Global warming might be worse than thought
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 21 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts Institute of Technology analysis suggests the impact of global warming could be much worse than thought, at least double previous estimates.
In what is called the most comprehensive modeling yet concerning how much hotter the Earth's climate will get this century, MIT researchers discovered that without rapid and massive action, the problem will be about twice as severe as estimated six years ago -- and could be even worse.
The study involved 400 runs of the MIT Integrated Global Systems Model, a detailed computer simulation of global economic activity and climate processes. Each run involved slight variations in input parameters.
Study co-author Ronald Prinn, director of MIT's Center for Global Change Science, said the new projections involved improved economic modeling. Other changes included accounting for cooling induced by 20th century volcanoes and for emissions of soot, which can add to the warming effect.
Prinn said the new analyses changed the odds on what could be expected during this century in a scenario in which no policies are in place that specifically induce reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
"There is significantly more risk than we previously estimated," Prinn said. "This increases the urgency for significant policy action."
The study appears in the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate.
New epilepsy, schizophrenia clues found
CARDIFF, Wales, May 21 (UPI) -- British scientists say studying the way a person's brain "sings" could improve our understanding of conditions such as epilepsy and schizophrenia.
Researchers in Cardiff University's Brain Research Imaging Center say they've discovered a person's brain produces a unique electrical oscillation at a particular frequency when a person looks at a visual pattern. That frequency of oscillation, the scientists said, appears to be determined by the concentration of a neurotransmitter chemical, GABA in the visual cortex of each person's brain. The more GABA, the higher the frequency or "note" of the oscillation became.
GABA is a key inhibitory neurotransmitter and is essential for the normal operation of the brain.
"Using sophisticated … brain imaging equipment, we've found that when a person looks at a visual pattern their brain produces an electrical signal, known as a gamma oscillation, at a set frequency," Professor Kirsh Singh, who led the study, said. "In effect, each person's brain 'sings' at a different note in the range 40-70 Hz."
The researchers said their findings have important implications, especially in terms of increasing our understanding of conditions such as epilepsy and schizophrenia, where it is known there might be a problem with GABA.
The study that included Suresh Muthukumaraswamy and Richard Edden is reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Herschel and Planck: On speed, on course
PARIS, May 21 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency says the commissioning of scientific instruments and subsystems aboard its Herschel and Planck spacecraft has started.
The two space observatories were lifted into orbit aboard an Ariane 5 rocket last week from the French spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana. Scientists said Herschel and Planck were functioning nominally and are now en route to their final orbits around the second Lagrange point, a spot in space know as L2, approximately 932,000 miles from Earth.
Shortly after launch, both spacecraft separated, triggering the execution of automatic sequences on board, including acquisition of the spacecraft's orientation in space, configuration of the data handling system and switch-on of the high-frequency radio transmitters, the ESA said.
ESA scientists said the precise injection into a transfer orbit that was accomplished means only moderate trajectory correction maneuvers will be needed to change the spacecrafts' direction or speed.
Herschel is on a trajectory that will lead it into a large orbit around L2. Planck, which will operate from a smaller orbit, will still need a June 5 mid-course correction and a July 2 orbit-insertion maneuver, the space agency said.
Herschel, a far infrared telescope, will be the first space observatory to cover the full far infrared and sub-millimeter wavebands. Planck is designed to make the most precise measurements yet of light at microwave wavelengths.
Scientists study new way of fighting flu
TROY, N.Y., May 21 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they are creating a new drug compound to combat the influenza virus, targeting the illness on two fronts.
Researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute said the world has been fortunate with the H1N1 swine flu virus in that it, so far, responds to treatment with available drugs.
"But if the virus mutates substantially, the currently available drugs might be ineffective because they only target one portion of the virus," Professor Robert Linhardt said. "By targeting both portions of the virus, the H and the N, we can interfere with both the initial attachment to the cell that is being infected and the release of the budding virus from the cell that has been affected."
The scientists said influenza A virus is classified based on the form of two of its outer proteins, hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). Current flu drugs target only the neuraminidase proteins, but the Linhardt team's new process shows strong binding potential to hemagglutinin.
"We are seeing promising preliminary results that the chemistry of this approach will be effective in blocking the hemagglutinin portion of the disease … ," he said, noting his team has also shown their compound to be just as effective at targeting neuraminidase.
The study is the featured cover article in the June edition of European Journal of Organic Chemistry.
