Science Headlines for October 23, 2008

Florida's 'Worm Grunters' Collect Bait Worms By Inadvertently Imitating Mole Sounds

Vanderbilt biologist Ken Catania has discovered the secret of "worm grunting" -- the Florida practice of driving a wooden stake into the ground and rubbing it with a long piece of steel to produce a grunting sounds that drives nearby earthworms to the surface where they can be collected for bait. The worm grunters are unknowingly mimicking the sounds that the worm's arch-enemy the mole causes while burrowing.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm

Been There, Done That: Brain Mechanism Predicts Ability To Generalize

A new study reveals how the brain can connect discrete but overlapping experiences to provide a rich integrated history that extends far beyond individually experienced events and may help to direct future choices.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm

Sugar Plays Key Role In How Cells Work

Scientists were dubious in the early 1980s when they stumbled on small sugar molecules lurking in the centers of cells; not only were they not supposed to be there, but they certainly weren't supposed to be repeatedly attaching to and detaching from proteins, effectively switching them on and off.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm

Silencing A Protein Could Kill T-Cells, Reverse Leukemia

Blocking the signals from a protein that activates cells in the immune system could help kill cells that cause a rare form of blood cancer, according to physicists and oncologists who combined computer modeling and molecular biology in their discovery.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm

Impacts Of Climate Change On Lakes

Climate change will have different effects on lakes in warmer and colder regions of the globe. This is the conclusion reached by Japanese and German researchers following studies of very deep caldera lakes in Japan.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm

Memories Selectively, Safely Erased In Mice

Targeted memory erasure is no longer limited to the realm of science fiction. A new study describes a method through which a selected set of memories can be rapidly and specifically erased from the mouse brain in a controlled and inducible manner. New and old memories have been selectively and safely removed from mice by scientists.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm

'Magnetic Death Star' Fossils: Earlier Global Warming Produced A Whole New Form Of Life

An international team of scientists has discovered microscopic, magnetic fossils resembling spears and spindles, unlike anything previously seen, among sediment layers deposited during an ancient global-warming event along the Atlantic coastal plain of the United States.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

New Genes Linked To Lung Cancer In Large-scale Genetic Study

A multi-institution team reports results of the largest effort to date to chart the genetic changes involved in the most common form of lung cancer, lung adenocarcinoma. The findings should help pave the way for more individualized approaches for detecting and treating the nation's leading cause of cancer deaths.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

Neural Probe Developed That Will Limit Damage To Cells And Biological Tissue

Engineering researchers have just developed a neural probe that demonstrates significantly greater electrical charge storage capacity than all other neural prosthetic devices to date. More charge storage capacity means the device can stimulate nerves and tissues with less damage and sense neural signals with better sensitivity.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

Seemingly Suicidal Stunt Is Normal Rite Of Passage For Immune Cells

Researchers have shown that self-induced breaks in the DNA of immune cells known as lymphocytes activate genes that cause the cells to travel from where they're made to where they help the body fight invaders. The new finding is the first to link such serious DNA damage to activation of genes not directly involved in the cells' attempts to either fix the harm or self-destruct to stop themselves from becoming cancerous.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 23 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

Out of Thin Air: How Money is Really Made (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Making money in 2008 looks like a grim proposition, but not because U.S. government printing presses can't create enough dollar bills.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 23 Oct 2008 | 1:21 pm

Scotch Tape Emits X-Rays

Scientists discover that peeling off Scotch tape in vacuum chamber emits X-rays.
Source: Livescience.com | 23 Oct 2008 | 1:14 pm

Space Tourist, Cosmonauts to Land Tonight (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - Two Russian cosmonauts and American space tourist Richard Garriott are set to cast off from the International Space Station tonight for the return to Earth, and they're hoping for a smooth ride home.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 23 Oct 2008 | 1:01 pm

'Extinct' Cockatoo Rediscovered in Indonesia

A cockatoo species feared extinct has been "rediscovered" with a handful of sightings.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 23 Oct 2008 | 12:57 pm

