciences, but have not given us the miraculous new insights we were led to expect. From professional biologists to schoolchildren, people are concentrating on the minutiae of what goes on in the deepest recesses of the cell. For me, however, this misses out on life in the round: it is only when we look at the living cell as a whole organism that wonderful realities emerge that will alter our perception not only of how single cells enact their intricate lives but what we humans truly are. The problem is that whole-cell biology is not popular. Microscopy is hell-bent on increased resolution and ever higher magnification, as though we could learn more about animal behaviour by putting a bacon sandwich under lenses of increasing power. We know much about what goes on within parts of a cell, but so much less about how whole cells conduct their lives. Currently, cell biology deals largely with the components within cells, and systems biology PROFILE

Bria n J . Ford is a research biologist based at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge. He is a fellow of Cardiff University in the UK. His books include Sensitive Souls. This article is based on his paper in Interdisciplinary Science Reviews (vo1 34, p 350)

26 1 NewScientist 1 24 Apri l 2010

Ford

with how the components interact. There is nothing to counterbalance this reductionism with a focus on how whole cells behave. Molecular biology and genetics are the wrong sciences to tackle the task. Let's take a look at some of the evidence for ingenuity and intelligence in cells that is missing from the curriculum. Take the red algae Rhodophyta, in which many species carry out remarkable repairs to damaged cells. Cut a filament of Antithamnion cells so the cell is cut across and the cytoplasm escapes into the surrounding aquatic medium. All that remains are two fragments of empty, disrupted cell wall lying adjacent to, but separate from, each other. Within 24 hours, however, the adjacent cells have made good the damage, the empty cell space has been restored to full activity, and the cell walls meticulously realigned and seamlessly repaired. The only place where this can happen is in the lab. In nature, the broken ends of the severed cell would nearly always end up remote from each other, so selection in favour of an automatic repair mechanism through Darwinian evolution would be impossible. Yet something amazing is happening here: because the damage to the Antithamnion filament is unforeseeable, the organism faces a situation for which it has not been able to adapt, and is therefore unable to call upon inbuilt responses. It has to use some sort of problem-solving ingenuity instead. We regard amoebas as simple and crude. Yet many types of amoeba construct glassy shells by picking up sand grains from the mud in which they live. The typical Difflugia shell, for example, is shaped like a vase, and has a remarkable symmetry. Compare this with the better known behaviour of a caddis fly larva. This maggot

IIWhole livi ng cells are not su bservient nanobots, they respond and take decisionsll hunts around the bottom of the pond for suitable scraps of detritus with which to construct a home. Waterlogged wood is cemented together with pondweed until the larva has formed a protective covering for its nakedness. You might think this comparable to the home built by the testate amoeba, yet the amoeba lacks the jaws, eyes, muscles, limbs, cement glands and brain the caddis fly larva relies on for its skills. We just don't know how this single-celled organism builds its shell, and molecular biology can never tell

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Modell ing the neuron as I ittle more than a simple on/off switch is a big mistake

us why. While the home of the caddis fly larva is crude and roughly assembled, that of the testate amoeba is meticulously crafted - and it's all made by a single cell. The products of the caddis fly larva and the amoeba, and the powers of red algae, are about more than ingenuity: they pose important questions about cell intelligence. After all, whole living cells are primarily autonomous, and carry out their daily tasks with little external mediation. They are not subservient nanobots, they create and regulate activity, respond to current conditions and, crucially, take decisions to deal with unforeseen difficulties. Just how far this conceptual revolution about cells could take us becomes clearer

reproduction. Yet we model this cell as little more than an organic transistor, an onloff switch. But if a red alga can "work out" how to solve problems, or an amoeba construct a stone home with all the "ingenuity" of a master builder, how can the human neuron be so lowly? Unravelling brain structure and function has come to mean understanding the interrelationship between neurons, rather than understanding the neurons themselves. My hunch is that the brain's power will turn out to derive from data processing within the neuron rather than activity between neurons. And networks of neurons enhance the effect of those neurons "thinking" between themselves. I think the neuron's action potentials are rather like a language neurons use to transmit processed data from one to the next. Back in 2004, we set out to record these potentials, from neurons cultured in the lab. They emit electrical signals of around 40 hertz, which sound like a buzzing, irritating noise played back as audio files. I used some specialist software to distinguish the signal within the noise - and to produce sound from within each peak that is closer to the frequency of a human voice and therefore more revealing to the ear. Listening to the results reprocessed at around 300 Hz, the audio files have the hypnotic quality of sea birds calling. There is a sense that each spike is modulated subtly within itself, and it sounds as if there are discrete signals in which one neuron in some sense " addresses" another. Could we be eavesdropping on the language of the brain? For me, the brain is not a supercomputer in which the neurons are transistors; rather with more complex animals, such as humans. it is as if each individual neuron is itself a Here, conventional wisdom is that everything computer, and the brain a vast community is ultimately controlled by the brain. But of microscopic computers. But even this cells in the liver, for example, reproduce at model is probably too simplistic since the just the right rate to replace cells lost through neuron processes data flexibly and on attrition; follicular cells create new hair; bone disparate levels, and is therefore far superior marrow cells produce new circulating blood to any digital system. If I am right, the human cells at a rate of millions per minute. And so on brain may be a trillion times more capable and on. In fact, around go per cent of this kind than we imagine, and "artificial intelligence" of cell activity is invisible to the brain, and the a grandiose misnomer. cells are indifferent to its actions. The brain is I think it is time to acknowledge fully an irrelevance to most somatic cells. that living cells make us what we are, and to abandon reductionist thinking in favour of So where does that leave the neuron, the most highly evolved cell we know? It ought the study of whole cells. Reductionism has us to be in an interesting and privileged place. peering ever closer at the fibres in the paper of After all, neurons are so specialised that they a musical score, and analysing the printer's have virtually abandoned division and ink. I want us to experience the symphony.• 24 Apri l 2010 1 N ewScientist 1 27

ran lcs Eve n if g o l d, si lve r a n d d i a m onds a re n't yo u r th i n g, you cou l d soon b e d ra ped i n them a nyway. O u r gadgets wi l l i n creasi n g ly be packed with the sh i ny stuff, says Jon Cartwright

T'S LIKE walking into a bank vault. Pass reflective dish to focus sunlight onto a codes secure the doors. The walls and device made from two thin films of diamond floor are made of reinforced concrete up that are separated by a vacuum a few hundred to 2 metres thick - all built on solid sandstone. micrometres thick. As sunlight heats the outer The ventilation ducts have automatic shut-offs. film, the hottest, most energetic electrons Not even cellphone signals can sneak in. fly off and are collected by the other film, generating current (see diagram, p 30). All this might seem fitting given that the place houses diamonds by the hundred. Yet Conventional devices for capturing the this is no vault. It's a lab in the Centre for sun's heat do it by focusing sunlight onto Nanoscience and Quantum Information at the tubes containing oil or water. The heated fluid University of Bristol, UK, and the diamonds can then be used to produce steam to drive stored here are each no bigger than a speck of a turbine and generate electricity. With no dust. Diamonds this size might not interest a moving parts, a diamond solar cell should bank robber, but they are turning out to be a be more efficient, says Fox. Nor must the physicist's best friend. technology rely on the sun: the cells could And it's not just diamonds. Gold and silver, too, are acquiring new allure in the "Nano-d iamonds cou l d lab. These materials' superlative hardness, offer an alternative lustre and resistance to corrosion have been prized for centuries, but reduce this stuff to to the s i l icon circu itry the nanoscale and other characteristics emerge; valuable properties which promise to used i n microchi ps" transform the way we build electrical gadgets of every kind. Welcome to the shiny new also be used to harvest waste heat from power world of "blingtronics". stations, industrial plants or vehicle exhausts. Unravelling the remarkable riches of To make the diamond films work effectively, this nano-world takes an exceptionally steady Fox must first implant lithium atoms into hand - which is why the Bristol lab is so solidly them. These atoms form positive charges near built. Here physicist Neil Fox spends his the film surface and this helps hot electrons day manipulating delicate films of diamond leave. Unfortunately, the very arrangement of as thin as a human hair. The experiments are carbon atoms that gives diamond its hardness so sensitive that even the faintest vibration makes it devilishly difficult to insert alien could spell failure. atoms. Lithium atoms will seep in slowly if Fox aims to turn these diamond films the diamond film is red hot, but they end up in into a new kind of solar cell, one that generates clumps, where they are ineffective. So Fox has electricity by absorbing heat rather than turned his attention to lithium ions, which he visible-light wavelengths. He is exploiting believes will diffuse more easily throughout "thermionic emission", the propensity of some the structure. "It's a bit of a game trying to get materials to spit out electrons when heated, these things where you want them," he says. and it turns out that ultrathin diamond is Nano-diamonds could also offer an better at this than most. Fox plans to use a alternative to the silicon circuitry used in 2 8 1 NewScientist 1 24 April 2010

microchips, if a project led by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) succeeds. It aims to replace silicon-based electronic circuits with microscopic mechanical components made from diamond. DARPA engineers believe that such devices will offer significant advantages over a swathe of electronic components, particularly if they can be built out of ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD), a material developed by the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago. UNCD can be etched away to form nanoscale cantilevers or vibrating membranes that are able to operate over a broader range of frequencies than conventional electronic switches and oscillators. And thanks to the fact that UNCD can be layered onto silicon, these components can be directly integrated into silicon chips, making them cheap to build. "Diamond is a very unique material," says Jan Isberg, an engineer at Uppsala University, Sweden, who is studying its uses in electronics. The DARPA-funded researchers hope to use their diamond components to create a military radio that operates at broadband speeds, akin to a souped-up smartphone. And UNCD is just the stuff for the job, they say, thanks to its toughness and resistance to corrosion. While diamond offers new tricks for manipulating electrons, other forms of bling could allow us to replace electrons altogether, using photons. Unlike electrons, which are subject to collisions and interference as they travel through a circuit, photons can whizz round optical fibres without interfering with each other. This means photons can be packed together at higher densities than is possible with electrons, so optical circuits should be able to carry more data. Finding a way to control these photons remains a big challenge. One solution is >

to use plasmons, which can be thought of as "Bl i n g could transform light waves trapped on the surface of a metal you r favou ri te gad gets by the sea of electrons inside. Unlike photons, plasmons can easily be manipulated with by i ncorporating them electric fields or even beams of light. A team i nto you r c l oth i ng" at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute in Daejeon, South Korea, recently transferred data between computer eightfold (Applied Physics Letters, DOl: chips using plasmons to channel a broadband 10.1063/1.2195695). This could ultimately lead light signal along gold wires. Some to new types of low-power display screens or manufacturers, including Intel, are beginning lighting. "It's a very large area of research to use connections of this type to replace that's really just taking off now," says Teri conventional wiring in personal computers. adorn, who works in nanotechnology at The ultimate aim, though, is to have Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. light itself perform the processing in every Yet the most marketable bling technology microchip. Part of the trick here lies in the might be wrapped into something that you take with you everywhere. It could transform ability to generate pulses of light and switch your favourite gadgets, including cellphones them on and off at high speed, all in a tiny and music players - by incorporating them space. The smallest conventional lasers into your clothing. "Rather than carrying your measure several hundred nanometres across iPod, the whole electronic system could be and so are simply too big for the task. To compete with transistors, a laser would need to be less than 50 nanometres across, an D i a m o n d power impossibility with conventional designs. To convert heat directly into electricity, concentrate the Then last year teams of physicists in the sun's energy onto solar ce l l s conta i n i ng ultrath in fi lms US and China created the first examples of of diamond a device known as a spaser, which gets its name from the fact that it amplifies surface plasmons in a similar way to how a laser Heat from the sun is concentrated onto boosts light. The spaser has a gold core the solar cell using wrapped in silica and dye molecules. When it a parabolic mirror is switched on - using an external light source at present, though the goal is to use an electric current - the gold core ripples with plasmons. These excite the dye molecules, which emit light. This light in turn creates more plasmons. The result is a beam of light from a device tens Sunlight heats up the outer layer of nanometres wide.

•

of di amond, which emits electrons.

They travel across a vacuum to a second

Inside you r body It will be years before engineers can use such nano-bling to build an optical computer. In the meantime, nanoparticles of gold and silver have other gifts to offer. Injected into human tissue and exposed to light, gold nanoparticles can generate plasmons that then emit light of a different wavelength. This can be used to analyse the chemistry of cells spectroscopically, which could play a useful role in medical diagnostics or, if the wavelengths emitted are in the infrared, kill cancerous cells. As for silver nanoparticles, they can help make LEDs more efficient. Much used in consumer electronics, LEDs produce light when electrons and "holes" - gaps in a semiconductor where electrons should be­ recombine. It turns out that adding silver nanoparticles to LEDs can boost their output 30 1 NewScientist 1 24 Apri l 2010

diamond film, generating current

-.--.. �.---­ ...

