{"id":8614,"date":"2013-06-14T14:55:30","date_gmt":"2013-06-14T13:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/?p=8614"},"modified":"2013-06-14T14:55:30","modified_gmt":"2013-06-14T13:55:30","slug":"best-of-nature-com-blogs-scilogs-com-and-scitable-8-14-june","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/2013\/06\/14\/best-of-nature-com-blogs-scilogs-com-and-scitable-8-14-june","title":{"rendered":"Best of nature.com blogs, SciLogs.com and Scitable: 8 \u2013 14 June"},"content":{"rendered":"

All you can tweet (the blog version)<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the sake of posterity,\u00a0Stuart Cantrill<\/a>\u00a0recaps\u00a0Nature Chemistry’s<\/em> April 2013 editorial<\/a> about how they use Twitter:\"All<\/a><\/p>\n

You can follow Nature Chemistry<\/em> on Twitter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

US regulator plans to declare research chimps endangered<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meredith Wadman<\/a>\u00a0reports in the News blog<\/a>,\u00a0the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is planning to categorize all US chimpanzees as an endangered species, a change which, if enacted, may spell the end of invasive chimpanzee research:<\/p>\n

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FLICKR: VALENTINA STORTI<\/p><\/div>\n

This soon-to-be-published proposed FWS rule<\/a>, which will be open for 60 days of public comment before being finalized, would bring captive chimps \u2014 whether in zoos, private homes or research labs \u2014 under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, as wild chimps already are.<\/em><\/p>\n

If the FWS decides to list the captive animals as endangered, then using them for\u00a0invasive research would require a special permit<\/a>. To win one, researchers would have to show that any proposed study would promote the conservation of the species.<\/em><\/p>\n

Jane Goodall, the famous primatologist, called the move \u201can important step toward saving our closest living relatives from extinction\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

How could this change impact chimpanzee research? Find out more in Meredith’s post.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

When Glaciers Get Dirty<\/strong><\/p>\n

SciLogs blogger\u00a0Paige Brown<\/a>,\u00a0is looking at glaciers in her latest blog post<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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EIS field assistant, Adam LeWinter on NE rim of Birthday Canyon, atop feature called \u201cMoab\u201d. Greenland Ice Sheet, July 2009. Black deposit in bottom of channel is cryoconite. Birthday Canyon is approximately 150 feet deep. Photograph by James Balog, Chasing Ice photographer, https:\/\/www.chasingice.com.<\/p><\/div>\n

Along with warming of our planet\u2019s climate attributed to both natural forces and man-made greenhouse gas emissions, a black substance called\u00a0cryoconite<\/a>\u00a0is causing glaciers all over the world to melt more quickly today than in the past.\u00a0Cryoconite is powdery windblown dust made of a combination of small rock particles, soot and bacteria. The dark dust, which is spread over glaciers in Greenland and other icy areas of the world by wind and rain, is composed of mineral dust from warmer regions of the world, rock particles from volcanic eruptions, and soot from fires, the emissions of our cars and coal-fired power plants. While many of the materials in cryoconite are natural materials, human activities based on coal use have increased the amount of black soot in cryoconite since the substance was first discovered in 1870. The increasing amount of black soot in cryoconite has caused glaciers to darken in a phenomenon scientists call \u201cbiological darkening<\/a>,\u201d as the gritty substance builds up on snow, glaciers and icecaps.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Learn more about the impact of\u00a0global warming and biological darkening of glaciers due to cryoconite build-up, in Paige’s post.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Canadian accelerator produces a city\u2019s-worth of medical isotopes overnight<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nicola Jones<\/a>\u00a0reports in the News Blog<\/a>, the looming problem of a global medical isotope shortage is one step closer to a solution:<\/p>\n

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ACSI<\/p><\/div>\n

A Canadian team has developed an upgrade that allows hospital cyclotrons to make a much-needed diagnostic tracer, and has proven it can pump out enough overnight to fulfil a city\u2019s needs the next day.<\/em><\/p>\n

Most of today\u2019s medical-imaging procedures, such as those used to trace cancer or monitor heart function, employ a radioactive element called technetium-99m (99m<\/sup>Tc). But this isotope is hard to produce and has a half-life of just 6 hours, making it impossible to store long-term. Global supplies come mostly from two nuclear reactor facilities: one in Canada, and one in the Netherlands.\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

