Science

Mexico's Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked a move to allow the planting of genetically modified soya seeds in the southern Mexican states of Campeche and Yucatan, arguing that indigenous communities that had fought the move should be consulted before it was approved.

Honey producers in the two states as well as the neighboring state of Quintana Roo had protested against the genetically modified soybean permits, arguing they created a contamination risks for their produce.

Monsanto, which was on the court docket's list of interested parties in the case, said in a statement Wednesday it respected the court's decision and would wait to see the full text of the ruling.

On Friday, in response to questions from Reuters, Monsanto denied any link between its soybean seeds and honey production woes.

"We do not accept accusations that put us as responsible for deforestation and illegal logging in the municipality of Hopelchén, Campeche, or any place of the Republic, because our work is rigidly attached to the guidelines provided by law," the company said in a statement.

The court said on Wednesday that the five justices had voted unanimously to grant an injunction against Mexico's agriculture ministry SAGARPA, which had given permission for the plantings. The full text of the decision is still pending.

A group of organizations including Greenpeace, which supported the injunction against the permits, hailed the ruling as "historic" and called for authorities to guarantee the right to previous consultation in the future.

Monsanto said in the statement that in the Yucatan Peninsula during the period in question, an estimated 44,000 hectares (108,726 acres) of soybeans were planted, of which 13,000 were from Monsanto seeds.

In the municipality of Hopelchen, Monsanto's soybeans were sown in 4,261 hectares of the 15,000 planted, the company said.

The company blamed problems in the Mexican honey sector on increasing prices and production volumes among Mexico's honey producers.

"There is not evidence that the exports of honey are affected by GM soybeans," the company said.

(Reporting By P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago and Tomas Sarmiento in Mexico City; Editing by Christian Plumb)

Mexico's Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked a move to allow the planting of genetically modified soya seeds in the southern Mexican states of Campeche and Yucatan, arguing that indigenous communities that had fought the move should be consulted before it was approved.

Honey producers in the two states as well as the neighboring state of Quintana Roo had protested against the genetically modified soybean permits, arguing they created a contamination risks for their produce.

Monsanto, which was on the court docket's list of interested parties in the case, said in a statement Wednesday it respected the court's decision and would wait to see the full text of the ruling.

On Friday, in response to questions from Reuters, Monsanto denied any link between its soybean seeds and honey production woes.

"We do not accept accusations that put us as responsible for deforestation and illegal logging in the municipality of Hopelchén, Campeche, or any place of the Republic, because our work is rigidly attached to the guidelines provided by law," the company said in a statement.

The court said on Wednesday that the five justices had voted unanimously to grant an injunction against Mexico's agriculture ministry SAGARPA, which had given permission for the plantings. The full text of the decision is still pending.

A group of organizations including Greenpeace, which supported the injunction against the permits, hailed the ruling as "historic" and called for authorities to guarantee the right to previous consultation in the future.

Monsanto said in the statement that in the Yucatan Peninsula during the period in question, an estimated 44,000 hectares (108,726 acres) of soybeans were planted, of which 13,000 were from Monsanto seeds.

In the municipality of Hopelchen, Monsanto's soybeans were sown in 4,261 hectares of the 15,000 planted, the company said.

The company blamed problems in the Mexican honey sector on increasing prices and production volumes among Mexico's honey producers.

"There is not evidence that the exports of honey are affected by GM soybeans," the company said.

(Reporting By P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago and Tomas Sarmiento in Mexico City; Editing by Christian Plumb)

Tim Peake, 43, a former army major, will blast off on a six-month mission for the European Space Agency (ESA) in December, the first Briton to go into space since Helen Sharman traveled on a Soviet spacecraft for eight days in 1991.

"After a gap of 24 years since Helen Sharman flew to the Mir space station, the Union (Jack) flag is going to be flown and worn in space once again," Peake told reporters.

"What that means is that there's nothing to stop the schoolkids in Great Britain today from being amongst the first men and women to set on foot on Mars in the future."

Peake said he would be carrying out a series of scientific experiments, including some medical research where he would be a "human guinea pig".

The Briton, selected as an astronaut in 2009, will launch from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the mission titled Principia after Isaac Newton’s ground-breaking Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which describes the principal laws of motion and gravity.

