Gair Rhydd

News in brief

Slimming fruit fly

A study from a team of Texas A&M University researchers has found the taste sensing cells of the fruit fly’s tongue contain an internal daily clock, which determines feeding behaviours — and these same taste sensitivities are very likely apply to humans.

Plug pulled on 'bad medicine'

Plug pulled on 'bad medicine'

A new House of Commons Science and Technology Committee (STC) report casts doubt on homeopathy, stating that there is no scientific evidence to support its effectiveness. The committee is now urging the government to abide by its principals and withdraw funding for homeopathic treatment.

Homeopathy is a type of alternative medicine that emerged in Germany in the 18th century. It is based on a concept called ‘the law of similars’ which states that introducing a small amount of disease-causing elements into the body will eventually heal the body from that disease. However, in order to prevent the medicine from complicating the illness, the amount introduced into the body is highly diluted.

Stuck stammering

Recent research suggests stammering could be caused by genetics. Priya Raj explains all...

Stammering, or stuttering, is a problem with the flow and timing of speech which can be interrupted by repetition of a syllable, prolongation of the sound or a complete block.

People are often embarrassed about stammering, but may be quite fluent if they sing, whisper or speak as part of a group.

News in brief

Carbon neutral aviation fuel

British Airways (BA) are helping to establish Europe’s first ‘green’ jet fuel plant in London, which will turn landfill waste into carbon neutral aviation fuel.

The problem with palm

A recently leaked report indicates that millions of tonnes of palm oil will be pumped into Britain’s vehicles, despite scientific proof that chopping down rainforests for palm oil plantations exacerbates climate change.

The report suggests that the European Commission’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED), a mandate intended to reduce greenhous$1$3asses, will result in an increase in the amount of palm oil used on cars and power stations.

The results are in

Results from the Large Hadron Collider have been released

Scientists working at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) took the first tentative steps towards a greater understanding of the nature of reality this week.

The first data from the device’s Compact Muon Solenoid detector has been analysed. The group report in the Journal of High Energy Physics said that the collider produced many more particles than was originally predicted. These preliminary results probably won’t have too much impact, however, as the accelerator will be run with even greater levels of energy as the year goes on.

News in brief

Increase in palm oil suggested

A recent study published in magazine PNAS has stated that an increase in production of eco-friendly fuels could lead indirectly to destroying the rainforest in the Amazon region. The cultivation of cane sugar (for ethanol) and soy beans (for biodiesel) has expanded enormously over the last few years. 88 % of the newly added space for cultivation consisted of former cattle run. Cattlemen are now forced to the edge of the Amazon, where they have to deforest new areas to obtain pasture ground. The study suggested growing the more fertile oil palm tree. This would reduce the additional needed area from 108.100 km2 to only 4200 km2.

The geo solution?

James Griffiths explores of the latest contraversial technologies hoped to combat climate change

Amidst the recent cold snap, global warming has probably been far from most people’s minds. And while Britain and much of northern Europe freezes in its coldest winter for 30 years, southern Australia is suffering a record summer heatwave. Weather and climate are never far from the headlines and an increasing range of solutions loosely termed ‘geoengineering’ have come to prominence.

Geoengineering, sometimes called ‘climate engineering’, refers to deliberate human efforts to manipulate the Earth’s climate in order to mitigate or counteract the effects of man-made climate change. Geoengineering may refer to both mitigation, and adaptation strategies to global warming, and relies on contributions from most branches of science and engineering.

News in brief

Vegetative people potentially communicate

Scientists studying a new brain scanning technique have been able to communicate with patients who were previously thought to be in a vegetative state.

Canada's dirty secret

Conventional oil sources are dwindling and Canada's tar sands may provide a solution. But at what cost?

The tar sands cover an area of Canada over six times the size of Wales. The methods used in the extraction of their oil are incredibly energy intensive and polluting which is raising alarm among environmentalists and ecologists around the world as well as concern for the health of the indigenous communities living in the area.

Doctors and residents have not only highlighted contaminated water and food supplies but increased levels of cancer as just some of the problems with the project. The tar sands, apart from making Canada an emerging energy super power mean that the US, where most of the oil is shipped to, can lessen their dependence on more politically unstable sources thanks to the massive reserves held mainly in the Alberta region.