OPEC hardliners demand production cut before summit (AFP)

AFP - OPEC hardliners stepped up pressure on Thursday for a controversial oil production cut at an emergency meeting of the cartel on Friday to decide how to shore up prices while the world heads into a recession.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 23 Oct 2008 | 12:55 pm

How to make a zombie

Frank Swain: If you think the zombies infesting the Big Brother house in Dead Set are just products of Charlie Brooker's fevered imagination – well, that's what the CIA wants you to think
Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 23 Oct 2008 | 12:19 pm

Hurry! Life Must Form Quickly on Some Planets

Planets around small mass stars may only have a billion-year window during which life can form.
Source: Livescience.com | 23 Oct 2008 | 12:00 pm

Scientists try to stop hunger with retooled foods (AP)

AP - Want to lose weight? Try eating. That's one of the strategies being developed by scientists experimenting with foods that trick the body into feeling full.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 23 Oct 2008 | 11:58 am

The Nation's Weather (AP)

AP - Heavy snow was to blast Nebraska and Kansas on Thursday, while clear skies dawned over the East and sunshine drenched the West.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 23 Oct 2008 | 11:28 am

Out of Thin Air: How Money is Really Made

Money grows because of lending and faith.
Source: Livescience.com | 23 Oct 2008 | 11:26 am

Dr Paul Drayson, the new minister for science and innovation, speaks to Ian Sample

Ian Sample speaks to the new science minister Dr Paul Drayson

Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 23 Oct 2008 | 10:35 am

'Baby on its way'

Indian media jubilant over lunar exploits
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 23 Oct 2008 | 9:40 am

Depression 'doubles' early birth

Women who are depressed during pregnancy have twice the risk of their babies coming early, according to US researchers.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 23 Oct 2008 | 9:02 am

Neville Rigby: Calling obese people 'fatty' is true ignorance at work

Neville Rigby: Stigmatising the overweight is on the rise, but calling obese people 'fatty' in the street is true ignorance at work
Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 23 Oct 2008 | 9:00 am

Soil health 'threatens farming'

The health and fertility of soil in parts of England may threaten its capacity for food production in future, a new report warns.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 23 Oct 2008 | 8:39 am

Cambridge scientist on major advance in MS treatment

Leukaemia drug found to have benefits for some MS sufferers, say Cambridge researchers
Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 23 Oct 2008 | 7:22 am

Researchers Find More Genes Linked to Lung Cancer (HealthDay)

HealthDay - WEDNESDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified 26 genes associated with the most common type of lung cancer, adenocarcinoma -- more than doubling the number of genes known to play a role in the deadly disease.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 23 Oct 2008 | 3:48 am

Beetle invasion threatens New England trees (AP)

AP - A wood-devouring beetle has gained a foothold in New England, and authorities plan to cut down large numbers of infested trees and grind them up to stop the pest from spreading to the region's celebrated forests and ravaging the timber, tourism and maple-syrup industries.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 23 Oct 2008 | 3:48 am

MPs rebelling over climate bill

The government is facing a backbench rebellion over plans to exclude aviation and shipping from UK greenhouse gas targets.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 23 Oct 2008 | 1:12 am

Tape measure: X-rays detected from Scotch tape (AP)

AP - Just two weeks after a Nobel Prize highlighted theoretical work on subatomic particles, physicists are announcing a startling discovery about a much more familiar form of matter: Scotch tape. It turns out that if you peel the popular adhesive tape off its roll in a vacuum chamber, it emits X-rays. The researchers even made an X-ray image of one of their fingers.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 23 Oct 2008 | 12:59 am

New feathered dinosaur discovered

A "bizarre" dinosaur species which was feathered but flightless raises questions about the evolution of birds
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Oct 2008 | 11:30 pm

MPs back scientists' production of human-animal 'hybrid embryos' but abortion row continues

The most significant shake-up of embryology laws for 20 years was last night approved by MPs, as the government faced down accusations of "shabby" behaviour for thwarting the debate on abortion.

