Organic compounds contain carbon and hydrogen and form the building blocks of all life on Earth. By analyzing organic material and minerals in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001, scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory have shown for the first time that building blocks of life formed on Mars early in its history.

Previously, scientists have thought that organic material in ALH 84001 was brought to Mars by meteorite impacts or more speculatively originated from ancient Martian microbes.

The Carnegie-led team made a comprehensive study of the ALH 84001 meteorite and compared the results with data from related rocks found on Svalbard, Norway.

HOUSTON, December 11 /PRNewswire/ --

Endeavour International Corporation (Amex: END) announced today that production has commenced from the Njord gas export project in the Norwegian Sea. The completion will add approximately 900 barrels of oil equivalent to the company's daily production and is incremental to oil production from the field which will continue.

Endeavour holds a 2.5 percent working interest in the field which has produced oil since 1997. The gas export project has been underway since early 2005 and involved the drilling of new production wells and the construction of a 25-mile pipeline and processing facility. StatoilHydro is operator of the field.

Measures to protect astronauts from health risks caused by space radiation will be important during extended missions to the moon or Mars, say researchers in a paper currently online in Experimental Neurology.

Using a mouse model designed to reveal even slight changes in brain cell populations, scientists found radiation appeared to target a type of stem cell in an area of the brain believed to be important for learning and mood control.

The findings — from a team of researchers from the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and the McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Florida — suggest that identifying medications or physical shielding to protect astronauts from cosmic and solar radiation will be important for the success

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a new model of global carbon and nitrogen cycling that will fundamentally transform the understanding of how plants and soils interact with a changing atmosphere and climate.

The new model takes into account the role of nitrogen dynamics in influencing the response of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change and rising atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Current models used in the assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change do not account for nitrogen processing, and probably exaggerate the terrestrial ecosystem’s potential to slow atmospheric carbon dioxide rise, the researchers say. They will present their findings this week at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

A new study comparing the composite output of 22 leading global climate models with actual climate data finds that the models do an unsatisfactory job of mimicking climate change in key portions of the atmosphere.

This research, published in the Royal Meteorological Society’s International Journal of Climatology, raises new concerns about the reliability of models used to forecast global warming.

“The usual discussion is whether the climate model forecasts of Earth’s climate 100 years or so into the future are realistic,” said the lead author, Dr. David H. Douglass from the University of Rochester. “Here we have something more fundamental: Can the models accurately explain the climate from the recent past? It seems that the answer is no.”

CONCORD, New Hampshire, December 11 /PRNewswire/ --

- NAC Director Honored for Out-of-Band Architecture That Leverages Existing Networks

Bradford Networks, a leading provider of comprehensive network access control (NAC) solutions, was named an SC Magazine Innovator of the Year for its NAC Director solution -- an out-of-band, agent-based access control policy management engine that leverages existing network assets.

LONDON, December 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Responding to today's OFT recommendations on medicines distribution in the UK, Hemant Patel, President of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB), said:

"The OFT have identified important areas of risk that could have severe consequences for the services provided by pharmacies to patients and also for NHS budgets.

"The RPSGB will be seeking assurances from the Department of Health that procedures will be put in place to ensure that direct to pharmacy (DTP) schemes do not limit pharmacists' ability to provide medicines to patients in a timely and efficient manner."

PALO ALTO, California, December 11 /PRNewswire/ --

- Joe Walker joins SitePen, DWR joins the Dojo Foundation

SitePen, Inc., a leading provider of Ajax and Comet web application services, today announced the opening of SitePen Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of SitePen, Inc. SitePen also announced that Joe Walker, creator of Direct Web Remoting (DWR), has signed on as director of support and development for the newly-established UK operations.

WESTPORT, Ireland, December 11 /PRNewswire/ --

- FOR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL MEDIA ONLY

Treatment with LUMIGAN(R) (bimatoprost) alone is as effective at lowering intraocular pressure (IOP) as a fixed combination of latanoprost combined with timolol (LTFC), according to a study published in Ophthalmology this month.

These are the results of a randomised, double-blind, study which set out to compare the effects of LUMIGAN(R) and LTFC over a 24-hour period on IOP, the leading risk factor for glaucoma.(2) Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness globally(3).

PARIS, December 11 /PRNewswire/ --

MediPurpose, a top provider of medical safety devices, announced today that its SurgiLance safety lancet has been validated by the Safety Medical Device Commission of GERES, the French advocacy organization for needlestick safety.

With the recent approval, SurgiLance safety lancet will be featured on the GERES website (www.geres.org) under the heading "Guide des Materiels de Protection." GERES provides a list of approved safety products for medical staff, helping to assure the safety of healthcare providers.