D i amond-based "solar concentrators" could be more efficient than conventional ones that focus sunli ght onto tubes of water or oil since this hot fluid must be circulated to a steam turbine to generate electricity. D i amond dev ices have no moving parts

embedded in your jacket," says Jennifer Lewis, a materials scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Lewis is working on making blingtronics wearable. Last year, her group found a way to print tiny micrometre-sized wires in much the same way as an inkjet printer makes an image on paper. Using an electrically conducting ink containing silver nanoparticles, they were able to print wires onto a variety of materials, including glass and plastic (Science, vo1323, p 1590). Lewis was also keen to discover if her printing technique would work with flexible materials like fabric, but here she hit a snag. To make the silver nanoparticles, Lewis precipitates them gradually from a solution of silver salts, adding a polymer "capping" agent which stops the particles growing beyond the required size. The polymer wraps around the particles, preventing any more silver from sticking. The problem is how to remove the polymer once the printing process is complete, since the polymer is an insulator and reduces the conductivity of the wires. Heating does the trick. Unfortunately it turned out that Lewis's team could only get rid of the polymer at temperatures above 100°C - not conditions that are kind to delicate fabrics. Lewis's most recent work, to be published later this year, suggests an answer. Her group has found that it can minimise the insulating effect of the polymer by carefully adjusting the size of the nanoparticles. Using ink containing particles of this ideal size, they can print wires whose conductivity is one-tenth that of ordinary silver, with no heating required. "We've made quite a lot of progress, but there's more work to do," she says. Lewis's ultimate goal is to print all the components and circuitry of a phone or music player onto fabric. Most of these components, she points out, are already printed onto circuit boards, by depositing a layer of conductor or semiconductor and then etching away everything except the pattern required. In principle, she says, there's no reason why the circuitry for any electronic device you'd care to name couldn't be printed onto your clothes, all thanks to nanoparticle ink. Whether or not the cuff of your next coat or cardigan comes with its own circuitry, it seems certain that there's a bright future for electronics made using gold, silver and diamonds. And even if this bling isn't your style, never fear - how can you look gauche when the stuff is too small to see? • Jon Ca rtwright is a freelance journalist based in Bristol, UK

COVER STORY

s The U n ited Nations h a s m a d e 2010 its Yea r of B i od ivers ity, Wh i l e th ere co u l d be a s m a ny a s 3 0 m i l l i on species o n th i s teem i n g p l a n et so fa r fewer t h a n

2 m i l l ion h ave been i d entified, That i n cl u des a sta g g e r i n g 114,000 cata l og u ed in the p a st th ree yea rs a l o n e , O u r exp loration of l i fe i s j u st b eg i n n i n g , N o won d e r th e U N i s keen th at th i s yea r s h o u l d be one of ce l e b ration , It i s a l so t i m e to ta ke stock, thou g h , H u m a n a ctivities a re ca u s i n g a m a ss ext i n ction, but the r i g ht a ct i o n now cou l d p u l l l i fe back from the bri n k, At l a st we a re beg i n n i n g to u n dersta n d what g e n e rates b i od ivers ity (Th e h ot zon e,

page 32) a n d what m a kes a good

conservation p rogra m m e (Pa ra d ise reg a i n ed,

page 36), We ca n a l so p red i ct

h ow o u r a ctiviti es today wi l l s h a p e

b i o d iversity i n th e futu re (After the fa l l ,

page 38) , It i s a soberi ng v i s i o n - but o n e

that i s sti l l i n our powe r t o c h a n g e ,

32 1 NewScientist 1 24 April 2010

Being warm and wet does wonders for l ife in the Amazon

times as many species of animal and plant as the Arctic, with diversity decreasing steadily as you approach the poles. This gradient holds true for both land and the abyssal ocean depths. The big question, though, is why? What is it about the tropics that so fosters biodiversity? It is a mystery that has puzzled biologists for decades, and Yasuni might help us find an answer. According to one classic theory, the reason is simply that there is more habitable space around the equator than at the poles. On the face of it, this seems to make sense. The tropics encompass an area nearly five times

"Speciation rates cou l d be parti cul arly h i g h at the tropi cs, making them a cradle of biodiversity" the size of the Earth's polar regions, and there is some evidence that habitable space is correlated with the number of species on land. Research in the ocean tells a different story, however. David Jablonski at the University of Chicago and his colleagues are involved in a long-term study of living and fossil marine bivalves, a group that includes oysters, mussels, cockles, clams and scallops. Looking at present-day biodiversity patterns in 4000 bivalve species, they have found no relationship between habitable area - in this case, continental shelf­ and the number of bivalve species. "Habitable area just doesn't explain marine diversity gradients," Jablonski says. EEP in the western Amazon lies the Yasuni National Park. Packed within an Perhaps biodiversity at sea and on land are average hectare of this dense, steamy governed by different rules. The traditional Ecuadorian rainforest are more species of explanation for patterns of marine tree than are native to the US and Canada biodiversity is known as Rapoport's rule. combined, as well as 150 types of amphibian The idea here is that ocean-dwelling species and an estimated 100,000 insect species. "It's in the tropics are very sensitive to hard to get very far, because every few minutes temperature, so are restricted to small ranges you see or hear something new," says Matt where the water is just right, whereas species Finer of Save America's Forests, based in in cooler waters can tolerate a broader range Washington DC. According to work by Finer of temperatures, and so spread out. This and others, published in January, there are could explain why large numbers of species more different life forms in Yasuni than are packed together in the tropics, but it anywhere else in South America. It may well doesn't seem to hold consistently. "There are be the most biodiverse place in the world. more exceptions to this rule than strong If Yasuni does indeed hold this title, its examples," says Jablonski, "which means it's tropical location will come as no surprise to not much of a rule." > biologists. The tropics boast more than 10 So what are the alternatives? Some

D

24 April 2010 1 N ewScientist 1 33

Hotspots and high drama Proximity to the equator may

The evolution of more than

ago. The big crunch a llowed

be enough to explain some

100 species of carnations in

mammals to move into new

biodiversity hotspots, but other factors can also lead to the

Europe - the most rapid speci ation of any plant or

habitats and d iversify. Recent research also indicates that it

flowering of species. Prom inent

vertebrate ever recorded -

was responsible for the

among them are dramatic,

coincided with the start of

m igration and speciation of

environment-changing events.

a change in climate towards

various tropical birds

For example, asteroid i mpacts

greater seasonality and drier

(Proceedings of the National

summers during the Pleistocene,

Academy of Sciences, vol 106,

explosion of new life forms

around 2 million years ago

p 21737).

during the Ordovician period,

(Proceedings of the Royal

which began 489 million years

Society 8, 001: 10.10981

appears to play a role in marine

ago. Birger Schm itz, a geologist at the University of Lund in

rspb.2009.2163). Meanwhile, Madagascar's famed biodiversity

biodiversity. The main hotspot in the Ma lay Archipelago is right

Sweden, suspects the

seems to owe a debt to changing

in the reg i on where the

bombardments created loca lised

ocean currents, which brought

Eurasian, Austra lian and Pacificl

could have underpinned the

Plate tectonics a lso

extinctions and new habitats,

the island's animals ancestors

Philippine sea plates collide,

which life then evolved to inhabit.

from mainland Africa around

creating lots of new and varied

A similar event is thought to have led to the extinction of 85 per cent of species, including the

50 million years ago (Nature,

habitats. Indeed, major tectonic

vol 463, p 653).

events often seem to coincide

A key event influencing

with marine biodiversity: over

d inosaurs, at the end of the

biod iversity in the Americas

the past 50 million years at least

Cretaceous period. This created

was the formation of a land

three such hotspots have moved

an immense evolutionary space

bridge joining north to south

across a lmost half the g lobe

for other species to fill.

between 3 and 4 million years

(Science, vol

researchers have argued that speciation rates, both terrestrial and marine, could be much higher in the tropics, making them a "cradle" of biodiversity. Others have suggested that extinction rates are the decisive factor, with species less likely to become extinct near the equator than at higher latitudes, making the tropics a "museum" of biodiversity. To tease out these alternatives, Jablonski and his colleagues focused on three key factors: the rate at which species have evolved in any given location, the local extinction rate, and the immigration rate of new species. Lack of both sunshine and surface area may constrain polar diversity

34 1 NewScientist 1 24 April 2010

321, p 654).

towards the poles (Science, vol314, p 102). Since then, a few other teams have found more evidence that the tropics are both a cradle and a museum of biodiversity. Not all research backs the idea, though. Last October, Martin Buzas of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC and Stephen Culver of East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, published a study of the 259 species of foraminifera - single-celled, seabed­ dwelling animals that secrete a durable shell­ living along the Atlantic coast of North America. They found not only that equal numbers of these originated in tropical and temperate regions but that three-quarters of the species that had evolved at higher latitudes were now also found in the tropics (Geology, vol37, p 879). These results are very interesting, says Jablonski, although he points out that the Caribbean underwent a major extinction event between 2 and 3 million years ago, which might at least partly account for Buzas's findings.

Some like it hot

If the tropics are indeed the "engine" of biodiversity, with more species evolving In painstaking work published in 2006, they here than anywhere else, why could this be? found that three-quarters of the genera of Shane Wright at the University of Auckland, marine bivalves that exist today evolved in the New Zealand, has a possible explanation. tropics and then spread out towards the poles, He compared the genes of 45 common while also remaining in their original habitat. tropical plants with plants from cooler regions, and found that the tropical species So the tropics are a cradle of biodiversity. But that's not all. There are also a number of old had more than twice the rate of molecular genera in the tropics, indicating that tropical evolution (Proceedings of the National extinction rates are lower than in temperate Academy ofSciences, VOl 103, p 7718). regions. So the tropics are also a museum of Warmer temperatures could increase metabolic rates and rates of DNA replication, diversity. The researchers conclude that their findings support an "out of the tropics" Wright suggests. This would raise the theory to explain decreasing diversity mutation rate, which, via natural selection,

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could lead to a proliferation of new species. The idea has its detractors, however. uI don't think DNA replication rates are driving speciation," says Stuart Pimm at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. ulf it were just temperature, then deserts would have more species." He also points out that marine diversity varies considerably within equatorial regions. Nevertheless, warmer temperatures may at least be important for sustaining biodiversity by providing plenty of energy to fuel crowded ecosystems. This seems to be the case in Yasuni National Park. It is consistently warm, with average monthly temperatures between 24 °C and 27 °c, and temperatures by night never dropping below 10 °C, which can damage tender plants. The steady climate means fruit and flowers are always available, providing plenty of food for animals. As well as sunshine, Yasuni also has plenty of that other stuff oflife - water - with higher rainfall than the Amazonian average (PLoS ONE, vol S, p e8767). uAs best as we can tell, one of the driving forces for Vas uni's extraordinary biodiversity is that it is ever warm and ever wet," says Finer.

Jablonski agrees that such conditions may help explain high tropical biodiversity. UEnergy input - perhaps not its mean annual value but some combination of annual average and seasonality - is very likely to be an important factor," he says. In the oceans also, Jablonski's team has found a strong relationship between the amount of energy

"Conserving the tropics is essentia l . Disrupt them and you cut off the sou rce of diversity at a l l latitu des" from the sun entering a region of water and the number of species present. In addition, stable levels of sunlight can mean stable levels of nutrients in the ocean, though more work is needed to understand the impact of this on marine diversity, he adds. Finding that biodiversity is correlated with temperature and nutrient availability is just the start. The mechanisms by which factors such as these might generate the global biodiversity gradient are still open to debate.

Unravelling this puzzle is a huge challenge that will require the analysis of massive environmental and diversity data sets. Improvements in computing power are making this increasingly possible, says Jablonski. But he cautions that there may not be one simple solution to explain global biodiversity. ult might be that we'll look back and think that our biggest step forward was the realisation that different groups of organisms built their latitudinal gradients by different mechanisms and over different timescales," he says. Meanwhile, the knowledge we already have can be put to good use to guide our conservation efforts. "The tropics aren't just the biggest reservoir ofbiodiversity, they are also the engine ofbiodiversity - the crucible where major adaptations and new lineages are formed," says Jablonski. uSo the conservation of the tropics is essential. Disrupt that engine beyond recovery, and you have not only stalled tropical diversification, you've cut off the source of diversity at all latitudes. It's a global issue." • Emma You n g is a writer based in Sydney, Australia 24 April 2010 1 NewScientist 1 35

ara ise regained Co nservati on ca n be a frustrati n g busi ness, but Graham Lawton d i scove rs a su ccess sto ry

A

SMALL black-and-white bird lands in front of me in a clearing in the forest. It hops about on the ground almost within touching distance, eyeing me curiously but seemingly unafraid, before vanishing in a flurry of wings. I have just had my first sight of a Seychelles magpie robin, one of the rarest animals on Earth. My encounter happened on Cousin Island, 29 hectares of glittering white sand and forest in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Once a heavily degraded coconut plantation, Cousin is now a nature reserve managed by the organisation Nature Seychelles, which goes to extraordinary lengths to restore and preserve endangered species. Cousin is internationally recognised as a model of good conservation practice. "The whole island is a success," says David Richardson, a molecular ecologist at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK, who has been working on Cousin since 1997. "It's a fantastic example of how conservation and science can go hand in hand." The rehabilitation of Cousin Island began in 1968, when it was owned by the Seychelles royal family. "It was entirely cultivated with coconuts," says Nirmal Shah, chief executive of Nature Seychelles. It was also the final refuge of another of the archipelago's endemic birds, the Seychelles brush warbler (now simply called the Seychelles warbler). By the 1960s, the warbler was confined to a tiny patch of mangrove swamp, and the population was wavering between 25 and 30 individuals. In a bid to save it from oblivion, a consortium of conservation organisations led by the International Council for the Protection of Birds (now Birdlife International) offered to buy the island. Its owners let it go for just £17,700. Today, Cousin Island is priceless. The population of Seychelles warblers is up to 3 20 individuals, close to the number the island can comfortably support. The species has also been reintroduced to three nearby islands, boosting its total population into the thousands. As a result, it has been reclassified from " critically endangered" to "vulnerable" - the lowest threat level on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Shah believes 36 1 NewScientist 1 24 April 2010

it will be off the list in two years. While still classed as endangered, the Seychelles magpie robin - actually a species of flycatcher - is likewise heading in the right direction. In 1981, when Nature Seychelles stepped in, the global population was just 18 individuals confined to one island, Fregate (Biological Conservation, vo1 61, p 93). It is now found on five islands, including Cousin, and numbers are at a far healthier 200. "It is still a very small population," says Shah, "but we have pulled it back from the brink."

