Science Special News

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'Silent aircraft': How it works

Engineers from the University of Cambridge and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have unveiled a radical design for a "silent aircraft". The team says any noise from the concept aircraft, known as the SAX-40, would be "imperceptible" beyond the boundaries of an airport. It would also burn far less fuel than conventional planes. The design is the result of three years' work and includes both new and existing technologies. Here, the BBC News website details some of the design's key features. The shape of the plane is what is known as a "blended wing" design. This hybrid design uses the wings of a conventional plane smoothly blended into a wide tailless body. As turbulent airflow, generated by irregular surfaces, causes noise, the designers tried to make the airframe as smooth as possible. The aerofoil shape of the body means that it also contributes to the aircraft's lift, meaning it can make a slower approach on landing, again reducing noise. The improved lift also means that the plane can do away with flaps on the wings, which are a major source of airframe noise on conventional aircraft.

Because the design does not need a tail, used to provide additional lift and stability on conventional craft, it also cuts down on turbulent airflow and noise from the back of the plane. The design, made of lightweight composites, also improves the fuel efficiency of the craft whilst cruising.

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Devolution vs evolution: The Handwalkers

PBS show "Nova" looks at a family in rural Turkey in which five of the siblings walk on all fours. The discovery has sparked fierce discussions about evolution, genetics and social environment. Discovered in 2005 and called handwalkers, the family has received immense press attention as competing scientific theories abound -- particularly those of scientist Uter Tan, who found the family and has since made waves by saying its members are the product of "reverse evolution," describing them as "genetic throwbacks." Actual footage of the family has not been widespread, and their daily journeys as documented in "Family That Walks on All Fours" never fails to leave you riveted to the screen, even in those fleeting moments when it seems less like an exploration of science and more like sad vestiges of a freak show. This being "Nova," luckily, there's not a whole lot of taint on the screen; there's rarely a sense of exploitation, though no matter how delicately the "Nova" crew treads, every time the camera lingers on the handwalkers for longer than four or five seconds, it seems ever-so-slightly like inappropriate staring.

What works here beyond the images is the scientific discussion at hand. As noted, humans haven't walked that way in 3 million years, so the question becomes whether this family is now "more important than studying fossils" as we seek an evolutionary link -- a DNA progression that is no longer available to observe -- or if the whole thing is just an unusual case study. In the course of this "Nova" episode, a British geneticist suggests that Tan's theory of reverse evolution is not only scientifically unsound but "irresponsible and insulting."

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Plan to create human-cow embryos

Submitted by iCandy: UK scientists have applied for permission to create embryos by fusing human DNA with cow eggs. Researchers from Newcastle University and Kings College, London, have asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for a three-year licence. The hybrid human-bovine embryos would be used for stem cell research and would not be allowed to develop for more than a few days. But critics say it is unethical and potentially dangerous. Liberal Democrat MP Dr Evan Harris - a member of the Commons Science and Technology Select Committee - said: "If human benefit can be derived by perfecting therapeutic cloning techniques or from research into subsequently-derived stem cells, then it would actually be immoral to prevent it just because of a 'yuck' factor." Stem cell research is one of the most promising areas of medical science. Stem cells are the body's master cells and five-day-old embryos are packed with them - each with the potential to turn into any tissue in the body. It is this ability which scientists want to harness to treat diseases such as Parkinson's Disease, strokes and Alzheimer's Disease.

To do that, they say they need to have access to thousands of embryos for research. The problem is that human eggs for research are in short supply and to obtain them women have to undergo surgery. That is why scientists want to use cows' eggs as a substitute. They would insert human DNA into a cow's egg which has had its genetic material removed, and then create an embryo by the same technique that produced Dolly the Sheep. The resulting embryo would be 99.9% human; the only bovine element would be DNA outside the nucleus of the cell. It would, though, technically be a chimera - a mixing of two distinct species into one.

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Doctor prescribed 'exorcism'

A London doctor allegedly told a patient seeking contraception to undergo an exorcism at Westminster Cathedral. Dr Joyce Pratt, who works at several family planning clinics in central London, allegedly told the patient that there was "something moving inside her stomach" and that "black magic was involved".The Fitness to Practise Panel is today meeting in Manchester to hear the claims. A General Medical Council statement alleged she told the patient that she could help her because she "had powers" and that she should see a priest at Westminster Cathedral.The three day tribunal will also hear claims that Dr Pratt told the patient that her mother was a witch and that her husband and mother were trying to kill her."It is alleged that Dr Pratt's conduct was irresponsible, unprofessional, intimidatory to her patient and liable to bring the profession into disrepute," the GMC statement said.

It is also alleged that Dr Pratt failed to co-operate with investigations by her employer and the primary care trust.If guilty, she could be struck off the medical register.Westminster Cathedral is on Francis Street, near Victoria station.It is the mother church of the Roman Catholic faithful of the Archdiocese of Westminster.