Britain originally opted out of the European program for human space flight but decided to reverse its decision in 2012.

The space station is a laboratory in which an international crew of six people live and work while traveling at a speed of five miles per second, orbiting Earth every 90 minutes.

It was launched in 1998 and has been continuously occupied since November 2000. In that time, more than 200 people from 15 countries have visited.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)

The NASA Office of Inspector General also questioned Orbital’s plan to resume deliveries to the space station, a permanently staffed, $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth. 

Orbital is buying rides for its next two Cygnus cargo capsules from United Launch Alliance (ULA), a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Orbital’s first mission using ULA’s Atlas rocket is slated for December, with the second to follow in early 2016.

Orbital also is outfitting its troubled Antares rocket, which exploded seconds after liftoff from Virginia on Oct. 28, 2014 with new engines. The revamped booster will then be used for two more station resupply missions in 2016, a schedule that the does not include a test flight and has limited opportunities for ground testing and certification, the Inspector General report said.

Orbital’s plan to return to flight “contains technical and operational risks and may be difficult to execute as designed and on the timetable proposed,” the report said.

Orbital declined to comment.

Auditors also pointed out that the U.S. space agency could have saved up to $84 million by taking advantage of provisions in its $1.9 billion contract with Orbital.

For example, NASA could have saved $21 million after Orbital launch delays resulted in multiple missions flying in 2014. Instead, NASA accepted concessions worth about $2 million, investigators said.

Orbital successfully flew two of its planned eight missions before the accident.

The company now plans to fulfill its contract requirements in seven flights by using the heftier Atlas and revamped Antares launchers. However, on a price-per-pound basis, as stated in the original contract, NASA is paying an extra $65 million for those missions, the report showed.

In a written response to the Inspector General, NASA said it had made use of available contract provisions in its negotiations with Orbital.

The oversight agency is conducting a similar review of NASA's relationship with privately owned SpaceX, which operates a second cargo line to the space station. SpaceX, owned and operated by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, is recovering from a June 28 accident of its Falcon 9 rocket, which destroyed another station resupply ship.

(The story was refiled to correct the time element in the lead paragraph to "last year" instead of "two years ago")

(Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Tom Brown)

Scientists on Thursday said a study of the genomes of Inuit from Greenland revealed unique genetic variants related to fat metabolism that ward off cardiovascular disease that otherwise could be caused by a diet traditionally high in fat from blubbery seals and whales.

These genetic mutations, which the researchers said arose perhaps 20,000 years ago, help lower "bad" LDL cholesterol and fasting insulin levels, limit the height of the Inuit, keep down their weight and help them adapt to a cold environment.

"Our study is perhaps the most extreme example to date of a genetic adaptation to a specific diet," said computational biology professor Rasmus Nielsen of the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Copenhagen.

"The mutations we find seem to compensate physiologically for a large intake of animal fat and are largely an adaptation to a lifestyle in which you have a high-caloric intake of fat from marine mammals, and possibly also from other mammals."

The Inuit, formerly called Eskimos, are indigenous people in Greenland and Arctic regions of Canada and Alaska.

The researchers examined genomes of 191 Inuit, 60 Europeans and 44 Han Chinese. The genetic variants found almost universally in the Inuit were much rarer in the Europeans (2 percent) and Chinese (15 percent).

The research, published in the journal Science, is the latest to illustrate human genetic adaptation to environmental conditions.

"One of the best examples is the Tibetans' adaptation to high altitude," said University of Copenhagen computational biology professor Anders Albrechtsen, referring to a study showing that many Tibetans possess a rare variant of a gene involved in carrying oxygen in the blood, helping them in high-altitude, low-oxygen conditions.

The Inuit findings may shed light on the value of diet supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids and fish oils. Nielsen noted such supplementation was originally motivated by observations that Inuit people had a high intake of fat but low cardiovascular disease incidence, so the particular form of fat they got in their diet might be healthier than other kinds.

"Our study shows that lessons from the Inuit cannot be extrapolated to other populations. The Inuit have special genetic variants that might allow them to function better on a diet rich in omega-3s than other populations," Nielsen said.

(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Eric Walsh)