| A Sticky Climate Protest Climate activists use Super Glue to attach themselves to Royal Bank of Scotland property, in a protest of the bank's investments in coal and oil development. feeds.nytimes.com |
A Belated Debate on Modified Beets Environmentalists and farmers sue the Agriculture Department, seeking to overturn permits it issued that would allow the planting of a seed crop. feeds.nytimes.com |
Largest offshore wind farm opens The biggest offshore wind farm in the world, expected to generate enough electricity to power 240,000 homes, is officially opened. bbc.co.uk |
Anna Chapman waves off space rocket in Kazakhstan Former spy Anna Chapman turns up to launch of rocket carrying US and Russian astronautsThe already improbable Anna Chapman saga took another surprising twist today when the 28-year-old former Russian spy resurfaced in Kazakhstan to wave off a space rocket.Chapman, who was one of 10 Russian agents to be deported from the US in July, became a tabloid sensation after sultry pictures of her were published in newspapers around the world. She also filmed a risqué video on her return to Moscow, but has mostly avoided appearing in public for the last three months.Early today, however, Chapman arrived at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to see off a US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts bound for the International Space Station.She appeared at the farewell ceremony for the space crew and was quickly moved to a guest house near the launch pad accompanied by a guard who blocked reporters. She made no public comment.An official with Russia's space agency said Chapman was at Baikonur as an adviser to the president of FondServisBank, which works with space industry companies and was handing out awards.Chapman, the daughter of a diplomat, was the most high-profile of the 10 Russian "sleepers" arrested in the US this summer after being caught trying to embed themselves in American society while leading double lives and secretly reporting to the Kremlin.The crew's relatives and supporters were also on site when the Soyuz engines roared and the spaceship lifted off. Russian engineers hugged and kissed one another after the craft shed its first stage and it became clear the launch was a success.Mike Suffredini, the head of Nasa's space station programme, who watched the launch from an observation point with his Russian counterparts, also gave a thumbs-up to the launch.American Scott Kelly and Russia's Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka are due to reach the orbiting laboratory in two days' time to begin their five-month mission, and will join two US astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut who have been at the station since June.The three men on their way to the station are flying in Russia's first all-digital Soyuz TMA-01M.The overhauled Soyuz will allow a doubling of the launch rate of Soyuz spaceships, which will help maintain a crew of six on board the space station when the Nasa shuttle fleet is retired.KazakhstanRussian spy ringRussiaSpaceUnited StatesAnna ChapmanSam Jonesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Test could warn women of early menopause Genetic test could be of benefit to growing number of women who delay motherhood then find they cannot conceiveScientists have moved closer to devising a test that could warn women that they are going to undergo an early menopause.The blood test would identify those who are going to go through the menopause before the age of 35, years before it usually happens in a woman's early 50s. That process happens to around one in 20 women and can ruin dreams of motherhood.Scientists report today that they have made considerable progress in understanding the key role played in early menopause by four genes.The test that their findings help pave the way for could be of particular benefit to the growing number of women who put off having children until their 30s but then find that they cannot conceive.Researchers from Exeter University' Peninsula Medical School and the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) examined the four genes linked to early menopause. They compared 2,000 women who had been through it and 2,000 who had not.While each gene affected a woman's risk of an early menopause, the combination of them produced a much greater risk, which the researchers to conclude that this is why some women experience the menopause much earlier than normal.They say that their work could lead to women being able to find out if they are genetically predisposed to early menopause and know when their fertility would end and thus potentially decide to have children earlier than planned."It is estimated that a woman's ability to conceive decreases on average 10 years before she starts the menopause," said lead scientist Dr Anna Murray, from the Peninsula Medical School. "Therefore those who are destined to have an early menopause and delay childbearing until their 30s are more likely to have problems conceiving. These findings are the first stage in developing an easy and relatively inexpensive genetic test which could help the one in 20 UK women who may be affected by early menopause."The study, published in the journal Human Molecular Genetics, is the first research to emerge from the Breakthrough Generations Study. The collaboration between the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer and the ICR plans to track 100,000 women over the next 40 years to identify which lifestyle, environmental and genetic factors make some women susceptible to the commonest female cancer.Fertility experts said a genetic test based on the new study could give would-be older mothers options they may not otherwise have. "This could help the growing numbers of women who delay having children until towards the end of their reproductive life and then find to their horror that they have gone through, or are approaching, early menopause, and so their egg quality is very poor," said Dr Allan Pacey of Sheffield University."Given that women are increasingly older when they start having their families then a result like this should be able to tell those women at risk that they shouldn't hang about, even if that's before they ideally want to have children, because you can't turn the clock back once an early menopause has happened".Pacey added: "If you haven't found Mr Right by then, then women could freeze their eggs. This could be an early warning call to do that and there would be a legitimate medical reason to do so".MenopauseWomenMedical researchGeneticsHealthDenis Campbellguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |