What a difference a bulb makes? On the 6^th of November the 2100 inhabitants of the Isles of Scilly - a small British archipelago just off the mainland – will be asking this and a little more, by switching off for 24 hours all unused electrical apparatus, while measuring online, and in real time, the energy saved. This unique event aims to raise awareness of climate change and energy wastage, whilst showing how easy it is to make a real difference. All this is part of the “Isle of Scilly Earth Summit” that launches this weekend (3/4 October) with talks by islanders from all over the world followed by the energy saving day (E-Day) on the 6^th of October.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley say they have identified critical biochemical pathways linked to the aging of human muscle and, by manipulating these pathways, they were able to 'turn back the clock' on old human muscle, restoring its ability to repair and rebuild itself.

By thinking about packaging size and shape, major environmental gains can be made, says Renee Wever, who will defend his thesis on this topic at Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands) on Monday 5 October.   This is a different focus than recycling, the traditional method of environmental savings which hasn't really worked out.

Smaller-sized, more easily handled boxes require less transport and the Dutch packaging industry alone is worth billions of dollars annually. More cleverly designed packaging options could result in significant savings, suggests Wever.   According to him, there are also considerable environmental benefits to be achieved, though by focusing on different aspects than usual.

Sometimes it is helpful to have a catchy word to describe one's type of research. I think that's why "omics" words are so popular -- they encapsulate a complex combination of approaches (usually something + genomics, or something-more-than-genomics) in a memorable way that immediately conveys the gist of the field.

"Metagenomics" is a good example -- it's the study of a larger assemblage of genomes than just one, usually from an environmental sample of microbes. "Proteiomics" is another, or "transcriptomics". Of course, this can get out of hand (see here).

Researchers writing in BMC Cancer say that post-menopausal women who engage in moderate or vigorous exercise have reduced risk of breast cancer.

Over 110,000 post menopausal women were asked to rate their level of physical activity at ages 15-18, 19-29, 35-39, and in the past 10 years. It was found, over 6.6 years of follow up, that women who engaged in more than 7 hours per week of moderate-to-vigorous exercise for the last ten years were 16% less likely to develop breast cancer than those who were inactive. However, no link was observed between breast cancer risk and physical activity in women who were active at a younger age.

There's drama in two galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, NGC 4522 and NGC 4402.    An extremely hot X-ray emitting gas known as the intra-cluster medium lurks between galaxies within clusters and, as galaxies move through this intra-cluster medium, strong winds rip through galaxies distorting their shape and even halting star formation - a process known as "ram pressure stripping".

Result: Peculiar looking galaxies.

Ram pressure is the drag force that results when something moves through a fluid — much like the wind you feel in your face when bicycling, even on a still day — and occurs in this context as galaxies orbiting about the centre of the cluster move through the intra-cluster medium, which then sweeps out gas from within the galaxies.

In scoliosis treatment for babies, doctors often try bracing first and if that fails, they escalate to surgery; placing metal rods in their backs with spinal fusion.

These children face the risk of complications from the surgery and their backs and chests may be stiff for life.    New research from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) may lead doctors to choose to optimize an old technology – casting – instead of using high-tech implantable devices. Casting has fewer, and less serious potential complications and it requires no surgery. In fact, with the right training and equipment, the specialized series of casts can be done as outpatient procedures.

Most recent intellectual developments in post-human complex systems (see, e.g., www.hesiodproject.net) perceptively conclude that “social equilibrium” is just a theoretical state. But it is also something quite undesirable. Equally undesirable is a linear, predictable, stable, orderly, homogenous and pure human world.