Wildl ife bonanza It is not just land birds that are thriving on Cousin Island. Vast colonies of seabirds nest here too, including white-tailed tropicbirds and the ethereally beautiful fairy terns. The forest is crawling with rare skinks and geckos, and giant tortoises plod about. Rare land crabs and hermit crabs abound. It is also the most important nesting site for hawksbill turtles in the western Indian Ocean. According to a forthcoming paper in Endangered Species Research, the past 30 years have seen an eightfold increase in the nesting population on Cousin. "This is long-awaited proof that conservation works even for long­ lived and critically endangered species," says Shah, one of the authors of the paper. This season alone, Nature Seychelles has observed hundreds of female hawksbills nesting on the island - though disappointingly there were none around on the day of my visit. So what's the secret of Cousin's success? Crucially, unlike other islands in the Seychelles, it has never been invaded by rats or cats. This saved the local birds and lizards from the pressure of predation, something they are not adapted to as the archipelago lacks endemic terrestrial mammals. As a result, animals such as the warbler were able to cling on in Cousin even when the native flora was largely replaced by coconuts. Cousin Island is a key nesti ng site for rare hawksbi l l turtles

T h i rty years ago there were just 18 Seychelles magpie robins on Earth

I s l a n d s of h o p e The success of Nature Seychel les i s a n i n sp iration for other conservation projects

Denis

on the island. Unauthorised visitors are likely to be deterred by the treacherous approach, which entails waiting for a lull in the swell, then driving a speedboat at full tilt directly onto the beach. There is also an exclusion INDIAN OCEAN zone around the island to prevent fishing and poaching of sea cucumbers and shells. Any materials brought onto the island, for example to repair the plantation workers' huts that are now home to Nature Seychelles' Cousin staff, have to be screened for rats. Ecotourism plays a vital role. Cousin is only a short boat ride from Praslin, the second largest island in the Seychelles, and Nature Seychelles runs educational tours of Cousin Fregate from there. Visitors have to abide by strict rules, such as not taking shells so as not to put pressure on hermit crabs. All the money raised 20 km goes back into conservation. Nature Seychelles is now applying the Cousin model to other islands in the archipelago. To succeed, however, they first To return the island to a wildlife paradise, the conservationists first had to cut down the have to get rid of the rats and cats. "To coconut palms and allow the native vegetation eradicate rats, we bomb the island with to regenerate. Most of the plants on Cousin are warfarin," says Shah. "The cats we catch or now endemics, making it the only island in the shoot. Once the rats and cats are removed, Seychelles largely free of alien flora - though it some animals invade naturally, such as skinks. is a constant battle to keep it that way. As Shah Then we plant forests and bring back birds. Over the past 10 years we have done five shows me around, he points out a pawpaw islands." The most successful of these is a sapling that will have to be removed. privately owned coral atoll called Denis Island. Rigorous monitoring and management A few years ago it had no native birds; today have also been essential. Both the magpie it has magpie robins, warblers, fodies and robin and the warbler populations are being paradise flycatchers. managed to maximise their limited genetic diversity and so reduce their susceptibility to Such "translocations" are helping to save disease. Transferring birds between islands is species that had little hope before Nature Seychelles stepped in. "Except for Madagascar, one way of doing this, says Richardson. These measures aside, nobody except the Seychelles had the most critically endangered bird species in Africa," says Shah. Nature Seychelles has the right to land a boat "We have moved these species down the IUCN Red List - that's an indicator of success." The implications of this remarkable story run far beyond the archipelago, however. "The Seychelles does have a special set of circumstances -islands that are small enough to be de-ratted, an income stream from ecotourists, and good management," says Richardson. "But I think it could work in other places." Even where that is not possible, Shah believes that the successes of Nature Seychelles should inspire anyone working against the tide of biodiversity destruction. "It shows that conservation works, and it can work in our lifetime. You hear so many doom­ and-gloom stories. Every year IUCN publishes another list of species on the brink. But we can do it. There are success stories." • Graham Lawton is deputy editor at New Scientist 24 Apri l 2010 1 NewScientist 1 37

fter the fall H u ma ns a re ca usi n g the sixth mass exti ncti on on Ea rth, but we wi l l a lso sha pe l ife's recove ry, says Michael Le Page

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metre-tall kangaroo; the car-sized armadillos called glyptodons; giant lemurs and elephant birds from Madagascar. Almost as soon as humans evolved, we began killing off other species, not just by hunting but also by changing the landscape with fire. Now we are altering the planet more rapidly and profoundly than ever, and much of the diversity produced by half a billion years of evolution could be lost in the next few centuries. We are triggering a mass extinction that could be as severe as the one that ended the reign of the dinosaurs. Given enough time, biodiversity will recover. Extinctions create new evolutionary opportunities for the survivors: the blossoming of mammals after the dinosaurs died out ultimately led to our evolution, after habitable area would remain for each if all. But the aftermath of this Anthropocene the world warmed by between 1.5 and 2.5 0c. extinction will not be like any other. Humans have become the main driving force in Based on these figures, the team estimated evolution -and life will never be the same again. that between 15 and 37 per cent of species The list of threats we pose to biodiversity will be "committed to extinction" by 2050 is long. We are killing many creatures directly, (Nature, vo1 427, p 145). "There are very large uncertainties," Thomas destroying habitats, introducing exotic admits. "But it is equally likely for things to predators and diseases, and pumping out be worse than we are suggesting." Indeed, pollution. Already, a tenth of birds, a fifth without drastic action the world will warm of mammals and a third of amphibians are regarded as threatened. by far more than 2 0c. "We are subjecting our biota to environmental conditions not seen Rapid climate change will make matters even worse. Warming threatens a lot of species for more than 10 million years," Thomas says. The combination of so many different that might otherwise be able to cope with challenges will make it increasingly difficult the changes inflicted by humans, says Chris Thomas at the University of York in the UK. for species to cope. "It's this perfect storm of To work out how many species are at risk, extinction drivers that's the problem," says Thomas and colleagues looked at the climatic David Jablonski of the University of Chicago. conditions required by 1000 representative Loss of diversity is not just the result of these > species and used them to work out how much challenges, it is also part of the problem. 3 8 1 NewScientist 1 24 April 2010

24 April 2010 1 NewScientist 1 39

Plummeting population levels have already greatly reduced the genetic diversity within many species, decreasing their chances of adapting to changing environments by depriving them of the raw material needed for evolution. As well as this, extinctions can lead to further extinctions, because so many species depend on others. And as ecosystems become less diverse, they generally become less resilient to change. "The worse it gets, the worse it gets," says Jablonski. The collapse of ecosystems will have huge economic consequences. From flooding in Haiti to dust storms in Beijing, the effects of environmental degradation are already hitting us hard. The loss of more coral reefs, for instance, would be a disaster for many fisheries and tourist resorts, and their death and erosion will leave formerly protected coastlines vulnerable to the ocean.

No one can predict exactly what the Earth of our descendants will look like. However, there are some clues in what's happening right now. Our influence is so profound that we are altering the evolutionary pressures that shape life. There have already been very large and quick behavioural changes as landscapes become "humanscapes", says Western. Foxes and coyotes are adapting to life in cities, and elephants have started moving out of parks at night to feed at the fringes of settlements before returning in the morning to avoid us. Human pressures are also producing genetic changes in wildlife. As a result of poaching for ivory, for instance, tuskless elephants are evolving. "There will be a new round of evolution," says Western. "We are already seeing that." Almost all biologists believe that the age of megafauna is over. Large, slow-to-reproduce animals are the most likely to become extinct and, at least on land, those that do survive will Dawn of the minifauna not have the vast expanses of habitat needed Some believe there is still time to stave off for further speciation. The greater pressures on large animals will downsize entire the worst. "The level of extinction can be considerably modified," says David Western communities, says Western. For example, of the African Conservation Centre in Nairobi, small antelope are likely to become more Kenya. For example, we must restore animals' common than larger herbivores on the African freedom to move, as the current strategy of savannah, which would lead to lions becoming trying to protect areas of high biodiversity will smaller too. Lions may also become more not work if species are trapped in increasingly benign as we kill off the aggressive individuals unsuitable climate zones. Transporting species that encroach on human settlements. "There to areas that have a more suitable climate is also will be a transformation of large animals an option, although this would be expensive to ones that are compatible with the so could only be used for a few species. humanscape," Western says. The species most likely to thrive will be Other researchers are more pessimistic. "We can turn the ship a little," says Jablonski. The small ones that are easily spread around by main problem he sees is a lack of political will. humans and good at colonising new territory -

pests, weeds and pathogens. "It's not good to be big or rare," says Jablonski. "You want to be a rat, or a weed, or a cockroach." In theory, as humans fragment habitats, evolution may throw up new species, especially small mammals and insects - but these might not be very resilient. They may limp along and easily go extinct, Jablonski says. So the ecosystems of the future are likely to be far poorer affairs, with fewer species, fewer

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vol u2, P 191). The idea is that environmental gradients produce genetic gradients within species as subpopulations adapt to local conditions. The resulting diversity can give rise to new species if, say, the populations at the extreme ends of the gradient become isolated. In the future, ecologists might go even further and actively manage ecosystems in a way that promotes evolutionary processes that produce biodiversity. "It's a damn good idea," says Cowling. Finally, we might generate diversity in an even more direct way. We have already created millions of new varieties of plants and animals through selective breeding, and many of these creatures, from mustangs and burros to the dingo, have established feral populations. In the vacuum left by a mass extinction, many more domesticated species may turn wild and genetically modified domesticates could have a particularly dramatic impact. Take the increasing interest in boosting the efficiency of photosynthesis to increase food production. Most plants capture less than links between species and a dearth of large 2 per cent of available energy. If this proportion be saved this way. Nevertheless, that fraction animals. Anyone who has dived on a degraded could include not only many charismatic can be significantly increased, the resulting "superphotosynthesisers" might outcompete megafauna - revived by cloning, perhaps­ reef knows the sort of thing to expect: a dazzling array of corals swarming with fish many wild plants over the next few millennia, but also keystone species that play a vital role of all shapes and sizes giving way to algae­ in maintaining ecosystems, such as corals. The compounding biodiversity loss. On a covered rocks with barely a tiddler in sight. geological timescale, however, they could Zoological Society of London is considering After previous mass extinctions, the lead to unprecedented levels of diversity, creating a "cryobank" of frozen corals, which recovery of biodiversity took millions of years. can be revived simply by thawing them. because more energy would be available to Coral reefs, for example, did not reappear The second thing people could do to aid the life than ever before. until about 10 million years after the Permian­ recovery of biodiversity would be to manage Things might get wilder still if we create Triassic extinction (see diagram, left). The artificial life. Some researchers are trying to recovery from the Anthropocene extinction "The recovery fro m the produce truly synthetic organisms whose could be different, however, as we are already chemistry is unlike anything alive today. It is Anthropoce ne exti nction laying the foundations that will allow our unlikely that such organisms could survive descendants to speed up the process. outside laboratories, as they would have to co uld be fa r faster than For starters, we are preserving samples of compete with species honed by billions of previous mass exti nctions" endangered species so that they can be revived years of evolution, but it might just happen. if necessary. There are over 1400 plant "gene This vision of a world in which biodiversity banks" worldwide storing millions of seeds, habitats in a way that allows evolution to depends largely on clones of long-extinct mostly from food plants but also some wild continue. This is now being tried in the Cape creatures, feral animals, genetically modified species. Animals are also being stored as frozen region of South Africa, home to some of the organisms, human-directed evolution and tissue samples. The Frozen Zoo at San Diego Zoo most diverse flora in the world. "Species come perhaps even artificial life will sound like a in California contains over 8000 samples from and species go," says Richard Cowling of the nightmare to many people. But it is just a 800 species or subspecies, and many similar Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port continuation of the process that began as projects are being set up around the world. Elizabeth. "You've got to preserve the processes." soon as our ancestors started reshaping the Even assuming that civilisation survives To that end, Cowling has helped to devise a landscape and meddling with evolution. And and that gene banks get the funding they need conservation plan for the region that focuses if we don't do more about the accelerating rate to store many more samples, to look after of extinctions, it is perhaps the best outcome not only on preserving distinct kinds of habitats, but also the gradients between our descendants can hope for . • them for the next few centuries and to revive species as suitable habitat becomes available, them, such as between soil types and Michael Le Page is a features editor at New Scientist only a tiny fraction of the world's species could micro-climates (Biological Conservation, 24 April 2010 1 NewScientist 1 41

42 1 NewScientist 1 24 April 2010

The truth about mephed rone I n the wa ke of hyste ri a i n the B ritish med i a ove r

the latest l eg a l h i g h, Nic Fleming so rts the facts fro m fi cti on - a n d tri es it fo r h i mself

"

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EGAL high kills two teens," cried the Daily Express. "Legal drug teen ripped his scrotum off," roared The Sun. A steady stream of stories in the UK media about a little-known "legal high", variously called mephedrone, plant food, miaow-miaow or m-cat, reached fever pitch last month. Newspapers, teachers and parents demanded an immediate ban. Les Iversen, the UK government's chief drugs adviser, recommended that the drug be put in the same class as amphetamines, making possession punishable by five years in prison. The government rushed through an emergency ban on mephedrone and related compounds that became law last week. This knee-jerk response may not be surprising, but what is far from clear is whether criminalisation is the right thing to do to reduce drug harm. While mephedrone has been loudly implicated in at least 27 deaths in the UK and Guernsey, its presence has been confirmed in just 11 of these cases and found by coroners to be a contributing factor in just two, according to a report produced by John Corkery of the National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths, based in St George's, University of London. There is virtually no published research on

how the substance affects the human body. Iversen himself recently admitted that "there is no data on toxicity that I could find". Intrigued at the rush to action despite the lack of hard evidence, I decided to try to sort the facts from the frenzied speculation (see "Miaow-miaow myths", page 44). Mephedrone is a synthetic analogue of the herbal amphetamine cathinone, found naturally in the leaves of the khat plant, Catha edulis. Chewing khat leaves is a popular practice in some east African communities. Mephedrone, or 4-methylmethcathinone, is part of a family of synthetic cathinones created to mimic khat's stimulant properties. Its precise origins are unclear, though early reports suggest it was being supplied by an Israeli legal-high seller called Neorganics as far back as 2007. Fearing it would affect army conscripts, the Israeli government banned mephedrone later that year.

