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... GLOBAL NEWS ... NEWS SOLAR STUDIES MAY SHED LIGHT ON GLOBAL WARMING International Satellite Cloud Climate Project, they found that the amount of cloud cover at elevations of two miles or lower is directly related to cosmic ray lev- els—at least over the period for which satellite data are available. But Earth has been warming for more than a century. Has the Sun's field been strengthening that long? Yes, according to Michael Lockwood and colleagues at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in England, who published exactly that result in the journal Nature last year. Analysing instrument measurements taken since 1868, they concluded that the Sun's exterior magnetic field has increased by 230 per cent since 1901 and by 40 per cent since 1964. (Source: The Washington Post, 9 October 2000) what the warning labels should say and how studies of drugs should be designed. The experts are supposed to be indepen- dent, but USA Today found that 54 per cent of the time they have a direct financial interest in the drug or topic they are asked to evaluate. These conflicts include help- ing a pharmaceutical company develop a medicine, then serving on an FDA advisory committee that judges the drug. The conflicts typically include stock ownership, consulting fees or research new hypothesis, pioneered by Henrik Svensmark of the Danish Space Research Institute in Copenhagen, links the amount of cosmic rays that strike Earth with cloud formation, which in turn affects atmospheric temperatures. The Earth's magnetic field deflects many electrically charged particles, such protons and atomic nuclei misleadingly known as cosmic "rays". The rest penetrate the atmosphere, where the shower turns electri- cally neutral air molecules and airborne vapours into charged ions. In that condi- tion, two UCLA scientists argued in Geophysical Research Letters earlier this year, molecules are more prone to cluster into aggregations that make dense low- level clouds that shade the planet's surface. High, thin clouds typically warm the planet y trapping outgoing heat in the sky. But thick, umbrella-like low clouds have a net cooling effect. By this logic, when the Sun's magnetic ield is stronger—as it is, for example, dur- ing high sunspot activity—it deflects more cosmic rays, preventing them from hitting air molecules. Fewer cosmic rays mean ‘ewer clouds, which means more warming. Svensmark and colleagues reported their latest results at a conference, held in Spain during September, on "The Solar Cycle and Terrestrial Climate". Using data from the grants. Federal law generally prohibits the FDA from using experts with financial conflicts of interest, but the FDA has waived the restriction more than 800 times since 1998. These pharmaceutical experts, about 300 on 18 advisory committees, make decisions that affect the health of millions of Americans and billions of dollars in drugs sales. With few exceptions, the FDA fol- lows the committees' advice. The FDA reveals when financial con- flicts exist, but it has kept details secret since 1992, so it is not possible to deter- mine the amount of money or the drug companies involved. (Source: USA Today, 25 September 2000, www.usatoday.con/news/) FDA ADVISORS TIED TO PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES My than half of the experts hired to advise the US government on the safety and effectiveness of medicines have financial relationships with the pharmaceu- tical companies that will be helped or hurt by their decisions, a USA Today study has found. These experts are hired to advise the Food and Drug Administration on which medicines should be approved for sale, SOUL-SEARCHING DOCTORS CONFIRM LIFE AFTER DEATH Awe scientific study of "near-death" experiences (NDEs) has found new evidence to suggest that consciousness or the "soul" can continue to exist beyond "death". The findings, by Dr Peter Fenwick, a consultant neuropsychiatrist at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, and Dr Sam Parnia, a clinical research fellow and regis- trar at Southampton General Hospital, were based on a year-long study of heart attack survivors, and could provoke fresh contro- versy over that most profound of questions: is there life after death? Reports of "near-death" experiences, in which people close to death have vivid encounters with bright lights and heavenly beings, date back centuries, but the phe- nomenon has been treated with scepticism by most academics. The new study concludes, however, that a number of people have almost certainly had these experiences after they were pro- nounced clinically dead. This would sug- gest that the mind or consciousness can survive the death of the brain. i, SOT SORRY BUT (T 1S THERE IN THE Fine PRINT. You DEFAULTED ON YOUR PAYMENTS FoR THREE MONTHS Ruswirt, SO Now WE GET YOUR FIRST \ BoRM MALE CHILD, cz | ee) Po} “fac Banic | if aa =_~__ —_—_— — Swe 8 - NEXUS DECEMBER 2000 — JANUARY 2001