This week in European sciences -- week 48
 

Overview
The Guardian reports on the EU decision to build a fusion test reactor in France. Die Zeit speculates about water, and cares about cloning legislation in China and Russia. NZZ tracks the route of the wolves through Europe. Dagens Nyheter about the next advert of Raymond Damadian claiming a share in the Nobel Prize. Süddeutsche Zeitung writes about vaccination against chicken-pox. FAZ about the nanomanufacturing of impossibly tiny instruments. Dagens Nyheter cares about animals in Centralafrica hunted for bushmeat. FAZ reports on 'light' as a cause for breast cancer risks in women. Svenska Dagbladet about new findings on settlements in Swedish Stone Age. In addition: NY Times with a selection of articles of its last 25 years.

25 Years Science Times

NYTimes celebrates the 25th anniversary of its Tuesday's science section with a selection of recent articles. In addition 25 questions (like "Is war our biological destiny?" and "How did life begin?") that are waiting for an answer.
 

New York Times
November, 2003

Europe Aims for Endless Energy by Fusion

Ministers in Brussels gave the go-ahead for the fusion reactor Iter in France this week, writes Tim Radford in the Guardian (November 27, 2003). Within the reactor scientists try to recreate reactions that the sun uses to generate energy. "The Iter project will allow a major step towards an inexhaustible source of environmentally friendly power," Sir Chris Llewellyn-Smith, head of the UK fusion programme, is cited. The prospects are gorgeous for the environment, "there would be no greenhouse gases, no soot, and no long-lived radioactive waste. The oceans contain all the heavy hydrogen such reactors would need." The decision has yet to be approved by other countries' governments like Canada, U.S. and Japan. The latter has got an alternative site.
 

The Guardian
November 27, 2003

Let's Think about Water

Can water think? In the German weekly Die Zeit (November 27, 2003), Christoph Drösser and Ulrich Schnabel look at the scientific topic that offers a lot of room for metaphysics and speculation. Their answer: There is no proof, but in some cases the behaviour of water is still amazing, even hard science cannot explain it.
In addition: Ole Döring writes about the chinese cloning policy. After a period without restrictions, the "land of the unlimited cloning possibilities" is now thinking about constraints. It might be possible that the regulation for genetic manipulations in China will get even more restrictive than in the United States. The question is: What will happen in Russia.
 

Die Zeit
November 27, 2003

Following the Path of the Wolf

Scientists follow the routes of wolves spreading in the Alps. Gregor Klaus reports in NZZ (November 26, 2003) how the wolves regain terrain in the Alps. Centuries ago the whole northern hemisphere was a place to live for the animal. But hunters reduced the population dramatically. Now, under protection the wolves spread out from south-eastern Europe or Italy to France and Spain. A team of French, Italian and Swiss researchers analysed 90 findings in France and Switzerland attributed to wolves. Only five samples did not belong to Italian wolves, they examined.
Also a piece on self-organisation of bio-molecules. Researchers try to use this process get bring nanotubes to assemble themselves into transistors. Carbon nanotubes are the great hope (and hype) of molecular electronics.
 

Neue Zürcher Zeitung
November 26, 2003

Raymond - and the Never Ending Story

Raymond Damadian continues his campaign against the "shameful behaviour" of Nobel Committee with another one-page advert - for the first time in Swedish (November 26, 2003), previous ads have been published in English. In his new advert, Damadian presents photographic evidence from 1971, which allegedly shows the first ever picture taken of a brain tumor using magnetic resonance imaging. The advert closes with a request to register protest with the Nobel Committee and to voice support for Damadian's claim to a share in the Prize.
 

Dagens Nyheter
November 26, 2003

Late Outcomes of Chicken-pox

Chicken-pox comes, and goes soon. Children suffer for a couple of days, than it's gone - or so one thinks, says Michael Brendler in Süddeutsche Zeitung (November 25, 2003). Next year the German commission of vaccination (STIKO) is due to fight the disease by recommending vaccination for all children. Not all will like it because at the time there are nine vaccinations to administer. The elderly may also profit from the treatment. The chicken-pox virus is a sleeper: Decades after the outbreak in childhood the virus may regain power in the nerve cells and lead to shingles. With vaccination the late outcomes will be also reduced.
 

Süddeutsche Zeitung
November 25, 2003

Nanomanufacturing of a Tiny Guitar

Günter Paul describes in FAZ (November 24, 2003) the aims of scientists at Cornell University, USA, who have manufactured a nano-guitar with a thickness of the strings of about 200 nanometers. The researchers don't consider the nanomanufacturing just as a step further down from micro devices to nano electro-mechanical systems (NEMS), but also to a new functional approach: they want to measure tiniest forces or to weigh single cells. The nano-guitar just shows to the broader public the advances of the techniques applied. But as Georg Johnson points out in his overview in NY Times earlier this month: "If nanomanufacturing comes of age, something as tiny as a nanodrum or nanoharp might be mass-produced for use as extremely sensitive detectors for ultra high-frequency waves. Scientists have recently demonstrated infinitesimal nanotube thermometers and nanobalances capable of weighing a single virus."
 

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
November 24, 2003

EU in Duty for Conservation of Ape's Habitat

Leif Norrmann reports for DN (November 23, 2003) from Kongo-Kinshasa about threats to great apes. A great cause for concern is the increased popularity of so-called bushmeat. Meat from chimpanzees, bonobos, snakes or crocodiles is a traditional source of protein for the inhabitants of the rainforests, but recent developments have worsened the impact on the populations of these species. Population growth, wars and the decline in agriculture have led to a greatly increased demand for bushmeat. Many of the hunters are nowadays soldiers or miltiamen with automatic rifles. Scientists and environmentalists insist that the EU, the largest donor of aid earmarked for conservation to Centralafrican countries, should link this aid to concrete steps and measures against the hunting of great apes for meat.
 

Dagens Nyheter
November 23, 2003

Hormone, Light and Cancer

Thomas Weidenbach und Sarah Zierul report in FAZ on Sunday (November 23, 2003) on new findings about 'light' as the most relevant candidate producing breast cancer. The light captured by the eyes influences directly the level of hormone melatonine in the blood. People working at night change the hormone regulation in their body, what might have an effect on breast cancer risk for women. International studies have confirmed the hypothesis, but it's still too early to draw final conclusions, says Richard Stevens, a medical researcher at University of Conneticut.
 

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
November 23, 2003

Complex Stone Age Communities in Sweden

New archeological evidence from the middle of Sweden shows that the so-called Stone Age was already the home of quite complex, sedentary communities, reports Catharina Ingelmann-Sundberg in Svenska Dagbladet (November 23, 2003). The standard view is that humans only became sedentary with the advent of agriculture. Digs at four places in Sweden demonstrate with all clarity that hunter-gatherers approximately 7000 years ago already lived in settlements with houses and workshops, and that they used tools and weapons which were mass-produced. One of the settlements, near Motala, was abandoned 4000 BC. This coincides with the arrival of agriculture in Scandinavia, but archeologists are still debating the question why this should have lead to the abandonment of long-established settlements.
 

Svenska Dagbladet
November 23, 2003

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