Today on New Scientist: 19 February 2013

Doctors would tax sugary drinks to combat obesity

Hiking the price of fizzy drinks would cut consumption and so help fight obesity, urges the British Academy of Medical Royal Colleges

Space station's dark matter hunter coy about findings

Researchers on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which sits above the International Space Station, have collected their first results - but won't reveal them for two weeks

Huge telescopes could spy alien oxygen

Hunting for oxygen in the atmospheres of distant exoplanets is a tough job, but a new wave of giant telescopes should be up to the task

Evolution's detectives: Closing in on missing links

Technology is taking the guesswork out of finding evolution's turning points, from the first fish with legs to our own recent forebears, says Jeff Hecht

Moody Mercury shows its hidden colours

False-colour pictures let us see the chemical and physical landscape of the normally beige planet closest to the sun

LHC shuts down to prepare for peak energy in 2015

Over the next two years, engineers will be giving the Large Hadron Collider the makeover it needs to reach its maximum design energy

Insert real news events into your mobile game

From meteor airbursts to footballing fracas, mobile games could soon be brimming with news events that lend them more currency

3D-printing pen turns doodles into sculptures

The 3Doodle, which launched on Kickstarter today, lets users draw 3D structures in the air which solidify almost instantly

We need to rethink how we name exoplanets

Fed up with dull names for exoplanets, Alan Stern and his company Uwingu have asked the public for help. Will it be so long 2M 0746+20b, hello Obama?

A shocking cure: Plug in for the ultimate recharge

An electrical cure for ageing attracted the ire of the medical establishment. But could the jazz-age inventor have stumbled upon a genuine therapy?

Biofuel rush is wiping out unique American grasslands

Planting more crops to meet the biofuel demand is destroying grasslands and pastures in the central US, threatening wildlife

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Japan logs worst January trade deficit of $17.4 bn

TOKYO: Japan logged its worst ever trade deficit for January due mainly to heavier fuel import bills, official data showed Wednesday.

Finance ministry figures showed the economy suffered a shortfall of 1.63 trillion yen, the worst deficit on record for the month. Comparable data began in 1979.

Economists had expected an average shortfall of 1.3 trillion yen.

Exports increased 6.4 percent to 4.8 trillion yen, posting the first rise in eight months on higher shipments of automobile parts and other items.

But imports rose 7.3 percent to 6.43 trillion yen as imports of petroleum products, natural liquefied gas and crude oil soared.

Japan's fuel imports have risen since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster sparked the world's worst nuclear accident in a generation, sending most atomic power plants offline.

- AFP/sf

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Georgia inmate granted last-minute stay of execution

By CNN Staff

updated 7:53 PM EST, Tue February 19, 2013

Warren Lee Hill's defenders say he should not be executed because he is mentally impaired.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Georgia Court of Appeals grant the stays


• NEW: Warren Lee Hill's attorney says they came within a half hour of the scheduled execution


• Hill's defenders say he's mentally disabled


• Hill was convicted of beating to death another Georgia inmate in 1990

(CNN) -- Twice-convicted killer Warren Lee Hill was granted final-hour stays of execution on Tuesday, his attorney said.

The stays came from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Georgia Court of Appeals.

"I think we were within about a half hour of the execution," said Brian Kammer, an attorney for Hill, whose supporters say he is mentally disabled.

The Georgia Court of Appeals acted on a appeal of a challenge to the way the prison handles the lethal injection drugs used in executions, while the federal appeals court issued a stay "ordering a further briefing on the issue of mental retardation," Kammer said.

Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay of execution, as did the state Supreme Court, while the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles similarly denied a request for clemency.

Hill was sentenced to death for the 1990 killing of Joseph Handspike, another inmate in a Georgia state prison.

The execution had been scheduled for 7 p.m. ET at a state prison in Jackson, about 45 miles south of Atlanta.