Ra pid growth Around that time, mephedrone began appearing on internet chat forums, and the drug seems to have spread rapidly since: significant use is now reported in Sweden, Finland, the UK, Ireland and Australia. The

vast majority of mephedrone is produced in China and sold to dealers for between £2500 and £4000 per kilogram. No one knows how much is being exported globally. What is clear is that a lot of people are using it. An online survey of 2222 readers of the British clubbing magazine Mixmag, published in January suggested that mephedrone had become the fourth most popular drug among the readers of the website, after cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine. "We've never had a drug become so popular so quickly, about which we know so little," says Fiona Measham, a criminologist at Lancaster University, UK, and member of the UK government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). The emergence of legal highs like mephedrone, however, should come as no surprise. "When restrictions are placed on the supply of drugs and demand remains high, you get substance displacement," says Danny Kushlick of Transform, a UK think tank opposed to drug prohibition. Key factors in mephedrone's extraordinary rise in Europe have been the success of crackdowns on ecstasy and cocaine supply, and a fall in quality of these drugs. The purity of cocaine seized by the police in England and Wales dropped from over 60 per cent in 1999 to 22 per cent in 2009, and about half of ecstasy pills seized last year contained no MD MA, ecstasy's active ingredient. I decided to see for myself how easy it would be to get hold of mephedrone. A quick online search for "mephedrone" revealed hundreds of websites. Moments later I was on the phone ordering a special delivery of 5 grams of "plant food" for £60, plus £25 for courier delivery. Two hours later a courier called from outside my house. He insisted I sign a disclaimer saying I knew mephedrone was not for human consumption, then > 24 Apri l 2010 1 NewScientist 1 43

handed over a brown, padded envelope. I sent a sample to Mark Parkin at the Department of Forensic Science and Drug Monitoring at King's College London. Parkin compared a detailed chemical analysis of the compounds present with a reference sample. He found the two were "95 to 98 per cent identical". The remainder was likely to be unreacted precursor chemicals, Parkin says. My sample was about as pure as they come. I began to entertain the idea of trying the drug, to find out for myself about its effects and to enable me to gain a more informed perspective. I had concerns about the effects on my health: I had been warned that large doses could probably kill those at particular risk by inducing a heart attack. Nevertheless, I reasoned, we all take risks. I go rock-climbing and snowboarding, not to mention crossing the roads of London. But I resolved that before trying it I would find out as much as I could about its effects. The basic problem with any discussion of mephedrone is the lack of reliable data on its

"There are practica l ly no publ ished studies on me phed rone, j ust user su rveys and anecdotes"

effects, toxicity and prevalence of use. While the effects of some substances that have become popular as recreational drugs in recent years, such as ketamine and GHB, have previously been studied, there are practically no published studies on mephedrone - just user surveys and anecdotal accounts. Users describe the drug's effects as similar to those of ecstasy or amphetamine. "Any psychoactive substance carries with it a set of risks," says Adam Winstock, from the National Addiction Centre at King's College London, who carried out the Mixmag survey. Winstock adds that from the little known about the substance's toxicology, groups he

M IAOW - M IAOW MYTHS Myth 1 : The m issing scrotum

In November 2009 The Sun newspaper in the UK published a story under the headline: "Legal drug teen ripped his scrotum off", Quoting a police report, the paper said an unnamed teenager high on mephedrone needed hospital treatment after he tried to "rip off his testicles", Acting Sergeant Michael Urwin of Barnard Castle in north-east England told New Scientist 'That particular information came from a section of the website mephedrone,com, under the heading 'Experiences'," The Press Association news agency had obtained the police report and written up the scrotum story but omitted a warning from the police report that it had come from an internet site and so may or may not have been true, says Urwin, The owner of mephedrone,com told New Scientistthat the story had been published online as a joke, Myth 2: G irl dies of mephedrone use

Gabrielle Price, 14, died after taking the drug at a party in Brighton, UK, in November 2009, News reports linked her death with mephedrone, Three

44 1 N ewScientist 1 24 April 2010

weeks later, the results of toxicology tests showed the cause of death was "cardiac arrest following broncho­ pneumonia which resulted from streptococcal A infection", This received much less coverage, Despite this verdict, her case is still being quoted as "linked" to use of the drug, At the time of writing, coroners found mephedrone was involved in just two of 27 fatalities in which it had been implicated, Myth 3: It's plant food

Many media outlets - including the BBC and UK newspaper The Guardian - have described mephedrone as being used as plant food, BBC radio presenter Jeremy Vine even expressed his astonishment that people would put fertiliser up their nose, A week after Vine's show, The Guardian still thought mephedrone was "commonly used as plant food", It is not At about £12 per gram, it would be a rather expensive way to boost your tomato crop, The "plant food" moniker is purely a marketing tool used to get around the fact that it is illegal to sell the substance for human consumption,

would advise to steer clear of mephedrone include those aged 21 or under, anyone with mental health problems, those with neurological, cardiac or blood-pressure conditions and anyone with a history of alcohol or drug problems. I fall into none of these categories. I decided to take a small quantity of mephedrone and measure some of my vital signs throughout the experience (see "My mephedrone moments", opposite). As you will by now have surmised, I survived. That's not so surprising. In 2001 Alasdair Forsyth, now at Glasgow Caledonian University in the UK, illustrated how the public's perception of drug risks is distorted by selective reporting. He published a 10-year review of drug deaths in Scotland which showed that the chance of newspapers reporting a death from an overdose of paracetamol (acetaminophen) was 1 in 250, whereas a death from amphetamine had a 1 in 3 chance of being reported, and deaths from ecstasy were always reported. David Nutt, who set up the UK's new Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) after being sacked by the government from his position as chairman of the ACMD, published a paper last year stating that there was a serious adverse outcome when horse­ riding in about 1 in 350 events, compared with about 1 in 10,000 for those taking ecstasy. That's not to say that taking mephedrone is without risk. I experienced a significant increase in heart rate from 80 beats per minute to a peak of 110 after snorting the drug. A sustained increased heart rate of over 100 beats could be dangerous, says Ann Robinson, a London-based general-practice doctor. "In susceptible individuals, this could trigger a heart attack or even sudden death." I also took a smaller dose compared with what other users report taking. The dangers of larger or more frequent doses are unknown.

Criminal offence The UK's ban on mephedrone will add it to a growing number of nations prohibiting the substance. In the US, mephedrone's chemical similarity to MDMA means it is banned under the Controlled Substances Act. Mephedrone possession is a criminal offence in at least 13 other countries. Some think a ban would do more harm than good. "We know what happens when you make demand-led drugs illegal," says Kushlick. "All you do is push the price up and hand the trade to organised criminals. You make it dirty

My mephed rone moments A powerful rush hits my brain, leaving me light-headed and d isorientated. My left nostril burns and a bitter taste

a first-hand experience seemed the most honest way of doing so.

and relaxed. Sixteen m inutes after taking the full dose, my heart rate

half an hour and snorted a

and blood pressure peaked at 110

30-milligram line of the white powder.

bpm and 179/89. My temperature

watching over me to try the d rug.

This led to a gentle, l ight-headed

had increased to 36.8 0c.

Curious to know its impact o n m y vital

feeling and the dilation of my pupils.

Two-and-a-half hours later - vital

signs, 1 first measured my heart

signs back to normal - I went to bed and fell asleep easily enough. After 3 hours 1 woke up from a vivid

One evening a month ago 1 got

leaks i nto the back of my throat.

together with a "clean" friend

The rush hit just 3 m inutes after I'd snorted a line of mephedrone . . . 1 have never taken ecstasy or any

The only effect was a m ild burning sensation in my nostril. 1 waited for

amphetam ine, which mephedrone

rate - 80 beats per m inute (bpm) - my

After waiting another 30 minutes, 1 took a further 100 milligrams.

is most often com pared to. 1 was

blood pressure - 113/66 millimetres

1 d id not have long to wait before a

warned that large doses could

of mercury - and body temperature

powerful head rush hit. My heart rate

nightmare. My heart was pounding

probably kill vu lnerable people, by inducing a heart attack, but decided

at 35.9 0c. Users report a typica l dose to be 100 to 200 milligrams, so 1

was up to 85 bpm and my blood pressure to 175/86. A feeling of

and fluttering, and my feetwere very sweaty. 1 went back to sleep and

to try it to make an informed and

measured out and took 10 m i l l igra ms

euphoria swept over me. 1 became

awoke a few hours late r feeling a

objective a ppraisal of its effects -

of the drug as a precautionary test.

more sociable, ta lkative, attentive

bit tired but otherwise normal.

Mephedrone was easy enough to buy online

and dangerous, and you force people into crime to support an expensive habit." And even if the UK ban on mephedrone works, it won't be long before an alternative comes along. "We've seen designer drugs appearing over many years but the rate at which they are appearing is speeding up," says Les King, a former member of the ACMD and now a member of Nutt's ISCD. Indeed, in the last five years, piperazine derivatives such as BZP and CPP, synthetic cannabinoids including "spice" and now synthetic cathinones including mephedrone have come along in quick succession. The Psychonaut Web Mapping Project, a pan­ European effort to track trends in legal highs, has built up a database of more than 400 novel substances by monitoring some 200

internet forums over the last two years. Last year the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction warned that the legal highs market was constantly one step ahead of the authorities. It called for improved monitoring of emerging trends and quicker, more flexible approaches to controlling substances. In an attempt to avoid having to deliberate on each individual compound as it appears, the new law controls not just mephedrone but a whole group of synthetic cathinones, including those such as methylone and butylone, which are already emerging as recreational drugs, and others not yet in widespread use. But even that won't stall things for long. Police in Europe and the US have already seized drugs from a completely

new family of compounds now being sold as legal highs. Another option is the so-called "Class D" approach. BZP was widely used in New Zealand during the first few years of the new millennium. In 2005 the nation's parliament introduced controls that fell short of a ban, but made it illegal to sell the drug to anyone under 18, to give it away or advertise it. The aim was to introduce controls while gathering evidence on harms. Two years later the government's advisory committee reported there was moderate risk of harm and in 2008 it was banned. This "holding position" option was rejected by the UK government last year. Nutt says this is the reason for the rise in popularity of mephedrone. Meanwhile, the inaccuracies and sensationalism of the mainstream media in its approach to reporting on drugs can only hasten its already diminishing relevance to the generation that is more likely to trust what it reads on Twitter and Facebook. "What we are seeing with mephedrone is an example of the coming-of-age of the internet in terms of disseminating awareness about a drug and as a method of supply and distribution," says Martin Barnes, chief executive of UK drugs charity Drugscope and a member of the ACMD. While demand for thrills from drugs, legal or otherwise, remains undiminished, those making money by supplying this demand will find a way to continue doing so. Until humans no longer seek to alter their state of mind through intoxication, the cat-and-mouse game over miaow-miaow and its successors will continue . • Nic Fleming is a freelance journalist based in London 24 April 2010 1 NewScientist 1 45

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O u r h i d d en su perpowers T h i s e n g a g i ng b o o k shows how w e ca n ta p i nto t h e power of ou r se nses, says

See What I'm Saying: The extraordinary powers of ourfive senses by Lawrence D, Rosenblum, W. W. Norton, $26,95

CAN you really see what I'm 1 - saying? In this e. p fiTh'J ,w lat entertaining II book, perceptual psychologist �;��fU1f' Lawrence Rosenblum goes beyond this metaphorical catchphrase to show that everyone can and does. This is not a book about synaesthesia, nor one about super-senses that make individuals see the world in curious ways. Rather, it shows how the scope of everyone's perception is greater than we realise, thanks to the ways that senses reinforce one another, giving us a unified picture of everyday reality taken from multiple perspectives. While it makes for a fascinating read, the research Rosenblum surrounding loudspeakers. Smell can also affect the gist draws on is not always new. For example, we have long known of what we hear, biasing attitudes that hearing is strongly toward the speaker. Even scents influenced by sight, and that we cannot consciously detect hearing-impaired people are not shade attitudes, judgements alone in having lip-reading skills. and overt behaviours. We all lip-read to some extent In accessible language, when we strain to understand what others are saying at noisy " Normally we think of the cocktail parties, and even in tongue as a taste organ, private one-on-one conversations. but it is also loaded with Sight and sound are so touch receptors" tightly joined that even bad Rosenblum guides us to novel ventriloquists convince us that the dummy moving its lips is first-hand experiences, then explains the science behind them. doing the talking. At the cinema, we likewise believe that dialogue Particularly fun is when he puts himself under the microscope. I comes from actors' mouths and enjoyed following him as he rode ambient sounds from objects on with a group of blind mountain the screen rather than the ,'w,"

saying -

46 1 NewScie ntist 1 24 Apri l 2010

Daniel Kish relies on hearing where most others use sight

bikers led by Daniel Kish, who has been sightless since childhood. The bikers navigate complicated routes by clicking their tongues and listening to the reflected sounds, echolocating just as bats, whales and dolphins do - a skill anyone can learn, Rosenblum says. In fact, throughout the book he argues that anyone can improve the scope of all their senses through self-awareness and a little practice. Another excursion takes Rosenblum and his guests to a pitch-black restaurant where the diners discover that, without sight, every course tastes bland.

Richard (ytowic However, I wish Rosenblum had explained that the links between colour, lightness and intensity are well understood by chefs as well as psychologists. For example, people think that a darkly tinted liquid tastes and smells stronger than a pale version of the same fluid, and wine buffs rating white wine that has been surreptitiously coloured red describe it in terms they would use when discussing red wine. We think of the tongue as just a taste organ, but it is also loaded with touch receptors, making it an excellent brain-machine interface. An electrode grid laid on the tongue's surface can convey video input as patterns of touch that the brain perceives as visual attributes such as distance, shape, size and direction of movement. Little if any practice is required. This kind of sensory substitution was originally developed to help people who are blind, but it boosts the range of sighted individuals too. For example, sonar signals fed into the grid allow divers to "see" in murky water, while infrared input to the tongue gives soldiers 36o-degree night vision. See What I'm Saying demonstrates that the five senses do not travel along separate channels, but interact to a degree few scientists would have believed only a decade ago. After reading Rosenblum's captivating book, you will be surprised at how much your senses are capable of. • Richard E, Cytowic is professor of neurology at George Washington University in Washington DC and co-author of Wednesday Is Indigo Blue: Discovering the brain of synesthesia (M IT Press, 2009)

For more reviews and to add your comments, visit www.NewScientist.com/books-art

H ow we sha pe u p We a re born with a te m pera me nta l bias, but b i o l ogy i s not d esti ny, a new book a rg u es

The Temperamental Thread: How genes, culture, time and luck make us who we are by Jerome Kagan, Dana Press, $24.95

Reviewed by M i chael Bond

ANYONE who still believes that our psychological dispositions are due largely to our genes will learn a lot from this book. The same goes for those who think they are predominantly shaped by our environment. Jerome Kagan, an emeritus professor of psychology at Harvard University, has spent much of his career unpacking the complexities behind human personality and behaviour. In The Temperamental Thread he navigates a path through the conflicting evidence with great skill and eloquence. The thesis behind the title is that everyone is born with a biologically based temperamental

bias that is evident in infancy and influences our future behaviour, but how that pans out as we grow up depends strongly on a range of factors such as our ethnicity and gender, how our parents treat us, their social class, the size of our home town and whether or not we have older siblings. Temperamental bias, he explains, resembles the inherited components of a bird's song: "Although the bird's genes contribute to the basic components of the song, they do not determine the specific songs the adult bird will sing." Kagan's expertise derives partly from an exhaustive longitudinal study in which he followed the lives of more than 450 people from 16 weeks old to adulthood. He found that those who become distressed or strongly aroused as infants when confronted with unfamiliar objects, such as brightly coloured mobiles, tend to grow into timid or anxious adolescents, while less reactive

infants develop a more relaxed, spontaneous disposition. However, he stresses that these outcomes are not fixed since the developmental environment can powerfully distort the effect of genes. For example, while the possession of a gene variant which disrupts serotonin activity in the brain can result in social anxiety in a woman raised in a stable middle-class family, it can contribute to criminality in a man brought up in poverty by abusive parents. This kind of analysis leads Kagan into some interesting areas, such as the origins of psychological differences between the sexes and between members of different ethnic groups. He is also happy to throw in the occasional wild speculation, such as the idea that women are better placed than men to save the world from ecological disaster. None of this undermines the serious messages in his book, perhaps the most important of which is that we are still largely ignorant about the biology that underlies behavioural predispositions and the cascade of psychological processes that flow from them.

