BLOOD oxygen in doctors climbing Everest plunged to the lowest levels ever recorded in a healthy human. This might mean some people in intensive care can tolerate lower oxygen levels than previously thought.

The four doctors, who had spent weeks acclimatising to the

thin air, took samples of their own blood at 8400 metres above sea level, 448 metres below the Everest summit. The average blood oxygen level was 3.28 kilopascals, with the lowest at 2.55 kPa ( The New England Journal of Medicine , vol 360, p 140).

The normal value is 12 to 14 kPa, while values below 8 kPa usually indicate critical illness. “You sometimes see levels this low in people who are dying because they’ve had a cardiac arrest,” says team member Mike Grocott of University College London. “We were able to talk, walk, take the blood gas and think clearly with these levels.”

So some patients in intensive care might be able to tolerate lower oxygen levels, reducing the use of a ventilator which can damage the lungs. And people preparing to undergo surgery could perhaps be trained to cope better with low oxygen levels.

TENSIONS are rising in the Antarctic following skirmishes last month between anti-whaling protesters and Japanese vessels they accuse of commercial whaling under the guise of research .

This week, Keiichi Nakajima, head of the Japan Whaling Association, called on the governments of Australia and New Zealand to close their ports to the Steve Irwin, a ship run by the Sea Shepherd Conservation

Society, on the grounds that it has committed “criminal acts” and endangered lives. Failure to do so, he said, would make them “complicit” in any further attacks. Australia has agreed to consider Japan’s request.

The Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research says that in the worst incident so far , the activists’ ship circled the Japanese whale-sighting vessel for 3 hours on 26 December , before ramming it from behind and throwing bottles of acid at the ship and its crew.

The protesters, however, deny this . “The extent of Sea Shepherd’s actions has been to toss rotten butter and slime onto the decks of the whalers to hinder their illegal

“You can see oxygen levels this low in people dying because they’ve had a cardiac arrest”

“We have engaged them and stopped their whaling activities for two weeks”

EUROPE may become a significant source of “exported” measles in poor countries that have done a better job eliminating the virus.

A study in The Lancet this week finds that the World Health Organization is unlikely to meet its goal of eliminating measles in the European region by 2010 because vaccination rates in many countries, including Germany, the UK and Italy, are too low to stop the spread of the virus (DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61849-8 ).

In contrast, Latin America eliminated measles in 2002 , but has since suffered outbreaks “imported” from Europe. While measles rarely kills in Europe, in poorer countries malnutrition and limited healthcare make the virus far more lethal, warns Jacques Kremer of Luxembourg’s National Health Institute in an accompanying editorial (DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61850-4).

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activities,” says Paul Watson, the ship’s captain. “We have turned their decks into stink holes but we have not hurt any whaler nor have we damaged any property and we have not rammed these illegal whaling ships.”

Now needing to refuel, the crew of the Steve Irwin say they are determined to continue their activities, and plan to dock in Hobart, Australia .

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–For research or commercial gain?–

–Unearthing delights–

60 SECONDS

Not selected by Darwin

The Galapagos islands just keep on giving. Darwin’s thinking about evolution was powerfully shaped by his observations of how environmental factors caused the islands’ wildlife to form new species. But he ignored the pink iguana, which has now been found to be a different species to the other land iguanas. What’s more, it may be one of the earliest examples of species diversification on the islands.

The Milky weigh

Our galaxy is much more massive than we thought. Measurements of the motion of gas clouds, presented at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society, reveal that the Milky Way is spinning faster than previously thought. This means that to hold everything together, our galaxy must have up to 50 per cent more mass than expected.

Autism Brain Bank

The UK has launched its first bank of donated brain tissue samples dedicated to autism research. The Brain Bank for Autism in Oxford should reveal more detail on cellular and molecular changes during the development of the disorder than brain scans alone. Such a bank already exists in the US.

Mistaken reflections

Many birds, insects, reptiles and crabs become disorientated when exposed to polarised light – made when light bounces off dark artificial surfaces such as buildings and roads. Animals often mistake the light for that reflected by bodies of water, which many animals and insects use as a guide to breeding sites and food sources (Frontiers

in Ecology and the Environment, DOI: 10.1890/080129).

Flu fatalities

Bird flu continues to stalk the planet. This week, a 19-year-old woman in Beijing died of the H5N1 virus. Last month, vaccinated chickens in Hong Kong also died, which may be almost as bad as it suggests the virus is evolving.

So low up high

Whale wars

Measles exporter

www.newscientist.com 10 January 2009 | NewScientist | 5