Scientists measure sea rise from polar ice melt

 LONDON (Reuters) - The melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets has raised sea levels  by 11.1 millimetres since 1992, a fifth of the total rise which threatens low-lying regions around the globe, a new study published on Thursday said.

The results of the study involving 47 researchers from 26 laboratories which was supported by the European Space Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration give the most accurate measurements of ice loss to date, they said in the journal Science.

Two thirds of the ice loss was in Greenland which is losing five times as much ice as in the 1990s, and the remainder was in Antarctica.

Together, the two receding ice sheets are now adding 0.95mm to sea levels a year compared to 0.27mm per year in the 1990s, the study said.

There have been at least 29 studies on ice sheet mass since 1998 which arrive at an average for the melt's contribution to sea level rises of around 1mm a year, the study's leader Andrew Shepherd told reporters.

The researchers used 10 different satellites to measure the shape, speed and weight of the ice sheets from space, as well as ground observations.

Past ice loss assessments typically used just one of those techniques, said Shepherd, a professor at the University of Leeds.

The results come as representatives from nearly 200 countries are in Qatar trying to reach a new global agreement on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, which are widely held responsible for causing global warming.

"The study effectively ends 20 years of uncertainty over the perception of our community. It provides a single climate record for people to use rather than the 40 or 50 which existed before this paper," Shepherd said.

UNSTABLE AREAS PINPOINTED

In 2007 scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published their fourth report to assess scientific and technical information on climate change and its effects. The next IPCC report is due out next year.

The fourth report estimated a total global sea level rise of 2mm a year from the early 1990s to 2011, while research by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research this week estimated the rise has been as much as 3.2mm a year over the same period.

"We have pinpointed the areas of ice sheets where people should be concerned," Shepherd said. "There are parts of Antarctic where the ice is not behaving in a normal way. It is unstable and its sea level contribution is rising year-on-year,

Greenland even more so," he said.

"That allows us to say to people who build models for future climate projections, 'these are the areas you should concentrate on'," he said, adding that continued monitoring of ice sheets is necessary.

The researchers did not make predictions about how much sea levels were likely to rise this century, saying it was not the aim of the project.

The IPCC has said seas could rise by between 18 and 59 cm this century, not counting the possible acceleration of the melt of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets that could add more still water to the oceans. The Potsdam study places that figure even higher at between 50cm and a metre this century.

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Where's My Flying Car? Science's Promises Broken

 NEW YORK — In the early decades of the 20th century, the magazine Popular Mechanics made a few predictions of future innovations. Some resembled modern conveniences, such as the video chat feature of Skype or Internet shopping, but many of the magazine's prognostications never materialized.

The magazine also predicted a form of biotechnology that has yet to occur: a house that blooms like a flower.

"We grow these trees, chop them up and put them back together," Benford said, describing the familiar wooden house. "Why don't we just design the seed so it grows the house?

"The point I really want you to remember is science doesn't promise you a future, science is about finding out how the world works," he told the audience. "When you start predicting the future, you are talking about imagination."

Of course science, and the technology it has made possible, have continued to deliver advancements. But progress often doesn't accomplish the things we expect, or even need. This concerns more than simply the disappointing lack of flying cars and dinners in pill form. Moderator George Musser, a contributing editor at Scientific American, told of an African friend now living in a refugee camp in Burkina Faso who had scarce food and shelter for the 29 members of his family, but could get Internet access. [Infographic: The History of Flying Cars]

Likewise, the war on cancer, which Richard Nixon declared 40 years ago, has so far failed to deliver a cure. And a theory of unified physics has yet to emerge, in spite of a prediction from 2001 that it would have been formulated within the following 10 to 15 years, Musser said.

However, sometimes progress occurs in unexpected ways. For instance, the war on cancer may not have cured the disease, but "it has made some progress, as well," said panelist Stuart Firestein, a professor at Columbia University who studies the vertebrate olfactory system. "We have learned a tremendous amount about cell biology, growth and differentiation."

Of course, not all unintended consequences are good. As a graduate student, plant physiologist Arthur Galston sought to speed up the soybean reproductive cycle with a synthetic chemical, but found that a heavy application made the plants shed their leaves, recounted panelist Christiana Peppard, an ethicist at Fordham University.

Galston's work laid the foundation for the creation of Agent Orange, a chemical weapon used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. Exposure to Agent Orange has been linked to certain cancers and other health problems, including birth defects.

Active imagination, scientists' own pride and funding structures that favor research oriented toward a specific purpose all contribute to the creation of false promises. But the public shares in the responsibility because it demands concrete answers where they may not exist, according to Peppard.