Do the math A lex's Adventures in Numberland: Dispatches from the wonderful world of mathematics by Alex

Bellos,

Bloomsbury, £18 .99 Reviewed by Celeste Biever

THERE are children in Tokyo, trained in after-school abacus clubs, who can sum up to 30 large numbers using only the mental image of an abacus, and do it faster than someone with an electronic calculator. And there's a mathematician in New York whose intricate crocheting has allowed her colleagues to visualise various surfaces in hyperbolic space for the first time. These are

some of the delightful characters that populate Alex's Adventures in Numberland. As well as describing his interactions with a range of brilliant minds, Bellos careers lucidly through the most mind­ boggling concepts with which they grapple. Some beautiful explanations include why infinity comes in different sizes and why Euclid's postulates only hold for flat space. The end result is a page­ turner about humanity's strange, never easy and above all never dull, relationship with numbers.

Dream machine

Leonardo's Legacy: How da Vinci reimagined the world by Stefan Klein,

Da (apo, £14.99/$26 Reviewed by J onathan Bea rd

WHEN we think of Leonardo da Vinci, it is usually the Mona Lisa or The Last Supper that spring to mind, but from a scientist's perspective, it is the thousands of drawings the Italian genius left behind upon his death in 1519 that are his greatest legacy. Science writer Stefan Klein examined the original drawings in public and private collections, including the Queen of England's collection at Windsor castle. Klein outlines a life dedicated to study and speculation about anatomy, flying machines, weapons and hydrodynamics. The astonishing drawings showing the flow of water underline the power of da Vinci's visual imagination, and his limits as an engineer: almost entirely self­ educated, he never mastered long division, much less the higher mathematics he would have needed to explain his inventions. Though Klein sometimes overreaches when he speculates about da Vinci's thoughts or religious ideas, he provides an engaging introduction to da Vinci's life and scientific interests. 24 April 2010 1 NewScientist 1 47

OPPORTUNITIES IN CANCER RESEARCH

NewScientist Jobs

Incorporating ScienceJobs.com To apply online visit www. NewScientistJobs.com

East (oast Office 225 Wyman Street Waltham,MA 02451

Email [email protected] Phone 7817 34 877 0 Fax 72 0 356 9217

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BIOLOGY

maintenance, packa g i ng, or

Associate Director, Oncology Drug Discovery

Laboratory Technician (OOlJN)

warehousing, These positions will

G e n o m ics I n stitute of the

make a n impact in biosample

be located at our West Fargo site in

N ovartis Res e a rch Fo u n d at i o n

management in a lead ing

M o n sa nto

North Dakota,

M O - M i ss o u ri This position is responsible for participating in Qual ity Assurance

production, harvest cond itioning,

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400755741

CA - Ca lifo rn i a Associate Director, Oncology Drug Discovery Individ ual will b e responsible for oversight a nd

implementation of Roche's strategy for Personal ised Healthcare and

hea lthcare company.

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400754451

direction of the in vitro biology

/ Qual ity Control seed testing

(cell and molecular biology

activities in the Monsanto Creve Coeur GQA uti l izing PCR-based

ADC Computational Chemist

biochem istry) drug d iscovery efforts

strateg ies,

Pfi z e r U S

with in our oncology program and

BS/MS Associate Scientist: Cell Biology

C T - Co n n ecti c ut

will play a key role in building a

N ova rtis I n stitutes fo r

Work on Research projects

strong and innovative oncology

B i o M e d i c a l Researc h ( U S )

at a l l stages, from target

project portfolio,

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a nalysis and lead design, through a na lysis of screening

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400756493

MA - Massa c h u setts We seek a h ighly motivated candidate t o j o i n an oncology-

Research Assistant ­ Evansville, IN (OOlIX)

candidate selection, - Work

M o n sa nto

with computational biology

IN - I nd i a n a

a nd structural biology to select

Associate Plant Scientist

person will be involved in med ium

T h e Field Research Assistant will

therapeutic targets and develop

Syn g e nta US

to high throug hput experiments

results, lead development and

focused team that is involved in d iscovering new targets using screen ing methodolog ies, This

report to the Commercial Breeder in

innovative and effective strateg ies

MS - M i ssissi p p i

a imed a t add ing va lue t o lead

Evansville, and assist with a l l phases

to drive success in d iscovery

Accounta bil ities Ag ricu ltu ra l

d iscovery efforts,

of a comprehensive corn breed ing

programs

research, population management

and testing program a i med at germplasm development and the introg ression of new traits i nto el ite

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

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cultivars,

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

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and technical procedures lead ing t o t h e development o f improved

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400758836

commercial varieties of cereals, includ ing technical discretion in the design, execution, analysis and

Agronomist I Plant

interpretation of experiments that

Syn g e nta U S

contribute to project strateg ies,

lA - I owa Responsible for managing assig ned

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400754123

Biotherapeutic Formulation Development Scientist! Senior Scientist, PhRD R3/ R4 Pf izer U S

Seed Production Trainee (Molokai) (00111)

production for the prod uction

M o n sa nto

fa cil ity to ensu re a high qual ity

H I - Hawa i i

rei iable supply of low cost of goods

T h e Seed Su pply Management

produced, Foster an operational

Biomarker Bioanalytical Scientist (R4-R6)

Tra inee will learn a l l aspects of

cu ltu re fou nded on HSE and process

Pfi ze r US

development activities of

the Seed Production cycle from

improvement

MA - M a ssach u s etts

therapeutic protein products from

planting to harvest to packaging and d istribution of the final product The Tra inee learns funda mental

process of corn and/or soybean

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400754071

continued ski l l growth a nd personal

Analytical Chemist (PAS)

development

Syn g e nta U S

1400756722

Biothera peutics Pharmaceutica l

LA - Lo u i s i a n a Provide analytical su pport to St Gabriel prod uction and/or

Successful job performa nce includes

pre-cl in ical a nd Ph I clinical trials throug h commercial ization,

& implementation of appropriate

M o n sa nto NO - N o rth Dakota Seed Technicians are involved in a l l facets o f seed prod uction within a location, This may include crop

48 1 N ewSc ientist 1 24 Apri l 2010

1400755367

molecu le biomarker spec ies,

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400755412

BLOOD AND MARROW TRANSPLANT FACULTY POSITIONS U n ive rs ity of M i c h i g a n M I - Michigan

a nd implement analytical methods, Supervision of lab technicians for

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

for su pporting quantitation of large

environmental operations, Develop

Seed Technician I (001K7)

R&D is a laboratory based position for performing formu lation

development characterization,

related s a m p l e isolation technology

va l uable process knowledge for

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

The Sc ientist/Senior Scientist

l igand binding assay techniques and

aspects of site operations to gain

MA - Massa c h u setts

The Division of Hematology/

effective implementation of QC

Biosample Operations Manager - Nutley (US)

procedures,

Roc h e

Med icine, a n d t h e U niversity of

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400754072

Oncology Depa rtment of Internal

NJ - N ew J e rs ey

M ichigan Comprehensive Cancer

This is an exciting opportun ity

Center seek appl icants for a facu lty

to play an important role in the

position with a focus on clinical

�NAL CER JITUTE

I

www.NewScientistJobs.com

Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute Postdoctoral Positions for M.D.s, D.Y.M.s, Ph.D.s, and J.D.s

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) , a major research component of the National Institutes of Health (NI H) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), is recruiting for postdoctoral positions in three program areas: The Center for Cancer Research (CCR), The Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) , and The Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program (CPFP) . Candidates for all three programs must have a doctoral degree (M . D . , D .VM., Ph. D . , ] . D . , or equivalent) and have less than five years postdoctoral experience. One of the world's largest cancer research centers, the

Cancer Research (CCR)

Center for

utilizes the breadth of its researchers to foster

interdisciplinary programs and facilitate translational research. The

CCR

The

Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program (CPFP)

offers a three to

four year postdoctoral training program in cancer prevention and control. Program features include:

1)

A tuition-paid opportunity to obtain a

2) Mentored

website at http://ccr.nci.nih.gov offers detailed descriptions of its 54 basic

Master of Public Health (MPH) degree during the first year;

research laboratories, clinical branches, programs, and close to 300 Principal

cancer prevention research opportunities in areas of epidemiology,

Investigators. Also provided are links to important information, including

biostatistics, laboratory, clinical, and social and behavioral sciences at the

postdoctoral position openings.

National Cancer Institute or the Food and Drug Administration; and

Candidates may apply online at http:/ /

generalemployment.nci.nih.gov or by email to [email protected].

3)

Participation in the NCI Summer Curriculum in Cancer Prevention as

The Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) conducts a national and international program of population, family, and laboratory­

well as professional development courses. Postdoctoral candidates must be US Citizens or Permanent Residents (or be an applicant from the

based studies to elucidate the environmental and genetic determinants

Ireland-Northern Ireland-NCI Cancer Consortium) . The

of cancer.

is staffed by a faculty of world-class epidemiologists,

at http://www3. cancer.gov/prevention/pob provides detailed program and

geneticists, biostatisticians, physicians and others who are committed to

application information. Applications for the CPFP are accepted online

excellence in epidemiological research. The DCEG website at http://dceg.

from May 1 , 20 1 0 through September 1, 20 1 0 for entry into the program

cancer.gov provides detailed descriptions of its diverse research portfolio as

in June 20 1 1 .

DCEG

CPFP

website

well as links to important information, including how to apply. The CCR, DCEG, and CPFP share a commitment to training individuals from a variety of health and biomedical disciplines to become leaders in cancer research. Stipends are competitive and commensurate with experience.

DHHS, NIB,

research in hematopoietic cel l

The core m ission of the U.s.

tra nsplantation as a treatment

Department of Defense,

mod a l ity for hematolog ic

Deployment Health Cl in ical

malig nancies.

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400756487

Chair, Neurobiology Research Legacy H e a lth

and NeI are Equal Opportunity Employers

Center, is to improve deployment­

Advanced Postdoctoral Fellowship in Neurophysiology of Cognitive Disorders

comprehensive research program to study prostate ca ncer in the tri­

related health by providing caring

G l a d sto n e I n stitute of

assistance and med ica l advocacy

N e u ro l o g i ca l D i sease a n d the

for m i l itary personnel and fa m i l ies

U n ive rs ity of Ca l ifo rn i a, San

with deployment-related health

Fra ncisco ( U CS F)

concerns.

CA - Ca liforn i a

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400759580

OR - Ore g o n T h e Cha ir w i l l b e responsible

Disease Research (CPDR) is an Integrated Tra nslational Prostate Disease Research Center with a

service m i l itary health care system.

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400759582

Postdoctoral fellows a n d g raduate students who have been wel l are interested in investigating

Head, Technology Innovation and Strategy

pathophysiolog ical mechanisms

N ova rtis I n stitutes fo r

tra ined in electrophysiology and

underlying cogn itive dysfunction

B i o M e d i c a l Research ( U S )

in mouse models of Alzhe imer's

MA - Massa c h usetts

su pport of the program, within the

College Laboratory Technician - Biological Sciences

d isease or related conditions are

The successful cand idate will work

neurobiology areas of expertise

H u nter Co l l e g e of the City

encou raged to apply for advanced

with partners in Research and

and interest that also achieves and

U n iversity of N ew Yor k / CU N Y

postdoctoral tra ining in the

Translational Sciences to develop

mainta ins national and international

N Y - N e w Yo rk

laboratory of Professor Lennart

strategies for mechan istic d isease,

recognition and is su pported by

Sets up, mainta ins, and organ izes

Mucke.

extra mura l grants and contracts.

student laboratories. Assists

for providing the leadership to ensu re the development and

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400758243

students with setting u p experiments a n d other learning

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400760862

exercises, and with the use of equ ipment and materials. Mainta ins appropriate safety and hyg iene

Clinical Research Psychologist (204970) H e n ry M Ja ckson Fo u n dati o n D C - D i strict o f Co l u m b i a

standards

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID: 140075 3494

Director of Epidemiological Research (205039)

and safety markers, setting the strategy in early development and tra nsitioning it to fu l l development and d iag nostics.

