1
3 March 2012 | NewScientist | 5 GUY EDWARDES/GETTY DON’T throw out that broken toaster: it’s key to our prosperity. Redesigning the economy so that all waste is reused or recycled would be good for business, according to two new reports. For centuries the global economy has been linear. Companies extract resources from the environment, turn them into products and sell them to consumers – who eventually throw them out. As a result we are wasting natural resources. But it doesn’t have to be that way, says Felix Preston of think tank Chatham House in London. Instead, we could have a circular economy in which waste from one product is used in another. In “A Global Redesign: Shaping the circular economy”, Preston argues that reusing resources makes good business sense now that resource prices are high and volatile. He cites a January report by consultants McKinsey & Company that estimates the circular economy could save the European Union $340 to $630 billion per year in materials costs. “The opportunity is enormous,” Preston says. “The challenge is how to unlock it.” Waste not… TWO people have been killed in a fire at a Brazilian research station in Antarctica. The Comandante Ferraz Brazilian Antarctic Base was gutted after an explosion on 25 February. The fire started in the base’s generator room and quickly spread, destroying 70 per cent of the station. Fire is a major risk in Antarctica because the air is very dry, says Ian Dunn of the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, UK. As a result most Antarctic bases have widely separated structures, built from inflammable materials. “It’s unusual to have such a serious fire,” Dunn says. The only major fire at a British base over the last few decades was at Rothera Research Station in 2001, when an electrical fault sparked a fire that destroyed a lab. The building was evacuated so no one was killed. By contrast, the two men killed at Comandante Ferraz appear to have remained inside, possibly to fight the fire. Researchers at the base were studying Antarctica’s coastal and marine ecosystems, which are in flux as a result of climate change. Millions of dollars of equipment have been lost. The remaining research staff have been taken back to Brazil for the winter. The Brazilian government says it will rebuild Comandante Ferraz, but reconstruction will take two years. In the meantime the scientists will have to use other countries’ Antarctic bases. ARMADA DE CHILE/ASSOCIATED PRESS/PA Biggest bite Tyrannosaurus rex had the most powerful bite of any terrestrial animal that has ever lived, according to computer models based on analysis of fossil skulls. Adults had a bite force almost 60 times as great as a human’s (Biology Letters, DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2012.0056). Journal price promise Publisher Elsevier has vowed to keep the prices of its mathematics journals low, and withdrawn support for a proposed US law that might have curtailed free access to published research. The bill proposing the law has been scrapped. Both moves follow a boycott of Elsevier journals led by mathematicians who objected to its prices and support for the bill. Part way to Canada A chunk of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline will be built over the next year and will carry oil from Oklahoma to Texas. The remaining section, planned to run from Canada to Oklahoma, was rejected by Barack Obama in January and must be approved by the US State Department. Superbug pet risk Vets in the UK have warned that nurses and doctors with pets may pass superbugs such as MRSA to patients. A survey of 686 National Health Service staff revealed that a quarter have dogs, and half the owners either kissed or were licked by their dogs at least once a week, raising risks of cross-infection (The Veterinary Record, vol 170, p 211). Sleeping pill warning Common prescription sleeping pills including temazepam and barbiturates were associated with a fourfold increase in the risk of death over a 2.5 year study period. The result follows an analysis of 10,500 people with underlying conditions who were prescribed sleeping pills, and 23,500 controls (BMJ Open, DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2012-000850). –Always a risk in the dry Antarctic air– Fire and ice Gene tests profiled “Instead of a linear economy we could have a circular one in which waste from one product is used in another” “The two men killed at the research station appear to have remained inside, possibly to fight the fire” EVER thought about getting your genes checked out? A free online registry of genetic-test providers launches this week. The US National Institutes of Health says the tool is designed to clear the fog of confusion that surrounds genetic tests for disease. According to the NIH, about 2500 diseases can now be detected by such tests. The Genetic Testing Registry will provide free information about them to researchers, clinicians and curious individuals. Searching for a specific condition, for example, can bring up the genetic tests available for it. Users can then find out more about the labs that run the tests. The information will be provided voluntarily by the genetic-test providers themselves, to help people to understand which tests are available and how they work. 60 SECONDS –Help is on its way– For daily news stories, visit newscientist.com/news