MPs voted for a series of measures that includes allowing scientists to produce human-animal "hybrid embryos" for stem cells, and use "saviour siblings" to provide bone marrow or umbilical cord tissue for treating genetic conditions.

The third reading of the human fertilisation and embryology bill passed despite a rebellion by 16 Labour MPs, including the staunchly Catholic Ruth Kelly, who left the government this month.

The prime minister was seen as being strongly in favour of stem cell research.But MPs battled over hybrid embryos, with one opponent of the bill saying that she believed such a development would mean the appearance of "humanzees", and that a loophole would allow attempts to use human sperm to fertilise animals. Other MPs said the bill would exclude this, since it prohibited mixing human and animal gametes, except with a licence.

Much of the debate concerned criticism of the government from the pro-choice lobby, with claims that amendments to the abortion laws - including nurses performing abortions, legalisation of abortions in Northern Ireland, and an end to the "two-doctor rule" - had been deliberately scheduled for debate towards the end of yesterday's session, of less than four hours, so that they were not addressed.

The leader of the Commons, Harriet Harman - who had voted in favour of relaxing abortion rules when they were last debated 18 years ago - was reported to have ordered the late tabling of the liberalising elements on the basis that they were in danger of being overturned by the Lords.

Members of the Democratic Unionist party in Northern Ireland suggested a different reason - that the party's nine MPs voted in June for the government plan to detain terror suspects without charge for 42 days after ministers assured them that the abortion ban would be retained.

Yesterday ministers defended the late tabling, saying it was right that MPs concentrate on the rules governing stem cell research. Dawn Primarolo, the minister in charge of piloting the bill through the Commons, said the bill had had 81 hours of debate and there were no plans to allocate more time to it. Anti-abortion lobbyists, who were defeated in May in their attempts to get the upper limit for abortions dropped from 24 weeks to 22, want a committee to look at the issue. Yesterday Primarolo said this was not possible.

The Labour backbencher Diane Abbott said the government's unwillingness to debate the extension of the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland was "shabby".

The chief executive of the Family Planning Association, Julie Bentley, said: "We are dismayed. The women of Northern Ireland have been badly let down."

Embryos and stem cells

Major step towards treating multiple sclerosis as trials show drug reverses effects of disease

Doctors yesterday hailed a major success in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, after trials revealed that a drug had halted and reversed the debilitating effects of the disease for the first time.

The unprecedented results will boost the hopes of thousands of people in Britain in the early stages of the condition, which destroys the central nervous system.

Existing medications, such as beta interferon, at best slow the disease, which causes the immune system mistakenly to attack fatty coatings around nerves that are needed to make sure signals are passed down them properly.

Doctors at Cambridge University led a three-year trial of the drug, alemtuzumab, to compare its effectiveness against the market-leading beta interferon treatment. They recruited 334 patients with MS in their 20s and 30s, all of whom had experienced their first symptoms no more than three years ago.

Patients who were given the new drug were 74% less likely to relapse and had a 71% lower risk of being disabled within three years. But most remarkably, those on the new treatment showed fewer signs of disability at the end of the trial than they began with.

The drug is a synthetic antibody that was developed at Cambridge 30 years ago as a treatment for leukaemia. While it is now licensed as a treatment for chronic leukaemia, scientists suspected it might also benefit MS patients because it dampens down the immune system.

"For the first time we've shown definitely that treating people early on with this aggressive immunosuppression is a good thing and we can say people's disability improves. That's never been seen before and goes counter to everything we thought," said Alasdair Coles, a member of the Cambridge team, whose study appears in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"What is unprecedented and fascinating is that patients who take beta interferon have slowly shrinking brains as the disease attacks their brain tissue. We used MRI scans to show that patients who have alemtuzumab have enlarging brains as the lost tissue is restored. Somehow the drug is promoting brain repair," Coles added.

