Futuregos (Current News on Future Studies) by Andres Agostini

Two planets found sharing one orbit

Updated 18:01 24 February 2011 by Marcus Chown

Buried in the flood of data from the Kepler telescope is a planetary system unlike any seen before. Two of its apparent planets share the same orbit around their star. If the discovery is confirmed, it would bolster a theory that Earth once shared its orbit with a Mars-sized body that later crashed into it, resulting in the moon's formation.

The two planets are part of a four-planet system dubbed KOI-730. They circle their sun-like parent star every 9.8 days at exactly the same orbital distance, one permanently about 60 degrees ahead of the other. In the night sky of one planet, the other world must appear as a constant, blazing light, never fading or brightening.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20160-two-planets-found-sharing-one-orbit.html

Biology Nobelist: Natural selection will destroy us

INTERVIEW: 11:37 28 February 2011

We have evolved traits that will lead to humanity's extinction, says Christian de Duve – so we must learn to overcome them

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20928015.400-biology-nobelist-natural-selection-will-destroy-us.html

Monster solar eruption captured on camera

13:24 28 February 2011

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/nstv/2011/02/monster-solar-eruption-captured-on-camera.html

Fish oil prevents weight loss during chemotherapy

15:16 28 February 2011 by Catherine de Lange

Fish oil may soon be on the menu for people with cancer to prevent weight loss during chemotherapy.

Weight loss is common during chemotherapy for aggressive tumours, both because treatment may reduce appetite and because tumours lead to muscle wasting. "This leaves patients unable to be given other treatments, such as radiation," says Rachel Murphy of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.

Trial studies suggested that fish oil could help, but larger clinical trials proved inconclusive – possibly because the trials involved people with advanced cancers that were difficult to treat.

Now, Murphy and colleagues have shown that 16 people newly diagnosed with lung cancer who were given 2.2 grams of fish oil a day maintained their weight during chemotherapy. A control group that went without the oil lost an average of 2.3 kilograms over the same period.

Fish oil may help prevent weight loss by reducing the inflammation response that causes muscle degradation, Murray says.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20176-fish-oil-prevents-weight-loss-during-chemotherapy.html

Published: Sunday, 27 Feb 2011 | 11:32 AM ET Text Size

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - A Massachusetts biotechnology company says it can produce the fuel that runs Jaguars and jet engines using the same ingredients that make grass grow.

Joule Unlimited has invented a genetically-engineered organism that it says simply secretes diesel fuel or ethanol wherever it finds sunlight, water and carbon dioxide.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/41810005/

Rise of the machines not so far-fetched?

Monday, February 28, 2011