Not too old to grow
Earth鈥檚 oldest trees are experiencing a growth spurt. A tree ring study suggests the Great Basin bristlecone pines of the western US have grown faster in the past 50 years than they have in 3.7 millennia because of rising temperatures (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ).
鈥or too big
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Something else has got bigger in recent years: Russia鈥檚 landmass. Geologists say an earthquake on Sakhalin Island in 2007 and a volcanic eruption on Matua Island in 2009 increased the nation鈥檚 size by 4.5 square kilometres. The earthquake lifted part of the sea floor and turned it into dry land.
Allergy surge
The number of American children diagnosed with food allergies soared by 18 per cent between 1997 and 2007. Allergies now affect 4 per cent of under-17s (Pediatrics, ). The problem may be worse: one study cited by the researchers found that 9 per cent of children tested positive for antibodies to peanuts.
Food for life on Titan?
Saturn鈥檚 moon Titan may be better suited to life than we thought. Titan鈥檚 hydrocarbon lakes are loaded with acetylene, which could serve as food for cold-resistant life, says Daniel Cordier of the Ecole Nationale Sup茅rieure de Chimie in Rennes, France. His team calculated the lake鈥檚 composition using data from the Cassini-Huygens probe (arxiv.org/abs/0911.1860).
End of DeCode
DeCode Genetics, based in Reykjavik, Iceland, has filed for bankruptcy. Set up 13 years ago, the firm aimed to uncover links between genes and disease by analysing the health records and DNA of Icelanders. It discovered genes linked to several diseases, including osteoporosis.