ALGAE FUELS HAVE LARGE FOOTPRINT – Researchers from the University of Virginia found that growing algae for fuel is more energy- and water-intensive than other biofuel crops, including switchgrass, canola and corn. They also report it produces more greenhouse gas emissions than those other sources.

“Given what we know about algae production pilot projects over the past 10 to 15 years, we’ve found that algae’s environmental footprint is larger than other terrestrial crops,” said Andres Clarens, the study’s lead author.  “Before we make major investments in algae production, we should really know the environmental impact of this technology.”

ZIMBABWE: GOVT STICKS TO GUNS AGAINST GMO IMPORTS — A Zimbabwean government official said farmers should support local agriculture and is asking the State to ban GMOs. This came after the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe called to allow the importation of GMOs into the country.

Yesterday, a senior official in the ministry said the thrust should be to improve agriculture through schemes such as contract farming instead of “trying to support foreign businesses at our own expense”.

The official said: “They should be capacitating local agriculture. Why do they want to support businesses run by white former commercial farmers and ex-Rhodesians in South Africa instead of supporting development of the agri-industry back home?

“The money spent on importing GMOs can easily be used to fund contract farming. Delta Beverages does it for its own production so why can’t millers do the same?”

SKIN CELLS TRANSFORMED DIRECTLY TO NERVE IN STUDY – Researchers from the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University in California have found a way to transform mouse skin cells directly into neurons, bypassing the need for stem cells or even stemlike cells and greatly speeding up the field of regenerative medicine.

The experiment could make it possible to someday take a sample of a patient’s skin and turn the cells into a tailor-made transplant to treat brain diseases such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s, or heal damaged spinal cords.

“We actively and directly induced one cell type to become a completely different cell type,” said Dr. Marius Wernig of Stanford, who led the study.

“These are fully functional neurons. They can do all the principal things that neurons in the brain do.”

GENETIC FACTORS KEY TO PROSTATE CANCER DEATH RISK — Gene tests for prostate cancer patients could help doctors decide on the best available treatments, according to Scientists at Britain’s Institute of Cancer Research (ICR).

Alison Reid, who led the study, said it showed that patients with none of three specific genetic changes had good prospects, with 85.5 percent of them still alive after 11 years.

But those who had the all three gene abnormalities had a much worse prognosis, with only 13.7 percent of them still alive after 11 years.

Helen Rippon of the Prostate Cancer Charity said the study would help answer one of the most important questions in prostate cancer research — “how to distinguish early, and with confidence, the potentially life threatening prostate tumors from the slow-growing form of the disease.”