Police close ‘Climategate’ investigation

The Norfolk Constabulary has closed its investigation into the November 2009 release of private emails between researchers at the Climatic Research Centre (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich after failing to identify those responsible. Despite not being able to prosecute any offenders, the police have confirmed that the data breach “was the result of a sophisticated and carefully orchestrated attack on the CRU’s data files, carried out remotely via the internet”. The investigation has also cleared anyone working at or associated with UEA from involvement in the crime.  Read more

Courting cuttlefish dons drag to keep off rivals

To fight off competition for a partner that it is courting, a male mourning cuttlefish – an ink-spewing marine animal that resembles an octopus – transforms half of its body to take up female characteristics to snare a rival’s attention as it woos.  Read more

Chinese scientists call for an end to bear farming

Chinese scientists call for an end to bear farming

Chinese scientists from Beijing Forest University have called for their government to ban bear farming in Nature this week. Around 10,000 endangered Asian black bears or ‘moon bears’ are kept captive in China in order to extract their bile for use in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).  Read more

Aleppo science students march against Bashar

The Syrian city of Aleppo has been the quietest city amidst the unrest sweeping across the country – so quiet in fact that a visitor would be excused to think it isn’t a Syrian city. This has all started to change this week, however, as students from the Faculty of Science in Aleppo University started to go out in protests against the ruling regime, quickly joined by other students from the Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Engineering.  Read more

New drug pathways under investigation for ALS

New drug pathways under investigation for ALS

A diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is considered a life sentence. Most people with the neurodegenerative disease, which attacks the neurons responsible for motor control, only survive two or three years after their diagnosis — and 5,000 such diagnoses are made each year in the United States alone. Despite the need, however, there is only a single drug on the market that targets ALS: Rilutek (riluzole), made by France’s Sanofi. But this agent only prolongs life by two or three months on average. Recent advances provide some hope for future drug pathways that can be targeted to treat the disease.

Categorising all animals – a snip at over US$200 billion

Categorising all animals - a snip at over US$200 billion

How much would it cost to describe the entire animal kingdom? Well over US$200 billion, according to Fernando Carbayo and Antonio Marques from the University of Sao Paulo.

Based on a survey of 44 Brazilian taxonomists (representing 9% of the country’s total), the duo calculated the average cost of training, funding and equipping people in the field. This might seem like an unrepresentative sample, but Brazil contains 10% of the world’s animal species and the country’s taxonomists are among the world’s most prolific. Their salaries also come close to the global average for professors.

Rwandan physicist to head science academy for the developing world

Rwandan physicist to head science academy for the developing world

Romain Murenzi, a physicist and Rwanda’s former science minister, was today named as the new executive director of TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world. Murenzi will replace Muhamed Hassan, who has spent nearly 30 years in the post.