Hill's lawyers have argued that his IQ of 70 means he should be spared under the 2002 decision that barred the execution of the mentally disabled. But a string of state courts has said Hill doesn't qualify under Georgia law, which requires inmates to prove mental impairment "beyond a reasonable doubt."

Hill was convicted of beating Handspike to death with a nail-studded board while serving a life sentence in the 1985 killing of his girlfriend, Myra Wright.

CNN's Tom Watkins, Matt Smith, Bill Mears, Dana Ford and Dave Alsup contributed to this report.

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New details bring into focus Newtown shooter's motive

(CBS News) Monday night, CBS News broke the story that Adam Lanza, the killer at Sandy Hook Elementary School, had an obsession with a mass murder that occurred the year before.

The Hartford Courant newspaper added to that, reporting that investigators found clippings about the earlier killing in Lanza's home.

Newtown shooter motivated by Norway massacre, sources say
A look back at the Norway massacre
Newtown mother: Lanza home a "black spot" in neighborhood

In December, Lanza killed his mother, 20 first graders and six members of the school staff before killing himself. More details have emerged on the motive.

Sources say material about Norweigen mass murderer Anders Breivik was found in one of Lanza's rooms. Breivik killed 77 people in 2011 in a bombing and shooting attack in Norway.

Adam Lanza and the home he and his mother, Nancy, lived in.

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CBS News

Now police are pursuing a theory that Lanza viewed himself as being in direct competition with Breivik.

Sources say Lanza attacked nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School because it was an easy target with a large number of people. Investigators believe a rapid police response forced Lanza to take his own life and end the massacre earlier than intended. Hundreds of rounds of unspent ammunition were found with Lanza.

Connecticut State Police strongly deny they've established any hard connection between Lanza and Breivik and say any reports about a possible motive are premature.

"The unfortunate origin of unsubstantiated details of this case are both hurtful and, many times, inaccurate," Lt. Paul Vance said in a statement.

But two officials who have been briefed on the investigation say Connecticut officials have privately indicated they believe Lanza was obsessed with Breivik.

CBS News correspondent John Miller reports how Lanza descended into his own world by blacking out windows.

It's also clear Lanza was heavily involved with violent video games. A large collection of games was discovered in a search of his home. Investigators believe in the months before the attack Lanza spent countless hours alone in a basement gaming room with the windows blacked out.

CBS News also knows Lanza had blacked out the windows of his bedroom. He was a young man who sought complete isolation, and who died without explaining his actions.

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Report Fingers Chinese Military Unit in US Hacks

A Virginia-based cyber security firm has released a new report alleging a specific Chinese military unit is likely behind one of the largest cyber espionage and attack campaigns aimed at American infrastructure and corporations.

In the report, released today by Mandiant, China's Unit 61398 is blamed for stealing "hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organizations" since 2006, including 115 targets in the U.S. Twenty different industrial sectors were targeted in the attacks, Mandiant said, from energy and aerospace to transportation and financial institutions.

Mandiant believes it has tracked Unit 61398 to a 12-story office building in Shanghai that could employ hundreds of workers.

"Once [Unit 61398] has established access [to a target network], they periodically revisit the victim's network over several months or years and steal broad categories of intellectual property, including technology blueprints, proprietary manufacturing processes, test results, business plans, pricing documents, partnership agreements, and emails and contact lists from victim organizations' leadership," the report says.

The New York Times, which first reported on the Mandiant paper Monday, said digital forensic evidence presented by Mandiant pointing to the 12-story Shangai building as the likely source of the attacks has been confirmed by American intelligence officials. Mandiant was the firm that The Times said helped them investigate and eventually repel cyber attacks on their own systems in China last month.

Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images

The Chinese government has repeatedly denied involvement in cyber intrusions and Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said today that the claims in the Mandiant report were unsupported, according to a report by The Associated Press.

"To make groundless accusations based on some rough material is neither responsible nor professional," he reportedly said.