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400755071

H e n ry M Ja ckson Fou ndation DC - District of Co l u m b i a The Center for Prostate

HEMATOLOGY/ONCOLOGY FACULTY POSITIONS 24 Apri l 2010 I N ewScientist 1 49

www.NewScientistJobs.com

U n ive rs ity of M ic h i g a n M I - M i ch i g a n

Biomed ica l Research (N IBR) i s recru iting an ind ividual to head a l a b

diseases,

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

B i o M e d i c a l Researc h ( U S) MA - Ma ssa c h u s etts T h e successful cand idate w i l l

The desired ca ndidate should have

in mid -sca le protein expression to

a documented expertise in the

su pport our Biolog ics research, We

design a nd execution of Phase I a nd I I clin ical trials to test novel

are seeking a hig hly motivated and

m u ltid iscipl inary project teams in

experienced scientist with a strong

the d iscovery and development of

therapeutic agents targeting

background in protein expression

genitourinary cancers, Appl icants

in mammal ian cel ls, using both

(who must be either US citizens

transient and sta ble systems,

or permanent residents) must be board certified or elig ible in internal med icine a n d hematology a nd/or

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400755079

1400755015

Hits Discovery Ciroup Leader (Ph.D)

N ovartis I n stitutes for

Oncology pipel ine,

B i o M e d ical Re search ( U S) MA - M a ssach u s etts The successful ca ndidate will

Vivo Pharmacology Oncol ogy Group, playing a key role in the

Pf izer U S

MA - Massachu setts

for eva l uating new drug candidates,

The successful appl icant will

Responsibil ities will include on-

targets for neurodegenerative

board ing of targets, development

d iseases a nd characterizing

of assays, high throughput

u nderlying molecular mechanisms,

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400755080

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400758850

scientific expertise to the cl in ical

N ova rtis I n stitutes for

knowledge of competitor products,

B i o M ed i cal Re search ( U S) MA - M a ssachu setts Novartis I nstitutes for Biomed ica l

Muscle Regenerative Medicine Research Investigator (Ph.D)

to join a Drug Discovery group in

N ova rt is I n stitutes fo r

cand idate will work closely with

process, includ ing acq u isition of

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400758283

Research is seeking a scientist Cambridge, MA. The successful

Physician, SpecialtyOrthopedics or Endocrinology

B i o M e d i c a l Res e a rch (US)

multiple tea ms within Oncology and

Pf izer US

MA - Massach u s etts

other departments,

PA - Pe n n sylva n ia

The focus of the group will be

Lab Manager: Infectious Diseases

on stem cel l biology and muscle

N ova rt i s I n stitutes fo r

is potential to work in other

B i o M e d i ca l Research ( U S)

therapeutic applications, The

MA - Massa c h u setts

candidate will be responsible for

regeneration a lthough there

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400758852

establ ishing and analyzing models

opportunity for a h ighly motivated

of muscle regeneration and/or adult

individual to join a dynamic and

stem cel l fu nction,

N ova rtis I n stitutes fo r

1400756749

fu nctional cl in ical su btea m. Designs new chemical/biolog ical a nd device

This position provides a unique

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Provides leadersh ip and med ical and scientific d i rection to the cross and a uthors the clin ical plan for

Ph.D. scientist - Bacterial geneticist/bacterial physiologist

lead er, We are seeking an ind ividual

more clinical stud ies (or elements of

trial strategy and development

The Oncology department at the

in novative research group as a

del ivery a n d reporting of o n e o r

Oncology: Cell & Molecular Biology

d rug d iscovery process and bring

laboratory manager and operations

Point of accounta bil ity to the BU for design, execution, monitoring,

those stud ies), Provides med ical and

thorough understanding o f the

1400755075

Physician, SpecialtyHemophilia or Hematology PA - Pe n n sylva n ia

id entifying and va l idating novel

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400758868

development of in vivo models of

MA - Massachusetts

in novation and new technology to

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

cancer and the use of those models

participate in early stage d ru g

the research organization,

novel anti-cancer therapeutics, This

N ova rt is I n stitutes fo r

d iscovery projects a i med at

successful candidate will have a

role will have d i rect impact on the

B i o M e d i c a l Res e a rch ( U S )

N ova rtis I n stitutes fo r

and downstream val idation, The

Oncology Pharmacologist BS/MS Scientist

tea m of scientists in the In

Molecular / Cell Biology Research Associate (BS/MS)

B i o M e d i ca l Research ( U S)

screening, characterization of hits

be expected to lead g lobal

join a dynam ic, m u lti-d iscipl inary

med ical oncology.

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400753686

B i o M e d ica l Re search ( U S)

entities, National and international travel may be requ i red

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400758286

MA - Ma s sa c h usetts The Infectious Diseases department

with a technical background in

is looking for a PhD scientist to

Post Doctoral Fellow

molecu lar biology and experience

lead an antim icrobial d iscovery

U n ive rs ity of M a ry l a n d ,

Neurodegeneration Research

group in novel compound/target

B a ltimore

identification and mecha nism

MD - M a ry l a n d

U n ive rsity of Pitts b u rg h Schoo l

of action stud ies wh ile util izing

Postdoctoral Fel l ow Position

in working in or managing B L2 facil ities,

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400755077

of Medicine

new approaches to antimicrobial

ava ilable to study interactions

PA - Pe n nsylva n i a

screening,

of DNA repa ir enzymes with cell

Neurodegeneration Research The Department of Neurology

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400760460

Mid-scale Protein Expression Scientist

a nd the Pittsburgh Institute for

N ova rtis I n stitutes fo r

at the Un iversity of Pittsburg h seeks

B i o M e d i ca l Rese a rch ( U S)

a n establ ished, fu l l -time faculty

MA - Massachu setts

member to conduct basic laboratory

PhD Scientist- Oncology Biology

The Novartis Institutes of

research on neurodegenerative

N ova rtis I n stitutes for

50 I NewScientist 1 24 Apri l 2010

Neurodegenerative Diseases (PIN D)

cycle checkpoints and histone d eacetylases in relation t o cancer, Particu lar areas of interest are the MutY homolog and mismatch repa ir prote ins involved in red ucing mutation caused by oxidative damage,

For more information visit

www.NewScientistJobs.com

NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400759372

Post Doctoral Fellow Cancer Biology Thomas J effe rso n U n ivers ity PA - Pe n n sylva n i a A FT Post Doctoral Fel low position

Director, Florida Institute of Oceanography

is ava ilable in the Department of Cancer Biology at Thomas J efferson

The University of South Florida (USF) invites applications and nominations for the position of Director of the Florida Institute of

University. Research will be focused

Oceanography (FIO). The ideal director will provide the vision to lead coastal oceanographic research in Florida to the forefront of the

on the investigation of mechan isms

national and international stage. USF is especially interested in candidates who demonstrate strategic leadership that is visionary, innovative and entrepreneurial. The mission of the FIO is to ( 1 ) provide a diverse and collaborative statewide forum addressing problems

of l iver regeneration, inj u ry, repa ir

of concern in coastal oceanographic research and education; (2) leverage and integrate existing physical and intellectual resources within

and carcinogenesis in mouse

ocean-related research and education statewide; and

experimental models and cel l

oceanographic research opportunities and distribution of research results and other information to the general public, natural resource

culture systems,

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

140075 3859

the SUS and throughout Florida;

(3)

anticipate and plan for future infrastructure needs;

(S)

(4)

facilitate, promote and support collaborative

develop and strengthen networks that enable timely identification of

management agencies and local, state and national policy makers. In line with the service mission of the FIO, the Director will be expected to work to provide opportunities for the member institutions and their fac ulties, to maintain close contact with the member institutions through regular visits and to take advantage of opportunities to serve on state and federal commissions, committees and panels relevant to the FIO mission.

Minimum qualifications:

For consideration, candidates must possess a doctoral degree in a discipline related to oceanography or marine

science and at least five years of administrative experience that includes facilities operations, program-building, and fund-raising. In addition, candidates must demonstrate a vision for oceanographic research, unquestionable integrity, and a high level of energy.

qualifications:

Postdoctoral Fellow in Translational Research

Preferred

The successful candidate will be a recognized leader, both nationally and internationally; will have demonstrated broad

and diverse experience to recognize coming trends in oceanography; will demonstrate success in budget planning, financial management, and supervision of personnel; and will possess effective organizational and communications skills. This is a 1 2-month full-time administrative appointment. A faculty appointment may be considered for an appointee with appropriate academic credentials and accomplishments. The anticipated appointment date is August 1 , 20 1 0 . The salary will be internationally competitive

A l berta Ca ncer Board

with excellent fringe benefits. USF values campus diversity and encourages members of historically underrepresented groups to apply.

AB - A l b e rta

A full position announcement and application instructions may be accessed at: https://employment.usf.edu.

This position is ideal for a recent PhD

USF is an EO/AA/EA Institution. For disability accommodations contact Ms. Desiree Woroner at dworoner@ usf.edu at least five working

g raduate who is looking to develop

days in advance of need.

UNIVER ITY OF�

experience in tra nslational research with in a m u ltidisciplinary setting,

OUTH FLOR IDA

The Ohlson Research In itiative is a clinical / tra nslational research program focused on developing

•

TAM PA

•

ST. PETERSBURG

•

SARASOTA " MANATEE

•

POLYTE C H N I C

ta ilored therapy for patients with head and neck ca nce�

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400758229

Postdoctoral Fellow, DMPK N ova rtis I nstitutes fo r B i o M e d i c a l Resea rc h ( U S)

and Genetics (DCEG) conducts

Fellow

immune protein thera peutic

a national and international

G e n e ntec h

Cand idates,

program of popU lation, fa mily,

C A - Ca l iforn i a

and l a boratory- based stud ies to

Seeking an independ ent resea rcher

elucidate the environmental and

for a Postdoctoral tra i n ing

genetic determ inants of cancer,

position in the Dixit lab to study (i)

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400756491

NJ - New J e rsey This position will be responsible for interacting with project teams with in our DMPK function to

Postdoctoral Research Associate - Pediatrics

establ ish PKlPD models, Model ing

Nati o n a l Jewish H e a lth

using WinNonl in, N ON M EM and/or

CO - Co l o rado

other appropriate simulation tools

National Jewish Hea lth located

e,g, GastroPl us is h ig h ly desired,

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400758861

N at i o n a l I n stitutes of H e a lth ( N I H ) - N ati o n a l Ca ncer I n stitute

inflammasome function, or (ii) the role of ubiquitin in cel lular signal ing,

Project Manager (205306)

Req uirements: Candidate should

H en ry M J a ckson Fo u n d ation

possess a doctoral degree and have

M D - M a ry l a n d

a strong backg round in analysis

T h e Project's major focus i s to

of knockout/transgenic murine

produce a cGMP of a Campylobacter

models and/or molecular biology.

capsu le conjugate vaccine suitable

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

for human testing, Beg inning in April 2009, the project received fund ing for a two-year period,

1400753858

Postdoctoral Fel l ow position in the

Principal Scientistl Sr. Principal Scientist Engineered Immune Proteins , Group Head

D ivision of Ped iatric Allergy and

Pf izer US

in Denver, Colorado invites PhDs with scientific expertise in cel l u la r immunology, microbiology and mouse models of d isease to

Immunology.

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400759118

(NCI) M D - M a ry l a n d T h e Division o f Cancer Epidem iology

1400760450

1400758284

apply for a Research Associate/

Postdoctoral Positions for M.D.s, D. V.M.s, Ph.D.s, and J.D.s

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

Postdoctoral Research

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

MA - M a ss a c h u setts

Promotional Regulatory Affairs Reviewer (Assoc Dirl Sr Mgr); 2 Positions

As a core member of the Engineered

AstraZeneca U S

Immune Proteins g roup, this

D E - D e l awa re

ind ividual will work closely with RU

Responsible for review and approval

project teams and I mmume Protein

of promotional material and

screening scientists to develop a

marketing activities for a l l segments

strategy to generate optim ized

(HCR Consumer, Managed Markets),

24 Apri l 2010 I N ewScientist 1 51

www.NewScientistJobs.com

med ia (print broadcast electronic),

Pf izer U S

sa les tra i n ing, facu lty tra i n ing, study

MA - Massach u s etts

recru itment advertisement and

The ideal cand idate should

Corporate Affa irs com mun ications,

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400760730

N ova rtis I n stitutes fo r B i o M e d i ca l Research ( U S)

1400758858

be experienced with column a nalytical techniques and also be

The group su pports med icinal chemistry u n its and the d rug d iscovery process as a whole throug h chira l separations,

chromatography and related

pu rification and compound

Staff Scientist

characterization, As a separations

fa m i l iar with the characterization

B e n a roya Research I n stitute

assoc iate, you will be responsible

of filtration and ultrafiltration/

WA - Wa s h i ngto n

for method development on several

The Benaroya Research Institute at

technology platforms includ ing

Virg inia Mason (BRI) is a center of

LCUV LCMS, S FC, and SFC-MS,

d iafiltration,

Protein Production Scientist

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400758289

scientific excellence in research and therapy of a utoimmune d iseases,

MA - Massachusetts

such as d iabetes, m u ltiple sclerosis

We are seeking a highly motivated

and arthritis, and promotes clinical

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400755068

Scientist, Genetics Research Triangle Park, NC

and interd iscipl inary research,

a strong backg round in protein

pa rticularly in ca ncer, neuroscience,

Formulation Chemist

expression in mamma l ian cel ls,

Bayer

and heart d isease,

Syn g e nta U S

and experienced scientist with

using both transient and stable

NC - N o rth Ca ro l i n a

systems, The proteins produced

Generate molecular marker based

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400756489

N C - N o rth Ca ro l i n a The selected ca n d idate will

will be used in pre-cl inical (non­

genetic information based on

G M P) work for target val idation

previous experience in basic RNA­

and protein therapeutic research

a nd DNA-based lab procedu res;

in support of a l l ou r various

Coordinate (technical) interactions

Statistician ( Scientist )

Syngenta prod ucts, They will take

therapeutic departments,

with third parties; Consolidate and

Syn g e nta U S

an active part in scale-up and plant

provide preliminary ana lyses of

N C - N o rth Caro l i na

introd uction of newly developed

genetic a nd genomics data; Access

The statistician will col laborate

products,

a nd apply bioinformatics resou rces

with the project lead ers to spec ify

in crops genetics; Prepare research reports under supervision,

eq u ations or alg orithms for

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400758870

Research Science Manager D a n a - Fa rb e r Ca ncer I n stitute MA - Massachu setts

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400756498

cycle grant appl ication and PI's administrative responsibilities in the laboratory, institution as

N ova rt is I n stitutes fo r

wel l as outside of the institution;

B i o M e d i c a l Resea rch (US)

su pervision of technical staff

MA - Massach usetts

to manage and mainta in good ­

Ana lytical Sciences colla borates

l a boratory practice,

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400756492

Research Team Leader, Genetics Bayer - Research Triangle Park, NC

derived or constructed variables,

with a l l research groups to comprehensively characterize

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400754070

The statistician will also perform advanced programming (macros, custom programs) in SAS, SPLUS, algorithms developed,

