The UK has decided that it cannot contain swine flu, and has moved its health service onto a treatment footing instead.

Health minister Andy Burnham told the House of Commons yesterday that over the last week a “considerable rise” in H1N1 with several hundred new cases every day.

“Cases are doubling every week, and on this trend we could see more than 100,000 cases per day by the end of August—although I stress that that is only a projection,” he said. “As cases continue to rise, we have reached the next step in our management of the disease.”

A fourth person in the country died from the virus today.

“The dinosaurs have been nicknamed after characters created by poet Banjo Paterson who is said to have written Waltzing Matilda in Winton in 1885.”
Anna Bligh, premier of Queensland, announces the discovery of three new dinosaurs in Australia: Australovenator wintonensis, Diamantinasaurus matildae and Wintonotitan wattsi (Brisbane Times).

“This is a pattern that we hadn’t really recognized before.”
Chris Landsea, atmospheric scientist at the hurricane research division of NOAA in the US, comments on a new paper about El Niño and hurricanes (Science News).

“[We need a] network of people involved in intelligence-gathering to be able to deal swiftly with even the faintest hint of revolution.”
An un-named vice-chancellor at a UK university reveals his paranoia (The Times Higher).

Despite the fact that larger sheep are more likely to survive when young, the Soay sheep (Ovis aries) on the Scottish island of Hirta have been shrinking in size over the last 20 years. Tim Coulson, of Imperial College London, UK, and his colleagues have been working out which of the myriad of possible factors is most responsible for this change.

In Science they report their analysis of the body-weights and life-history of female sheep from Soay. They found that the animals are not growing as quickly as they once were and that more of the smaller sheep were surviving their early years.

“In the past, only the big, healthy sheep and large lambs that had piled on weight in their first summer could survive the harsh winters on Hirta,” says Coulson (press release).

“But now, due to climate change, grass for food is available for more months of the year, and survival conditions are not so challenging – even the slower growing sheep have a chance of making it, and this means smaller individuals are becoming increasingly prevalent in the population.”

“Our first images were taken along the moon’s terminator – the dividing line between day and night – making us initially unsure of how they would turn out,” says Mark Robinson of Arizona State University in Tempe. principal investigator for the probe’s camera (press release).

“Because of the deep shadowing, subtle topography is exaggerated, suggesting a craggy and inhospitable surface. In reality, the area is similar to the region where the Apollo 16 astronauts safely explored in 1972.”

The pictures, he says, show that LRO is nearly ready to get on with its mission of looking for potential landing sites and resources for any future return of humans to the Moon.

More
New focus on the Moon – Arizona State
Hi def Moon shots from 2007 Japanese Moon mission – The Great Beyond
From 2008: a newly processed 42-year-old Moon image taken in 1966 by the Lunar Orbiter 1 (LO1) – The Great Beyond

Image: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University

The 2010 biodiversity target originated in 2001, when the European Council concluded that “biodiversity decline should be halted with the aim of reaching this objective by 2010”. In 2002, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) softened the goal to “a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss”, and a few months later the World Summit on Sustainable Development echoed the CBD’s pledge. In celebration, the UN declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity.

But despite the nominal unity, things are looking pretty grim. On 2 July the IUCN released its assessment of threatened species, which looked at whether the statuses of threatened species were improving or deteriorating. In a laborious analysis, described by its authors as “a labour of love”, the group assessed 1,500 randomly selected species from each species group (e.g. dragonflies, freshwater crabs, gymnosperms). The conclusion: 2010 isn’t going to happen.

The lack of progress doesn’t come as a surprise, considering that the primary driver of species extinction — habitat destruction — continues to charge along, albeit at a slower clip in temperate regions. But the CBD notes that “this may not necessarily translate, however, into lower rates of species loss for all taxa because of the nature of the relationship between numbers of species and area of habitat, because decades or centuries may pass before species extinctions reach equilibrium with habitat loss, and because other drivers of loss, such as climate change, nutrient loading, and invasive species, are projected to increase".

The World Health Organisation yesterday announced it has now confirmed 77,201 cases of swine flu and 332 deaths.

Roche pledged to make it easier for developing countries to buy its Tamiflu drug at reduced prices. However, a patient in Denmark was recently discovered to have the first case of Tamiflu-resistant swine flu.

“The goods news is they just found one,” says Carolyn Bridges, from the US Centers for Disease Control (AP). Shortly after that Japan reported its first case of Tamiflu resistant H1N1 (Reuters).