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Malfunctioning radar zaps passing cars

In Britain, a Royal Air Force (RAF) Type 93 air defense radar at Trimingham, Norfolk, went out of alignment late last year, and began zapping the electronics on passing automobiles, and some electrical devices in nearby homes. The RAF admitted to the problem earlier this year, and offered to pay compensation to those with damaged electronics. Apparently, there was no harm done, by the stray radiation, to any people. However, locals are still reporting problems, and nearby auto repair shops have the fried automobile electronics to prove it. Such incidents are becoming more common, as more consumer electronics use more complex components, which are potentially vulnerable to powerful blasts of electromagnetism (radar, and other transmissions.)

The Trimingham site has been used for air defense radar since 1941. The Type 93 radar is used to spot hostile aircraft approaching and guide British interceptors outbound.

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Nick Pope speaks out on UFO threat

UFO sightings and alien visitors tend to be solely the reserve of sci-fi movies. So when a former MoD chief warns that the country could be attacked by extraterrestrials at any time, you may be forgiven for feeling a little alarmed. During his time as head of the Ministry of Defence UFO project, Nick Pope was persuaded into believing that other lifeforms may visit Earth and, more specifically, Britain. His concern is that highly credible sightings are simply dismissed. And he complains that the project he once ran is now "virtually closed" down, leaving the country "wide open" to aliens. Mr Pope decided to speak out about his worries after resigning from his post at the Directorate of Defence Security at the MoD this week. "The consequences of getting this one wrong could be huge," he said. "If you reported a UFO sighting now, I am absolutely sure that you would just get back a standard letter telling you not to worry. ''Frankly we are wide open - if something does not behave like a conventional aircraft now, it will be ignored. "The X-Files have been closed down." If these words had come from a sci-fi fanatic, they could be easily dismissed by cynics. But Mr Pope's CV - he was head of the UFO project between 1991 and 1994 - cannot be ignored.

When he began his job, he too was sceptical about UFOs but access to classified files on the subject and investigation of a series of spectacular UFO sightings gradually changed his mind. And while Mr Pope says that there is no evidence of hostile intent, he insists it cannot be ruled out. "There has got to be the potential for that and one is left with the uneasy feeling that if it turned out to be so, there is very little we could do about it," he said.

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Evidence that subliminal is not so 'sub'

The popular notion of subliminal information is that it streams into an unguarded mind, unchecked and unprocessed. However, neurobiologists' experiments are now revealing that the brain does consciously process subliminal information and that such processing influences how that subliminal information is perceived. In an article in the November 9, 2006, issue of the journal Neuron, published by Cell Press, Kimihiro Nakamura and colleagues report experiments with human volunteers demonstrating such "top-down" processing of subliminal information. Their findings also shed light on the neural mechanism by which reading a printed word evokes the representation of the spoken form. This "lexical-phonological" linkage is critical to learning to read and is disrupted in some forms of reading disorders.In the researchers' experiments, they showed volunteers either words or pronounceable nonwords and asked them to perform either a lexical task or a pronunciation task on the words. The lexical task was to identify whether the word they saw was a real word or a nonsense word.However, unbeknownst to the subjects, they had been first presented with a subliminal word that either matched or didn't match the target word. Such subliminal words were "masked" with nonsense characters that would render the presentation subliminal. The researchers' initial experiments showed that presenting subliminal words identical to the target word produced a "priming" effect in which subjects responded faster on the lexical or pronunciation tasks.

The researchers next applied a harmless magnetic pulse--called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)--to two key regions of the brain involved in such perception, before presenting the priming word. The two regions were known to be involved in either converting visually perceived words to phonological representations or to integrating perceived words across visual and auditory modes. TMS is known to transiently affect neural function in a target area.Nakamura and colleagues found that TMS applied to one brain area or the other could selectively disrupt the priming effect for either the lexical or pronunciation task. The researchers concluded that the conscious task instruction for either of the tasks caused a different neural network to be engaged for generating the appropriate behavioral response.

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Devolution vs evolution: The Handwalkers

PBS show "Nova" looks at a family in rural Turkey in which five of the siblings walk on all fours. The discovery has sparked fierce discussions about evolution, genetics and social environment. Discovered in 2005 and called handwalkers, the family has received immense press attention as competing scientific theories abound -- particularly those of scientist Uter Tan, who found the family and has since made waves by saying its members are the product of "reverse evolution," describing them as "genetic throwbacks." Actual footage of the family has not been widespread, and their daily journeys as documented in "Family That Walks on All Fours" never fails to leave you riveted to the screen, even in those fleeting moments when it seems less like an exploration of science and more like sad vestiges of a freak show. This being "Nova," luckily, there's not a whole lot of taint on the screen; there's rarely a sense of exploitation, though no matter how delicately the "Nova" crew treads, every time the camera lingers on the handwalkers for longer than four or five seconds, it seems ever-so-slightly like inappropriate staring.