Mandiant's report was released a week after President Obama said in his State of the Union address that America must "face the rapidly growing threat from cyber attack."

"We know hackers steal people's identities and infiltrate private e-mail. We know foreign countries and companies swipe our corporate secrets. Now our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions, and our air traffic control systems. We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy," he said.

Though Obama did not reference China or any country specifically, U.S. officials have previously accused the Asian nation of undertaking a widespread cyber espionage campaign.

Referring to alleged Chinese hacking in October 2011, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said in an open committee meeting that he did not believe "that there is a precedent in history for such a massive and sustained intelligence effort by a government agency to blatantly steal commercial data and intellectual property."

Rogers said that cyber intrusions into American and other Western corporations by hackers working on behalf of Beijing -- allegedly including attacks on corporate giants like Google and Lockheed Martin -- amounted to "brazen and widespread theft."

"The Chinese have proven very, very good at hacking their way into very large American companies that spend a lot of money trying to protect themselves," cyber security expert and ABC News consultant Richard Clarke said in an interview last week.

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Biofuel rush is wiping out unique American grasslands

Say goodbye to the grass. The scramble for biofuels is rapidly killing off unique grasslands and pastures in the central US.

Christopher Wright and Michael Wimberly of South Dakota State University in Brookings analysed satellite images of five states in the western corn belt. They found that 530,000 hectares of grassland disappeared under blankets of maize and soya beans between 2006 and 2011. The rate was fastest in South Dakota and Iowa, with as much as 5 per cent of pasture becoming cropland each year.

The trend is being driven by rising demand for the crops, partly through incentives to use them as fuels instead of food.

The switch from meadows to crops is causing a crash in populations of ground-nesting birds. One of the US's most important breeding grounds for wildfowl, an area called the Prairie Pothole Region, is also at risk, with South Dakota's crop fields now within 100 metres of the wetlands. "Half of North American ducks breed here," says Wright.

Bill Henwood of the Temperate Grasslands Conservation Initiative in Vancouver, Canada, says the results are distressing. "Exchanging real environmental impacts for the dubious benefits of biofuels is counterproductive," he says. "Last year's record drought in the corn belt all but wiped out the crops anyway."

Journal reference: PNAS, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1215404110

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Greater US military role in Mali likely after polls: senator

BAMAKO: The United States is likely to play a more active military role in Mali, where French-led forces are battling Islamist rebels, after the country holds elections, the chair of a key Senate sub-committee said Monday.

Washington has been providing intelligence, transport and mid-air refuelling to France, which launched its intervention last month, but cannot work directly with the Malian army until a democratically elected government replaces current leaders who came to power after a coup, said Christopher Coons, chair of the Senate foreign relations committee's Africa sub-committee.

"There is the hope that there will be additional support from the United States in these and other areas, but ... American law prohibits direct assistance to the Malian military following the coup," Coons told journalists in the Malian capital.

"After there is a full restoration of democracy, I would think it is likely that we will renew our direct support for the Malian military," added the senator, who led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Mali to meet with interim president Dioncounda Traore and French and African defence officials.

US military aid to Mali before the March 2012 coup consisted largely of training and equipment such as vehicles, a State Department official said.

But military assistance "would obviously be resumed in a way commensurate with the current needs. Priorities would have shifted a bit," the official added.

"There could be other kinds of assistance that had there not been a coup we could have provided, or requests for things now that we can't provide."

Some US lawmakers criticised President Barack Obama's administration last week for not doing more to help France in Mali.

"This is a NATO ally fighting Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists -- it shouldn't be that hard," said House foreign affairs committee chairman Ed Royce.

The hint of greater US involvement after elections adds to the complicated calculus of picking a date for the polls.

Traore, the interim president, has said he wants elections by July 31.

But critics say that is too soon given the problems Mali still faces, including ongoing insurgent attacks, a deeply divided military and hundreds of thousands of people who have fled their homes.

The minister responsible for organising the elections, Territorial Administration Minister Moussa Sinko Coulibaly, said last week the timeline "can be changed if necessary".

France, which launched its intervention on January 11 as Al-Qaeda-linked groups that had occupied the north for 10 months made incursions into government territory, is keen to share the military burden in Mali, and has announced plans to start bringing its 4,000 troops home in March.

The European Union formally approved a military training mission Monday that will be tasked with getting Mali's under-funded army ready to secure reclaimed territory.

But France is the only Western country with combat troops on the ground, and would like to hand over to some 6,000 west African troops who are slowly being deployed to help.

Mali imploded after a coup by soldiers who blamed the government for the army's humiliation at the hands of separatist rebels in the north.

With the capital in disarray, Al-Qaeda-linked fighters hijacked the independence rebellion and took control of a territory larger than Texas.

-AFP/ac

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Pistorius' girlfriend was alive after shooting, official says

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Detectives are examining role of a blood-stained cricket bat, newspaper reports


• Runner Oscar Pistorius has been charged with murder in model Reeva Steenkamp's death


• Steenkamp was still alive when Pistorius carried her downstairs, an official says

Pretoria, South Africa (CNN) -- Model Reeva Steenkamp was shot four times through the bathroom door at the home of Olympian Oscar Pistorius, a South African official familiar with the case told CNN on Monday.

She was alive after she was shot and was carried downstairs by Pistorius, said the official, who was not authorized to release details to the media.

A blood-stained cricket bat has also emerged as key evidence in the case, according to the City Press newspaper of Johannesburg.

Detectives are working to determine whether the bat was used to attack Steenkamp or she used it in self-defense, the newspaper reported, citing a source with inside knowledge of the case. Detectives are also looking into the possibility that Pistorius used the bat to break down the bathroom door.

The details are the latest to emerge in the shooting death that has roiled the nation and left South Africans asking what went so terribly wrong inside the upscale Pretoria home of the man nicknamed "Blade Runner" for his lightning-fast prosthetic legs.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there were indications the 29-year-old model intended to stay the night at the house: She had an overnight bag and her iPad.

Opinion: Pistorius case and the plague of violence against women

Authorities have released little about a possible motive in the Valentine's Day shooting, while local media have reported that Pistorius had mistaken his girlfriend for an intruder. South African authorities have stressed that the scenario did not come from them, and said there was no evidence of forced entry at the home.

Police have charged Pistorius with murder, and he will appear in court Tuesday for a bail hearing. South African prosecutors have said they intend to upgrade the charge to premeditated murder, but have not released further details.

Pistorius, 26, has rejected the murder allegation "in the strongest terms," his agent said in a statement.

Nike's bullet ad with Pistorius backfires

Burial service

The same day Pistorius returns to court, Steenkamp will be buried in a private service in her hometown of Port Elizabeth.

Her burial Tuesday will come two days after South Africa's national broadcaster aired a pre-recorded reality TV show featuring Steenkamp discussing her exit from "Tropika Island of Treasure," on which local celebrities compete for prize money.

The decision to air the program took "much deliberation," and "this week's episode will be dedicated to Reeva's memory," said Samantha Moon, the executive producer.

The shooting has stunned South Africa, where Pistorius is a national hero as the first disabled athlete to compete in the able-bodied Olympic Games. He competed in the London Games as well as winning two gold medals in the Paralympic Games.

Headlines about the case have dominated in the days since Pistorius was arrested, though tight-lipped authorities have revealed little about what, if anything, the track star has said.

Oscar Pistorius with Reeva Steenkamp in January 2013.

Questions swirl

Reports say Pistorius and Steenkamp became an item around November and were popular in South African social circles.

The night before the shooting, Steenkamp appeared to be looking forward to Valentine's Day.

"What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow?" she asked her Twitter followers the day before. "Get excited."

