, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- CLONING DEBATE TO HEAT BACK UP AGAIN
The recent announcement by Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology that it intends to clone human embryos to produce stem cells has reignited a controversy in Congress that had seemed to flag after President Bush announced the U.S. government's stem cell research policy in August. As early as February, the Senate will consider two bills related to stem cells, one to allow a wider range of federally financed research than the president wants, and the other a broad ban on human cloning. "The president's Aug. 9 speech managed to confound both sides," Daniel Perry, executive director of the Alliance for Aging Research, an advocacy group that promotes stem cell science, told The New York Times. "It was a temporary compromise that allowed voices on both sides to be calmed temporarily." At the heart of the new debate is the difference between reproductive cloning and 'therapeutic' cloning, in which tailored stem cells could be used to cure disease. "When people talk about cloning, they're thinking about multiple copies of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and they're scared about that," said Perry. "This is treading into the unknown, so inevitably it is going to spark some fears."
BLOCKING SUNLIGHT NOT THE CURE FOR GLOBAL WARMING
Some engineers have suggested partially blocking the light of the sun to counteract global warming, but University of Illinois scientists are warning that such attempts could have severe impacts on the biosphere, such as changes to agriculture and forest production. Schemes such as sending reflective balloons into the stratosphere or erecting a huge parasol in orbit have been proposed to create a cooling effect to offset the warming caused by increasing levels of greenhouse gases. Some estimate that 1.8 percent of the sun's light would have to be blocked to counter the effects of doubling the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Plants remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in their tissues, and a 1.8 percent decrease in sunlight could cause decreased plant growth and inadvertently lead to more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, said Donald Wuebbles, a professor and head of atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois. Wuebbles and his colleagues used a dynamic global ecosystem model to simulate the response of vegetation to engineered climate conditions.
KANGAROO HARVEST IS PART OF LAND STRATEGY
A new land strategy being promoted by scientists, ranchers, environmentalists and government officials in Australia focuses on the harvest and export of kangaroo meat, according to a report in The New York Times. Kangaroos are one of the world's most numerous large animals, so numerous in fact that about two million are killed each year to control the population. Kangaroo farms could help combat soil degradation and diversify farm income, as some consider kangaroo meat a delicacy. Still, some animal welfare activists are concerned that harvesting could lead to the extinction of several major species. Australia's National Farmers Federation and the Australian Conservation Foundation warns of "an alarming crisis in degradation of the productivity and environmental value of rural landscapes." In a recent report, the group decried Australia's recent history of inappropriate land use and called for "changes in rural economies" that would lead to 15 percent of agricultural output coming from 'environmentally accredited' land within 10 years. What's required is an "economic strategy to reduce dependence on conventional livestock, increase sustainable kangaroo harvesting, and double protected zones to about 20 percent of all land," said Michael Archer, who is the director of the Australian Museum.
VOLCANIC PLUMES NOT STATIONARY
Plumes of magma break through the Earth's crust, forming volcanoes in 'hot spots.' A new discovery challenges accepted ideas of how the Earth's tectonic plates are moving, suggesting that these hot spots are wandering across the face of the Earth, according to a New Scientist report. Most researchers think that plumes like the one that created the Hawaiian Islands remain motionless as the Earth's tectonic plates pass over them, and geologists have used hot spots as a frame of reference to gauge the motion of plates. Robert Duncan of Oregon State University in Corvallis and his colleagues measured the direction of magnetization of minerals in volcanic rocks on the islands. As the lava cooled, the minerals aligned themselves towards north, providing a record of their location. The research is likely to generate some controversy. "People suspected that hot spots were moving," said geologist Robert Butler of the University of Arizona in Phoenix. "But the one they all wanted to hang onto was the biggest, baddest hot spot of them all - the Hawaiian hot spot."