What works here beyond the images is the scientific discussion at hand. As noted, humans haven't walked that way in 3 million years, so the question becomes whether this family is now "more important than studying fossils" as we seek an evolutionary link -- a DNA progression that is no longer available to observe -- or if the whole thing is just an unusual case study. In the course of this "Nova" episode, a British geneticist suggests that Tan's theory of reverse evolution is not only scientifically unsound but "irresponsible and insulting."

[Rasputin]

Plan to create human-cow embryos

Submitted by iCandy: UK scientists have applied for permission to create embryos by fusing human DNA with cow eggs. Researchers from Newcastle University and Kings College, London, have asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for a three-year licence. The hybrid human-bovine embryos would be used for stem cell research and would not be allowed to develop for more than a few days. But critics say it is unethical and potentially dangerous. Liberal Democrat MP Dr Evan Harris - a member of the Commons Science and Technology Select Committee - said: "If human benefit can be derived by perfecting therapeutic cloning techniques or from research into subsequently-derived stem cells, then it would actually be immoral to prevent it just because of a 'yuck' factor." Stem cell research is one of the most promising areas of medical science. Stem cells are the body's master cells and five-day-old embryos are packed with them - each with the potential to turn into any tissue in the body. It is this ability which scientists want to harness to treat diseases such as Parkinson's Disease, strokes and Alzheimer's Disease.

To do that, they say they need to have access to thousands of embryos for research. The problem is that human eggs for research are in short supply and to obtain them women have to undergo surgery. That is why scientists want to use cows' eggs as a substitute. They would insert human DNA into a cow's egg which has had its genetic material removed, and then create an embryo by the same technique that produced Dolly the Sheep. The resulting embryo would be 99.9% human; the only bovine element would be DNA outside the nucleus of the cell. It would, though, technically be a chimera - a mixing of two distinct species into one.

[Rasputin]

Doctor prescribed 'exorcism'

A London doctor allegedly told a patient seeking contraception to undergo an exorcism at Westminster Cathedral. Dr Joyce Pratt, who works at several family planning clinics in central London, allegedly told the patient that there was "something moving inside her stomach" and that "black magic was involved".The Fitness to Practise Panel is today meeting in Manchester to hear the claims. A General Medical Council statement alleged she told the patient that she could help her because she "had powers" and that she should see a priest at Westminster Cathedral.The three day tribunal will also hear claims that Dr Pratt told the patient that her mother was a witch and that her husband and mother were trying to kill her."It is alleged that Dr Pratt's conduct was irresponsible, unprofessional, intimidatory to her patient and liable to bring the profession into disrepute," the GMC statement said.

It is also alleged that Dr Pratt failed to co-operate with investigations by her employer and the primary care trust.If guilty, she could be struck off the medical register.Westminster Cathedral is on Francis Street, near Victoria station.It is the mother church of the Roman Catholic faithful of the Archdiocese of Westminster.

[Rasputin]

Malfunctioning radar zaps passing cars

In Britain, a Royal Air Force (RAF) Type 93 air defense radar at Trimingham, Norfolk, went out of alignment late last year, and began zapping the electronics on passing automobiles, and some electrical devices in nearby homes. The RAF admitted to the problem earlier this year, and offered to pay compensation to those with damaged electronics. Apparently, there was no harm done, by the stray radiation, to any people. However, locals are still reporting problems, and nearby auto repair shops have the fried automobile electronics to prove it. Such incidents are becoming more common, as more consumer electronics use more complex components, which are potentially vulnerable to powerful blasts of electromagnetism (radar, and other transmissions.)

The Trimingham site has been used for air defense radar since 1941. The Type 93 radar is used to spot hostile aircraft approaching and guide British interceptors outbound.

[Rasputin]

UFO Conference in Las Vegas

UFO enthusiasts are familiar with the story of the Roswell incident, the reputed crash of a flying saucer in New Mexico back in 1947. It turns out Nevada has a crashed saucer story of its own. Beginning Friday night, UFO researchers will present their findings at a conference being held at the Tuscany hotel on East Flamingo. The conference focuses on stories about crashes and cover ups.One of the incidents to be featured this weekend is the crash of something strange near Devils Hole in the Amargosa Valley. Author Ryan Wood is the principal investigator of this case. "I've been investigating a crash in Nye County, Nevada that occurred Aug. 5 1949 where a miner was mining and whizzing over his head came a 24-foot saucer shaped disc that crashed in front of him and two small ET's popped out and ran across the desert. And he picked up a piece of the metal and brought it back to Los Angeles. A reporter wrote a story about it and presented his evidence there," said Ryan Wood, author of Majic Eyes Only.

Wood says he's obtained some corroboration for the story but that he has a lot of work remaining. Also at this conference is physicist Stanton Friedman, the first researcher to explore the Roswell incident. The public is invited to the conference, which kicks off Friday and runs thru Sunday.