End for Herschel
Seaweeds
Mob rule nOT long after the scientifically ill-informed ruling from Europe’ s highest court on stem cells that created such problems for researchers, the Italian health minister, Renato Balduzzi, has given approval for dubious stem cell treatments. There is no evidence to show that the treatments being offered by the Stamina Foundation for a range of illnesses actually work, and one stem cell researcher from the University of Milan, elena Cattaneo, has been quoted in Nature as remarking that“ it is alchemy.” however, when pro-Stamina protesters took to the streets of Rome, the health minister decided that political popularity comes before evidence based science. not alone did the dubious procedures get approval, but the publicity, backed by showbiz personalities, is said to have boosted demand for treatment.
End for Herschel
The eSA’ s herschel space observatory, with its 3.5 metre wide mirror, has run out of liquid helium coolant, so its cameras and spectrometers are about to close down. The space observatory was launched in May 2009 and over three years it has captured data across a wide range of wavelengths, from far-infrared to submillimetre, enabling astronomers to probe deep into the Universe. The observatory was positioned 1.5 million km from earth. From this point earth and Sun always remained in the same position, and the telescope had a clear uninterrupted view into deep space.
The liquid nitrogen was needed to keep instruments chilled to near absolute zero. At launch the observatory had a 2,300 litre supply of liquid nitrogen, but over time this is lost, and the supply is now almost exhausted. eSA report that herschel has performed better than expected, and scientists will be working on the accumulated data for years to come.
While no one is sure when exactly the liquid nitrogen will run out, herschel is likely to be“ parked” in an orbit around the Sun some time in May this year.
Seaweeds
GReen plants and reddish seaweeds diverged from each other about 1,500 million years ago. The way in which the red seaweeds carry out photosynthesis has been adopted by most of the phytoplankton, such as diatoms and dinoflagellates, so many species have sided with this branch. Yet, as a group of scientists led by the Station Biologique de Roscoff in Brittany, point out, compared to green plants, not that much is known about the red seaweeds.
The group focused on Chondrus crispus, commonly known as Irish Moss, or Carrageenan. This species is common along the rocky Atlantic shores, and boiled with milk and sugar it makes a popular blancmange. Carrageenan is also used widely in the food industry, and has an official E number, E407.
The group found that the genome of red seaweeds is quite different from those of green plants. The genes are more compact, and some genes which occur in one group do not appear in the other. It is thought that symbiotic relationships with protozoa enabled the red seaweeds to acquire new genes, but it is also thought that genes were lost. Toni Gabaldón, from the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Spain, said that the red seaweeds seem to have gone trough an evolutionary bottleneck, causing them to lose genes.
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UPFRONT
eSA herschel space observatory image of Andromeda( M31) using both PACS and SPIRe instruments to observe at infrared wavelengths of 70 mm( blue), 100 um( green) and 160 mm and 250 mm combined( red). The image spans approximately 1 x 3 degrees. Andromeda is a spiral galaxy 2.5 million light years away from earth, and is thought to include 10 to the power of 12 stars, twice as many as are in the Milky Way. In another 3.75 billion years it is possible that the Andromeda Galaxy and Milky Way will collide and merge. Credits: eSA / herschel / PACS & SPIRe Consortium, O. Krause, hSC, h. Linz
Mob rule nOT long after the scientifically ill-informed ruling from Europe’ s highest court on stem cells that created such problems for researchers, the Italian health minister, Renato Balduzzi, has given approval for dubious stem cell treatments. There is no evidence to show that the treatments being offered by the Stamina Foundation for a range of illnesses actually work, and one stem cell researcher from the University of Milan, elena Cattaneo, has been quoted in Nature as remarking that“ it is alchemy.” however, when pro-Stamina protesters took to the streets of Rome, the health minister decided that political popularity comes before evidence based science. not alone did the dubious procedures get approval, but the publicity, backed by showbiz personalities, is said to have boosted demand for treatment.
The decision has angered stem cell researchers because it plays into the hands of unscrupulous operators who offer false hopes to people desperately seeking a cure for themselves or their children.
The decision to approve procedures that had previously been declared a danger to public health by a prosecutor in Turin, Raffaele Guariniello, highlights the lack of scientifically-informed guidelines on stem cell research and treatment in Italy. Ireland also has no clear guidelines on stem cell research.
SCIENCE SPIN Issue 58 Page 8