In the trial, patients were given either a beta interferon injection three times a week for a year, or five days of alemtuzumab infusions followed by a three-day follow-up treatment a year later. The drug is now in a phase three clinical trial, which will be used to work out the best dosages. If the trial is a success, it could be licensed as early as 2010. For the drug to be approved, licensing bodies will have to be convinced that it can be used safely, but two major side-effects have been identified.

When the drug is given, it appears to suppress the immune system by reducing white blood cells called lymphocytes, which are crucial for the body to fight infections. Although the patients in the trial did not suffer from a rise in infections, some did develop new immune disorders. The most common side-effect involved the immune system attacking the thyroid gland, which affected nearly 25% on the new drug. A few patients (2.8%) suffered an immune disorder which affected platelets in their bloodstream. One patient in the trial died of the condition. "Both of these conditions can be monitored and treated providing diagnosis is made quickly enough," said Coles.

"I'm sure this is the most effective way to treat MS and it's the best we'll see in terms of efficacy," he added. The trial intentionally focused on patients who were in the early stages of the disease. Longer-term patients are not expected to respond as well to the treatment.

Despite the potential for serious side-effects, the trial was lauded as a major step towards treating the disease. In Britain about 100,000 people are affected by multiple sclerosis.

Video: Bloodhound supersonic car faster than speeding bullet

Computer-generated animation of a British-designed car aiming to break the land speed record
Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 22 Oct 2008 | 11:16 pm

The world's first 1,000mph car

Computer-generated images of Bloodhound SSC, the world's first 1000mph car which will be built in Britain next year
Source: Science | guardian.co.uk | 22 Oct 2008 | 11:16 pm

Faster than a bullet - the 1,000mph car

British engineers have unveiled plans for the world's first 1,000mph car, a muscular streak of gunmetal and orange designed not to break the world land speed record but to shatter it.

Bloodhound SSC, named after the British cold war supersonic air defence missiles, will attempt to beat the existing record by more than 250mph.

The £12m car is to be announced today by Lord Drayson, the science minister. Working from an aircraft hangar in Bristol, the team's engineers have been working on the project in secret for the past 18 months. Calculations suggest the car could reach 1,050mph, fast enough to outrun a bullet from a .357 Magnum revolver.

The car was proposed by Drayson, a racing car enthusiast, as a project to inspire a new generation of scientists and engineers, who are in desperately short supply in UK. The Bloodhound team plans to have the car built within a year, with the record attempt expected in three years.

The project brings together mathematician and fighter pilot Andy Green, who set the current land speed record of 763mph with Thrust SSC in 1997, and Richard Noble, who directed that attempt. The car will be the first to meld a jet engine for a Eurofighter Typhoon with a rocket booster. Together they will produce 20,000kg (45,000lb) of thrust.

"It's an opportunity to do something extraordinary in engineering terms and to be part of the very best land speed record attempt in the world," said Green, 46. "It's more Buck Rogers than Wacky Races."

Green, an RAF wing commander, will use an accelerator to power the jet engine up to speeds of around 350 mph and then fire the solid rocket booster. At that point, a V-12 racing car engine will start pumping more than a tonne of hydrogen peroxide into the booster, forcing the car to 1,000mph in 20 seconds.

"It's going to be quite uncomfortable. Where I sit will be just under the intake of the jet engine, so it's going to be acoustically quite challenging," he said, adding: "If I was worried I wouldn't be doing it, but I only met my wife last year, so it might be a scary experience for her."

Slowing down will also be a significant challenge. The car will use airbrakes and two parachutes to bring it to a rest after each run.

Team members are now visiting sites where the record attempt will be made. The current record was set at Black Rock Desert in Nevada. But that has been ruled out as ground conditions there have deteriorated since 1997. In the next week or two, Green will visit a site in South Africa. Other possible venues are the salt flats of the US and Australia.

