Observations of ice coverage in the Arctic from space began 30 years ago so it's inflammatory to talk about record lows in such a short period of time but two consecutive years near this 'record' still merit some concern.

Because the extent of ice cover is usually at its lowest about mid-September, this year's minimum could still fall and set another record low.

Envisat observations from mid-August depict that a new record of low sea-ice coverage could be reached in a matter of weeks. The animation above is a series of mosaics of the Arctic Ocean created from images acquired between early June and mid-August 2008 from the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) instrument aboard Envisat. The dark grey colour represents ice-free areas while blue represents areas covered with sea ice.

Are male Jamaican anole lizards masking some deep insecurity? Overcompensating for small body parts?

Nothing quite that dramatic, though the reason they begin and end the day with displays of reptilian strength, like push-ups, head bobs and extensions of a colorful neck flap, or dewlap, was unknown until recently.

The answer? Nothing more than wanting to defend their territory, according to a new study.

"Anoles are highly visual species, so in that sense it is not surprising that they would use visual displays to mark territory," said Terry J. Ord, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Davis and at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology. The lizards are the first animals known to mark dawn and dusk through visual displays, rather than the much better known chirping, tweeting, and other sounding off by birds, frogs, geckos and primates.

If the "Book of Science" were written by a kid it would start by answering some basic questions:

1) How was the universe started?

2) Why do girls put on make-up?

3) Where and when was science first used in the world?

Just as the world keeps spinning, so does the list of questions about science from kids, in this case, one seventh-grade science class taught by Kim Swayze who teaches middle-school science at E.V. Cain in Auburn, CA.

Her students questions reflect concepts and emotions that many other teachers have seen their students grappling with as well.

DHAKA, Bangladesh, August 28 /PRNewswire/ --

- Radisson Hotel, Dhaka, October 17, 2008 9:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

The inauguration of a new university chartered to grant degrees to underserved women in Asia will be celebrated at a Symposium in Dhaka, Bangladesh, October 17-18,2008. The Asian University for Women (AUW), based in Chittagong, will offer a five-year program of combined bachelor's and graduate-level professional training across the liberal arts, communications technology, management, public policy, and environmental science.

The initiative is funded by leading global corporations and foundations plus individual donors dedicated to educational opportunities for future women leaders and entrepreneurs from rural, impoverished areas in Asia.

MELBOURNE, Australia, August 28 /PRNewswire/ --

- Industry Leader Joins Atex to Drive Digital Publishing Growth, in Worlds' Greatest Developing Market

Atex is delighted to announce that Jean Paul Chauvet has joined Atex Media Command PTY, as Senior Vice President of Sales for its Asia Pacific Region, which includes Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080828/317641 )

Muscles are capable of providing an amazing amount of stability to the spine; a normal human spine can experience compressive loads of up to about 1,350 pounds during more demanding everyday tasks (9), and almost 4,000 pounds during something like Olympic weightlifting (2). So why can you hurt your back just by bending down to pick up a pencil or pen? The simple answer is that spinal stability is not a simple function of muscular force.
One way to think about spinal stability is that it is made up of three different components: the spine itself, the muscles surrounding the spine, and the circuitry that is in charge of firing these muscles (11). The neural control unit is the circuitry that coordinates the muscle activity to respond to both expected and unexpected forces. For appropriate spinal stability, this system must fire the right muscles, at the right time, by the right amount, to protect the spine from injury while still allowing the desired movement (1). The muscles surrounding the spine are like the "rigging on a ship's mast," and as such an inappropriate magnitude from just one of them could perturb the fine balance of the mast (10). STOP! Don't pick up that pen!

Most people probably think of change when they hear the word evolution, but some of evolution's most amazing molecular inventions have stuck around hundreds of millions, even billions of years. The complex protein machinery needed to express genes, metabolize energy sources, reproduce sexually, and lay out body plans has remained in place largely unchanged in spite of the tremendous variety we see in the living world. These constant core cellular processes are why biologists could crack the universal genetic code by experimenting with bacteria, and why we gain insight into cell division and cancer by studying yeast.

The big question, argue the authors of The Plausibility of Life, is not how evolution keeps inventing new genes - it's how evolution can produce so much variety when the basic processes change so little. Later in the book Kirschner and Gerhart are going to argue that these basic systems have persisted so long because they are versatile, that they posses features which make them well-suited to facilitating the biological diversity we see today. We'll come to that argument later; today we'll take a closer look at the core conserved molecular systems that carry out the most basic cellular functions.

SAO PAULO, Brazil, August 27 /PRNewswire/ --

Avon Global Ambassador, Reese Witherspoon, will travel to Sao Paulo, Brazil to celebrate the success of the company's first-ever global fundraising product, the Women's Empowerment Bracelet, which has sold 1.5 million since launching in March.

Reese will be joined by female luminaries, Nilceia Freire, Brazil's Federal Secretary for Women Policies, Ana Falu, UNIFEM Regional Director for the Southern Cone, and bio-chemist and domestic violence survivor, Maria da Penha.

SINGAPORE, August 27 /PRNewswire/ --

- Singapore's Iswaran to Highlight Asia-Pacific's Rising Energy Role at October 20 Gathering of Energy Company Executives

Singapore's top official for trade and industry, S. Iswaran, is slated to keynote the acclaimed Platts Top 250 Global Energy Companies rankings and Asia leadership recognition awards dinner and gala presentation on October 20 in Singapore.

ANTONY, France, August 27 /PRNewswire/ --

- Oralair(R) Grasses 300IR Highly Positive Clinical Results in a Pharmacodynamic Study Conducted in an Allergen Challenge Chamber

Stallergenes S.A. announces the highly positive results of a new study conducted in an Allergen Challenge Chamber (ACC).

The study on Oralair(R) Grasses included 86 adult patients exposed to grass pollen challenge with different treatment durations: 1 week, 1 month, 2 and 4 months without a titration phase. Use of rescue medication was not allowed.

The outcomes of this trial in line with the objectives were: