UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

NASA Mars lab mission rescheduled to 2011

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says it is postponing the launch of its Mars Science Laboratory until 2011.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials said the original October 2009 launch is no longer feasible because of "testing and hardware challenges" that must be addressed to ensure mission success.

NASA said the relative positions of Earth and Mars are favorable for flights to Mars only a few weeks every two years. The next launch opportunity after 2009 is in 2011.

"We will not lessen our standards for testing the mission's complex flight systems, so we are choosing the more responsible option of changing the launch date," said Doug McCuistion, director of the space agency's Mars Exploration Program.

NASA said the Mars Science Laboratory, intended to study the early environmental history of the planet, will be one of the most technologically challenging interplanetary missions ever designed, equipped with unprecedented research tools.

It will use new technologies to adjust its flight while descending through the Martian atmosphere and will place its rover onto the planet's surface by lowering it on a tether from a hovering descent stage, NASA said.

The total science payload will be 10 times the mass of instruments that are on NASA's Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers.

Gene found to protect against lung cancer

NOTTINGHAM, England, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- British and U.S. medical scientists say they have identified a gene that protects the body from developing lung cancer.

Researchers from the University of Nottingham and Washington University in St. Louis said they discovered the tumor suppressor gene LIMD1 is responsible for protecting the body -- a finding that could lead to new lung cancer treatments and screening techniques.

Lead researcher Tyson Sharp and his University of Nottingham team, together with Dr Greg Longmore, a professor of molecular cell biology at Washington University, set out to examine if loss of the LIMD1 gene correlated with lung cancer development.

Examining human lung cancer tissue and comparing it to healthy lung tissue they found the LIMD1 gene was missing in the majority of lung cancer samples, indicating that the presence of the LIMD1 gene protects the body against lung cancer.

"We are now going to extend these finding by developing LIMD1 as a novel prognostic tool for detection of early stage lung cancer," Sharp said.

The research appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Marine animal homing theory developed

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., Dec. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have a new theory to explain how some marine animals find their way back to their birthplace to spawn after migrating thousands of miles.

Marine biologists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said they believe that salmon and sea turtles read the magnetic field of their home area and "imprint" it, allowing the animals to distinguish that location from all others when they're ready to return years later to reproduce.

Previous studies showed young salmon and sea turtles can detect the Earth's magnetic field and use it to sense direction during their first migration. The new study seeks to explain the more difficult navigational task accomplished by adult animals that return to reproduce in the same area where they themselves began life -- a process scientists refer to as natal homing.

"What we are proposing is that natal homing can be explained in terms of animals learning the unique magnetic signature of their home area early in life and then retaining that information," said Professor Kenneth Lohmann, first author of the study. "We hope (the hypothesis) will inspire discussion among scientists and eventually lead to a way of testing the idea."

The research is reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Malaria, West Nile virus vaccines sought

FORT COLLINS, Colo., Dec. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they are trying to develop vaccines aimed at ticks and mosquitoes to prevent such diseases as West Nile virus and malaria.

"In order to successfully slow the transmission rate of these potentially fatal diseases, we need to reduce the lifespan of the vector, or block them from becoming infected in the first place," said Professor Brian Foy of Colorado State University. "One of our goals is to curtail the spread of mosquito-borne diseases through strategic use of compounds, known as endectocides, to target hosts. This new strategy will make blood meals from humans lethal to mosquitoes so they die before they can transmit a disease."

Endectocides -- systemically administered parasiticides -- are now used to control worm parasites that cause river blindness and are widely used in animals for worm control.

Foy said new genomics technologies are allowing scientists to more quickly and accurately sift through vector genomes to find protein targets, which can then aid in the development of more specified drugs and vaccines.

The research is to be presented next week in New Orleans during the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.