CHINA’S reputation in human

spaceflight goes from strength

to strength.

Last week, NASA chief

Mike Griffin admitted at a

congressional hearing that China

is a serious competitor for the US.

His speech marks a turnaround:

“A few years ago, I was not

particularly concerned about

Chinese primacy in human

spaceflight relative to that of

the US,” he said. China’s rapid

progress and a visit to the country

changed his mind.

China still has some catching

up to do. So far, it has only

launched two crewed missions.

But on Tuesday, the state media

reported that the country plans

to launch at least 10 missions this

year – a record number. These

include two Shenzhou spacecraft,

two environmental satellites

and a communications satellite

for Venezuela.

There are worries that the

rivalry between the US and China

could spill over into an arms race

in space. This week, China said a

US plan to fire a missile at a

crippled reconnaissance satellite

was a threat to space security,

despite having shot down one

of its own weather satellites in

January 2007.

RADIATION from cellphones is

too weak to heat biological tissue

or break chemical bonds in cells,

but the radio waves they emit

may still affect cell behaviour.

“Our study suggests that it

is possible that mobile phone

radiation alters the expression of

some proteins in living humans,”

says Dariusz Leszczynski at the

Finnish Radiation and Nuclear

Safety Authority, in Helsinki.

Leszczynski exposed 10 female

volunteers to radiation at

900 megahertz from GSM phones

to simulate an hour-long phone

call. He screened 580 different

proteins in their skin cells and

found that the numbers of two

proteins were altered in all of

the volunteers: one protein

increased by 89 per cent, the

other decreased by 32 per cent

(BMC Genomics, DOI: 10.1186/

1471-2164-9-77).

Although similar effects have

been observed in cultured cells ,

this is the first study to show

molecular effects of phone

radiation on humans. It does not

necessarily mean that the radio

waves have a negative health

effect, Leszczynski says. “But it

“China plans to launch at least 10 space missions this year, including one for Venezuela”

“It is possible that mobile phone radiation alters the expression of some proteins”

NUCLEAR forensics needs an

urgent shot in the arm if it is to

keep track of the growing black

market in radioactive materials.

That’s the conclusion of a new

report by the American Physical

Society and the American

Association for the Advancement

of Science, which warns of a

shrinking pool of expertise

and resources. According to

the International Atomic Energy

Agency, more than 1000 cases of

illegal nuclear trafficking were

discovered between 1993 and 2007.

“The personnel and equipment

are not as well suited to deal with

such events as they could be, and

the pipeline to replace them is

near empty,” says the report’s lead

author Michael May of Stanford

University, California.

Up to half of the US

Department of Energy’s nuclear

forensic scientists are expected

to retire in the next 15 years.

CHRI

STOP

HER

MOR

RIS/

V11

does mean that the human body

recognises this low-level radiation

and reacts to it.”

The precise role of these

proteins is not known, nor which

genes code for them . The proteins

were detected by molecular

weight and electrical properties.

Leszczynski now plans to run a

larger study to identify the

proteins and establish any health

impact the changes may have.

PIET

ER TE

LEM

ANS/

PANO

S

–Something’s happening behind the ears–

–When people and animals mix…–

60 SECONDS

No dearth of Earths

There may be more life-supporting

worlds close to home than we

thought. As many as 60 per cent of

sun-like stars in the Milky Way may

boast rocky planets similar to Earth,

according to dust observations by

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope

presented on Sunday at the American

Association for the Advancement of

Science annual meeting in Boston.

Did bubbles down Boeing?

The British Airways Boeing 777 jet that

crash-landed at London’s Heathrow

Airport on 17 January may have lost

engine power because of bubbles in its

fuel. These bubbles could have created

high-energy shock waves that

damaged the fuel pumps, says the

UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

Robots to liberate lab rats

Two of the world’s largest research

organisations jointly vowed last

week to use fewer animals for toxicity

testing in future. Instead, the US

Environmental Protection Agency

and the National Institutes of Health

will co-develop robotic toxicity-

screening systems relying on human

tissues and cells.

Salt leads to sugar

If you want to reduce the amount of

sugary drinks consumed by children,

work on what they eat. Those with

a higher salt intake consume more

sugary drinks. By halving the

salt in their diet, they could end up

drinking two cans fewer per week

(Hypertension, DOI: 10.1161/

HYPERTENSIONAHA.107.100990).

Tiger trail

An uninterrupted “genetic corridor”

spanning 8000 kilometres and eight

countries between Bhutan and Burma

should be established to allow tigers

to roam and breed more freely than

at present. Proposed by the Wildlife

Conservation Society and the Panthera

Foundation, the plan’s aim is to help

tigers avoid inbreeding and to boost

their dwindling numbers.

Space competition

Cellphone alarm?

Nuclear drain

www.newscientist.com 23 February 2008 | NewScientist | 5

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