We’re getting nearer to the date when astronomers will make what may be the most (un)important decision of the decade – whether or not smaller objects like Pluto get to be classified as planets. The good news for supporters of the underdog is that an international panel is taking a proposal to the voting conference that states Pluto and its icy brethren should stay as planets, albeit in a subclassification due to their size.

3D printing, fabbing, instant prototyping – call it what you will, it’s here and here to stay. How can I be so sure? I’m working on the theory that if MMORPG fanatics can get 3D prints made of their World of Warcraft characters just for the fun of it, then the technology is already viable and cheap enough to spread like a rash once the idea becomes more commonplace.

An Austalian geneticist has sparked a controversial debate, by putting a new spin on the old question ‘what will happen when the Y chromosome drops off?’ The Y chromosome (the trigger that makes males, well, male) has been slowly shrinking down over the generations, and will eventually vanish completely. Professor Graves speculates that this could result in the creation of a new species of human being. Other specialists aren’t entirely convinced that the theory could become reality, but there’s little cause for worry – it’ll take a good 15 million years to happen, if at all.

We already know that nuclear power is uneconomical, damages the environment and leaves us with a nasty and as-yet-unsolved waste problem – ‘energy too cheap to meter’, it isn’t. But here’s another reason for not investing in new nuclear plants – the weather. It’s been awfully dry this year, hasn’t it? We’ve had real droughts in both the US and Europe. The thing is, nuclear plants need a lot of water to run safely and efficiently, and the global water shortage is one of the major unmentioned crises currently facing the human race. Lucky there are better options available, eh?

The media doesn’t do science many favours in its endless search for the eye-grabbing headline. One of the NewScientist bloggers has a good summary of the problem, using as an example the AFP headline used to announce the results of a genetic study of the Maori people of New Zealand, and the identification of a gene that influences aggression and risk-taking in Maori males. The headline? “‘Warrior’ gene claimed to fuel violence in New Zealand Maori.” Overstatement may encourage discrimination and stereotyping, but hey, it sure shifts newpapers.