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Pope to rule on ID

In what would be a break with his predecessor’s views, it looks as though Pope Benedict is about to deny evolution and embrace intelligent design (ID). In his inaugural sermon last year, the pope rejected the idea that humans are a product of evolution, and he has since been following the ID debate. The pope will host a meeting this week on evolution and creation.

Atlantis double whammy

A bolt of lightning hit the launch pad of the space shuttle Atlantis on 25 August, setting back Sunday’s planned launch. Then on Tuesday, tropical storm Ernesto forced NASA to roll the shuttle back into a shelter, probably making it miss its current launch window and delaying any launch until late October. Atlantis is carrying a cargo of solar arrays and trusses for the International Space Station.

Hurricane hits new low

Hurricane Ioke was the first category 5 storm on record to develop in the central Pacific, according to the US National Weather Service. Satellite images of the eye of the storm on 25 August show that it set an unofficial record for the lowest sea-level pressure in the central Pacific, just 921 millibars.

Missile killer deployed

The USS Shiloh, said to be capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, has been stationed in the Japanese port of Yokosuka. The move follows North Korea’s missile launches over the Sea of Japan in July. North Korean officials called the US move “war-thirsty”.

Dirty business in China

Acid rain falls on a third of China’s land surface and more than half of its cities, threatening food safety, according to the Xinhua news agency. China emits more sulphur dioxide than any other country. In 2005, Chinese coal-fired power stations and other plants produced 25 million tonnes of the gas, which causes acid rain.

sex. Public-health advocacy groups claimed that requiring a prescription can make the drug difficult to obtain within this critical period.

The announcement came as politicians debated the nomination of Andrew von Eschenbach, President Bush’s choice to head up the FDA, who is already standing in as acting commissioner. Democrats had previously accused the FDA of letting conservative political agendas interfere with and delay the approval of the non-prescription sale of Plan B. Now conservative groups are calling for a new nominee in place of von Eschenbach.

IT GIVES a new meaning to the phrase “publish or perish”. Scientists have not been sharing information about bird flu fast enough, say experts. While the World Health Organization keeps a database of viral sequences, access has been restricted, and other researchers have hoarded data for fear of rivals publishing it without giving them credit.

To tackle these problems, researchers have now formed a consortium called the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data, which encourages

scientists to deposit findings about the virus in databases such as the US-based GenBank within six months of discovery (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature442981a).

While many applaud the endeavour, they also worry that even six months is too long. “It’s not soon enough,” says Peter Palese, an influenza researcher at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Earlier last week the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it would also speed up the release of sequence data relating to influenza viruses.

WILDLIFE along the Lebanese coast has been heavily affected by the oil spill caused by Israeli bombing, according to an impact report by the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

Following the bombing of the Jiyyeh power plant south of Beirut in mid-July, about 15,000 tonnes of fuel oil spilled into the sea and spread 150 kilometres northwards, reaching Syria.

Samples from the shoreline have revealed toxic chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which build up in animal tissue. “This is a particular risk to marine

organisms,” says Rick Steiner, an oil expert with the IUCN. PAH accumulation can cause the collapse of fish populations in the long term, as happened after the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Oil has been deposited on the seabed and on pebble shores. The latter are difficult to clean and the oil there will have a longer-lasting impact on ecosystems, the IUCN says. Seabirds and early migrant species have already been contaminated by oil, and turtles and monk seals are also at risk.

“Seabirds and early migrant species off Lebanon have been contaminated by oil”

The moon is about to get a new crater, courtesy of the lunar orbiter SMART-1, which is due to crash-land on Sunday.

Controllers at the European Space Agency used the spacecraft’s last fuel to aim it at the near side of the moon. The crash should happen at about 0530 GMT on a plain called the Lake of Excellence, but it might occur one orbit (about 5 hours) earlier if the low-flying spacecraft happens to meet an unmapped mountainside.

SMART-1 will hit the ground at about 7000 kilometres per hour. “It’s likely to ricochet off the surface,” said chief mission scientist Bernard Foing. Scientists expect the probe to gouge out a crater 3 to 10 metres wide.

The impact site will be in darkness, so the glare of the sunlit surface will not

overwhelm observations. Ground-based telescopes should see a plume of dust lit up by earthshine, the light reflected from Earth. Their observations could reveal the composition of lunar soil at the crash site.

If some of the debris flies up to a height of 20 kilometres, it will catch the sunlight, and amateur astronomers with small telescopes or even binoculars might see a bright dust cloud.

SMART-1 has orbited the moon more than 2000 times, mapping lunar minerals, which will help scientists piece together the history of the moon. But the orbiter’s main purpose was to test new technologies, including an innovative engine that nudged the spacecraft through space by expelling xenon ions.

CRASH-LANDING ON THE MOON

ESA

–SMART-1 prepares for smashdown–

www.newscientist.com 2 September 2006 | NewScientist | 5

Need to know

Toxic slick

“Scientists have not been sharing information about bird flu fast enough”

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