Science News Update (30 Nov 2006)

I thought I’d share some interesting developments in the world of science.

More on polonium

CNN reports that twenty-one people have now been referred to a specialty clinic for further testing. In addition, radiation has been found on two British Airways airplanes that either Mr. Litvinenko or his contacts travelled on. The 33,000 passengers who have flown on those planes are being contacted for screening. In a column on Nature’s web site, Nicola Jones discusses the difficulty in determining the identity of a poison and why it took so long to recognize the polonium-210. (See my two previous posts on this.)

Cutting back carbon dioxide emissions

As Catherine Brahic of New Scientist reports, Europe has begun setting stricter caps for carbon dioxide emissions. This will help bring them in line with the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty intended to reduce greenhouse gases. The European Union, Russia, India, and Canada have ratified the treaty; Australia, the United States, and China have not (there are many other nations involved as well).

Video Games as an Anti-Obesity Tool?

The prevalence of obesity has been increasing at a tremendous rate in industrialized countries. In the United States, where the problem is most pronounced, three-fifths of adults are overweight, and almost a quarter are obese (source, CDC):

In 2005, among the total U.S. adult population surveyed, 60.5% were overweight, 23.9% were obese, and 3.0% were extremely obese. Obesity prevalence was 24.2% among men and 23.5% among women and ranged from 17.7% among adults aged 18–29 years to 29.5% among adults aged 50–59 years…. Among racial/ethnic populations, the greatest obesity prevalence was 33.9% for non-Hispanic blacks. Overall, age-adjusted obesity rates were 15.6%, 19.8%, and 23.7% for the 1995, 2000, and 2005 surveys, respectively.

Children are affected as well. Also according to the CDC,

The most recent data indicate that in the United States about 16% of children ages 6–19 years are overweight. Since the 1970s, overweight has doubled among young children aged 2–5 years and tripled among school-aged children aged 6–19 years.