18 April 2009 | NewScientist | 7

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THE US is scaling back some of its more exotic projects to fend off enemy missiles, amid thorny technological problems.

The plan, announced by US

defence secretary Robert Gates last week, includes cuts in funding for an aircraft-mounted laser to heat and destroy missiles. It has been difficult to build a laser powerful enough for the job yet light enough to fly (New Scientist, 15 December 2008).

All work would also cease on an advanced interceptor missile that releases multiple “kill vehicles” to stop a missile and any decoys it may have released . The idea is to have sufficient interceptors to destroy all the incoming objects, but critics point out that it would be easy to overwhelm simply by increasing the number of decoys.

Laura Grego of the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Massachusetts, welcomes the cuts, but would like to see the missile defence programme curtailed further. Given its severe technical problems, it is unlikely to be reliable, she says. “You don’t want a missile defence that gives you a false sense of security.” The plan awaits approval by Congress.

Missile U-turn

THE International Space Station is poised to receive a new lease of life, after international partners agreed to keep the $100 billion outpost going until at least 2020.

The ISS was originally set for decommissioning in 2015, but industry officials have assured policy-makers that it is structurally fit to last the additional years.

The extension is good news for researchers hoping to take advantage of the space station’s

microgravity environment. Scheduled research includes an experiment due to begin in a few months into gravity’s effect on biofuels, and a device called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer will launch to the ISS in a few years to search cosmic rays for evidence of dark matter and antimatter.

The extra five years will also allow further research on the psychological performance of teams during long-term space missions, and on how organisms withstand the harsh conditions of space, says Jeremy Curtis of the Rutherford Appleton Lab in Didcot, UK. Other research will focus on the

development of new materials. Arguments are rumbling on

over how US astronauts will get to the ISS, though. On Monday, NASA announced that in May it will resume plans to dismantle its shuttle fleet, despite calls to extend its life beyond 2010. After the shuttles are retired, NASA will pay the Russian space agency for seats on its Soyuz craft.

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Martian twin studyNASA’s Martian rover Spirit left its

operators puzzled after rebooting

its computer twice last week.

One explanation could be a bug in

on-board software that was upgraded

last month to add new capabilities

for the mission. However, its twin

Mars rover, Opportunity, received

the same upgrade and has shown

no problems so far.

One-child aftermathThe effect of China’s one-child policy

on gender ratios is becoming clear .

In 2005 there were 32 million more

males aged under 20 than females

(BMJ, DOI: 10.1136/bmj.b1211). The

gap was widest in the 1-4 age group,

where there were 124 boys for every

100 girls. Gender-specific abortions

are blamed for the skewed ratio.

Autistic and skilfulSavant-like skills such as perfect

pitch or the ability to multiply high

numbers together may be more

common among people with autism

than thought. Almost one-third have

skills that stand out compared with

both their other abilities and those of

the general population (Philosophical

Transactions of the Royal Society B,

DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0328).

Future’s orang-utansThere are more orang-utans in the

wild than conservationists dared to

hope. Researchers found 219 nests

in the Indonesian rainforest. The

discovery could add 5 per cent to

estimates of the global population.

Reason to bee cheerfulAll it took was some antibiotics. Two

honeybee colonies were successfully

treated after it was determined

that the parasite Nosema ceranae

was responsible for their collapse

(Environmental Microbiology

Reports, vol 1, p 110). This is the first

time N. ceranae has been found

responsible for the collapse of a

colony. Colonies in Europe and the US

are suffering from numerous, mostly

poorly understood, pathogens.

–More gravitas than gravity–

ISS: five more years

Climate hot potato

“You don’t want a missile defence system that gives you a false sense of security”

“The extension will allow further research on how organisms withstand the harsh conditions of space”

THE White House and US Congress are playing a game of hot potato with emissions regulation.

Congress will debate a draft energy and climate bill put forward by congressmen Edward Markey and Henry Waxman next week. If passed, it will require companies to buy and trade pollution permits.

But green groups fear Congress may drag its feet if the White House does not make moves to instruct the Environmental Protection Agency to limit emissions. “I think Congress is going to need a push from the EPA,” says Frank O’Donnell of Clean Air Watch.

At a meeting on Monday in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Carol Browner , director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, gave no signs of pursuing such a push : “It is the strong preference of this administration that we secure [Congressional] legislation.”

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