IX X

XI XII I
II III

TIMES

THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI

MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016

15

TRENDS

First time in 100k yrs, Arctic may be free of sea ice Liquid cancer test
Only 11.1m Sq Km Of Frozen Sea Seen This Year, Compared To An Average Of 12.7m Sq Km
Getty Images

Ian Johnston

he Arctic is on track to
be free of sea ice this
year or next for the
first time in more than
100,000 years, a leading scientist has claimed.
Provisional satellite data
produced by the United States National Snow & Ice Data
Centre shows there were just
over 11.1 million sq km of sea
ice on June 1 this year, compared to the average for the
last 30 years of nearly 12.7
million sq km.
This difference more

This difference more than 1.5 million sq km is about the same

size as about six United Kingdoms. The rapid warming of the polar
region has been linked with extreme weather events such as bomb
cyclones, flooding in the UK and out-of-season tornadoes in the US

than 1.5 million sq km is

about the same size as about
six United Kingdoms.

SHORT CUTS

Study shows why boys do

better in science tests

ale students may perform better than

females in life science exams not because
they have better academic ability, but due to
the way the questions are designed, according
to new research. Researchers from Arizona
State University, US, found that females and
males do equally well on exams that require
mostly memorisation. However, when tests
include cognitively challenging questions that
require elevated critical thinking, females score
lower than their male, even though the students
have equal academic ability, researchers said.

Baby fish prefer plastic, not natural food:

Young fish exposed to microplastic particles
during development tend to eat plastic and ignore
their natural food source of free-swimming
zooplankton, a new study has found. Researchers
from Uppsala University in Sweden found that
larval perch exposed to microplastic particles
show changed behaviours and stunted growth
which lead to greatly increased mortality rates.
Microplastic particles (less than 5mm in size)
originate from large plastic waste products that
fragment into smaller pieces, or from manufactured plastics of microscopic size. For the first
time, scientists have shown that development of
fish is threatened by microplastic pollution.
Reuters

Mental disorders in
cities tied to reduced
access to nature
Washington: Reduced access to nature
may be part of the reason why mental illnesses and mood disorders are more common in cities, researchers say. There is an
enormous amount of disease largely tied
to our removal from the natural environment, said Peter Kahn of the University
of Washington. In an article published in
the journal Science, researchers discussed
the growing tension between the necessary
role urban areas play in society and the debilitating aspects of cities that disconnect humans from the natural world. Researchers
pointed to studies that show the emotional
and mental strain cities can have on people.
Mental illnesses and mood disorders are
more common in urban areas, and while many factors share the blame, reduced access to
nature is a contributing cause, said Kahn. City dwellers in dense urban areas have little or
no contact with nature in their daily lives. PTI

year, it will do it next year.

Ice free means the central
part of the Arctic and the
North Pole is ice free, he said.
Most of the remaining ice
within the Arctic Circle would be trapped among the myriad of islands along Canadas north coast. The last time the Arctic was clear of ice
is believed to be about 100,000
to 120,000 years ago.
The rapid warming of the
polar region has been linked
with extreme weather events
such as bomb cyclones, flooding in the UK and out-of-season tornadoes in the US.

And the sea ice off the

north coast of Russia, which
insulates the water below to
keep it cool, is no longer present for much of the year, allowing the sea to get significantly warmer than before.
Scientists have monitored greenhouse gas methane
once frozen on the sea bed
bubbling up to the surface at
an alarming rate. A study
published in the journal Nature by professor Wadhams
said this could produce an average rise in global temperature of 0.6 degrees Celsius in
just five years. THE INDEPENDENT

THOR STEALS THE THUNDER

AFP

FLIGHT TO THE FUTURE: A prototype of a 3D-printed aircraft called THOR (Test of High-tech Objectives
in Reality) is displayed in Schoenefeld, Germany. The aircraft is windowless, weighs 21kg and is less than
13ft long. In Thor, the only parts that are not printed from a substance called polyamide are the electrical
elements. The small pilotless propeller aircraft is seen as a pioneer that offers a taste of things to come
an aviation future when 3D printing technology promises to save time, fuel and money. The 3D-printed
parts are 30-50% lighter and there is almost zero manufacturing waste, thus promising ecological
benefits as lighter jets use less fuel and spew out fewer pollutants

Norway to ban all petrol cars by 2025

Jess Staufenberg

orway will ban the sale of

all fossil fuel-based cars
in the next decade, continuing its trend towards becoming one of the most ecologically progressive countries on the
planet, according to reports.
Politicians from both sides of
the political spectrum have reportedly reached some concrete
conclusions about 100% of Norwegian cars running on green
energy by 2025.
According to a Norwegian

