The human factor

The human factor

The Guardian
29 Jul 2006

The distance between a neurone and a human mind seems very great, and to many philosophers and scientists quite impossible for science to cross. Even if minds are made from brains, and brains are made from billions of neurones, there seems no way to... read more...

Healing power of electricity raises hope of new treatments

Healing power of electricity raises hope of new treatments
Ian Sample Science correspondent
The Guardian
27 Jul 2006

Scientists have found how the body harnesses the power of electricity to heal cuts and grazes — an effect they manipulated to speed up wound healing dramatically. In what amounts to the modern rediscovery of an old medical curiosity, the finding... read more...

The flight of the bumblebee is measured at record eight miles

The flight of the bumblebee is measured at record eight miles
Ian Sample Science correspondent
The Guardian
26 Jul 2006

For a bumblebee, the flight was more long haul than short hop. Picking through farmland, labyrinthine council estates and ancient grazing sites, bumblebees have navigated a record eight miles home to a nest, in research aimed at boosting efforts to... read more...

Scientists seek the secret of our success from Neanderthal DNA

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Scientists seek the secret of our success from Neanderthal DNA
Ian Sample Science correspondent
The Guardian
21 Jul 2006

Scientists are to decipher the genetic code of our closest relative, the barrel-chested, long-faced Neanderthal, in the hope that it will reveal how modern humans developed the formidable cognitive power to dominate the world. With fragments of DNA... read more...

Maverick medic reveals details of baby cloning experiment

Maverick medic reveals details of baby cloning experiment
David Adam
The Guardian
20 Jul 2006

A maverick fertility expert has published evidence of an attempt to produce the world’s first cloned human baby. Panos Zavos, a reproductive scientist, caused a storm in 2004 when he told a press conference in London he had cloned a human embryo from... read more...

Stereo satellites will let scientists tune in to the sun’s mood music

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Stereo satellites will let scientists tune in to the sun’s mood music
Alok Jha Science correspondent
The Guardian
18 Jul 2006

Scientists want to create the first threedimensional model of the sun in an effort to protect the Earth from its most violent eruptions, which can affect everything from global positioning systems to mobile phone networks. The Stereo mission, due to be... read more...

Morning sickness may be due to diet, not upset hormones

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Morning sickness may be due to diet, not upset hormones
James Randerson Science correspondent
The Guardian
12 Jul 2006

Nausea and sickness during pregnancy are the body’s way of protecting mother and baby against poisons and stomach bugs in food, according to research which brought together data from 21 countries. The study shows a link between nausea and diet,... read more...

Why cracks at the cores of ageing AGRs worried safety inspector

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Why cracks at the cores of ageing AGRs worried safety inspector
Ian Sample Science correspondent
The Guardian
05 Jul 2006

No one knows when the cracks first started to appear, but as long ago as 2004, British Energy voiced concerns about fractures in the cores of its 14 reactors.

The cracks were spotted in graphite bricks in the cores of all the company’s advanced gas- cooled reactors, or AGRs. Collectively, they provide the country with nearly one fifth of its electricity. But the extent of the potential damage, and the consequences that might flow from it, were uncertain.

However, the latest report by the government’s Nuclear Safety Directorate (NSD), obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, makes clear that nuclear inspectors have raised repeated concerns about the dangers of continuing to operate Hinkley Point B nuclear power station in Somerset and other nuclear plants weakened by cracks. British Energy, they say, knows too little about the cracks to be confident they can operate without incident.. read more...