FLU OFF THE HANDLE: A mutated form of the H1N1 flu virus may be even more dangerous than its predecessor, health officials warned Friday, since it was found in two patients who died from the flu and one who became gravely ill. A team of Norwegian scientists recently identified the mutant version, explaining in a statement that its transformation "could possibly make the virus more prone to infect deeper in the airways and thus cause more severe disease." Many types of microbes mutate and evolve rapidly, and it's not unusual to start seeing upgraded editions of a virus after it's been around for a while. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has been studying more than 70 viral samples from confirmed swine flu cases in Norway, and so far the mutation has only been found in those three patients. "Based on what we know so far, it seems that the mutated virus does not circulate in the population," the institute's statement explains, "but might be a result of spontaneous changes which have occurred in these three patients." Most H1N1 mutations so far are insignificant, the researchers point out, and there's no evidence yet that this strain is any less susceptible to vaccines or treatments than the original version. (Sources: Washington Post, Wall Street Journal)

 

CRACKING CORN: Scientists have sequenced the genome of corn, turning up more than just the blueprint for one of mankind's most important food staples — they discovered a genetic cornucopia that's overflowing with complex and diverse DNA. Humans have already cracked our own genetic code as well as those of many other creatures, even agricultural crops like the potato. But none can match the richness and diversity of corn, a supercrop whose 32,000 genes and 2.3 billion letters of DNA are brimming with lessons about how evolution works, and what it's capable of. "Corn is a good model for biology in general," an Iowa State geneticist tells the Washington Post's David Brown, who adds that much of corn's adaptability is due to 85 percent of its genome being made of "transposable elements," which he compares to iPhone apps. These specialized stubs of DNA have moved around within corn's 10 chromosomes at certain points in its evolution, forging new genes and redirecting old ones, and they also helped corn capitalize on a rare opportunity a few thousand years ago. While Old World farmers carried its cousin wheat along an east-west axis for most of its history, Native Americans moved corn on a north-south route, allowing it to evolve in a much wider range of climates and ecosystems. The new findings are described in a package of 14 research papers, published Thursday in the journals Science and PLoS Genetics. (Sources: Washington Post, e! Science News)

 

EMISSION CONTROL: South Korea announced this week that, by 2020, it will slash nearly a third of its greenhouse gas emissions. Russia also recently upped its emission-reducing plans from 15 percent to 25 percent of current projections, and last week Brazil pledged a 40 percent cut. A stream of such emissions targets has been flowing onto the desk of U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer lately, as next month's Copenhagen climate summit draws near, but there is still one glaring exception. "We now have offers of targets from all industrialized countries except the United States," de Boer said at U.N. headquarters Thursday, calling on American leaders to produce "a numerical midterm target and commitment to financial support." Of course, China is the world's No. 1 emitter of carbon dioxide, and it still hasn't come up with any specific targets either. It might not need to under some treaty outlines that have been proposed, but a lack of participation from either country could effectively doom the Copenhagen talks. Top U.S. climate negotiator Todd Stern tells the NY Times that he's trying to come up with a number, but the Obama administration's diplomatic efforts are still being hamstrung by skeptical lawmakers in Congress. "What we are looking at is whether we feel that we can put down a number that would be provisional in effect, contingent on getting our legislation done," Stern says. "Our inclination is to try to do that, but we want to be smart about it." (Source: New York Times)

 

CORPS MELTDOWN: Much of the flooding that devastated New Orleans in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina was the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' fault, a federal judge ruled Wednesday evening, dealing a major blow to the agency's reputation and potentially forcing a nationwide overhaul of how levees are designed. "The Corps' lassitude and failure to fulfill its duties resulted in a catastrophic loss of human life and property in unprecedented proportions," wrote Judge Stanwood Duval Jr., a condemnation that one Tulane law professor calls "the biggest blot on the corps in its history." In addition to embarrassing federal engineers who were tasked with protecting a major U.S. city from the ocean, Duval's ruling could have logistical ramifications across the country. "The American public frequently believes they are protected by these piles of dirt that we call levees, when they are not," a UC Berkeley civil engineering professor tells the LA Times. "I hope this ruling would serve as a wake-up call." (Source: Los Angeles Times)

 

CROCODILE SHOCK: Africa was teeming with at least five very different crocodile species 100 million years ago, paleontologists reported Thursday, including a previously unknown type that ate dinosaurs, one that ate plants, and one they dubbed "PancakeCroc" for its flat head. "It's really interesting that we're seeing these communities of crocodilians that have such diverse members," says one paleontologist who was not part of the new study. "So, big picture ... crocs were clearly far more diverse and specialized during the Cretaceous compared to what we have left today." The three newly discovered crocodile species, which are featured in the November issue of National Geographic magazine and a TV special airing this weekend, include the fish-eating PancakeCroc, the buck-toothed RatCroc and the dinosaur-eating BoarCroc, which had three rows of sharp teeth. Also in abundance were the DuckCroc, which had a pointed nose, and the galloping, plant-eating DogCroc. Crocodiles were apparently so well-established in ancient Africa, the researchers speculate, that they probably kept mammals out of much of the continent until the dinosaurs began disappearing around 65 million years ago. (Sources: USA Today, Reuters)

 

KICKING THE HOBBIT: Humans don't have a great track record when it comes to conserving nature, whether the creatures in question are wildlife like wolves and tigers, or not-exactly-wild life, such as other species of humans. We already know that we helped wipe out at least two of our closest relatives, the Neanderthals and Homo erectus, and now there are indications we may have played a role in the extinction of another — Homo floresiensis, aka the hobbits (pictured above, to the left of modern human bones). Recent research has finally proven that these diminutive hominids were their own species of people, and not just deformed Homo sapiens, who lived on one Indonesian island as recently as 12,000 years ago. That would have made them neighbors with modern humans living nearby, raising the prospect that our two species interacted somehow. Islanders on Flores still have legends about tiny people who lived in caves, and Environmental Graffiti examines the possibility that our ancestors contributed to these hobbits' eventual demise. (Sources: ScienceDaily, Environmental Graffiti)

 

BREATHING UNEASY: If the smoke, the smell and the cancer risks aren't enough to dissuade you from lighting up, researchers from the University of Maryland and France's Ecole Centrale de Lyon have discovered another reason: Cigarettes are "widely contaminated" with hundreds of bacteria species each, including many types that are known to infect humans. "The commercially available cigarettes that we tested were chock full of bacteria, as we had hypothesized, but we didn't think we'd find so many that are infectious in humans," says the study's lead author. "If these organisms can survive the smoking process — and we believe they can — then they could possibly go on to contribute to both infectious and chronic illnesses in both smokers and individuals who are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke." (Source: PhysOrg)

 

— Russell McLendon