Science News Digest 21st November 2011
In the science news this week, we take a look at new evidence on 'faster-than-light' neutrinos, challenging times for the big pharma corps, the launch of a new £1m prize for engineering, and finally... the answer to a happy retirement? Sex.
Faster than light experiments run again.
The experiment carried out by the Opera collaboration that hit the headlines for claiming that neutrinos may travel faster than light has been confirmed by an improved version of the test this week, adding weight to the argument that could undermine one of the basic principles of modern physics -that nothing travels faster than the speed of light.
A key criticism of the first test was that errors could have occurred because of long bunches of neutrinos skewing the results. However, the latest trial used much shorter bunches and still gave the same conclusion.
According to the BBC, the initial series of experiments, comprising 15,000 separate measurements spread out over three years, found that the neutrinos arrived 60 billionths of a second faster than light would have, travelling unimpeded over the same distance.
However, parts of the scientific community argued that the relatively long-lasting bunches of neutrinos could introduce a significant error into the measurement.
To address this, the team at Cern who were creating the bunches of neutrinos adjusted the way the proton beams were produced and ran the improved experiment 20 times, to find almost exactly the same result.
The results have been submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physics, but are yet to be reviewed by the scientific community.
Over the next few months, the US Minos experiment and Japan's T2K experiment will also test the observations and report back on their findings.
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Big pharma companies facing a tough 2011.
The pharmaceutical industry is facing a number of challenges at present according to the Guardian this week. The cost of developing new medicines has shot up while the number of drugs in late-stage development has declined further.
With a number of ‘blockbuster’ medicines coming to the end of their patent protection, the big pharma companies are struggling to replenish their pipeline of big money making drugs.
Deloitte have reported on the world’s 12 largest drugmakers and have found that the average cost of bringing a product to the market has risen by more than 25% in the last year to more than $1bn.
Furthermore, the number of drugs in the late stages of development has dropped from 23 to 18.
However, of the big 12 companies, Deloitte have reported that nearly two-thirds succeeded in realising more value from product commercialisation than has been lost from late-stage product failures, and that non-R&D costs have declined, resulting in a higher operating margin.
The challenging market conditions are seeing more collaboration between companies with an increasing numbers of alliances and joint ventures to pool research knowledge.
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Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering launched.
Great news for the science community this week after a new £1m prize for engineers who have done most to benefit humanity was launched at the Science Museum by David Cameron.
According to the Independent, the Prime Minister added that he hopes the award will carry the same stature as the Nobel Prizes in raising the profile of the engineering profession to what it was in the days of Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering is for inventors and designers who have done most in advancing the application of engineering knowledge.
The Royal Academy of Engineering which helped to organise the prize have said that the first prize will be awarded in just over 12 months’ time. The biennial prize is has received funding from several leading high-tech companies, such as BAE Systems, BP and GlaxoSmithKline, which have each donated money to an endowment fund managed by an independent charitable trust.
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And finally…
The key to a happy retirement? Sex.
A study by the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University has found that there is a direct correlation between the number of times over-65s had sex and their chances of a contented life and marriage according to the Telegraph this week.
The study 238 married people aged over 65 in the United States and the figures have shown that older people engaging in sexual activity more than once a month were 50% more likely to describe themselves as very happy than those who were celibate for at least a year. The results still stood even after accounting for factors such as age, gender, health status and satisfaction with financial situation
The findings already have a celebrity ambassador, with the actress Jane Fonda, 73, attributing her youthful appearance to a continued healthy libido and devoting a chapter of her autobiography to bedroom advice for pensioners.
Adrienne Jackson, who led the latest research, said: "This study will help open the lines of communication and spark interest in developing 'outside the box' approaches to dealing with resolvable issues that limit or prevent older adults from participating in sexual activity.
"Highlighting the relationship between sex and happiness will help us in developing and organising specific sexual health interventions for this growing segment of our population."
------------------------------------
Faster than light experiments run again.
The experiment carried out by the Opera collaboration that hit the headlines for claiming that neutrinos may travel faster than light has been confirmed by an improved version of the test this week, adding weight to the argument that could undermine one of the basic principles of modern physics -that nothing travels faster than the speed of light.
A key criticism of the first test was that errors could have occurred because of long bunches of neutrinos skewing the results. However, the latest trial used much shorter bunches and still gave the same conclusion.
According to the BBC, the initial series of experiments, comprising 15,000 separate measurements spread out over three years, found that the neutrinos arrived 60 billionths of a second faster than light would have, travelling unimpeded over the same distance.
However, parts of the scientific community argued that the relatively long-lasting bunches of neutrinos could introduce a significant error into the measurement.
To address this, the team at Cern who were creating the bunches of neutrinos adjusted the way the proton beams were produced and ran the improved experiment 20 times, to find almost exactly the same result.
The results have been submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physics, but are yet to be reviewed by the scientific community.
Over the next few months, the US Minos experiment and Japan's T2K experiment will also test the observations and report back on their findings.
----------------------------------------
Big pharma companies facing a tough 2011.
The pharmaceutical industry is facing a number of challenges at present according to the Guardian this week. The cost of developing new medicines has shot up while the number of drugs in late-stage development has declined further.
With a number of ‘blockbuster’ medicines coming to the end of their patent protection, the big pharma companies are struggling to replenish their pipeline of big money making drugs.
Deloitte have reported on the world’s 12 largest drugmakers and have found that the average cost of bringing a product to the market has risen by more than 25% in the last year to more than $1bn.
Furthermore, the number of drugs in the late stages of development has dropped from 23 to 18.
However, of the big 12 companies, Deloitte have reported that nearly two-thirds succeeded in realising more value from product commercialisation than has been lost from late-stage product failures, and that non-R&D costs have declined, resulting in a higher operating margin.
The challenging market conditions are seeing more collaboration between companies with an increasing numbers of alliances and joint ventures to pool research knowledge.
-------------------------------------
Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering launched.
Great news for the science community this week after a new £1m prize for engineers who have done most to benefit humanity was launched at the Science Museum by David Cameron.
According to the Independent, the Prime Minister added that he hopes the award will carry the same stature as the Nobel Prizes in raising the profile of the engineering profession to what it was in the days of Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering is for inventors and designers who have done most in advancing the application of engineering knowledge.
The Royal Academy of Engineering which helped to organise the prize have said that the first prize will be awarded in just over 12 months’ time. The biennial prize is has received funding from several leading high-tech companies, such as BAE Systems, BP and GlaxoSmithKline, which have each donated money to an endowment fund managed by an independent charitable trust.
---------------------------------------
And finally…
The key to a happy retirement? Sex.
A study by the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University has found that there is a direct correlation between the number of times over-65s had sex and their chances of a contented life and marriage according to the Telegraph this week.
The study 238 married people aged over 65 in the United States and the figures have shown that older people engaging in sexual activity more than once a month were 50% more likely to describe themselves as very happy than those who were celibate for at least a year. The results still stood even after accounting for factors such as age, gender, health status and satisfaction with financial situation
The findings already have a celebrity ambassador, with the actress Jane Fonda, 73, attributing her youthful appearance to a continued healthy libido and devoting a chapter of her autobiography to bedroom advice for pensioners.
Adrienne Jackson, who led the latest research, said: "This study will help open the lines of communication and spark interest in developing 'outside the box' approaches to dealing with resolvable issues that limit or prevent older adults from participating in sexual activity.
"Highlighting the relationship between sex and happiness will help us in developing and organising specific sexual health interventions for this growing segment of our population."
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