John Piper, the lead engineer on the project, said the team would build a full-size mock-up of the vehicle over the next month.

The project is being funded by five sponsors, including the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Swansea University and the University of the West of England.

It is an enormous engineering challenge. At speed, the car will experience pressures of 12 tonnes a square metre, similar to those experienced by submarines. The wheels will spin more than five times faster than those on a formula one racing car, generating forces that could rip them to pieces.

Engineers must ensure there are no gaps around the cockpit. If there are, all of the air inside it could be sucked out as the car breaks the sound barrier.

Several other teams are already building cars to challenge the land speed record. One, which was led by the late entrepreneur and adventurer Steve Fossett, is thought to be capable of more than 800mph.

Drayson said that throughout the development of the Bloodhound, the team would make all of its information public, so other scientists and engineers can get involved.

"Having the right stuff in the 21st century means being able to understand the world about you. We don't have enough young people taking science and maths and the real deficiency is they don't understand what careers they could do, what a life for them would mean if they took those subjects. These are difficult subjects and we have to give young people a clear reason for studying them," he said.

The Science Museum in London is now holding a week-long exhibition dedicated to Bloodhound.

"If we produce a 900mph car and every schoolkid in the country really gets into it, and it makes a difference to how they feel, and how the nation feels about scientists and engineers, without whom we can't live in a hi-tech world, we've done something really good. If we produce a 1,000mph car and nobody gives a shit, we've failed," said Green.

Other contenders

North American Eagle Ed Shadle's 1960s jet fighter with the wings removed and some wheels bolted on. The project's aim is to reach 800mph.

Spirit of America Steve Fossett's car was close to completion when he went missing last year. The 800mph vehicle could be ready to go for the record next year if a new buyer is found.

Aussie Invader 5R Rosco McGlashan's rocket car is about two years away from making a 1,000mph attempt.

India's lunar mission is new step in Asian space race

India's first unmanned moon mission blasted into space yesterday, joining the Asian space race with Japan and China and signalling India's intent to be a global power.

The mission, launched from the Sriharikota space centre north of Chennai, was broadcast live on television to the sound of the Star Wars film soundtrack.

"What we have started is a remarkable journey," said G Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation. The prime minister, Manmohan Singh, who was visiting Japan, said: "Our scientific community has once again done the country proud and the entire nation salutes them."

The launch follows unmanned lunar probes from China and Japan last year.

The Chandrayaan I spacecraft is expected to reach lunar orbit early next month and spend two years scanning the moon for evidence of water and precious metals. India is hoping the mission will boost its space programme into the same league as its rival Asian powerhouses. Nair said the space agency was aiming at a manned flight by 2015. Work on a two-person capsule was already under way.

As well as seeking a larger share of the commercial satellite launch market, India, Japan and China see their space programmes as important for creating an image of powerful nation-states. In 2003 China became only the third nation to put a man into space, after the US and Russia. Last month Chinese astronauts walked in space.

It is clear India does not want to be left behind. By 2011 it will send a rover on to the lunar surface.

The current mission carries 11 instruments: five from India, two from the US, and one each from Germany, Britain, Sweden and Bulgaria.

Study probes clouds' climate role

Scientists hope to shed light on how massive cloud systems over the Pacific Ocean affect global climate and weather systems.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Oct 2008 | 11:15 pm

Charges filed against 6 in Iowa pig abuse case (AP)

AP - Six farm employees were charged with animal abuse and neglect Wednesday in connection with a video obtained by an animal-rights group that showed workers abusing pigs.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Oct 2008 | 10:34 pm

Obamanauts Work to Turn Florida's Space Coast Blue

Sen. Barack Obama's support for space exploration has earned him the support of advocates on Florida's "Space Coast" who call themselves Obamanauts.

With NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Orlando, space could play a role in the presidential race in a key battleground state.

In an electoral first, both Obama (.pdf) and McCain have specifically addressed space exploration in their platforms.

