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This week in European sciences -- week 22|2004 |
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The Independent sees no use in nuclear power as a measure against global warming. Die Zeit finds that the picture of scientists in "The Day After Tomorrow" is rather well-done. The Economist questions why ESA's report on the failure is due to remain secret. The Independent on obesity among British children. El Pais on how Spanish career system prohibits innovation and premium research. The Guardian and the Sunday Telegraph on the failture of the Martian lander Beagle 2 and the consequences after the official inquiry. The Economist on the efficacy of Atkins' diet. In addition: NY Times on insufficient screening tests for prostate cancer. NY Times on Aspirin reducing breast cancer risks. The Wall Street Journal assumes that U.S. government will set new limits for salt-intake. |
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Nuclear Power is no Solution Against Global Warming Because global
warming is closely related to man-made carbon dioxid emissions - and nuclear
power doesn't produce those greenhouse gases - some people consider a
massive engagement in nuclear power generation will meet the demands for
curbing down the emissions. So did the emininet scientist James Lovelock
in a frontpage contribution in Monday's Independent.
On the following Saturday the Independent comments in an editorial again
on the issue (May
29, 2004). In fact, there are few, who don't accept that global warming
is a real issue. Hence, "the question is no longer whether something
should be done about global warming, but what that something should be."
For short, nuclear power produces no greenhouse gases, that's agreed,
but "it is unacceptable in almost every other respect: environmentally,
economically and in terms of risk." |
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The
Independent |
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A Bungled Report into the Failure of Beagle 2 According
to the Economist (May
27, 2004) it would be fine to have an independent and transparent
investigation into the failure of the European Mars lander Beagle 2. However,
six out of the nine people in charge of the report commissioned by the
European Space Agency (ESA) are existing or former staff members of ESA.
Furthermore, except for a list of recommendations, the report remains
secret. The Economist puts this in contrast to NASA's communications policy
where reports of inquiry are published in their entirety. |
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The
Economist |
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The new Hollywood
movie "The Day After Tomorrow" might deal with a rather speculative picture
of science facts - but the picture of the scientists is true. Christoph
Drösser states in die Zeit (May
27, 2007), that a lot of facts within the movie about climate change
are untrue, the daily work of researchers shown is not. "It's surprisingly
realistic" how the movie tells the relationship between science and policy,
Stefan Rahmstorf from the Potsdam Climate Institute, Germany, is cited.
The effect is: It seems, states the author, that more and more, movies
become a kind of teacher for the public. The budget for the movie was
about ten times higher than the budget of a science department at the
university - but it has a much better publicity. |
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Die
Zeit |
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A Study Questions Blood-Test Results on Prostate Cancer Screening
tests used to check men for prostate cancer may not be as successful as
previously assumed a new study discovered. The widely used P.S.A. test,
a blood test used to screen for prostate specific antigen, did not catch
all men with prostate cancer. "When a P.S.A. test finds more than
four nanograms of the protein in a milliliter of blood, doctors usually
recommend biopsies to see if cancer is present," Gina Kolata writes
in the NY Times (May
27, 2004). The new study found that as many as 15 percent of men had
cancer even though their P.S.A. levels lower than four. As a conclusion,
men may be better off with a biopsy, but doctors fear that biopsies may
lead to unnecessary procedures. Dr. Howard Parnes with the National Cancer
Institute's Division of cancer prevention said the doctors and researchers
are now uncertain how to determine whether men are cancer-free. "Before
these data were out, we were comfortable with the notion that four is
a cutoff between normal and abnormal," Parnes is being quoted in
the New York Times. "Now these data very clearly tell us that four
is not a cutoff." |
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New
York Times |
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One in Four British Children With Overweight Maxine Frith
writes in the Independent (May
26, 2004) that according to a report by the British House of Commons
Health Select Committee "obesity is one of the biggest social and
medical problems facing children and adults." In the past decade
weight problems among children have tripled with now one in four overweight.
