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NEWS ... ... GLOBAL NEWS ... NZ SCIENTIST MAKES DNA Documents seen by the Guardian reveal "catastrophic" event, which the COMPUTER BREAKTHROUGH that Sir Richard was also paid a £15,000 Department of Environment and Documents seen by the Guardian reveal that Sir Richard was also paid a £15,000 fee by the Chemical Manufacturers Association and two other major companies, Dow Chemicals and ICI, for a review that largely cleared vinyl chloride, used in plastics, of any link with cancers apart from liver cancer—a conclusion with which the World Health Organization disagrees. Sir Richard's review was used by the manufacturers’ trade association to defend the chemical for more than a decade. The revelations will dismay scientists and other admirers of Sir Richard's pioneering work and fuel a rift between the majority who support his view that the evidence shows cancer is a product of modern lifestyles, and those environmentalists who argue that chemicals and pollution must be to blame for soaring cancer rates. (Source: The Guardian, UK, 8 December 2006, http://www. guardian.co.uk/science/ story/0,,1967386,00.html) "catastrophic" event, which the Department of Environment and Conservation said began well before last week's freak storm at Esperance, which was declared a natural disaster zone as a result. District nature conservation co-ordinator Mike Fitzgerald said the first reports of birds dropping dead in people's yards came in three weeks ago, but the calls stopped suddenly last week—reportedly because no birds were left. (Source: The Australian, /0 January 2007) which New Zealand scientist has developed a computer chip made from DNA molecules—the building blocks of life— that can store and execute computer programs within the body. Privately funded Albany-based physicist Graemme Brown has succeeded where major companies, which have poured millions into research, have yet to make the breakthrough. The DNA tablet can be swallowed or inserted into the body and used to track down genetic defects and some illnesses. Unlike conventional silicon chips, it does not rely on conventional binary code, instead using the much more powerful alpha-numeric code. A DNA molecule contains up to 100 billion instructions for building a human body and is vastly more powerful than any existing computer. Brown says a huge advantage of the discovery is that DNA computing can be used with current technology but will also open up the scientific frontier for bio- computing. He says the implications for that are "staggering". A statement announcing — the breakthrough says the innovation has the potential to create nanotech biocomputers much more powerful than achieved with current silicon technology. (Source: North Shore Times, New Zealand, 28 October 2006, via http://www. stuff.co.nz/3842006a28. html) MICROORGANISMS ENGINEERED FOR ENERGY recent report from the secretive JASON scientific advisory group considers the feasibility of using microorganisms to produce fuels such as hydrogen or ethanol as a metabolic product. "Microorganisms present a great opportunity for energy science," the JASON report to the US Department of Energy said. "Microorganisms are simpler than plants; they have smaller genomes and proteomes, and are easier to manipulate and culture. The enormous biodiversity of microorganisms presents a broad palette of starting points for engineering. Microorganisms already make many metabolic products, some of which are useful fuels. "Boosting the efficiency of fue formation from microorganisms is an important research challenge for the twenty-first century." The JASONs do not publish even their BIRDS FALL FROM THE SKY housands of birds have fallen from the sky over Esperance in Western Australia—and no one knows why. Autopsies conducted in Perth have shed no light on the mystery of whether it is an illness, a toxin or a natural phenomenon that's to blame. The main casualties are wattle birds, yellow-throated miners, New Holland honeyeaters and singing honeyeaters, although some dead crows, hawks and pigeons have also been found. Wildlife officers are baffled by the RENOWNED CANCER SCIENTIST PAID BY CHEMICAL COMPANY world-famous British scientist failed to disclose that he held a paid consultancy with a chemical company for more than 20 years while investigating cancer risks in the industry. Sir Richard Doll, the celebrated epidemiologist who established that smoking causes lung cancer, was receiving a consultancy fee of US$1,500 a day in the mid-1980s from Monsanto, then a major chemical company and now better known for its GM crops business. While he was being paid by Monsanto, Sir Richard wrote to an Australian Royal Commission investigating the potentially cancer-causing properties of Agent Orange, made by Monsanto and used by the US in the Vietnam War. Sir Richard (who died in July 2005) said there was no evidence that the chemical caused cancer. SS... news fe NEXUS +7 FEBRUARY — MARCH 2007 www.nexusmagazine.com