"There is a culture of desire for certainty," Peppard said. "We want to know, we just want to know something."

However, this human desire conflicts with the nature of science.

"Part and parcel to science is uncertainty and doubt. Science revises, that is what we do," Firestein said. "How do you [make] predictions when you know everything is open to revision? How do you base policy decisions on something like this?"

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Science journal urged to retract Monsanto GM study

 LONDON (Reuters) - The publisher of a much-criticised study suggesting genetically modified corn caused tumours in rats has come under heavy pressure from scientists to retract the paper and explain why it was ever printed.

The calls follow a report by Europe's food safety watchdog this week dismissing the study's findings.

Reed Elsevier, which published the study in its Food and Chemical Toxicology journal in September, said on Friday it was considering the criticisms and would let readers know if it concluded it needed to change the way it checked research.

In a statement on its website, the journal said "the paper was published after being objectively and anonymously peer reviewed, with a series of revisions made by the authors and the corrected paper then accepted by the editor."

Hundreds of scientists from around the world have questioned the research, which was written by French researcher Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen and said rats fed on Monsanto's GM corn suffered tumours and multiple organ failure.

Genetically modified crops are deeply unpopular in Europe but are common in the United State where they have been grown and consumed for more than 15 years.

A day after the study was published, Seralini defended his work, saying it was the most detailed study on the subject to date.

But more than 700 scientists have signed an online petition calling on Seralini to release all the data from his research.

The petition, addressed directly to Seralini, says: "Only a full disclosure of the data can quell any uncertainties over the results you published."

The chief executive of the agricultural research centre Rothamsted Research, Maurice Moloney, said Seralini's study was "seriously deficient in its design, its execution and its conclusions" - failings compounded by "excessive secrecy around the data".

In a letter to the journal's managing editor Bryan Delaney, Moloney said it was "appalling that such work should appear in a respected Elsevier journal".

He also demanded to know how the paper managed to pass peer review - a process in which other scientific experts check a study, analyse its methods, question the authors and decide whether it is robust enough to give a reliable result.

Marc Van Montagu, president of the European Federation of Biotechnology, said this was "a dangerous case of failure of the peer-review system, which threatens the credibility not just of the journal but of the scientific method overall."

Cathie Martin, a scientist at the John Innes Centre for plant science and microbiology research, said in the light of such widespread criticism of Seralini's study, "is it not time for Food and Chemical Toxicology to retract the manuscript?"

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) issued a statement earlier this week confirming the findings of its initial review saying Seralini's study had "serious defects" in design and methodology and "does not meet acceptable scientific standards".

Among other criticisms, the EFSA review panel said the authors had failed to establish appropriate control groups as part of the study, and had chosen a strain of rat that is prone to developing tumours during its normal lifespan.

Six separate national food safety bodies also asked to review the study - in France, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy and Belgium - also came to the same conclusions.

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New Dallas museum offers hands-on exploration of nature, science

DALLAS (Reuters) - At a new, $185 million science and natural history museum that opens in Dallas  on Saturday, visitors will have the chance to touch a funnel cloud, program a robot and examine their own cells under a microscope.

The 180,000-square-foot Perot Museum of Nature and Science - filled with the latest in high-tech gadgetry - is named in honor of Dallas billionaire businessman and two-time U.S. presidential candidate Ross Perot and his wife, Margot.

"Our goal here is to tell stories differently," said Steve Hinkley, the museum's vice president of programs. "Everything is very visual and very hands-on. It's intended to capture people's imagination and build an appreciation of nature and science."

From the clear elevator shafts that expose the operating mechanism to the musical staircase, there is something around every corner meant to dazzle visitors. They can feel the rumble of an earthquake, marvel at the vastness and ferocity of a dinosaur and run a virtual race against an NFL running back.

"There is something for everybody, children and adults," said Jane Seibolt of the Dallas suburb of Richardson, who enjoyed a preview tour for museum members this week. "It's really incredible."

The museum is funded through private donations, including $10 million from each of the Perots' five children.

Ross Perot founded two computer services companies: Electronic Data Systems (EDS) and Perot Systems. He ran for president in 1992 and 1996.

"My siblings and I had always wanted to honor our parents in the city of Dallas, where they have lived since 1957," said daughter Carolyn Perot Rathjen. "Dallas has been very good to our family. When this opportunity arose, we felt it was the perfect way to honor Dad, who is an engineer, and Mom, who is a teacher."

The museum mixes global perspective with Texas influence, Hinkley said. Exhibits that highlight the solar system, human life, fossils and robotics are interspersed among those that showcase tornadoes and other Texas weather phenomenon and the science and engineering of oil and gas drilling.

