| New Fault Lines in Mountaintop Coal Debate Both sides in the mountaintop removal mining debate are hardening their positions, taking their cases to Washington -- and to the courts. feeds.nytimes.com |
Scientists complete cacao genome mapping By 2010-09-15T11:04:29ZMcLEAN, Va. (AP) -- Some sweet science news: Researchers have released a nearly complete preliminary mapping of the DNA of the tree that produces chocolate.... hosted.ap.org |
'Extinct' animals back from the dead Australian biologists say animals that have been feared extinct are often rediscovered, and conservation efforts too often focus on creatures that will never be found again. abc.net.au |
Podcast: Nobel prizewinner Andre Geim, and the science of incest The 2010 Nobel prizes have been awarded and Britain has done rather well (two out of three ain't bad). The pod and a couple of special guests take an extended look at the three science categories.Nobel prizewinner Andre Geim joins us on the line from Manchester University to tell us why he's just been awarded this year's Nobel prize for physics for his work on graphene. He's the first person to get both a Nobel and an IgNobel award. He's also famous for levitating frogs! To help us dissect the physiology or medicine prize, which was awarded to Professor Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe for pioneering IVF (in vitro fertilisation), one of Professor Edward's former students Professor Martin Johnson tells us about their work and how controversial it was at the time. He's just written a paper about it. We also discuss the parallels with today's science funding crisis. Professor in biophysics Astrid Graslund helps us get our head around the chemistry prize for a clever technique for building the carbon backbones of complex organic molecules which has become invaluable in drug design. It's all down to palladium catalysis.In the coming weeks, Guardian Science will be presenting two videos a week from the Newton Channel. We play a snippet from our first one, in which Professor Brian Cox takes us underground at Cern for a quick look around the Large Hadron Collider. Keep an eye on our Twitter and Facebook feeds to be alerted to when the next videos go online. Steve Jones is presenting the first of UCL's lunch hour lectures this year, 'Incest and Folk-dancing: why sex survives'. Believe it or not, the editing is meant to sound like this!We were very disappointed that this week's panellists, the Guardian's Nell Boase and Observer science editor Robin McKie, failed to get the recognition they deserve from the Nobel committee for their sterling work in science communication.WARNING: contains two instances of strong language! See if you can spot them ... Check out our shiny new science front page and meet our crack team of science bloggers:The Lay Scientist by Martin RobbinsLife and Physics by Jon ButterworthPunctuated Equilibrium by GrrlScientistPolitical Science by Evan Harris Follow the podcast on our Science Weekly Twitter feed and receive updates on all breaking science news stories from Guardian Science. Email scienceweeklypodcast@gmail.com. Guardian Science is now on Facebook. You can also join our Science Weekly Facebook group. Listen back through our archive.Subscribe free via iTunes to ensure every episode gets delivered. (Here is the non-iTunes URL feed).Alok JhaAndy DuckworthRobin McKieNell BoaseIan Sample guardian.co.uk |
Branson dedicates spaceport runway in NM desert By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN 2010-10-22T23:37:30ZUPHAM, N.M. (AP) -- World's first commercial spaceport. Check. Solo flight of a rocket ship for tourists. Check. A runway in the southern New Mexico desert to help them climb to the heavens. Check.... hosted.ap.org |