The Obamanauts have compiled a head-to-head comparison of the candidates' stances on space, and are also encouraging pro-space voters to make calls to undecided Florida voters to encourage them to vote for Obama.

What has the Obamanauts excited is the senator's plan to spend $2 billion to reduce the gap between when the shuttle is retired and its replacement is ready, which could help save jobs in Florida.

Florida, a state that went to George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, has 27 electoral votes up for grabs, the fourth largest number in the nation. Brevard County is home to Kennedy Space Center as well as more than half a million of Florida's 18 million residents.

Both candidates seem to be aware that in a close Florida race, the support of the Space Coast could be important. During a recent campaign stop there, McCain promised not to cut NASA's funding.

Obama and Hillary Clinton also visited Orlando on Monday for a rally where they handed out a new one-page flier on space policy aimed specifically at Florida voters. Obamanauts handed out bumper stickers at the rally that featured their space-age version of Obama's "O" logo.

The biggest difference between the two campaigns when it comes to space may be their contrasting tones. Obama talks about restoring NASA as a source of inspiration and innovation for the nation and the world, while McCain talks more about power and dominance while hearkening back to the U.S. "victory over the Soviets" in the race to the moon.

Meet the Obamanauts (Orlando Sentinal)
I’m an Obamanaut (And So Can You!) (Obamanaut logo designer's blog)

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 22 Oct 2008 | 10:33 pm

Supersonic car targets 1,000mph

The British team that drove a car through the sound barrier for the first time in 1997 says it now plans to beat 1,000mph.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Oct 2008 | 10:28 pm

New Space Station Crew Takes Charge

Russian cosmonauts turned over control of the International Space Station Wednesday.
Source: Livescience.com | 22 Oct 2008 | 10:17 pm

Blue Bananas Surprise Scientists

Products of chlorophyll breakdown make ripening bananas glow blue under black lights.
Source: Livescience.com | 22 Oct 2008 | 9:40 pm

Mouse Memories Erased, No Harm Done

Scientists have successfully selected and safely erased specific memories in a mouse’s brain, leaving others intact, it was announced today.
Source: Livescience.com | 22 Oct 2008 | 9:37 pm

Britain widens scope for stem cell research (AP)

AP - British plans to allow scientists to use hybrid animal-human embryos for stem cell research won final approval from lawmakers Wednesday in a sweeping overhaul of sensitive science laws. The House of Commons also clarified laws that allow the screening of embryos to produce babies with suitable bone marrow or other material for transplant to sick siblings.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 22 Oct 2008 | 8:18 pm

BLOG: Fall Colors From Space

Forget the road trip -- now you can watch the leaves change via satellite.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 22 Oct 2008 | 7:35 pm

Video: The Scotch-Tape X-Ray Machine

Sometimes, the journal Nature shines a light on a strange, dust-mitey corner of science, and you find yourself staring at an unimaginably weird creature/experiment.

In today's issue, they dedicate several pages to the odd story of a couple of guys at UCLA who've built a machine for unpeeling sticky-tape in a vacuum at the rate of 3 centimeters per second for the express purpose of generating x-rays.

Amazingly, it works. Check out the video for proof.

The authors write that current theories of tribology, the science of things rubbing together, don't fully explain the amount of energy their machine generates. The search for a better theory of triboluminescence could lead to a greater understanding of electron behavior at the interface between two surfaces exhibiting stick-slip friction like, say, earthquake faults.

Wired.com's Dave Bullock posted a photo gallery from his visit to the lab: Take an X-Ray With Your Office Sticky Tape

Citation: "Correlation between nanosecond X-ray flashes and stick–slip friction in peeling tape." doi:10.1038/nature07378

WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal's Twitter , Google Reader feed, and webpage; Wired Science on Facebook.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 22 Oct 2008 | 7:05 pm

Tiny Flightless, Feathered Dino Found in China

A newly found, bizarre dinosaur may help explain the evolution of birds.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 22 Oct 2008 | 6:35 pm

PopTech: 20-Somethings Take On $50 Billion Counterfeit-Drug Biz

If you get malaria, you take medicine, and you get better.