Steenkamp was found in a pool of blood at Pistorius' home Thursday morning. Neighbors alerted authorities to the early morning shooting, saying they had "heard things earlier," police spokeswoman Denise Beukes has said. She did not clarify what the neighbors reported they heard.

Authorities also have not said whether Pistorius called for help.

Pictures of his walk to a police car, his head covered by a sweatshirt, have flashed repeatedly across television screens.

On Sunday, Pistorius canceled his appearances in five upcoming races.

The move is meant to help Pistorius focus on the legal proceedings and "help and support all those involved as they try to come to terms with this very difficult and distressing situation," said Peet Van Zyl of Pistorius' management company, In Site Athlete Management.

CNN's Robyn Curnow reported from South Africa; Chelsea J. Carter and Faith Karimi reported from Atlanta.

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U.S. lawmakers visit Cuba, hope for Gross release

HAVANA A high-level delegation of American lawmakers headed by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., arrived in Havana at midday on a two-day fact-finding mission that includes meetings with Cuban leaders and an expected visit with jailed U.S. contractor Alan Gross.

"We would love him [Gross] to be on the plane with us when we leave" Wednesday, said Leahy.

However, speaking individually with members of the congressional delegation it was clear that they did not expect the Cubans to release Gross during their visit.

"Every one of us has an interest in Cuba and a number of us have been here over the years," said Leahy, who led a smaller delegation here a year ago with a similar purpose.

"I feel the same way I did before," Leahy said, "I would like to see relations improve between our countries. Both countries have to take steps" to make this happen.

Leahy said that the changes in Cuba between his 1999 visit to Cuba and his visit last year showed a "quantum jump" and he is eager to see what has been happening over the last 12 months.

Play Video

Pressure builds to bring home an American jailed in Cuba

One step that the U.S. is stressing is the release of Gross who is serving a 15-year-sentence for smuggling illegal communication equipment into Cuba as part of a USAID democracy program. Leahy who met with Gross last year, noted that Gross's congressman, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., is in the group that flew in on a military plane.

The lawmakers expect to see outgoing National Assembly President and Communist Party Political Bureau member Ricardo Alarcon and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez. A meeting with President Raul Castro appears likely and there will be meetings with Western diplomats posted here.

The delegation that includes Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz, and Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., both of who have been visited Cuba on numerous occasions and long advocated changing U.S. policy, talked informally with a small group of reporters at the U.S. Interests Section, Washington's lone diplomatic outpost in Havana shortly after arriving.

Flake, a strong believer in free markets, has advocated lifting the U.S. trade embargo and visited the island some dozen times to promote agricultural trade.

Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., told reporters, "There's a tremendous amount we could do if we could trade back and forth...and it would be of benefit to both countries."

Leahy said the group was not here to negotiate with the Cuban government, "we have trained diplomats here who can do that but to listen and to go back and talk to the State Department" and others in Washington.

The delegation is interesting in seeing the economic changes implemented by Castro and gauging what political changes there might be.

The delegation, the first high-level U.S. visit since President Obama's reelection last November, was asked if they thought his second term presented an opportunity for change.

"There have been opportunities in the past," said Leahy. "[President Bill] Clinton wanted to do something but the shoot down (of an exile group's flight over the island) ended that," he said. "Now I think there is not a Cold War attitude in the U.S.," and that opens the possibility of change, he concluded.

McGovern also stressed it was time for "a new and more mature policy toward Cuba", adding, "I want Alan Gross released. I want Americans to be able to travel here freely."

Some staffers suggested that there might also be steps the U.S. could take to break the 50-plus years impasse in bilateral relations such as removing Cuba from the State Department list of terrorist countries.

Also on the delegation are Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

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Nike, Oakley Distance Themselves from Pistorius

Corporate sponsors of Olympic "blade runner" Oscar Pistorius have begun to distance themselves from the sprinter, who is accused of murdering his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius is back to court in South Africa Tuesday morning on murder charges.

