News Scan

Compiled by Richard Macey
September 4, 2008

Muerte in Madrid

Getting arrested may not be the worse thing that happens to people stopped by police. Spanish doctors report that some men arrested may be susceptible to sudden cardiac death. Dr Manuel Selles, of the Hospital Gregorio Maranon in Madrid, found 60 cases of healthy young people dying within 24 hours of being arrested in the past decade. All but one were men, with a mean age of 33. Almost 20 died where they were arrested. None were involved in any documented police brutality. Autopsies listed them as unexplained deaths. Selles hypothesised that under stress, their blood pressure and heart rates surged, while a rush of chemicals including adrenaline may have caused arteries to constrict. AP

Planetary pothole

After a year exploring an 800-metre crater, NASA's Mars rover, Opportunity, has climbed out again. Opportunity emerged by following the wheel tracks it left on driving into Victoria Crater last September. "The rover is back on flat ground," Paolo Bellutta, an engineer who drives Opportunity, announced. The rover was able to study deep rock layers that were exposed when a meteorite blasted the crater eons ago. It will next study rocks that may have been thrown from impacts that dug craters too distant for it to reach.

Turtles' natural selection

Marine turtles nesting on natural beaches are likely to have higher evolutionary fitness than turtles that nest on developed beaches, new research has found. David Pike, a University of Sydney biological sciences PhD student, has found that two marine turtle species, loggerheads (pictured) and green turtles, produce more young nesting on natural beaches, compared with man-made beaches. Females that successfully produce more young "will have higher lifetime reproductive success than females of the same species who produce fewer offspring", said Pike, whose findings appear in the journal Biology Letters.

Rats in a sinking ship

The remains of the earliest known rodent to stow away on a ship have been found, reports New Scientist. The jaw of a house mouse has been identified in sediment from a ship that sank off Turkey 3500 years ago by Thomas Cucchi, a University of Durham archeologist. Scientists believe the find may give clues to the route of the ship, which sank with ebony, ivory, silver and gold aboard.

Reactor heads to work

Australia's nuclear reactor, OPAL, has taken another step towards full operation. The Lucas Heights research reactor returned to full power in May after being shut down for 10 months by a uranium fuel problem. Five of OPAL's seven science instruments have received their first neutrons from the reactor, confirming they are working. Four, named Echidna, Wombat, Koala and Kowari, are for materials research and the fifth, Platypus, is for organic research at molecular levels. Quokka, which will focus on food science, and Taipan, for researching superconductivity, will be tested in the next few weeks.
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