On The Radar

The pick of the science news.

Ageing theory questioned

A new study has challenged the widely touted belief that free radicals cause ageing. The decades-old theory postulates that a build-up of “reactive oxygen species” and oxidative stress overwhelms cells and results in ageing, and it has spawned an industry of antioxidant therapies.

But researchers at McGill University in Montreal have called that theory into question – at least in worms.

When they induced a build-up of oxidative stress in the model organism C elegans, the roundworm’s lifespan was not shortened.

However the scientists note that oxidative stress is still something to avoid.

Bristol Berti

Berti the Robot at the London Science Museum

Visitors to London’s Science Museum this week have gone head-to-head with a playful robot called Berti, who never tires of the game “rock, paper scissors”.

One of the most sophisticated robots built in the UK, the €225,000 robot gives a short speech and plays the game with human visitors who wear special sensor gloves and are then asked to rate the experience.

“Robots like Berti could be used in the development of prosthetic limbs for people who have been in car accidents or to carry out extremely dangerous jobs such as land mine clearance,” according to Dr Graham Whiteley of robotics firm Elumotion, which built Berti with Bristol Robotics Laboratory.

By numbers

4

The percentage tax on Internet downloads proposed this week by New York governor David Paterson

40

The percentage reduction in likelihood of developing memory loss for socially active people who read magazines in middle age, according to the American Academy of Neurology