22 January 2011| NewScientist | 7

pseudonym Hugo Cornwall. He has now co-authored a report for the OECD which warns governments against swallowing wholesale stories about “cyberwar” and “cyberweapons”.

Published on 17 January, Reducing Systemic Cybersecurity Risk says that a true cyberwar would have the destructive effects of conventional war but be fought exclusively in cyberspace – and as such is “highly unlikely”. It advises against adopting the Pentagon’s strategy of setting up a military division – as it has under the US air force’s Space Command – to fight cyber-security threats.

Eight enough fruit?IS IT time to alter the advice to eat five portions of fruit and veg a day to a whopping eight daily doses?

That’s a key question raised by an eight-year study of 300,000 Europeans in eight countries, which found that eating eight portions daily reduced the risk of heart disease by 22 per cent, compared with people who ate fewer than three portions (European Heart Journal, DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehq465).

The “5-a-day” mantra arose from a World Health Organization document in 2002, and has been backed by many governments. But Francesca Crowe of the University of Oxford, who was involved in the study, says that in general the risk of a fatal heart attack fell by about 4 per cent with every fruit or veg portion, regardless of the total number consumed each day.

Would raising the recommendation to eight be asking too much? “It may be overkill,” says Crowe. “Five-a-day probably is enough, but if people want to consume more, there may be additional benefits.”

In April last year, the value of eating 5-a-day came under scrutiny following a study which found that it reduced the likelihood of cancer by only 9 per cent.

Rocket on the rocksNASA’s dealings with Congress are no stranger to upset, and this week things got positively stormy.

One dispute was provoked by a NASA report claiming it can’t produce the rocket needed to send astronauts beyond low Earth orbit by 2016, which Congress has demanded. “We will not commit to a date that has a low probability of being achieved,” NASA wrote.

On 12 January, members of the Senate committee that oversees NASA retorted that the date is “not optional”. “NASA must use its decades of space know-how

and billions of dollars in previous investments to come up with a concept that works,” the senators wrote.

Meanwhile, NASA’s inspector general has pointed out that the agency is forced to fund projects

the Obama administration plans to cancel, due to the wording of its budget, which is set by Congress. The waste could amount to $500 million by the end of 2011.

“NASA must use its space know-how and billions in investment to come up with a concept that works”

STERILISING giant tortoises and setting them free on a precious eco-site may not sound like the ideal way to restore a Galapagos island to its former glory. But it’s one that seems to be working on Pinta Island, the original home of famous giant tortoise “Lonesome George”.

Conservationists freed 39 sterile tortoises on Pinta last May in the hope that they would regulate the native vegetation, which has returned with a vengeance ever since invasive goats were eradicated in 2003. The hope is that the tortoises will create clearings where native sun-loving plants can thrive. They had to be sterilised to ensure they wouldn’t colonise the island, leaving it free for subsequent recolonisation with the

Española tortoises most closely related to Lonesome George.

Vets this week described how they sterilised the 14 female tortoises sent to the island by removing their ovaries (The Veterinary Record, DOI: 10.1136/ vr.c6520). The 25 males were sterilised by removing their phalluses, which are only used for mating.

The latest news from the island is that the tortoises were quick off the mark. “They immediately began eating the herbaceous plants, and the effects of their trampling have also been dramatic,” James Gibbs, head of Project Pinta, told New Scientist. “They’ve had a big impact in a very short time.” Gibbs and his colleagues will return to Pinta in May.

Sterile tortoises to the rescue

–Ready for Operation Eat Vegetation–

JOSE

JACO

ME/

EpA

/CO

rbiS

60 SEcoNdS

Eggs on demandFiring lasers at transparent worms makes them lay eggs on cue. Researchers engineered the worm Caenorhabditis elegans to contain light-sensitive proteins in its cell membranes, which were then used to control the nerves involved in egg laying (Nature Methods, DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1554). Similar technology could one day be used to treat blindness or spinal injuries.

Hello Galaxy XA massive companion to the Milky Way may lurk unseen behind clouds of dust. Sukanya Chakrabarti of the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues inferred the presence of “Galaxy X” by the way it disturbs dust clouds in our galaxy. They hope to use the Spitzer space telescope’s infrared vision to peer through the dust at the galaxy.

Wet future for BangkokSea levels in the Gulf of Thailand are rising at around 4 millimetres per year, far faster than the global average of 1.8 mm per year (Global and Planetary Change, DOI: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2010.12.010). Bangkok and other coastal cities face more frequent flooding as a result.

Black hole recordWith 6.6 billion times the mass of the sun, the hulking black hole in the nearby M87 galaxy is the heaviest yet measured exactly. To weigh it, Karl Gebhardt of the University of Texas in Austin and colleagues used new measurements of its effects on surrounding stars made by the

Gemini North telescope in Hawaii.

Hardy bedbugsWays to combat insecticide-resistant bedbugs could be a step closer. Compared to non-resistant bedbugs, resistant bugs had excessively active genes making enzymes such as cytochrome P450s, which detoxify pyrethroid insecticides (PLoS One, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016336).

For daily news stories, visit www.NewScientist.com/news

110122_N_p6_7_Upfront.indd 7 18/1/11 17:10:18