DATA AND DNA

Computer files stored accurately on DNA

By translating computerised files into DNA similar to that found in plants and animals, the researchers claim it is possible to store a billion books' worth of data for thousands of years in just a small test tube.

US biologist suggests sending DNA sequencing machine to Mars

Prominent US biologist Craig Venter, decoderof the human genome, has suggested sending a DNA sequencing machine to Mars to search for ancient microorganisms. If the machine finds anything there it will decode the genome and send its DNA sequence back to Earth where bioengineers would reconstruct a synthetic Martian gene.

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE

Doctors complicit in torture at CIA, military prisons: study

An independent report says medical professionals helped design, enable and participated in "torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment" of detainees.

Collaboration at US prisons in Afghanistan, Guantanamo and the CIA's secret detention sites began after the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York.

"It's clear that in the name of national security, the military trumped [the Hippocratic Oath], and physicians were transformed into agents of the military and performed acts that were contrary to medical ethics and practice," said study co-author Gerald Thomson, a professor of medicine emeritus at Columbia University.

THE QUICKENING

Study to focus on Arctic after Greenland Sea found to have warmed 10 times faster than global ocean

A long-term study has found the Greenland Sea is warming 10 times faster than the global ocean.

"Because the changes in temperature are so fast - faster than the average of the rest of the ocean - then the contribution [to rising sea levels] is larger than expected for this region," Dr Raquel Somavilla Cabrillo, AWI scientist and lead author of the study said.