1. CORAL: 2 lines, 20 counts each

1. CORAL: 2 lines, 20 counts each Dynamite, cyanide destroy coral reefs in S. Sulawesi

The widespread use of sodium cyanide and explosives in fishing has caused massive damage to coral reefs in South Sulawesi over the past decade, local environmentalists say.

"Some studies show that about 70 percent of coral reefs in the Spermonde islands and on the west coast of South Sulawesi are seriously damaged because fishing activities in these areas ignore the environmental aspect", said Willem Moka, of the Maritime Biology and Research Center for Coral Reefs at Hasanuddin University.

The area is well-known for its strong winds and huge waves and explosives and cyanide are considered effective to catch fish quickly.

In addition, conventional fishing gear will not ensure a good catch. Hence a shortcut is necessary: the use of sodium cyanide and explosives. They are unaware, sadly to say, that this method does great damage to the environment.

Sodium cyanide and explosives are used, among other things, because certain expensive species of fish, for example kerapu, usually hide behind coral reefs and they can be caught only after they are anesthetized by spraying chemicals into the gaps in the reefs.

If they cannot catch the fish easily, they will damage the coral reefs to chase the fish.

The use of chemicals in fishing causes the death of living tissues and the ecosystem of the coral reefs.

Moka says that once a coral reef ecosystem is damaged by chemicals or explosives, its restoration will be very difficult.

It will take about 40 years to 50 years to restore a damaged coral reef ecosystem while broken corals will take about four to five years to return to their normal condition.

"Coral can survive as long as they have living tissues," Moka said.

To prevent the damage to coral reefs from worsening, Moka suggested that a nucleus zone, a protection zone and an exploitation zone be established and modeled upon Maluku's sasi system in which an island is alternately isolated and then opened again. Under this system, locals will be prohibited from fishing at particular times.

Efforts to cut the destruction of coral reefs have been made by some institutions such as the government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the World Bank through its Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Project (Cormap). The South Sulawesi-based Research Institution for Coastal Villages and Community (LP3M) is one of the institutions focusing themselves on the rehabilitation of coral reefs and providing guidance to the people living in the Taka Bonerate National Sea Park in the regency of Selayar.

2. TURTLE: 2 lines, 28 counts Giant Pacific sea turtles on verge of extinction or Numbers of the giant Pacific leatherback turtle dwindling

Giant Pacific leatherback sea turtles are on a fast track to extinction as commercial fishing and man-made destruction of their beach nesting areas threaten to wipe out the 150 million- year-old species, scientists said.

Speaking at the Leatherback International Survival Conference in Monterey, researchers said only a handful of females returned to nesting beaches along the Pacific coast last season -- down from thousands who did so just 20 years ago.

The week-long meeting that began last Tuesday is aimed at bringing together marine biologists, environmental activists and fishing industry representatives to seek ways to ensure the survival of the only sea turtles without shells.

"The decline is an example of the greatest extinction of a population of animals that we have probably witnessed since humans have recorded this sort of thing," James Spotila, a researcher at Philadelphia's Drexel University told a telephone news conference.

"It is almost as rapid as the extinction of the bison in North America in the 1800s."

Currently there are some 30,000 leatherbacks swimming in the world's oceans, down from about 115,000 in the 1980s, the researchers said. The turtles can reach 9 feet (2.7 metres) in length and weigh 2,000 pounds (907 kg). The females come ashore once a year to lay their eggs.

But the situation of Pacific leatherbacks -- which are genetically distinct from those in the Atlantic Ocean -- is particularly perilous because their numbers have sunk to about 3,000 from 91,000 just 20 years ago.

This creates a downward spiral where fewer and fewer females are left to reproduce, leaving the leatherbacks swimming toward an uncertain future, scientists said.

For example, last year just 68 of the animals, which spend most of their time in the water, nested on Costa Rica's most popular leatherback beach, down from 1,600 only 15 years ago.

More worrying, along Mexico's coast -- once described as the largest and most important leatherback nesting area in the world -- only 50 females returned to lay eggs this past season, researchers said.

3. PLASTIC: 2 lines, 27 counts 'Smart' surgical plastic can form new shapes inside body

A plastic material that can be made to tie itself into a knot shows promise for use as a surgical thread and for some medical implants.

The material, made of thermoplastic polymers that can be absorbed by the body, can be engineered to retain a memory of a specific shape and to then transform itself into that shape when warmed to body temperature, said Robert Langer, the co-author of a study appearing in the electronic version of the journal Science.

The other author is Andreas Lendlein, a former researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, now teaches at the University of Technology in Germany,YTevtththehe TEchissbhe Langer, a professor of chemistry at MIT, said the plastic could be used to make implants or bone screws that are not much bigger than a piece of string when they are inserted into the body. Once they warm up, the devices change to form the appropriate implant.

"In a test on mice, we showed we can make these sutures (surgical stitches) actually tie themselves," said Langer.

He said that since the material has a memory, it could be threaded into an incision as a loose knot. When it warms to the body's temperature, the material "remembers" its designed shape and size and shrinks to tighten the wound. Later, after the wound is healed, the material dissolves and is harmlessly absorbed by the body.

"It is like a smart suture," said Langer. "That could be very important in closing an incision in a place that is hard to reach by surgeon."

Langer said that modern, minimally invasive surgery often involves a small incision through which is passed a flexible tube. The surgical work is done by passing tools, stitching materials and even implants down the small diameter of the tube to site within the body.

By using materials that are small when they enter the body and then spring into the proper size later, it may be possible to do more complicated operations using the flexible tube technique, called laparoscopy, he said.

The researcher said the material could be used to make vascular stents, devices that hold open blocked arteries to allow easy blood flow. Stents made of thermoplastic polymer material with a memory could be inserted as a small thread or string and would then spring to a designed shape and size once it is warmed by the body, said Langer.

More research on animals needs to be conducted before the material can be tested in humans, but Langer said that the basic polymer materials have all been used in other implanted medical devices and been shown to be nontoxic. He said only basic research with the material has been completed and more detailed studies are needed before the polymer-with-memory material can be tested in humans.