TMCnet News

AP Science NewsBrief at 7:14 a.m. EDT
[April 28, 2008]

AP Science NewsBrief at 7:14 a.m. EDT


(AP Online Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Gene therapy experiments improve vision in nearly blindNEW YORK(AP)_ Scientists for the first time have used gene therapy to dramatically improve sight in people with a rare form of blindness, a development experts called a major advance for the experimental technique. Some vision was restored in four of the six young people who got the treatment, teams of researchers in the United States and Britain reported Sunday. Two of the volunteers who could only see hand motions were able to read a few lines of an eye chart within weeks.



Experts see impact of museums in science education effortsJERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) _ Three or four times a day, a banana shows up at the Liberty Science Center and complains about a pain in its side. And that means it's time for some visiting kids to dress up like surgeons and scrub nurses, take a scalpel and go to work. That's the cover story, anyway.

EU's GPS satellite in orbitMOSCOW (AP) _ An experimental satellite for a much-delayed European Union rival to the United States' GPS navigation system blasted into orbit Sunday after a successful launch atop a Russian rocket, the Russian and European space agencies said. The Giove-B satellite shot into space atop a Soyuz-FG rocket launched from the Baikonur facility in Kazakhstan, entering orbit at 8:01 a.m. (0201GMT) as planned, the Russian space agency Roskosmos said.


Series of quakes takes toll on rattled residents of RenoRENO, Nev. (AP) _ Dozens of minor earthquakes shook Reno on Sunday as a series of temblors entered its third month and prompted some frazzled residents to leave their homes. More than 150 aftershocks have been recorded on the western edge of northern Nevada's largest city after a magnitude-4.7 quake hit Friday night, the strongest quake in a sequence that began Feb. 28. There were no reports of injuries or widespread damage.

SKorea's 1st astronaut to help country develop space techSEOUL, South Korea (AP) _ South Korea's first astronaut says she will do her best to help her country develop its own space technology. The 29-year-old bioengineer Yi So-yeon told a news conference Monday after her return home that she will "pay back" the support the South Korean people gave for her trip to space.

Reno urged to prepare for worse as earthquakes continueRENO, Nev. (AP) _ Scientists urged residents of northern Nevada's largest city to prepare for a bigger event as the area continued rumbling Saturday after the largest earthquake in a two-month-long series of temblors. More than 100 aftershocks were recorded on the western edge of the city after a magnitude 4.7 quake hit Friday night, the strongest quake around Reno since one measuring 5.2 in 1953, said researchers at the seismological laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Protection weighed for bird in West's energy areasRENO, Nev. (AP) _ The fate of basic industries across the Intermountain West _ grazing, mining, energy _ soon could be at least partially tied to that of a bird about the size of a chicken. The federal government is under a judge's order to reconsider an earlier decision against listing the sage grouse as endangered, and wildlife biologists are scouring the species' customary mating grounds to see how many are left.

Canadian panel: Climate change is threat to polar bearsOTTAWA (AP) _ A scientific committee that advises Canada's government on endangered species said Friday that climate change is a threat to the survival of the polar bear, but the species does not face extinction. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada determined that the polar bear was a "special concern species" because evidence wasn't strong enough to recommend elevating the polar bear's status to threatened or endangered.

Narwhals more at risk to Arctic warming than polar bearsWASHINGTON (AP) _ The polar bear has become an icon of global warming vulnerability, but a new study found an Arctic mammal that may be even more at risk to climate change: the narwhal. The narwhal, a whale with a long spiral tusk that inspired the myth of the unicorn, edged out the polar bear for the ranking of most potentially vulnerable in a climate change risk analysis of Arctic marine mammals.

Natural-gas vehicles hot in Utah, where the fuel is cheapSALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ Troy Anderson was at the gas pump and couldn't have been happier, filling up at a rate of $5 per tank. Anderson was paying 63.8 cents per gallon equivalent for compressed natural gas, making Utah a hot market for vehicles that run on the fuel. It's the country's cheapest rate for compressed gas, according to the Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition, and far less than the $3.56 national average price for a gallon of gasoline.

Copyright ? 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]