Oakley, the eyewear manufacturer, and the sporting goods giant Nike announced today that they would no longer run ads featuring Pistorius, the South African double-amputee who gained worldwide fame for running on carbon-fiber blades.

"In light of the recent allegations, Oakley is suspending its contract with Oscar Pistorius, effective immediately. Our hearts are with the families during this difficult time and we'll continue to follow the developments in this tragic case," Oakley spokeswoman Cheri Quigley said in a statement released this afternoon.

Earlier in the day, Nike said it had "no plans" to use Pistorius in future ad campaigns, according to the Associated Press. Nike had already pulled an Internet ad showing Pistorius starting to sprint with the caption, "I am the bullet in the chamber."

The companies made their announcements shortly after Pistorius' own agent, Peet Van Zyl, said publicly that he expected the sponsors to stick with Pistorius through the legal process.

PHOTOS: Paralympic Champion Charged in Killing

Pistorius will appear in court Tuesday morning for a bail hearing. His attorneys are expected to argue against the charge of premeditated murder.

His family has said the shooting was an accident.

The news comes as more details emerge about the incident on Thursday morning in which Pistorius allegedly shot and killed Steenkamp at his gated home in Pretoria, South Africa.

Bryn Lennon; Gallo Images/Getty Images

Oscar Pistorius Allegedly Fought the Night of Shooting Watch Video

Oscar Pistorius: Possibly Incriminating Information Leaked Watch Video

'Blade Runner' Murder Charges: Family Insist Accidental Shooting Watch Video

News reports in local papers have said that police are investigating whether Pistorius had an anger-management problem that led to the incident. They focused in on a bloodied cricket bat that may have been used when Steenkamp died.

A "shocked" teammate of Oscar Pistorius rebutted the rumors and speculation in South Africa that Pistorius had an anger problem.

Ofentse Mogawane, a sprinter for the South African Olympic team who ran the 400-meter relay with Pistorius in the London summer games last year, said Pistorius had always been genial to him and other people.

Mogawane said he would be in court Tuesday to support his friend.

"Basically, he was a very good guy to us, to the teammates and to most athletes," Mogawane said. "He was a really humble person and I wouldn't say a bad word about him. We never had any kind of clash, never any kind of fight or disagreement or arguing.

"The way Oscar's case was, it shocked me, shocked most of the people who know him. Tomorrow in court I am going to be there to support him. To hear what happened the night of the incident," he said.

"Sometimes when people are angry they cannot control their anger. Something must have happened."

Mogawane, 30, spoke in support of Pistorius after a report in South Africa's City Press newspaper that claimed police were looking into the possibility that a bloody cricket bat found in his bedroom was used before the shooting.

"The way the news has been running around in South Africa, that he is a short-tempered person, a person who has problems with anger management, they just want something to say," Mogawane said. "They don't know Oscar at all. They just want to get interviewed and take pictures. But truly speaking, it's just a lot of speculation."

Mogawane said he had seen Pistorius become angry before, but only in the same way as any other athlete or person.

But the City Press reported Sunday that police are investigating different scenarios involving the bat. Among them is the possibility that the flat-fronted bat was used in a violent argument before the shooting.

The paper also reported that Pistorius might have first shot Steenkamp in the bedroom, and that she possibly fled to the bathroom where she was shot three more times through the door.

When Pistorius' family arrived at the scene before paramedics, they saw him carrying Steenkamp down the stairs and performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on her, City Press reported.

Pistorius, who is nicknamed the "blade runner" because of the carbon-fiber blades on which he runs, has canceled all his upcoming racing appearances, his agent said Sunday night.

The decision was made to "allow Oscar to concentrate on the upcoming legal proceedings and to help and support all those involved as they try to come to terms with this very difficult and distressing situation," Van Zyl, of In Site Athlete Management, said in a statement.

Pistorius' father was quoted overnight in the South African paper The Sunday Times saying his countrymen are destroying a national icon.

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