Shaken pandas
EIGHT young pandas traumatised by the Chinese earthquake in Sichuan province are being treated for anxiety at Beijing Zoo. Lu Yong, their keeper at the Wolong reserve, told London newspaper The Guardian that the pandas were so scared that they had stopped eating. Five staff members at Wolong were killed in the quake and one panda is still missing.
NASA climate blame
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Managers of the press office at NASA鈥檚 HQ systematically downplayed news on climate research between 2004 and 2006, according to the space agency鈥檚 watchdog. News on climate science was 鈥渕arginalised or mischaracterised鈥�, according to the Office of the Inspector General, and NASA climate scientists were prevented from speaking freely. The managers in question no longer work at the agency.
Icy quake
Big, slow and icy. That鈥檚 the quake that shakes Antarctica鈥檚 Whillans ice stream twice a day. Douglas Wiens of Washington University and colleagues found that as the frozen stream moves over rough bedrock, it triggers seismic waves for up to 30 minutes at a time. If released all at once, that energy could create a magnitude 7 earthquake (Nature, vol 453, p 770).
Stem cell freedom
Brazil can now pursue research on human embryonic stem cells (ESCs). It became the first Latin American nation to approve human ESC research in March 2005, but the then attorney-general argued that the law violated the right to life enshrined in the Catholic country鈥檚 constitution. On 29 May, Brazil鈥檚 Supreme Court rejected the challenge.
HIV treatment milestone
More than 3 million people infected with HIV in poor countries are now receiving antiretroviral drugs to control the virus, the WHO said on 2 June. Unfortunately, 6.7 million people in poor nations remain in need of treatment.