Recently health campaigners have warned that childhood obesity is "a
ticking time bomb". Now the debate is ongoing how to react to the
report. Some groups favour a ban for junk food ads and prescriptions for
exercis for obese adults. Others call for educating parents "to take
more responsibility for what they and their children eat," writes
Frith. |
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The
Independent |
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Scientific Career System Prohibits Innovation Scientific
careers (in Spain and in many other countries) depend on the quantitiy
of publications in international journals. If in Spain a young biologist
has, for instance, 25 publications and is between 35 and 40 years old,
he can apply for an engagement as a university professor. But this approach
does not create innovative research, because the scientist may be seduced
to pose questions that can be answered easily, comments Xavier Bellés
from the Instituto de Biología Molecular de Barcelona in El País (May
26, 2004). Even the age is an unappropriate condition, in his opinion.
A study from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, revealed, that
the most relevant discoveries were made in the age between 25 and 30.
Bellés calls for a new evaluation of scientific research in which creativity
counts more than mere quantity. |
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El
Pais |
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Aspirin Is Seen as Preventing Breast Tumors Researchers
more and more seem to confirm aspirin's powers as a preventative pill.
Women taking the little 100-year old pill regularly have a lower risk
than women who don't take aspirin to contract one of the most common type
of breast cancers, which are stimulated by the estrogen hormone, Denise
Grady reports in the New York Times (May
26, 2004). The risk to develop breast cancer was 26 percent lower
in women who took aspirin daily. Previous studies had already indicated
at aspirin's preventative powers when it comes to breast cancer, but the
new study, which was published this week, is the first that discovered
which kind of cancer it helps to prevent. Aspirin mostly benefits women
who are prone to hormone-sensitive tumors "by blocking an enzyme
needed to make estrogen, which can promote tumor growth in the breast,"
Grady writes. |
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New
York Times |
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Government Weighs New Guidelines on Salt The Dietary
Guidelines Advisory Committee of the U.S. departments of Health and Human
Services and Agriculture is meeting this week and Katy McLaughlin and
Kimberly Pierceall report in The Wall Street Journal that the committee
is expected to set new limits of salt-intake (May
26, 2004). Current guidelines advise that Americans should use "less
salt." The expected new guidelines would recommend to limit the daily
salt intake to a specific number, which could lie somewhere between 1,500-2,300
mg. Previous studies have shown that Americans on average may eat more
than 4,000 mg, McLaughlin and Pierceall write. The government is concerned
about Americans' salt intake because recent studies indicated too much
salt could lead to high blood pressure. |
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Wall
Street Journal |
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British Scientists Aimed at Returning to Mars After the
British Martian lander Beagle 2 failed to get to Mars British scientists
and the media hope for a "return to Mars under European colours",
writes Tim Radford in the Guardian (May
25, 2004). In February, scientists accepted that the mission was lost
due to failture during the entry into the Martian atmosphere. "It
is now presumed to have been destroyed on impact", reports Robert
Matthews in the Sunday Telegraph (May
23, 2004*). The British science minister, Lord Sainsbury, is quoted
in the Guardian: "I am sure we will go back to Mars and we need to
look at the best way of doing this and I hope something like Beagle would
be part of that." Although Matthews linked the failure to the responsibility
of the mastermind of Beagle 2, Colin Pillinger, scientists dream of a
reinvention of Beagle 3 in the European Aurora initiative in which UK
"has the chance to take the lead", as planetary scientist Monica
Grady puts it in a comment for the Guardian (May
25, 2004). Despite the failture she states "in many ways Beagle
2 was a success" due to first rate scientific equipment and also
the involvement of 40 UK companies into the construction. |
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The
Guardian |
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"The
Atkins diet seems to work, and may bring other health benefits, too,"
concludes the Economist (May
20, 2004). Two studies in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine
show that the low-carbohydrate diet work "and demonstrate that it
brings benefits to those with heart diseases or diabetes." Now nutritionists
start to reconsider their recommendations and give credit to Atkins' achievements.
But others "are less than welcoming of the new findings, and are
warning about the unknown health effects of following Atkins in the long
term, and of nutritional deficiencies in the diet." |
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The
Economist |
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