News in perspective

Upfront–

on 20 September, announcing

a reappraisal of “presumed

consent” by the government.

The British Medical

Association (BMA) welcomes the

rethink. “We believe that a system

of presumed consent, with

safeguards, will help to increase

the number of donors available,”

says Vivienne Nathanson, head of

ethics at the BMA.

Last year, a study of

22 countries found that donation

rates were 25 to 30 per cent higher

in countries with presumed

consent, such as Spain, Austria

and Belgium (Journal of Health Economics, DOI: 10.1016/

j.jhealeco.2006.01.003).

IS THERE life on Mars? Who

knows, but if the US House of

Representatives gets its way, no

human will be making the trip to

find out. Its proposed yearly

budget for NASA contains a

provision banning the funding of

anything related to the human

exploration of Mars .

The Mars Society, a US charity,

is trying to drum up supporters to

rescue funding for crewed

missions to the Red Planet . Chris

Carberry, the society’s political

KILL or cure? James Lovelock, the

British planetary scientist and

originator of the Gaia hypothesis ,

has endorsed a potential cure for

the “pathology” of global

warming , but has admitted that it

could make matters worse.

The idea is to tether millions of

vertical pipes across the oceans to

pump nutrient-rich deep water to

the surface. These waters would

fertilise the growth of algae,

which in turn fix carbon dioxide.

The pipes, reaching to depths of

200 metres, would have flap

valves at the bottom operated by

the energy of waves, which would

push deep water up the pipe

(Nature, vol 449, p 403).

The concept, put forward

with Chris Rapley of the Science

Museum in London, is based on

a proposal by Philip Kithil of

the Santa Fe-based corporation

Atmocean. Kithil suggested at

a meeting of the American

Geophysical Union last year that

100 million 10-metre diameter

pumps across the oceans could

capture one-quarter of human-

made CO2 emissions.

The snag is that as well as being

rich in nutrients, water rising up

the pipes will be rich in carbon –

this could mean CO2 is released

into the atmosphere.

“The immediate reaction of

nearly all the scientists I have

spoken to has been no, it won’t

work,” says Lovelock. “Scientists

are usually negative about new

ideas. Most times they are right;

but not always.” The stakes are so

high, however, that the concept of

using the Earth’s own energy “to

heal the planet” should be

considered, says Lovelock.

SHOULD doctors assume that

people are happy to donate their

organs unless they make the

effort to opt out?

That’s the scenario being

considered in the UK, as a means

of reducing the widening gap

between supply and demand for

donated organs. At the moment,

a dead person’s organs cannot

be taken unless they registered

themselves in life as a donor.

“Around 8000 people in the

UK need an organ transplant

[each year], but only 3000

transplants are carried out,” said

UK health minister Alan Johnson

North American bullfrogs are rampaging

across Europe, spreading a fungus that is

devastating to local amphibians. The big

frogs were introduced worldwide as pets

and research animals, and to supply the

food industry with frogs’ legs, but they

carry a chytrid fungus that is killing off

many amphibians all over the world .

The European Union banned the

release of bullfrogs in 1997. However,

when Francesco Ficetola of the University

of Savoie in Le Bourget du Lac, France,

and colleagues surveyed wetlands in the

west of the country – by listening for the

frogs’ distinctive booming calls – they

found the animals were spreading much

faster than they could manage on their

own, apparently due to people moving

them around (Biological Invasions, DOI: 10.1007/s10530-006-9080-y ).

NATURAL SPAWN KILLERS The famous French taste for frogs’

legs is not the main problem, however.

Upon quizzing their colleagues across

Europe, Ficetola discovered that bullfrogs

have been brought into the continent

on 25 separate occasions, more than

half since of those since 1980, and at

least twice since the EU ban. Frogs

introduced on three occasions were

eradicated, but those from nine other

introductions have spread. Only five

were for food production – in the rest

animals were brought in as pets or for

reasons unknown.

The bullfrogs occupy five countries

in continental Europe, up from three a

decade ago. Worryingly, they do best

where there are other frogs, increasing

the risk from the fungus , which itself

will thrive as global temperatures rise.

THOM

AS K

ITCH

IN &

VIC

TORI

A HU

RST/

NHPA

–Worth a visit?–

NASA

/JPL/

CORN

ELL

“100 million pumps across the oceans could capture a quarter of our CO2 emissions”

–Deadly baggage–

Saving Gaia Donate by default

Battle for Mars

4 | NewScientist | 29 September 2007 www.newscientist.com

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