Science Friday: this week's science news

Let's try this new segment out, see how we all like it:

The big news today was that US negotiators, led by Bush science advisor John Marburger, are altering language of the G8 climate plan to include the possibility that a drastic drop in the number of high-seas pirates may be linked to the observed rise in global temperatures.

In other science news this week:

Adult neurons were cultured for the first time:

"Scientists have grown fully mature brain cells in a laboratory for the first time, using a technique that mimics the natural process of brain regeneration.
It promises to open the door to new ways of treating and possibly curing debilitating brain diseases such as Parkinson's, epilepsy and Alzheimer's.
The scientists said they were able to produce virtually unlimited quantities of brains cells, which could revolutionise transplant medicine as well as leading to new drugs to stimulate the regrowth of damaged nerves."

To which Bill O'Reilly commented: "Now blood-thirsty Democrats will have no excuse to slaughter countless babies in their bid to make this country into a heathen sesspool."

An American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) ban on journal submissions by scientists from countries under a U.S. trade embargo hits Iranian scientists especially hard.

Finally, an editorial in Nature examines the need to take into account rights of locals when deciding on conservation policies. And Huffington's blog got some play in the blogosphere about a post on the evolution / creationism debate in the US.