Small Molecule NMR Scientist (B.S.! M.S.)

administration, assistance with

and production performance of

R, MATLAB etc" , to implement the

Responsibility wi l l include ful l ­

organize and cond uct experiments to optimize ma rketing, reg ulatory

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

140075411 3

Medicinal Chemistry Associates/Scientists (BS/ MS) N ova rt i s I n stitutes for B i o M e d i c a l Researc h ( U S) MA - Ma ssa c h u s etts Novartis Institutes for BioMed ical

CH E M I STRY

Analytical R&D QC/Stability Scientist

Research in Cambrid ge, MA is looking for talented med icinal chemists to provide med icinal chem istry su pport for d rug

molecules rang ing from trad itional

Pfizer U S

d iscovery programs operated by one

sma l l molecu les to novel

M O - M isso uri

of our Disease areas,

biothera peutics and their effects in

The qual ified col league is

biological systems,

responsible for util izing establ ished

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400756547

analytical methodologies to su pport

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400755078

G M P release and sta bil ity testing of clin ical suppl ies, The individual

Baye r

is responsible for becoming

NC - N o rth Caro l i n a

profic ient in a breadth of analytical

Scientific Manager - Protein Chemistry Gen entech

Research Tea m Leader, Genetics

Sr. Biostatistician

method olog ies includ ing HPLC,

Bayer CropScience (BCS) is one of

N ova rt is I n stitutes fo r

electrophoresis, residual DNA using

CA - Ca l ifo r n i a

the world's lead ing innovative crop

B i o M e d i c a l Resea rch (US)

qPCR or Threshold, and ELlSA

A s a member of this h i g h

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

science compa n ies in the a reas of

MA - Massachu setts

crop protection, non-agricultural

The Sen iorTA Statistician is

pest control, seeds and plant

responsible for all statistical tasks

biotechnology.

of individual clin ical trials, He/she

pu rification g roup and interact with

may ta ke on project level tasks

scientists to advance projects within

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400756497

Scientist 11 52 1 N ewScientist 1 24 Apri l 2010

1400760425

throug hput protein purification team in the Depa rtment of Protein Chemistry you will manage a

u nder the su pervision of a more

Chemist for Separations Lab (BS/MS)

experienced Statistician/Group

N ova rtis I n stitutes for

pu rification strateg ies and have

Head but with increasing a utonomy

B i o M ed i cal Re search ( U S)

experience using automated

a nd accountabil ity,

MA - M a ssachu setts

chromatography systems,

of a Program Statistician, i n itially

Research, You should be adept at desig n ing and troubleshooting

www.NewScientistJobs.com

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400759638

Senior Chemist V Staff Chemist VI Syn g e nta U S N C - N o rth Caro l i na

have the opportun ity to support the TOM in coord i nating various

Development Clinical Oncology

yield trials, implementing and

G e n e ntec h

administering Sta ndard Operating

C A - Ca l iforn i a

Proced ures, QA QC and safety

The Directorfor Strategy,

procedures,

Operations and Communication in

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400756998

and del ivery of the clinical plan in l ine with a g reed timelines

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400756555

Cl inical Oncology is to assist in the development of the organ ization's

Medical Science Liaison 11

strategy and implement elements

G e n e ntech

The candidate may have

of the strategy that will d rive long­

CA - Ca l ifornia

responsibil ity for method

term operational effectiveness,

The Genentech, Ine. Medical Science

GLP test and reference material

Research Scientist - Seed Production (OOlJL)

characterization, cond uct of

M o ns a nto

development and val idation,

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400755062

Lia isons (MSL) fu nction as field based members of the Cl inical Science organ ization located

GLP product chemistry stud ies,

lA - Iowa

manufactu ring and Pilot Plant

At Monsa nto, we've produced some

su pport Accounta b i l ities , Support

of the industry's most recogn ized

Clinical Education Director

with strong cl inical and I or scientific

AI, Formu l ation and Packag ing

seed brands, including DeKa l b,

N ova rtis I n stitutes fo r

backg rounds,

Development by provid ing timely

Asg row, and Delta pine, a nd you r

Bio Med ical Research ( U S)

su pport and innovative analytical

leadersh ip abil ities will help keep us

MA - M a ssachu setts

solutions,

out in front

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400754089

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400755742

N ova rtis I n stitutes fo r

Associate Scientist Soy Continuous Nursery

B i o M e d ica l Researc h ( U S)

Syn g e nta U S

siRNA Drug Delivery Chemist

within Medical Affa irs, MSLs are scientifica l ly tra i ned professionals

We are seeking a dyna mic ind ividual

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400758285

to be part of the NIBR Edu cation Office, Our m ission is to catalyze and training that fosters scientific

Model Organism Research Associate(BS/MS)

innovation and interd iscipl inary

N ova rtis I n stitutes fo r

research at N I BR.

B i o M e d i c a l Research ( U S)

a collaborative culture of learning

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400755069

MA - M assa c h u s etts The Pathways group is uti l izing

MA - Massachu setts

H I - H awa i i

Primary research goals will be drug

Plan and design experiments,

system for the eluc idation of

del ivery technology evaluation and

col lect data, develop data

d isease-associated pathways, and

appl ication to the del ivery cha llenge posed by therapeutic si RNA. Both

summa ries, interpret results, a nd make appropriate concl usions

Director Clinical Research­ Onglyza

systemic and local del ivery methods

and recommendations , Prepare

AstraZeneca U S

will be explored for a d iverse array

technical reports ordata summaries

D E - D e l awa re

of d isease indications,

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400758857

and communicate reports to peers

These ind ividuals must ensu re

via ora l presentations or written

that a l l clin ical stu d ies operate

reports,

to the highest ethical and safety

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400754074

Zebrafish as a genetic model

for the identification of therapeutic targets and bioactive compounds,

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400758845

GCP and reg u latory requ i rements,

Part-Time Research Nurse (205245)

The physician provides med ical

H e n ry M J a ckson Fo u n d ation

standards and in com pliance with

Sr Analytical Chemist

and scientific expertise and

M D - M a ry l a n d

Syn g e nta U S

tactical and strateg i c medical input

T h e H e n ry M, Jackson Foundation

AsstlAssoc Medical Director (MD)

to the d iscovery, development

(HJF) is seeking a pa rt-time

Develop a n d test active ingredient

and/or commercial ization of AZ

Research N u rse for the Cl in ical

formulation and product packaging

G e n e ntech

compounds,

solutions , Design and conduct

CA - Ca l iforn ia

prod uct chemistry and test

The ind ividual will be a key

material characterization stud ies

contributor in build ing a n

that fully meet world-wide

integrated development p l a n late

reg ulatory requ i rements to facil itate

development will provide support to post-ma rketing a nd new

N C - N o rth Caro l i n a

reg istration

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400754060

development activities for Lucentis, as wel l as clinical g u idance and assessment of futu re opportu n ities to advance the science a nd add ress

CLI N ICAL

Field Research Associate Evansville, IN (OOlIR)

u nmet needs in ophthalmology.

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400760454

Pharmacology Department located at the Un iformed Services Un iversity of the Hea lth Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, HJ F provides administrative and management support to the Cl inical

Global Clinical Lead Apixaban (M4-Senior Director I MS-Executive Director)

Pharmacology Department

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400760459

Pf izer U S NY - N ew Yo rk Accounta ble for design and final

Research Associate

recommendations for clinical plans

P i o n e e r H i - Bred

for ind ications overseen by the

W I - Wisco n s i n

M o n sa nto

Apixaban Medicine Management

T h e research associate will

IN - I n d i a n a

Tea m. Accountable for negotiating

successfully operate at a high

m i lestones and ensuring execution

level to organ ize plant mon itor,

T h e Field Research Associate will

1400755063

Chief of Staff- Product

24 Apri l 2010 I NewScientist 1 53

www.NewScientistJobs.com

NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

collect data, ha rvest, and analyze

Staff Veterinarian

our experiments, This position

G e n e ntech

will compl iment the efforts of the

CA - Ca l ifornia

entire Janesville staff while taking

The tra i n ing responsibil ities will

individual responsibil ity for assig ned

include developing partnerships

Senior Engineer

portions of ou r work,

with local un iversities to facil itate

Syn g e nta U S

must be planned through

career development opportu n ities

N C - N o rth Caro l i na

careful coord ination between

(internships, co-op students,

Conduct treata b i l ity stud ies to

biolog ists, bioinformaticians and

residents, etc.) and directly manage

develop, modify, and optimize

computational biologists,

the tra i n ing and development of

waste treatment processes at

these staff while on site,

severa l production sites , Anticipate

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400756750

Research Scientist - Study Director P i o n e e r H i - Bred

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400753907

lA - I owa Serve as Study Directorfor reg ulatory field stud ies, Plan and design study protocols to meet current data requ irements for

E NG I N E E R I N G

derive val u e from genome and

changes in ma nufacturing

transcriptome data, experiments

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400758994

reg ulations, in itiate stud ies and develop techniq ues to address

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400754118

SAP Basis Administrator (OOIIW) M o ns a nto MO - M i ssouri I nsta llation, upgrade and Provide d atabase services and

A s a n engineering co-op you

G e n e nte ch

consulting to the Design and

will work with a team to provide mechan ical engineering designs for

CA - Ca l ifo rn i a

I mplementation Teams and SAP

This position i s pa rt of the fill-

Support Team. Analyze, develop and mainta in data a rch itectures and process models within SAP

LA - Lo u i s i a n a

group to ensure that stu d ies fulfill product subm ission

1400756554

popu lations and communities at

Senior Engineer, Biologics MSAT (Fill-Finish)

M o nsa nto

Reg ulatory Prod uct Operations

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

ena bled the analysis of genomes, the nucleotide level. In orderto

Mechanical Engineering Co-op (OOOET)

prod uct approvals, Coord inate with

objectives,

1400755070

large scale capital projects, that may

finish g roup with in Biolog ics

support m u ltiple sites and mu ltiple

Man ufacturing Sciences and

projects concurrently.

Technology (MSAT) , The successful

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

Senior Director Clinical Research- Neuroscience Therapy Area

1400755744

AstraZen eca U S D E - D e l awa re

Engineering Associate Intern - 3 Month

The role of Senior Directo r C l i n ica l

P i o n e e r H i - Bred

cand idate will work with a team of eng ineers, scientists and

maintenance of SAP systems,

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400760432

associates responsible for fill-fin ish technology transfer to contract!

Research provides med ical input

lA - I owa

into the development and/or

Pioneer H i - Bred International,

commercial ization of AZ

Inc., a Du Pont Compa ny, seeks an

compounds by using deta iled

innovative and h ig h ly motivated

d isease area knowledge to

engineering summer intern to

integ rate knowledge into design

join a multid iscipl inary team

partner manufactu ring sites, as

Research Analyst

wel l as between Genentech/Roche

Pioneer H i - B red

Man ufacturing Business U n its,

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400752840

lA - I owa Lead software development projects to design and create innovative tools for statistical ana lysis of large amounts of molecular genotypic and

Sr Statistical Programmer Analyst

phenotypic data to permit crop breeders to select and advance

of drug registration programs

ded icated to the successful

G e n e nte ch

su perior hybrids and varieties

and d i l igence reviews of l icensing

design, development, integration

CA - Ca l ifo rn i a

throug h pre-commercial trials,

cand idates,

a nd support of l aboratory-based

A s a member of a Medical Affa irs

enabl ing technolog ies and

project team the Senior Statistical

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400760456

Sr Research Assoc (Dev Sci)-E3

engineered sol utions for Pioneer's

Programmer Ana lyst appl ies

Agricu ltu re Biotechnology efforts,

advanced level programming

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400756548

techniques and leadership to the plann ing, design, development, implementation, and maintena nce of software for the reporting and

G e n e ntec h

analysis of clinical patient data,

C A - Ca l ifo rn i a

Head of Engineering

W e are seeking a highly motivated,

N ova rt is I n stitutes fo r

enthusiastic and independent

B i o M e d i c a l Resea rch ( U S )

Research Associate/Senior

MA - Massachu setts

Research Associate to join the

Manage a l l activities for systems

Cl inical Pharmacokinetics &

engineering a nd analysis in the

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400759639

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400752838

PHYSICS

Research Investigator ­ Molecular Imaging, PET N ova rtis I nstitutes for B i o M e d i c a l Res e a rc h ( U S) MA - Massa c h u setts She/he will help us esta bl ish, run and oversee the preclin ical PET

MATHS & IT

projects from a nu mber of

imag ing laboratory to su pport

Pharmacodynam ics Group in the

research, eng ineering, design, manufacturing and testing of

Informatics Data Analyst (0016B)

d isease areas, includ ing oncology,

Department of Development Sciences,

new molecular d iag nostic tests in

M o n santo

d iseases,

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job I D :

1400755060

54 1 NewScientist 1 24 Apri l 2010

the Molecular Diagnostics U n it of

MO - M issouri

Novartis Pharma,

The advent of high-throug hput

For more information visit

seq uencing technolog ies has

card iovascular and metabolic

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job ID:

1400758866

www.NewScientistJobs.com

[ill.

CAN C E R BIO LOGY P ROGRAM

Tenure-Track Position in the areas of Epigenetics and/or Progenitor/Stem Cell biology FOX C H A S E CAN C E R C EN T E R We a re recruiting a new faculty member who will com p lement and strengthen our ongoing p rograms in Epigenetics and P rogenitor/Stem Cell Biology (EPC). We seek to fill a position at the Assistant P rofessor level, but consideration will a lso be given to esta blished investigato rs. The successful a p p licant will receive a generous sta rt-up package to d evelop a vigorous, extra mural ly-funded research prog ram. Current EPC members use a va riety of models to study diverse biological processes that span chromosome biology to stem cell biology. See: http://keystone.foxchaseprojects.org/keystone/epigenetics_keystone.html

University iQ' M i ch i ,g a n

HEMATOLOGY/ONCOLOGY FACULTY POSITIONS The D i v i s i o n of H e m atol ogy/O ncology of t h e D e p a rt m e nt of I nte r n a l M ed i c i n e a n d the U n iversity of M i c h igan Co m p re h e n sive

Ca n c e r C e nter

i nvite a p p l i cati o n s fo r

fa c u lty posi tions i n two a reas. Fox Chase, located in suburban Philadelphia, offers a highly interactive, mu ltidiscip lina ry environment, with over 50 active research l a borato ries on the 1 7 -acre Fox Chase cam pus. Resea rchers a re supported by state-of-the-a rt Core g rant funded facilities, extramura l and intramural postdocto ra l training g rants, a graduate training p rogram, endowed fe llowships, and an outstanding funding reco rd for investigator-initiated grant a p p lications. Applications wil l be reviewed starting April 1 5, 201 0. To apply please sen d CV, description of research plans, and 3 letters o f recommendation to: Dr. Tim J Yen I Cancer Biology Program I c/o Anne Carson I Fox Chase Cancer Center I 333 Cottman Ave. I Philadel phia, PA 1 9 1 1 1 I ([email protected])

Fox (hose (ancer (enter is on Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer

FIGX C� l-T AS E

Th e fi rst position is for ca n d i d ates with a n i nte rest in ge n ito u r i n a ry

researc h .

