STYLe PRINTS: Are you drawn to your favourite authors writing style? Now physicists have found a way to detect a writers literary fingerprint. Analysing how each word in a book was used, they came up with a meta-book for each author. This meta-book is an imaginary infinite book of everything that a certain author could ever think of writing, said Sebastian Bernhardsson of Ume University, Sweden. feaR exIT: A specific fear memory has been blocked without the use of drugs. A painful association created in volunteers was erased by behavioural therapy as long as the cure had been administered within six hours of the shock, New York researchers told Nature. The naturalistic approach suggested there was a vital time window during which anxiety disorders can be treated. RIghT fLaPPeRS: Female birds show off just like the guys when there is competition for mating partners, US ornithologists have found. A study of female African starlings shows many species are forced into complex displays when not every bird in a colony can have a mate. They will also evolve fancy tail feathers or courtship dances, states the Cornell University report in Nature. If you have a story for MiniCosm please e-mail us at news@metroireland.ie MINICOSMSCIENCE & DISCOVERY IN BRIEF METRO Thursday, December 10, 2009 D Climate change will see 100million more starve CLIMATE change could see another 100million people face starvation by the middle of the century, UN experts warned yesterday. Global warming is predicted to cut rice, wheat and maize yields by a tenth as temperatures rise and water sup- plies dry up in poorer countries. Two-thirds of the expected increase in those going hungry will be concen- trated in Africa, said the World Food Programme. The issue is the single most impor- tant threat that climate change brings said author Prof Martin Parry as offi- cials from 192 countries discussed a climate deal in Copenhagen. By 2050, the number of malnour- ished children could increase by a quarter or an extra 24million young- sters, of which 10million are in sub- Saharan Africa. Cutting greenhouse gas emissions could halve the predicted total rise, the report found. But cuts must be accompanied by measures to help people adapt to the changing climate, such as increased irrigation and liberalisation of world food trade, the experts added. A rev- ersal of the decline in spending on agricultural research was needed, as By Miles erwin well as action to improve food secur- ity. It came as developing countries reacted angrily at the Copenhagen summit to a draft deal from Danish officials which they claimed favoured rich countries. And a proposed 6bil- lion dollar fast start fund to help poor countries was not enough, they said. The draft agreements were not an alternative to the official docum- ents on the table, said UN climate chief Yvo de Boer. Hot air: Two women pass a balloon urging people to make CO2 cuts in Copenhagen yesterday Picture: AFP/Getty index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html