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Issue no. 17, 2012 Published: Jun 08, 2012
Genome of 18-week-old foetus deciphered
Scientists warn geoengineering may disrupt rainfall
Big US firms team up on plant plastics
Pregnancy blood test can identify Down's syndrome
New smart city is built from the ground up
World's 'oldest fish trap' found off coast of Sweden

Genome of 18-week-old foetus deciphered
A blood sample from mum and saliva from dad have been used to sequence the genome of a foetus in the womb, by US researchers. At the time, the mother was just 18 weeks into the pregnancy. The doctors said the findings could eventually lead to foetuses being screened for thousands of genetic disorders in a single and safe test. The scientists at the University of Washington used pieces of the foetus' DNA which naturally float around in the pregnant woman's blood. These fragments were then pieced together using the parents' DNA as a guide to build a complete 'map' of the foetus's genome. They then compared the genetic map drawn 18 weeks into pregnancy with the foetus' actual DNA taken from the umbilical cord after birth. It was 98% accurate. The researchers hope their findings will one day be used to test safely for genetic diseases. They also say new genetic defects, which are not present in the parents, could be picked up if the technique could be improved. Such mutations form in the eggs, sperm or at conception. There were 44 new mutations in the foetus and the screen at 18 weeks found 39 of them. However, the screening also detected 25 million possible new mutations or false positives.
BBC News / Science Translational Medicine Jun 07, 2012	back to top

Scientists warn geoengineering may disrupt rainfall
Large-scale engineering projects aimed at fighting global warming could radically reduce rainfall in Europe and North America, a team of scientists from four European countries have warned. Geoengineering projects are controversial, even though they are largely theoretical at this point. They range from mimicking the effects of volcanic eruptions by releasing sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere, to deploying giant mirrors in space to deflect the sun's rays. In this new study scientists from Germany, Norway, France and the UK used four different computer models that mimic the earth's climate to see how they responded to increased levels of CO2 coupled with reduced radiation from the sun. Their scenario assumed a world with four times the CO2 concentration of the preindustrial world, which is in the range of what is considered possible at the end of this century. They found that global rainfall was reduced by about 5% on average using all four models. Under the scenario studied, rainfall diminished by about 15%, or about 100 millimetres per year, compared to pre-industrial levels, in large areas of North America and northern Eurasia. Over central South America, all the models showed a decrease in rainfall that reached more than 20% in parts of the Amazon region.
Reuters / Earth System Dynamics Jun 06, 2012	back to top

Big US firms team up on plant plastics
Five of the biggest names in American business have formed a group to accelerate the development and use of plant-based plastic. Coca-Cola, Ford Motor, Heinz, Nike and Procter & Gamble said on Tuesday they are committed to advancing research and development to support a commercially viable, sustainably sourced plastic made entirely from plant materials, while reducing the use of fossil fuels. The collaboration builds on Coke's 'plant bottle' packaging technology, which is partially made from material derived from sugar cane. Heinz has already licensed the technology from Coke for some Heinz ketchup bottles. Coke, the world's biggest soft drink maker, gets sugar cane-based ethanol from plantations in Brazil that it says are far from the Amazon rain forests. It is also working to develop a way to capture sugar from plant waste. All the companies in the working group use the plastic PET, or polyethylene terephthalate, in products ranging from plastic bottles, clothing and shoes to automotive fabric and carpet.
Reuters Jun 05, 2012	back to top

Pregnancy blood test can identify Down's syndrome
Testing whether a fetus has Down's syndrome is getting easier - and less risky. Several companies are launching tests that work on a pregnant woman's blood, rather than requiring an invasive procedure. The tests are already proving controversial, with opponents of abortion concerned that more women will decide to terminate their pregnancy. Down's syndrome, caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21, is generally detected by amniocentesis, by inserting a needle into a pregnant woman's belly to sample cells from the fluid bathing her fetus. It carries a 1% risk of miscarriage and is usually performed between 15-20 weeks into pregnancy. Chorionic villus sampling, which samples tissue from the placenta, can be performed earlier, but has an even higher risk. The new tests instead detect DNA from fetal cells that have broken down. Some of this DNA crosses the placenta and gets into the mother's bloodstream, and the tests look for an excess of material from fetal chromosome 21. First out of the gate was Sequenom of San Diego, which launched its test for Down's last October. Verinata of Redwood City released its test in March, while Ariosa Diagnostics of San Jose will launch a test this week. Later this year, Natera of San Carlos will market a test that can also detect additional copies of the X and Y sex chromosomes. Not only do the blood tests eliminate the risk of miscarriage, they are also claimed to have lower error rates than conventional tests. Ariosa said that its test turns up false positives in less than 0.1% of cases - compared with 5% from invasive tests. The other companies report similar results. The new tests can be run from about 10 weeks into pregnancy.
New Scientist Jun 07, 2012	back to top

New smart city is built from the ground up
City 2.0 is an online platform designed to allow individuals and organisations to collaborate in imagining the city of the future. The idea was that by putting the kinds of tools usually only accessible by city planners into the hands of citizens everywhere, innovative new ideas would emerge around transportation, energy, public space, housing and law, giving people a chance to build their own vision of a smarter city in collaboration with others from their area. Ideas generated via this online platform are now making their way into the real world, as a new planned city in Portugal called PlanIT Valley will be built entirely on ideas generated through the City 2.0 platform. Located near Porto the city will house up to 225,000 inhabitants by 2015. The idea here is that when you start with a blank canvas rather than an organically growing city, with its various demands - you can build the innovation in from the ground floor, avoiding the urban planning mistakes of yesteryear. A collaboration between a company called Living PlanIt and the Portuguese government, the planned city will make extensive use of smart sensors. These sensors will work together to combine intelligent buildings with connected vehicles, providing the citizens of PlanIt Valley with an unprecedented level of info about their built environment. The key word here is efficiency - from optimum control of peak electricity demand to adapted traffic management, to real-time information about open parking places in the vicinity of your next appointment. These sensors will even be able to adjust the timing of traffic lights when emergency vehicles need to get through. The finished city is intended to serve as both a living laboratory for partner companies and an incubator for tech start-ups. Companies will be able to use PlanIt Valley to investigate collaborative potentials with Living PlanIt, then replicate that approach in other locations.
TG Daily Jun 07, 2012	back to top

World's 'oldest fish trap' found off coast of Sweden
Wooden fish traps said to be some 9,000 years old have been found in the Baltic Sea off Sweden, possibly the oldest such traps in existence. Marine archaeologists from Stockholm's Sodertorn University found finger-thick hazel rods grouped on the sea bed. They are thought to be the remains of stationary basket traps. The archaeologists said the sticks seemed to have been used as a sort of fence to lead the fish into a creel or they were part of the actual creel. The remains of seven basket traps were found in a submerged ancient river valley off Sweden's southern coast at a depth of 5-12m. Many examples of similar traps had been found in other parts of the world. Only one of the baskets has been carbon-dated and is estimated to be around 9,000 years old. The 8th Millennium BC is believed to be the period when Stone Age man developed agriculture and built what were to become the world's first cities.
BBC News Jun 05, 2012	back to top