Dallas' previous nature and science museum was located at the site of the Texas State Fair. For the new, downtown location, 2005 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Thom Mayne and his California firm, Morphosis Architects, were selected to design the building.

Mayne said in a statement that the building is intended to be more than a backdrop for exhibits.

"By integrating architecture, nature and technology, the building demonstrates scientific principles and stimulates curiosity in our natural surroundings," Mayne said.

The eco-friendly building, with a rainwater collection system and solar roof panels, features a contemporary cube-like design. A 54-foot glass tube on the outside of the building encases an escalator that provides museum visitors a birds-eye view of downtown Dallas as they ride on it.

The museum caps off what city leaders describe as a "coming-out party" for downtown Dallas in 2012. Other major improvements that debuted this year include the $182 million Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge over the Trinity River; the $110 million Klyde Warren Park built on a freeway overpass; and the $40 million Dallas City Performance Hall.

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Mars Curiosity & James Cameron: Largest Earth Science Meeting Set to Begin

 Thousands of Earth scientists are descending on San Francisco this week for the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, the largest geosciences meeting of the year, where new findings on topics ranging from Mars to volcanoes to global warming will be presented.

Advance press releases for the 2012 AGU meeting, held at the Moscone Center, have touted findings in numerous areas, including climate change and Martian geology, and include briefings from some big-name scientists like Mars rover principal investigator, Steve Squyres, and Jane Lubchenco, the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Another big name that will be present at the meeting is James Cameron, who will be talking about his deep-sea dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest spot on Earth, last year, and what he saw while he was down there.A briefing on the latest results from the Mars Curiosity rover mission that will be conducted at the meeting has been the subject of rampant speculation in the press, and NASA has tried to manage expectations, saying that the findings aren't earth shattering.

Scientists will be presenting findings in hundreds of talks and posters throughing the duration of the meeting, which runs from Monday, Dec. 3, through Friday, Dec. 7. Press conferences from the meeting will be webcast live — you can see a full schedule and watch them here. You can also follow along with news from the meeting by checking out the hashtag #AGU12.

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Scientists find gene link to teenage binge drinking

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have unpicked the brain processes involved in teenage alcohol abuse and say their findings help explain why some young people have more of a tendency to binge drink.

A study published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal found that a gene known as RASGRF-2 plays a crucial role in controlling how alcohol stimulates the brain to release dopamine, triggering feelings of reward.

"If people have a genetic variation of the RASGRF-2 gene, alcohol gives them a stronger sense of reward, making them more likely to be heavy drinkers," said Gunter Schumann, who led the study at King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry.

Alcohol and other addictive drugs activate the brain's dopamine systems, which induces feelings of pleasure and reward.

Worldwide, some 2.5 million people die each year from the harmful use of alcohol, accounting for about 3.8 percent of all deaths, according to the World Health Organisation.

Recent studies also carried out by scientists at the IoP have found that RASGRF-2 is a risk gene for alcohol abuse, but until now the mechanism involved in the process was not clear.

For this study, scientists initially looked at mice who had been modified to have the RASGRF2 gene removed, to see how they reacted to alcohol. They found the lack of RASGRF-2 was linked to a significant reduction in alcohol-seeking activity.

They also discovered that when the mice did consume alcohol, the absence of RASGRF-2 reduced the activity of dopamine-releasing neurons in a region of the brain called the ventral tegmental area (VTA) - preventing the brain from releasing dopamine and limiting any sense of reward.

The team then analyzed brain scans of 663 14-year old boys and found that when they were anticipating a reward in a mental test, those with genetic variations to the RASGRF2 gene had more activity in an area of the brain closely linked to the VTA and also involved in dopamine release.

This suggests people with a genetic variation on the RASGRF-2 gene release more dopamine when anticipating a reward, and hence derive more pleasure from it, the scientists said.

To confirm the findings, the team analyzed drinking behavior from the same group of boys two years later when many of them had already begun drinking frequently.

They found that those with the RASGRF-2 gene variation drank more often at the age of 16 than those without it.

"People seek out situations which fulfill their sense of reward and make them happy, so if your brain is wired to find alcohol rewarding, you will seek it out," Schumann said in a statement about the research. "We now understand the chain of action: how our genes shape this function in our brains and how that, in turn, leads to human behavior."

Experts writing in The Lancet journal in February said up to 210,000 people in England and Wales will be killed prematurely by alcohol in the next 20 years, with a third of those preventable deaths due to liver disease alone.

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