Early end for tankers
The International Maritime Organization voted on 4 December to ban single-hulled oil tankers carrying heavy fuel oil from 2010, five years earlier than planned. The European Union lobbied for the move, to prevent more oil spills like the one last year from the wreck of the Prestige.
Gene rebel fights back
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Plant biologist Ignacio Chapela has had tenure refused by the University of California, Berkeley. Chapela was the researcher at the centre of a row over genetically modified crops that last year culminated in the journal Nature disowning his paper after publication. He is not going quietly. As New 杏吧原创 went to press, Chapela was about to webcast a meeting with 鈥渙ther academics who have been victims of corporate terrorising鈥�, including Arpad Pusztai, Tyrone Hayes and John Losey.
Vaccine rush
Flu vaccine is starting to run out in the US, as people flock for shots following an unusually early outbreak of flu that has led to widely reported deaths in children. Some clinics are limiting vaccination to high-risk groups, and the very young and old. The US Centers for Disease Control plans to establish whether this year鈥檚 toll is exceptional.
Clean air in space
Astronauts on the International Space Station can breathe easy. Though equipment to monitor the atmosphere on board has not been working since the shuttle stopped flying, Russian scientists last week gave a clean bill of health to air samples brought back to Earth, NASA reported on 5 December.
Small is wealthy
Nanotechnologists in the US got an early Christmas gift from President George W. Bush on 3 December, when he signed a bill that guarantees them $3.7 billion over the next four years. The National Science Foundation estimates the nanotech industry will be worth $1 trillion within a decade.