N
Participants dressed as elves, dwarves, goblins
and orcs re-enact the Battle of Five Armies from
JRR Tolkiens novel The Hobbit in Czech Republic

Professor Peter Wadhams, head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group at Cam-

bridge University, told The

Independent that the latest
figures largely bore out a
controversial prediction he
made four years ago.
My prediction remains
that the Arctic ice may well
disappear, that is, have an
area of less than one million
square kilometre for September of this year, he said.
Even if the ice doesnt
completely disappear, it is very likely that this will be a record low year...I think theres
a reasonable chance it could
get down to a million this year and if it doesnt do it this

Nation also commits to zero deforestation

he Norwegian parliament pledged the governments public

procurement policy will become deforestation-free after a panel of
MPs recommended imposing regulations to ensure the state did not
contribute to deforestation of the rainforest. Norway funds forest
conservation projects worldwide and also supports human rights
programmes for forest communities. Nils Hermann Ranum, the head of
Policy and Campaign at Rainforest Foundation Norway, said, This is an
important victory in the fight to protect the rainforest. Over the last few
years, a number of firms have committed to cease the procurement of
goods that can be linked to destruction of the rainforest. THE INDEPENDENT

newspaper, FRP will remove all

gasoline cars, which refers to
the populist right-wing Fram-

stegspartiet, or Progress Party.

Yet there is some denial from
other right-wing representati-

ves that the move has been confirmed. If passed, it would be

particularly significant because
a large proportion of Norways
funds rely on the countrys petroleum industry.
Yet while the Democratic
Party and the Liberal Party have
corroborated the report, the
FRP have said the move is still
being looked at. If the measure
is fully confirmed, it would be
more ambitious than the Labour
Partys proposal that no new diesel or petrol cars should be sold
by 2030. THE INDEPENDENT

offers alternative to
painful biopsies
Andrew Pollack

Chicago: A blood test to detect

cancer mutations produced results that generally agree with
those of an invasive tumour
biopsy, researchers reported,
heralding a time when diagnosing cancer and monitoring its
progression may become less
painful and risky.
The blood tests, known as
liquid biopsies, represent one
of the hottest trends in oncology. They take advantage of
the fact that DNA fragments
from tumors can be found in
tiny amounts in the blood of
patients with cancer. Researchers hope that such tests can
become alternatives to conventional tumor biopsies, in
which a piece of the tumor is
extracted by needle or by surgery procedures that can
have complications.
The results of the study,
the largest to date of a liquid
biopsy test, give some reassurance that this might be possible. I think this study really demonstrates the veracity
of the liquid biopsy approach, said Philip C Mack, director of molecular pharmacology at the University of California Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The liquid biopsies are not

Mediterranean diet
may prevent breast
cancer relapse

dopting a Mediterranean
diet which includes fresh
fish and olive oil may dramatically reduce the chances of
breast cancer returning, a new
study has claimed. There is
proof that a Mediterranean
diet can help reduce chances of
developing cancer in the first
place. Researchers studied
more than 300 women who had
been treated for early stage
breast cancer and formed two
groups. After three years, 11
patients in the group on normal, healthy diet again developed breast cancer. None of
the patients on the Mediterranean diet had a relapse. PTI

currently used to diagnose

cancer but rather to monitor
disease progression or to detect genetic mutations in the
tumor that could suggest
which drug should be used to
treat the disease.
Just this week the Food
and Drug Administration gave its first approval for such a
test, one developed by Roche
to detect mutations in a particular gene. NYT NEWS SERVICE

Protein that isolates

Zika virus identified

Boston: Scientists have found

a very small protein in our body that can swallow up and quarantine the Zika virus, dramatically reducing its ability
to infect cells, an advance that
may lead to new therapies to
fight the infection linked to serious birth defects.
The interferon-induced
protein 3 (IFITM3), in some
cases, can also prevent Zika
virus from killing our cells,
researchers said.
The findings, from the
University of Massachusetts
Medical School (UMMS) in
the US, suggest that boosting
the actions of IFITM3 may

be useful for inhibiting Zika

virus and other emerging viral infections.
This work represents
the first look at how our cells
defend themselves against Zika virus attack, said Abraham Brass, assistant professor at UMMS.
Our results show that Zika virus has a weakness that
we could potentially exploit
to prevent or stop infection,
said Brass.
Found in nearly all human
cells, IFITM3 works to alter the
cell membrane, making it more difficult for viruses to penetrate this outer defence. PTI