�

Th e

d e s i red

design and exe c u ti o n of P h ase I and 1 1 c l i n i c a l t ri a l s to test nove l t h e ra pe utic age nts ta rgeti n g ge n ito u ri n a ry ca ncers. Th e selecte d ca n d i d ate wi l l join a n esta b l i s h e d Progra m i n G e n ito u ri n a ry O n col ogy at the U n ive rsity of M i c h iga n Compre h e n sive Ca n ce r Center w h i c h i n c l u d es ove r 30 fa cu lty fro m 10 d e p a rt m e nts with a n n ua l d i re ct fu n d i n g o f $6 M . T h e Progra m h a s a ro bust tra ns l a ti o n a l research foc u s i n all GU c a n c e rs fo r wh ich t h e re a re specific m u l ti­ Oth e r a re a s of

res e a rc h i nterest i n c l u d e c h a ra cteriza ti o n of GU c a n c e r ste m c e l ls, a n d d eve l o p m ent of n ovel co m b i n ed m o d a l ity t h e ra pies

of

GU

c a n c e rs

i nvolvi n g

i m m u n oth e ra py,

c h e m ot h e ra py, a n d ra d ioth e ra py.

G e n ,o mics I nsmu tc of t h e: .J NlJoltlutis Fliesea fGll

�

clinical

d isci p l i n a ry c l i n i cs a n d t u m o r boa rd s .

Fox Chase, Perfecting the Science of Compassionate Care.

C A N C E R e E N T r: I{

.,.�

ca n ce r

ca n d i d ates s h o u l d h ave d oc u m e nted expe rtise in the

Fou ndation

Associate Director, Oncology Drug Discovery Individual will be responsible for oversight and direction of the in vitro biology (cell and

Th e seco n d positi o n h a s a focus on c l i n i c a l res e a rch i n h e m ato poi etic c e l l tra n spla ntati o n a s a tre a t m e nt m o d a l ity for h e m atologic m a l ig n a n cies.

Ca n d i d ates s h o u l d h ave

d o c u m e nted exp ertise in the eva l ua ti o n a n d m a n age m e nt h e mato p o i eti c

d isord e rs

and will play a key role in building a strong and innovative oncology project portfolio.

a n d h e m atopoi e tic stem c e l l tra n s p l a ntati o n .

Selected

The successful candidate will work with multi-disciplinary groups including medicinal

ca n d i d ates wi l l be m e m bers of an esta b l i s h e d c l i n i cal a n d

molecular biology, biochemistry) drug discovery efforts within our oncology program

chemistry} ADME/PK} in vivo biology and genomics/proteomics technology groups. Projects will encompass low molecular weight and biologics (antibodies and proteins) efforts and will often be multi-site collaborations. This position will have supervisory responsibility of Ph.D. scientists and scientific associates optimizing molecules toward clinical candidates and performing target identification/validation.

of

pati e nts

with

m a l ig n a nt

t ra n s l a ti o n a l res e a rc h p rogra m i n h e m ato logic m a l ig n a n c i e s wit h i n t h e U n iversity of M i c h i ga n C o m p re h e ns ive Ca n c e r Center, wh i c h i n cl u d es 34 fa cu lty m e m b e rs with $6. 3 M i n res e a rc h fu n d i ng.

Required qualifications and experience •

Ph.D. in a relevant field with 8+ years of biotechnology/pharmaceutical drug

A p p l ica nts (who m u st be e it h e r U . S. c i tize n s o r p e rm a n e nt

discovery experience. Candidates with an outstanding faculty track record in

res i d e nts) m ust be board c e rtifi e d or e l ig i b l e i n i ntern a l

oncology will also be considered. •

A detailed understanding of pathways and mechanisms relevant to oncology

•

Demonstrated expertise in identifying and validating innovative drug targets

•

medicine

and

h e m ato l ogy

a n d/or

m e d ical

o n col ogy.

Facu lty tra c k a n d ra n k wi l l d e p e n d u po n prior expe r i e n c e .

Strong project leadership experience on projects that have produced clinical candidates

Ca n d i d ates s h o u l d s u b m it a c u rri cu l u m v i t a e , a l i st of t h ree

•

Established record of scientific achievement Excellent written and oral communication skills

refe re n ces, a con cise state m e nt of res e a rch go a ls, and a

•

l etter of a p p l i cati o n to Kath l een A. Cooney, M D, Chief

•

Experience supervising research associates and Ph.D. scientists

•

High level of self-motivation} attention to detail and ability to thrive in a goal-and team-oriented setting

of I nte rnal Medicine a n d Associate Directo r for Faculty

•

Experience working as part of multi-site collaborative projects a plus

Affa i rs, U n iversity of M ich iga n Com prehensive Ca ncer

of the Division of Hematol ogy/O ncology, Department

The Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) is dedicated to the

Center, 7216 CC, 1500 E . M edica l Center D rive, Ann Arbor,

development and application of new methods and techniques for genome-wide biological

M I 48109-5948; e-m a i l : kcooney@u mich.edu

discovery and biomedical research.

GNF offers excellent compensation and benefits

package. Visit ourwebsite at www.gnf.org EOE

Please submit your CV and any supporting documents to:

Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation 1 Job Code: JH03-031 10675 ]ohn ]ay Hopkins Drive 1 San Diego} CA 92 1 2 1 1 Fax: 858/8 12- 1 670

The University of Michigan is an equal opportunity/ affirmative action employer and encourages nominations and applications from women and minority candidates.

or or submit online to [email protected]

24 Apri l 2010 1 NewScientist 1 55

FEEDBACK

For more feedback, visit www.NewScientist.com/feedback

50 megabit connection, our readers

Who Needs Fathers? TV program mes

wonder. If so, should someone

describes them as: "Th is m ajor series,

with an existing "up to" 10 megabits

to mark the 20-odd years si nce the

connection now be able to expect speeds of one-fifth infinity?

passing of the Chi ldren Act".

But as that will sti ll be infin ity,

told us about this, "we are fortunate

"On this basis," says Ken, who

why pay the extra for 50 megabits'

in not even need ing to remember

worth of infinity? Espec ia lly as

just when the event we are marking

"up to i nfinity" presumably sti l l

occurred." However, he goes on to

includes no speed a t all.

explain that the UK Children Act was actually passed 21 years ago, in 1989, and i m plemented 19 years

..

READER Jeff Moore couldn't help but wonder at the packaging of the Lundberg Honey Nut Rice Cakes he bought at his local grocery store. It assured him that the food "Does not contain nuts". Dare Jeff presume that the honey, at least, is present? We, too, are busy wondering, along with Martin Gregory of the online Really Magazine, why the product describing itself as "crispy seaweed", which is on sale in UK supermarkets such as Sainsbury and Waitrose, contains nary a hint of seaweed, but is instead made of cabbage, spring greens or pak choi. Like Martin, we were under the impression that there is a law against this sort of thing - that if you describe a product as "chocolate cake" it has to have chocolate in it, and if you say it is "orange juice" then juice from oranges is what it must contain. What's so special about nuts and seaweed?

THE "up to" d isease is obviously infectio us. As we reported on 6 February, the te lecoms industry loves using these words to disguise erratic broad band speeds. Now Japanese electronics giant Sharp tel ls us its new, greener LCD TV "uses up to 40 per cent less electricity ... than trad itional LCD TVs". What's more, in an effort to get journa lists to use Sharp's electronics at home, those who attended the greener TV launch were g iven a card pro m ising "up to 40 per cent d i scount on a l l Sharp products". That's 1 penny off a £100 purchase, perhaps? Meanwh i le, readers Jon Chard and John Winters have both spotted a new variation on the "up to" theme.

On 20 February we reported that the Vancouver Community Network still hosts a remarkably uninformative web page about turnips that was first noticed by a Feedback reader 14 years ago. Robin Edwards went for a look, and found, in the same section of the VCN's website that explains how to write a web page, a demonstration of a countdown timer (see bit.ly/countback). This purports to tell us exactly how far away we are from the start of 2 January 2000. Evidently the counter originally looked forward to this date, but since it has now passed, things have become a little confused. When we looked at it on 16 April 2010, it told us that we were minus 9 years, 8 months, 15 days, 21 hours, 11 minutes and 32 seconds away from the moment in question. Five minutes later, the minutes count had decreased by 5. Quite what it is now counting down to, we haven't yet worked out - and we can only speculate on what other oddities the VCN has up its cyber-sleeve.

THE last item in the list of facilities at Hotel Lenno, Lake Como, Italy, on the website of holiday specialist Citalia might, Richard Walker thinks, be a reflection of the worldwide obesity epidemic. Items such as "restaurant", "bar/lounge" and "sun terrace" are followed by: "Complimentary minibus to nearby Spa (approx 3 metres}".

FI NALLY, a caption on the National Geographic's online

NatGeo News

Watch i nforms us that "The asteroid that ended the 160-m i llion-year

Recent adverts from Richard Branson's cable and broad band company Virgin Media claim i n one breath "up to 50

ago, in 1991.

reign of the d i nosaurs was about OU R gratitude goes to the BBC for

10,000 times more massive than the

megabit broadband speeds" and in

opening up new possibilities in the

total mass of the human world

the next that this is "infinitely quick".

field of ann iversaries. Time was,

popU lation, according to the

reader Ken Hawkins points out, when

University of Texas at Austin."

Is this thanks to a magical compression system that squeezes

celebrations of notable anniversaries

infin ite speeds from an "up to"

were usual ly reserved for 100 or

noticed this. "What's that in

possibly 50 years after the event.

elepha nts?"

"Darn it," says Jeff Gottfred, who

Then we crept down to 40, 25 or

From the department of the b l i nd i ng ly obvious: Jack Ha rrison bou g ht some long - life l i g ht bulbs. The packets i nfo rmed h i m that "2000 hours 56 1 NewScientist 1 24 Apri l 2010

=

2 x 1000 hou rs"

even, as with November 2009's media com memoration of the fal l of the Berlin Wa ll, 20 years. Now the BBC publication Radio Times has

proposed a further

breakthrough. Its report on the BBC's

You can send stories to Feedback by email at [email protected]. Please include your home address, This week's and past Feedbacks can be seen on our website,

THE LAST WORD

Last words past and present, plus questions, at www.last-word.com

On the line

This week's questions

How long a l i ne could you draw with

PIGMENT PATTERN

a single pencil?

I found this leaf (pictured) in a park in Oslo a few weeks ago. What is the explanation for this pattern of green pigmentation? Fredrik St�rmer Oslo, Norway

Forget string -we now have a new saying, ({How long is a pencil line?" -Ed • My mind boggled at the range of variables implied by the question. As a scientist turned engineer (now retired), I decided to conduct a simple experiment in which the variables were reduced to a manageable number. Selecting a clutch pencil with a 0.9-millimetre diameter, and using the manufacturer's H lead, I drew 100 lines each 30 centimetres long on high­ quality printer paper. The pencil was tilted at 75 degrees to the plane of the paper. By measuring the reduction in the length of the refill and allowing for clutch-clamping wastage, I concluded that 541 metres of line could be drawn with a lead 60 millimetres long. I also found by inspection that small changes in some variables had a large effect on the rate at which the lead was used up. Peter Peters Sherborne, Dorset, UK • Taking the simple case of a clutch pencil, I found by experiment that a I-millimetre length of 0.5-millimetre 2B lead would draw about 9 metres of uniform line on ordinary photocopier paper. In my clutch pencil a new lead has a usable length of 50 millimetres, so

TH REE'S A CROWD

None of the countless species of animal in existence has three legs. Creatures such as the kangaroo and the meerkat use their tails for balance, but a tail is plainly not the same as a leg. This pattern does not apply only to mammals­ other kinds of animal have an even number of legs, too. Why wouldn't having three legs work? Monika Hofman London, UK that's 450 metres of line per lead. Looking at it another way, it's easy to work out that 1 cubic millimetre of pencil lead is needed to draw 45.84 metres of line. A brand new wooden pencil from a reputable maker is

III found by experiment that 1 mill imetre of lead wou l d draw about 9 metres o n photocopier pape rll 175 millimetres long with a lead diameter of 2 millimetres. Assuming it is possible to use all but the last 20 millimetres of the lead, and (crudely) that each millimetre of lead draws 9 metres of line as with the clutch pencil,

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FLOWER POWER that would give us 1395 metres of line for the whole pencil. Why are humans attracted to the However, the volume of usable sight and smell of flowers? Flowers lead in the pencil, assuming again co-evolved with their pollinators: that the last 20 millimetres can't that is why they find flowers be used and that half is lost to attractive. This arrangement works sharpening, is 243.5 cubic to the benefit of both parties, so do millimetres. At the same humans get any similar benefits volumetric wear rate as in the from liking flowers? The plants do, clutch pencil, that should produce in that gardeners propagate them. 11,162 metres of line. I expect the Come to think of it, are other actual output will be somewhere mammals attracted to flowers? Jim Simons between these two answers. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK The hardness of the lead will make a difference, as will paper A WING AND A P RAYER type, the density of the line and how careful the user is not to Do birds ever collide? If not, why not? sharpen too often or too far. AndrewFogg Peter White Sandy, Bedfordshire, UK Cardiff, UK

Do Polar Bears Get Lonely? Our latest collection seri ous enq u i ry, brill iant i nsight and the h ilariously unexpected Available from booksellers and at www.newscientist.com/ polarbears