This week’s science news snippets

  • International Year of Chemistry, "Naturally" – Nature's take on the launch of the International Year of Chemistry 2011 (IYC11)
  • Stinging vision – A group of school children aged between 8 and 10 years old have had their school science project accepted for publication in an internationally recognised peer-reviewed journal. The paper, which reports novel findings in how bumblebees perceive colour, is published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
  • Physical Methods – Organophoshorus Chemistry provides a comprehensive and critical review of the recent literature. Coverage includes phosphines and their chalcogenides, phosphonium salts, low coordination number phosphorus compounds, penta- and hexa- coordinated compounds, tervalent phosphorus acid derivatives, quiquevalent phosphorus acids, nucleotides and nucleic aicds, ylides and related compounds, phosphazenes and the application of physical methods in the study of organophosphorus compounds. This Specialist Periodical Report will be of value to research workers in universities, government and industrial research organisations whose work involves the use of organophosphorus compounds. It provides a concise but comprehensive survey of a vast field of study, with a wide variety of applications, enabling the reader to keep abreast of the latest developments in their specialist fields.
  • Homeopathy on the ropes – Homeopaths who recommend remedies for the prevention of serious infectious diseases are now coming under the spotlight, while vets no longer have homeopathic treatments as an option unless someone can prove they work. Homeopathy 1796-2011 RIP
  • Swine flu symptoms – If you or a member of your family has a fever or high temperature (over 38C/100.4F) and two or more of the following symptoms, you may have H1N1 flu: unusual tiredness, headache, runny nose, sore throat, shortness of breath or cough, loss of appetite, aching muscles, diarrhoea or vomiting. It should be emphasised that you could still have swine flu with any combination of these or even an almost complete lack of symptoms, but if you're in a vulnerable group (pregnant, asthmatic, lung disease etc) get checked out if these are manifest.