Metro Herald - 03/12/2009 digital edition

METRO Thursday, December 3, 2009 D Scent-Sational: Lemurs have learned to avoid incest because of chemical compounds secreted by their glands. Researchers at Duke University, North Carolina, compared mature male and female lemurs in the breeding season and found that the scents they released were more similar between relatives and contained complex genetic messages. SMoKe ScReenS: Young people are more likely to smoke if they see characters in films lighting up. Being exposed to on-screen puffers increases the chance of youths experimenting with tobacco. Scientists are even calling for films with smoking scenes to be given tougher certificates. The US research is published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention journal. If you have a story for MiniCosm please e-mail us at Cosm@ukmetro.co.uk MINICOSMSCIENCE & DISCOVERY IN BRIEF First for robotic hand controlled by the mindBy Fred Attewill A ROBOTIC hand, which can be controlled by thought alone, has been successfully connected to an amputee for the first time. The 2million experiment lasted a month and the prosthetic arm was not implanted. But Pierpaolo Petruzziello was able to make complex movements using his mind to control the biomechanic hand, wired in to his nervous system. Mr Petruzziello lost his left hand and forearm in a car accident. Its a matter of mind, of concen- tration, said the 26-year-old. When you think of it as your hand and forearm, it all becomes easier. During the month he had the hand con- nected, Petruzziello could feel sensations in the limb and learned to wiggle the robotic fingers independently, make a fist, grab objects and make other movements. Some of the gestures cannot be dis- closed because they were quite vulgar, joked neurologist Paolo Maria Rossini, who led the team working at the Campus Bio-Medico in Rome, central Italy. The research will continue to discover how long, beyond a month, the electrodes can remain implanted. Getting a grip: Pierpaolo controls the bionic hand (which sits on a shelf) with his thoughts alone Picture: AP cool life: A land mammal may have escaped global warming by living in Antarctica. Kombusia antarctica a distant relative of mammals survived the mass extinction about 252million years ago on the icy landmass which was more north then. Fossil findings showed they were the size of a pet cat, laid eggs and didnt have fur, said Kenneth Angielczyk from the field museum in Chicago. index.html 2.html 3.html 4.html 5.html 6.html 7.html 8.html 9.html 10.html 11.html 12.html 13.html 14.html 15.html 16.html 17.html 18.html 19.html 20.html 21.html 22.html 23.html 24.html 25.html 26.html 27.html 28.html 29.html 30.html 31.html 32.html 33.html 34.html 35.html