Closedown

This blog is now frozen to allow for assessment. It will return.
In the mean time, why not look back over the site: The Nebula Science Monitor.

The Best of the Web

The final weekly round-up of the best science coverage on the web.

Dog trained to sniff out bees - The Guardian
We've covered the decline of honeybees on the Nebula Science Monitor before, but their cousins the Bumblebees are also in danger. But as Bumblebee hives are wild and tricky to find, the problem is hard to study. Luckily, the world could be saved by a bouncy puppy called Toby.

Renewed fighting threatens Congo gorillas - Telegraph
Only a month ago we reported on a huge surge in gorilla numbers in the Congo, and explained how isolation was protecting the great apes. Now artillery and hungry rebels are threatening the few remaining mountain gorillas as the fighting moves closer and the rangers struggle to protect the nature reserves.

NASA considers Shuttle shelf-life - BBC
Again following up a previous NSM story, this time about the future of NASA. The Space Shuttle was due to be retired in 2010, with the replacement Orion system not ready until later in the decade. The US would have been relying on Russian Soyuz systems to service its space assets, but with rising international tensions they might decide to keep risking shuttle flights to maintain strategic independance.
The near future of NASA should be a top priority for the incoming new US president.

McCain's VP wants creationism taught in schools - Yahoo
Sarah Palin: NRA member, anti-abortion, against universal healthcare and still considers creationsim a scientifc option. Many scientsts are christians, but very very few want to see children misled over creationism.There is just no basis for it.
If she's there to snatch the womens votes in the US election, they couldn't have found anyone less likely to advance women's issues in the US.
And given McCain's age, (he's older than Palin's parents and her home state of Alaska!) the chance of the VP having to step up to the presidency increases dramatically.

Lights Out? Experts fear fireflys are dwindling - AP
Another sad conservation story. Is there such a thing as conservation compasion fatigue? When it seems like half the world's life-forms are under threat from humanity, at least we still regret the passing of the beautiful ones.

Image- A firefly, obviously. I saw one in a hedge once and I thought somebody had dropped a watch.