Older fathers and autism
Men over 40 are almost six times as likely to have an autistic child as men under 30, according to a study of more than 318,000 Israelis born in the 1980s, published this week in Archives of General Psychiatry. As well as being evidence that men have 鈥渂iological clocks鈥�, the study suggests that a genetic or epigenetic mechanism plays a role in the onset of autism.
Cancer immunity
Advertisement
Vaccinating all 12-year-old girls against human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes most cervical cancers, could cut deaths from the disease by 75 per cent, according to research presented on Monday at the International Papillomavirus Conference in Prague, Czech Republic. Rival pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi Pasteur are working on vaccines against different strains of HPV.
Hasta la vista CO2
California鈥檚 Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger defied his own party and sided with the Democrats on tough new legislation to curb greenhouse-gas emissions. The bill, which passed on 31 August, will cut California鈥檚 output of carbon dioxide and other gases by 25 per cent by 2020.
Fish farm bonanza
Almost half the world鈥檚 edible fish now come from fish farms, says a report issued on 4 September by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization at a meeting in New Delhi. Farmed fish accounted for just 9 per cent of all fish consumed in 1980.
Blow the house down
Hurricanes are causing more economic damage than ever before. In the 1960s, they cost $4 billion at that era鈥檚 prices. In contrast, between 2000 and 2005, losses topped $273 billion, says a report released by the Earth Policy Institute on 29 August. Coastal development and more powerful and frequent storms are to blame, it says.