UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

Methane study favors life on Mars theory

LONDON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Imperial College London scientists say they have ruled out the possibility that methane is delivered by meteorites into Mars' atmosphere.

That finding, the researchers note, raises fresh hopes that the gas might be generated by life on the red planet.

Scientists said methane on Mars is being constantly replenished by an unidentified source. Researchers had thought meteorites might be responsible because, when the rocks enter the planet's atmosphere, they're subjected to intense heat, causing a chemical reaction that releases methane and other gases into the atmosphere.

But now the Imperial College London study has shown the volumes of such meteoritic methane are too low to maintain the current atmospheric levels of methane. Previous studies have also ruled out the possibility the methane is created through volcanic activity.

That, the researchers say, means either there are microorganisms living in the martian soil producing methane gas or methane is being produced as a by-product of reactions between volcanic rock and water.

Professor Mark Sephton, a co-author of the study, noted: "This work is a big step forward. As Sherlock Holmes said, eliminate all other factors and the one that remains must be the truth. The list of possible sources of methane gas is getting smaller and excitingly, extraterrestrial life still remains an option. Ultimately the final test may have to be on Mars."

The research appears in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Bullying bystanders suffer too

LONDON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Students who watch peers be verbally or physically abused by another student could become as psychologically distressed as the victim, British researchers say.

Lead author Ian Rivers of Brunel University and colleagues surveyed 2,002 students ages 12-16 at 14 schools in England. The students indicated whether they had committed, witnessed or been the victim of any of name-calling, kicking, hitting, rumor-mongering or threatened violence during the previous nine-week school term and, if so, how often.

The study, published in Psychology Quarterly, found 63 percent said they witnessed peers being bullied, 34 percent said they had been victims of bullying and 20 percent said they had been perpetrators. About 28 percent said they were completely uninvolved in any bullying episodes.

Students who witnessed bullying were more likely to report greater psychological distress than those students who were bullies or victims.

"It's well documented that children and adolescents who are exposed to violence within their families or outside of school are at a greater risk for mental health problems than those children who are not exposed to any violence," Rivers said in a statement. "It should not be a surprise that violence at school will pose the same kind of risk."

NASA sees major Calif. ground water loss

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says new satellite data show a major loss of water from aquifers in California's primary agricultural region.

NASA officials said the data reveal that since October 2003, California's Central Valley aquifers -- and the state's major mountain water source, the Sierra Nevadas -- have lost nearly enough water combined to fill Lake Mead, the nation's largest reservoir.

University of California-Irving and NASA scientists say the findings are based on data from the NASA-German Aerospace Center Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites known as Grace. The twin satellites monitor tiny month-to-month changes in the Earth's gravity field that are primarily caused by the movement of water in land, ocean, ice and atmosphere reservoirs.

Professor Jay Famiglietti said California's Sacramento and San Joaquin drainage basins have shed more than 7.9 trillion gallons since late 2003.

"Grace data reveal groundwater in these basins is being pumped for irrigation at rates that are not sustainable if current trends continue," Famiglietti said. "The findings have major implications for the U.S. economy, as California's Central Valley is home to one sixth of all U.S. irrigated land, and the state leads the nation in agricultural production and exports."

The research is being presented in San Francisco this week during a meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

A new target found for lymphoma therapy

BOSTON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. cancer researchers say they've found a link between a common mutation that can lead to cancer and a distant gene regulator that enhances its activity.

The Children's Hospital Boston scientists say their discovery could lead to drugs targeting B-cell lymphomas, including Burkitt's lymphoma, an aggressive cancer in children, as well as multiple myelomas and other blood-related cancers.

Lymphomas often originate in B cells, the scientists said -- the same cells that produce antibodies to help fight infections. B cells can become cancerous if a gene known as c-myc leaps to another section of DNA -- the IgH region, responsible for building antibodies -- fuses with it, and somehow becomes over-activated.

The researchers said scientists have wondered for years how that oncogenic activation occurs, in particular what component in the IgH region activates c-myc. The new study not only identifies the regulatory component, but marks the first time researchers are able to understand how that movement of genes, or "chromosomal translocation," can hijack a B cell's operation badly enough to lead to cancer.

"IgH-to-myc translocation is the classic example of activation of an oncogene in cancer," says Frederick Alt, senior author of the study. "But nobody really understood how it works."

The complex research is reported in the journal Nature.