2007 03 00 New Scientist - Vol 193 No 2597 - France releases UFO files

Magazine Overview

Title: New Scientist
Issue Date: 31 March 2007
Document Type: Magazine Issue

This issue of New Scientist features several prominent news items, including the potential extinction of global climates due to warming, an international standoff over H5N1 flu vaccine samples, and the release of French UFO files.

Climate Extinction

The lead article, "NOW CLIMATES FACE EXTINCTION," discusses the findings of the first assessment on how global warming will affect Earth's climates. According to John Williams of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in 100 years, half of the world's climates may have vanished, leading to the disappearance of thousands of species and the emergence of new climate types with higher temperatures and more rain. Glaciers are expected to retreat, and ice will disappear from mountains like Kilimanjaro. New climates are predicted to emerge in tropical regions such as the Amazon and Indonesian rainforests. Williams notes that species will face options of migrating or adapting, but many may be outcompeted or have nowhere to go. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used projections from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for high and low emissions of carbon dioxide. The team estimates that between 20 and 40 per cent of the world's land would develop completely novel climates, and existing climates would vanish in 20 to 48 per cent of land area. Williams highlights that reductions in carbon dioxide offer hope.

Flu Stand-off

An international crisis concerning pandemic vaccines has been partially resolved. As New Scientist went to press, Indonesia announced it would end its boycott on sending viral samples from people with deadly H5N1 flu to foreign labs. However, the samples will only be used for research, and any use for vaccine development will require a "new mechanism" to gain Indonesia's consent. This is a complex issue, as virtually all flu vaccine is made in rich countries that have laws prohibiting its export in an emergency. This means that poorer countries providing samples are effectively helping develop vaccines they may never access. Indonesian health minister Siti Fadilah Supari had stopped sending samples to the World Health Organization (WHO) late last year, seeking assurance of vaccine return. Thai health officials indicated Thailand might join Indonesia's stance. The WHO, which met with delegates from 16 affected countries, vaccine makers, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has few immediate assurances. It is attempting to arrange a "virtual stockpile" of pandemic vaccines for developing countries and is trying to fund six new vaccine plants in countries like Brazil and China, though this will take years. The WHO hopes a new rule requiring member states to share samples of novel viruses will be backed in Geneva.

Chilling End

Peter Wadhams, an oceanographer from the University of Cambridge, recounts an incident aboard the British submarine HMS Tireless in the Arctic. While collecting data on ice thickness, an air purification equipment exploded, tragically killing two crew members. Wadhams notes that the state of the ice worried him, as it was thinner than during his last cruise in 2004. The explosion, however, saved the sub as it had to smash its way through the ice to surface. The sonar equipment was crushed upon surfacing, but data was collected from across 2000 kilometres of the Arctic. Wadhams is currently in a dispute with the UK's Natural Environment Research Council over funding, which may affect the analysis of this data.

France Releases UFO Files

In a world first, the French space agency, CNES, made its official UFO archives public on 22 March. Jacques Arnauld of GEIPAN, the CNES unit established in 1977 to investigate UFOs, stated that the agency went public because people were concerned about secrecy and conspiracies, and that they have "nothing to hide." The GEIPAN website currently hosts a quarter of the more than 6000 eyewitness UFO reports sent to the unit by police over three decades. These reports are typically followed up by police and scientific/military experts. GEIPAN has debunked about 75 per cent of them, with most sightings attributed to weather balloons, lightning flashes, or debris from satellites or rockets. However, Jacques Patenet, head of GEIPAN, stated that the remaining reports are unexplained. While he believes they likely have scientific explanations, he admits, "But frankly, we can't disprove the extraterrestrial thesis."

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The issue touches upon significant global concerns: the profound environmental impact of climate change and its consequences for biodiversity, the critical need for international cooperation and equitable access to essential medical resources like pandemic vaccines, and the public's interest in unexplained phenomena, as evidenced by the release of UFO files. The magazine's stance appears to be one of reporting on scientific findings, international policy challenges, and public interest topics with a focus on factual reporting and expert analysis, while acknowledging the limits of current scientific understanding in some areas.