Wednesday Morning Science Supplement

As one of the most popular sushi staples, bluefin tuna has become increasingly in demand in recent years and its stocks have plummetted over the last decade in both the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

Now, according to a draft proposal put forward by Monaco with CITES, the UN agency against illegal wildlife trade, stocks are so fragile that the species should be classified as being at threat of extinction.

The “objective is still far from being reached,” the global environment campaign group said in a letter to the minister of the environment, a copy of which was given to AFP on Tuesday.

“It is urgent to have clarifications of the current situation, marked by irregularities.”

“We are very disappointed with this ruling. We believe strongly this violates the World Trade Organization guidelines,” International Trade Minister Stockwell Day told reporters, insisting the hunt is “humanitarian, scientific and follows environmental rules of sustainability.”

In a decision taken without debate, EU foreign ministers earlier adopted a ban on seal products from Canada, ruling the goods cannot be marketed in the 27 EU nations. Three countries — Denmark, Romania and Austria — abstained with all others voting in favor.

The UN experts are right that the oceans are unlikely to rise by an order of metres (many feet) by 2100, as some scientists have feared, it says.

But, its authors caution, low-lying countries and delta areas could still face potentially catastrophic flooding if the upper range of the new estimate proves right.

A subcommittee of the 10-member board also proposed adding an extra, eighth shuttle flight to help keep the station supplied and narrow an expected five- to seven-year gap between the time the shuttle fleet is retired and a new U.S. spaceship is ready to fly.

A third option would keep the shuttle flying through 2014 as part of a plan to develop a new launch system based on existing shuttle rockets and components.

“While elemental mercury has been associated with adverse health effects at high exposures, the levels released by dental amalgam fillings are not high enough to cause harm in patients,” the FDA said, citing an agency review of roughly 200 scientific studies.

Still, in final regulations issued on Tuesday as part of an earlier legal settlement, it said the fillings were now considered “moderate risk” devices and will include details about the risks and benefits of the products. They will also carry warnings against their use in patients with mercury allergies or in poorly ventilated areas.

The group hopes to create a bridge from greenhouses and labs in Missouri to health centers and farms in regions where people die from malnourishment.

Three internationally known organizations based in St. Louis – the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, the Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital – have formed the Global Harvest Alliance. The partnership’s aim is to create inexpensive, nutritionally complete food to help the world’s hungry and undernourished.

The shuttle’s departure broke up the biggest off-the-planet gathering ever: 13 people in space. Seven astronauts headed back aboard the shuttle and six remained.

The two spacecraft parted company 220 miles above the Indian Ocean. Endeavour took a lap around the space station for some impressive picture-taking before pulling away for good. The shuttle is aiming for a Friday touchdown.

The twin-fuselage craft named WhiteKnightTwo, looking like two planes connected at the wing tips, circled the runway several times before touching down at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Air Venture annual gathering.

It was the first glimpse the public had of the plane, which was made by Virgin Galactic as part of its effort to jump-start commercial space travel. Its designers, engineer Burt Rutan and British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, watched and smiled from the edge of the tarmac.

The new cub’s birth Thursday means breeders will no longer be forced to rely on semen from China’s few virile males, and may even be able to bring in sperm from zoos in San Diego, Mexico City or elsewhere.

That’s key to promoting a healthy panda population because too much inbreeding can lead to birth defects that would further threaten the survival of the species.

Tuesday’s announcement fulfilled a procedural act that Congress first ordered back in 1976 but that had languished for decades as the dental industry, consumer advocates and scientists debated the safety of mercury-based fillings, also known as “dental amalgams.”

Consumer groups, which have pushed for a ban on mercury in fillings, attacked the agency’s announcement and promised a court challenge.

The elongated fingers, opposable “thumb,” long curved claws and grasping tail of a small, huge-eyed plant-eating animal known as Suminia getmanovi demonstrate that this is the earliest known tree-climbing vertebrate, scientists now reveal.

These findings shed light on the giant shifts in what animals dined on before the dawn of the dinosaurs.

Although I am fully insured in the United States, my family opts to opt out while in Japan, paying full price for basic health services such as dental, ophthalmology and otolaryngology. (That’s right: When’s the last time you’ve had a routine visit with an ear doctor.)

Such services cost about $20, the same price as my co-pay would have been stateside, and we don’t need an appointment.

This relationship between temperature and lifespan could have implications for cold-blooded species in our warming world, the study authors say.

Stephan Munch and Santiago Salinas, both of Stony Brook University in New York, were intrigued by a major difference in the lifespans of two populations of pearl mussels. One group in Spain had a maximum lifespan of 29 years, while another group in Russia lived up to 200 years.