U.S. and China called out on global warming
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the U.S. and China to play ''a more constructive role'' in combating climate change, punctuating release of this year's fourth and final report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The latest report blends key points of the group's earlier reviews of climate trends, the possibility of adapting to a warmer climate and strategies for cutting carbon emissions. The grim bottom line (for those emerging from recently melted ice caves): Bring carbon dioxide emissions under control within the next few years or face serious consequences, including rising sea levels, reduced agricultural productivity and a global economic downturn. The political subtext: China, the U.S. and other nations are set to meet in two weeks to hash out the global climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which is due to expire in 2012. (New York Times)
The $1,000 genome—brought to you by CliffsNotes
Heads up, Christmas shoppers: Icelandic company deCODE Genetics has launched a new service that, for a mere $985, will take your FedExed cheek swab and scan the enclosed DNA for a sprinkling of genetic variations linked with 20 or so diseases, as well as ancestry and physical traits such as eye color (in case you don't have a mirror handy). Not quite ushering in the eagerly awaited era of the $1,000 personal genome, the new service, called deCODEme, will cover less than 0.1 percent of the three billion units of the full genome, which remains a bit too pricey for most people to have sequenced—unless they are geneticist-entrepreneur J. Craig Venter. (See News Bytes of the Week—Popcorn lung leaves the factory.) An era it is, though. Hot on deCODE's heels came the Google-backed 23andMe, which offers a similar service for $999 that would cover 35 percent less of the genome, and a third company, Navigenics, is expected to launch a disease-focused scan. Do we hear $975 and free gift wrapping? (press release, The Economist)
Want to lose baby fat? Sleep on it
New moms beware: If you want to shed those extra pounds you packed on while pregnant, you better get your sleep. A new study shows that women are more likely to lose baby fat if they get over five hours of shut-eye a night. "We've known for some time that sleep deprivation is associated with weight gain and obesity in the general population, but this study shows that getting enough sleep—even just two hours more—may be as important as a healthy diet and exercise for new mothers to return to their prepregnancy weight,'' says Erica Gunderson, an investigator at Kaiser Permanente Divison of Research in Oakland, Calif., and lead author of the study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Gunderson and Harvard Medical School researchers found that new moms who snoozed five or fewer hours a night when their infants were six months old were more likely than those who slumbered for seven hours to retain 11 or more pounds a year after giving birth. "With the results of this study, new mothers must be wondering: 'How can I get more sleep for both me and my baby?' '' says Matthew Gillman of Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. "Our team is working on new studies to answer this important question.'' (press release, Houston Chronicle)
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Add CommentI saw a t.v. program about tracking down the descendants of Jesus, some participants of the study involved mailed their cheek swabs in to some facility and found out which other people on the planet shared that DNA. Is this the very same $1000 a pop facility or is their an affordable or (dare I say) free way to analyze and trace my genealogy?
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