NEWS 19Before they even hatch, seabird chicks are
alert to danger, and can communicate it
to their nestmates. Scientists from the
University of Vigo in Spain collected 90
yellow-legged gull eggs and, in the days
before they were due to hatch, exposed
asample of them toarecording ofagull
givingapredator alarm call at random
intervals, four timesaday. They observed
that in response to the call, the chicks
became less noisy, and started to vibrate
within their shells–and thataseparate
group of eggs, which were nearby, but
which had not been directly exposed to
the alarm, then mimicked these vibrations.
They also found that, once hatched, all these chicks were more likely than those in
athird control group to crouch down when the alarm call was repeated–asifthey
were already primed for danger. “It is already well known that embryos are able to
perceive certain cues from outside the egg, but it has not been known until now that
they can capture this information from outside and transfer it from one embryo to
another,” said Dr José C. Noguera, who led the research.Health &Science3August 2019 THE WEEKAdrastic plan to save our coasts
We may be able to preventacatastrophic
rise in sea levels–but we’d have to
“sacrifice” Antarctica to do it. So say the
scientists behindapreposterous proposal
to pump billions of tonnes of snow onto
the West Antarctic ice sheet, in order to
prevent it breaking up. The scheme would
involve building at least 12,000 wind
turbines, which would power scores of
giant pumping stations. These would
make it possible to extract seawater (which
would probably then have to be treated in
desalination plants) and pipe it uphill into
snow cannons, which would blast trillions
of tonnes of snow over the shrinking ice
sheet. While the scientists admit the project
would haveapotentially catastrophic
impact on the world’s biggest wilderness,
they suggest it could be our best option.
Most climatologists believe that if global
temperatures rise by 2°C above pre-
industrial levels–and many think this is
now inevitable–the entire Antarctic ice
sheet is likely to break up. This would
cause sea levels to rise by up to five metres,
potentially submerging many low-level
cities, including New York, Cape Town,
Shanghai and London.
An alarming rise in skin cancer
Cut-price air travel isn’t justathreat to the
environment: it is also making many of us
more vulnerable to the most dangerous
form of skin cancer. An analysis by Cancer
Research UK has revealed that between
2004/06 and 2014/16 (the most recent
years for which data is available), rates of
melanoma among UK adults rose by 55%
among men and by 35% among women.
The rise was especially marked among 25-
to 49-year-olds: while in 1993/95 nine out
of every 100,000 people in this age bracket
developed the cancer, by 2014/16, 16 per
100,000 did–a78% increase. According
to the charity, the spike isalegacy of the
explosion of package holidays in the
1970s, exacerbated by the more recent
surge in minibreaks. It points out that
nine in ten cases could be prevented with
simple sun protection, and urges people
to embrace their “natural skin tone”.
Melanoma is the fifth most common
cancer in the UK, with around 15,
diagnoses per annum, resulting in some
2,000 deathsayear.Heart attacks: all in our genes?
Humans are far more prone to heart
attacks than any other animal–and
scientists have discovered that an
ancient genetic mutation may be to
blame. Cardiovascular disease in humans
is usually caused by atherosclerosis, the
clogging of arteries with fatty deposits. But
on the relatively rare occasions when our
closest genetic relatives, such as chimpsand other apes, have heart attacks, these
are caused not by arterial clogging but by
tearing of the heart muscle. Moreover,
even when primates lead sedentary
lifestyles, and haveahigh-cholesterol
diet, they become no more susceptible to
the attacks. Scientists think this could be
because two to three million years ago our
ancestors lostagene called CMAH, which
made them deficient in molecules called
sialic acids. Suspecting that it’s the absence
of these that makes us vulnerable to
atherosclerosis,ateam at the University of
California San Diego genetically modified
mice to haveahuman-like sialic acid
deficiency. Sure enough, the mice became
significantly more likely to develop
atherosclerosis. “This isapermanent
mutation in humans–wecan’t reverse it,”
said Prof Ajit Varki, who led the research.
But he stressed that its effect isn’t all bad:
it’s also behind the human ability to run
long distances, among other things.Clean fuel from “dirty” plastic
Plastic that is too contaminated to be
recycled could be turned into the relatively
“clean” gas hydrogen and used to power
homes and cars. Scientists at the University
of Chester and their commercial partners
have developedatechnique, involving a
kiln heated to 1,000°C, of breaking down
unrecyclable plastic so that it produces
hydrogen and other gases–and leaves
no residue behind. The beauty of the
technology is that, as well as creating a
source of low-carbon fuel, it should make
dirty plastic valuable–creatingareal
incentive to clear it from beaches and
oceans. The drawback is that the process
also creates methane, says The Guardian,
but the team thinks the gas could be piped
to apower plant to create electricity, so
that it is used productively.Saving Antarctica with blue-sky thinkingGenetictestingkitsarebecomingever
morepopular:hundredsofthousands
ofpeopleintheUKarethoughttohave
hadtheirDNAtestedbycompanies
suchasAncestryDNA.Butnowsenior
doctorsarecallingforacrackdown,after
seeinganinfluxofpatientswhohave
beenwronglytoldtheyarecarrying
dangerousmutations.Researchhas
foundthatthetestsregularlygive
“falsepositives”foramutationinBRCA
genes,whichincreasesthelikelihoodof
severaltypesofcancer.Onepatient
evenscheduledpreventativebreast-
removalsurgeryafterreceivingsuch
aresult,onlyforittobecalledoffwhen
theresultwaschecked.“TheNHSis
incrediblyirritatedbytheseresults,
becausethey’remoreoftenwrongthan
right,”saidProfAnnekeLucassen,chair
ofTheBritishSocietyforGenetic
Medicine.“I’mnotsayingtobanthese
tests,buttheyneedmoreregulating.”Genetic tests warningFeeling the dangerWhat the scientists are saying...Good vibrations in the nest