J. Reece Roth, an emeritus professor of electrical engineering, was sentenced yesterday by U. S. District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee for violating the Arms Export Control Act. Roth and a now bankrupt company had been developing ways to reduce the drag on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (pictured right) and improve their take-off and landing capabilities. Roth employed two graduate students, a Chinese and an Iranian national, without obtaining the required license.

Roth, 71, maintained he did nothing wrong when I spoke to him in 2006, and he was unrepentant at sentencing. According to the Knoxville Sentinel he did not admit guilt or apologize for his actions. He told the judge that his wife and he both have health problems. "I would like to respectfully request the court take these into account when passing sentence, and that's all I have to say," Roth said.

He plans to appeal the verdict.

Image: USAF

This new research combines DNA data from tens of thousands of people to identify the genetic variations behind schizophrenia risk. It also shows some links between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

“Our findings are a real scientific breakthrough since they tell us a lot more about the nature of the genetic risk of schizophrenia than we knew as little as a year ago,” says a co-author of one of the studies, David St Clair, of the University of Aberdeen (press release).

Here comes the caveat: “However this is not a breakthrough that is going to change clinical practice any time soon,” he adds. “It will still be many years before our findings can be translated into new drug treatments.”

After multiple launch attempts for Endeavour were abandoned due to hydrogen fuel leaking from the external tank the space agency announced that yesterday’s 'tanking test' has been successful.

“There were absolutely no leak indications whatsoever noted on the two leak detectors,” says Launch Director Pete Nickolenko (statement).

“We’ll continue to look at the data, and our next step is to move toward launch.”

All this should mean that Endeavour is good to go on 11 July. As CNET notes though, all this faffing with the fuel means NASA has only a four day window to launch, before having to delay to 27 July in order to make way for a Russian space station resupply mission launch on the 24th.

More coverage
NASA: Fuel test a success, shuttle launch day set – AP
No leaks in Endeavour's fuel tank: NASA – AFP
Shuttle ready for launch after fuel tests, NASA says – Xinhua

Image: work on the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate of the external fuel tank, suspected source of the fuel leak, on 24 June / NASA - Jack Pfaller

Six weeks ago, a 47-million-year-old, beautifully-preserved primate fossil named Ida swamped headlines in a media blitz, generating harsh criticism of the scientists’ publicizing strategies and the lemming-like media.

But before Ida’s fame tumbles too far, a new primate’s fossils are swooping in to ride in her media wake. And though the remains are no more than jaws and a handful of teeth, they’re bent on trumping the notorious Ida’s perch on our primate tree.

Salamander cells remember their origins in limb regeneration
Cell tracking shows that axolotl cells in a regrowing leg retain distinct roles.

African science drops down G8 agenda
Researchers lament poor progress on commitments to developing nations.

“Toyota’s patent-filing strategy has made it far too risky to copy the Prius without Toyota’s blessing.”
Justin Blows, patent attorney at Griffith Hack Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys in Australia, says the car company holds all the cards in the race to develop and sell hybrid cars (WSJ).

“The climate change is happening, it’s coming quicker and earlier than we thought and our way of living is just not sustainable.”
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt says the European Union should be better, faster and stronger in tackling climate change (BBC).

“We’re to blame — we should have done this earlier but everything was done in a hurry.”
K. Sankar, a Wildlife Institute of India tiger expert, tells the Times that three Bengal tigers placed in an empty reserve in Rajasthan last year could be siblings, meaning inbreeding problems in the long term.

Comparing difference between different treatments is hugely controversial in the US, where some see it as an outrageous attempt to bring cost as a factor into the health system.

Others disagree. In a statement Harold Sox, co-chair of the committee behind the new IOM list, said, “Health care decisions too often are a matter of guesswork because we lack good evidence to inform them. For example, we spend a great deal on diagnostic tests for coronary heart disease in this country, but we lack sufficient evidence to determine which test is best.”

His committee whittled down 1,268 suggestions for comparative effectiveness research topics into a 100 item list. It will come as no surprise to find out that coronary heart disease is on it. The best suggestion though has to be this one:

Compare the effectiveness of dissemination and translation techniques to facilitate the use of CER [Comparative Effectiveness Research] by patients, clinicians, payers, and others.

So the committee carefully considering controversial comparisons concluded comparing clinician communication criteria could create crucial clarity? Crikey!

Stand by for more fighting. “Because the committee's work was requested by Congress and the resulting portfolio is so broad in scope, the recommendations may be more influential than they might otherwise have been, but the report is unlikely to quell the controversy surrounding CER,” opines the New England Journal of Medicine.

More coverage
Candidates Aplenty for Spending on Comparative Effectiveness – WSJ health blog
Panel Suggests U.S. Medical Priorities – NY Times

Image: Punchstock