More on the medical isotope problem can be found in Nicola’s post.<\/a><\/p>\n

Post-revolution higher education in Egypt<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the House of Wisdom Blog,\u00a0Mohammed Yahia<\/a>\u00a0looks at the state of higher education in Egypt – post-revolution:<\/p>\n

\"\"University World News<\/a>\u00a0has published a feature on the changes that the higher education system has gone through since the uprising. Seven new public universities have been founded, mostly as spin-offs from already existing universities, writes Nadia El-Awady. The bulk of those are outside the population centres of Cairo and Alexandria, serving communities that did not have easy access to higher education in the past. This comes as part of the government\u2019s attempt to increase the number of people enrolled in universities which, according to the feature, stands at only\u00a025%-28% of all high school graduates, and decrease congestion in the bigger universities.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How does the future look for education in Egypt? Find out in\u00a0\u00a0Mohammed’s post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

UK libel reform fight \u2018isn\u2019t over yet\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

British scientists should not celebrate victory in their libel reform fight just yet, explains\u00a0Daniel Cressey<\/a>\u00a0in the News Blog:\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

A\u00a0new law on defamation has been passed<\/a>\u00a0by the UK parliament, adding protections for peer-reviewed research and provisions to discourage corporations silencing critics with costly libel claims. But there are still concerns, speakers said in their talks at a Libel Reform Campaign\u00a0meeting in London<\/a>\u00a0yesterday. Researchers have been at the forefront of the campaign, after a number of high profile actions against scientists and science writers. (Nature\u00a0has supported the Libel Reform Campaign: see \u2018The right to speak out<\/a>\u2018.)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Further information on this law can be found in Daniel’s post.<\/a><\/p>\n

Water, water, everywhere<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scitable bloggers\u00a0Jon Tennant and Jane Robb<\/a>,\u00a0are looking at the importance of water in their latest post:<\/p>\n

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Left image: A representation of the volume of water on Earth compared to the volume of the Earth.<\/p><\/div>\n

Until now, it has been well documented that water billions of years old can remain within inclusions inside crystals of minerals, meaning that the water has not made contact with the atmosphere since its imprisonment within the mineral. The exciting part about this new water discovery is that the fluid has not been encased within a crystal, but has been found flowing between mineral surfaces and micro-fractures within the rocks but still has remained out of contact with the atmosphere for 1.5 billion years!<\/em><\/p>\n

So what does this tell us? The team who made the discovery, published in Nature, have noted that this could provide us with clues on the question of whether there was life on Mars…but first, let’s explore the subject of water on Mars.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Learn more in their joint blog post.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

US Supreme Court rules patents on \u2018natural\u2019 human genes invalid<\/strong><\/p>\n

This week, the US Supreme Court\u00a0unanimously struck down patents on isolated, natural human genes<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0Heidi Ledford<\/a>\u00a0elaborates in the News Blog:\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

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SCOTUS\/FRANZ JANTZEN<\/p><\/div>\n

Patents on synthesized DNA, however, are still valid, the justices said. Included in that category are commercially important patents on cDNA \u2013 segments of DNA synthesized using an RNA template.<\/em><\/p>\n

The case<\/a>\u00a0pitted the American Civil Liberties Union (along with a host of patients, advocates, researchers, and professional societies) against Myriad Genetics, a genetic testing company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, that held patents on two genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer. During its four-year run, the lawsuit has drawn attention to the debate over gene patenting, but\u00a0many have argued that the outcome of the case would have little practical bearing<\/a>\u00a0on biotechnology or genetic testing because\u00a0the patents in question are relatively rare<\/a>. Myriad\u2019s test, for example, is protected by other patents that are not limited to isolated DNA sequence.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How will this news impact\u00a0biotech patent owners? Find out more in \u00a0Heidi’s report.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Russian meteor blast was the largest ever recorded by CTBTO<\/strong><\/p>\n

Finally,\u00a0Quirin Schiermeier<\/a>\u00a0reveals in the\u00a0News Blog,\u00a0<\/a>the meteor\u00a0blast on 15 February<\/a>\u00a0over the Urals Mountains,was the largest explosion ever recorded by the\u00a0Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization<\/a>\u00a0(CTBTO).<\/p>\n