At least, that's how the process should work, but a flood of counterfeit medications is threatening the doctors' ability to treat sick people in the developing world. A 2006 study found that more than half the anti-malarials in southeast Asia contained no actual medicine.

While public health officials fret, the increasingly sophisticated shadowy network of fake-drug producers will rake in an estimated $75 billion by 2010, according to a pharmaceutical industry research group. Despite rapid growth in counterfeiting over the last decade, no one has quite figured out how to stop handbag knockoffs, let alone ersatz pills that the FDA admits, "can be difficult, if not impossible" to tell apart from the real thing.

Sounds just like the kind of problem that a couple of scrappy twenty-somethings with a dream can solve, right?

Maybe not, but that's just what N. Taylor Thompson and Nathan Sigworth, the youngest members of PopTech's new fellows program, are trying to do. Using cellphones to connect the people who produce drugs with the people taking them, the Dartmouth-schooled duo's big goal is to reduce the amount of counterfeit pharmaceuticals in the world by 25 percent.

"Not only are we doing something that has a positive benefit for consumers who are sick, but it's something that actually takes away from the profits of people making money on fake medicines," Sigworth told Wired.com.

Thompson and Sigworth are excellent examples of the post-internet social entrepreneurs that PopTech is trying to attract. Comfortable with the digital world, they can bring youthful vigor and tech know-how to the occasionally stodgy world of nonprofit development causes. Perhaps most importantly, they remain optimistic that new technological and business models can overcome daunting challenges that have defeated their elders.

"How do you tackle a problem like this yourself at 22 or 23?" Sigworth asked. "From the beginning, we've tried to surround ourselves with people from pharma and other organizations that could really help make this happen."

And it wasn't as if they chose this problem at random from the huge-world problem bin. Sigworth said that he and his partner saw a unique opportunity to fight counterfeit drugs because Big Pharma's needs match up with the needs of poor, sick people in the developing world. Like a Yahoo Pipe, they could connect corporate money to social needs.

"It really is the nexus of where public health concerns and private concerns come together," Sigworth said.

The entrepreneurs' nascent company, Pharmasecure, has developed a business model to drop the cost of authenticating drugs low enough that supply-chain security can be extended into countries like China and India.

Using their cellphones to check identifying numbers on the drugs with the manufacturer, sick people in the developing world will be able to authenticate that the drugs they are using don't come from shady operations that often neglect to include the actual medicine in the pill. The innovation isn't the technology, it's the business model that will allow the poorest people on earth access to the technology.

They've gotten support from C. Everett Koop, former surgeon general of the United States, and fellow Dartmouth alum, and are in the process of raising capital to take their ideas from the prototype to the people who need them.

As you might expect, people working to fight counterfeit drugs don't make a lot of friends among the illegal racket, so some of Sigworth and Thompson's plans — and their whereabouts — remain secret, but they are planning to be operating in eight countries across Asia and Africa over the next few years.

See Also:

Wired's PopTech 2008 Coverage

Image: FDA

WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal's Twitter , Google Reader feed and web page; Wired Science on Facebook.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 22 Oct 2008 | 6:24 pm

Ripped Scotch Tape Emits X-Rays

Peeling sticky scotch tape has a surprising side effect, report scientists.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 22 Oct 2008 | 5:58 pm

Scientists Find 26 Genes That Promote Lung Cancer

New research identifies 26 genes that may predispose people to lung cancer.
Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 22 Oct 2008 | 5:37 pm

Dustbowl fishing

Fish farms bring food security to dry areas of Malawi
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 22 Oct 2008 | 5:26 pm

Fancy Feathers Predated Flight in Dinosaur-Bird Hybrid

Form can precede function, at least when it comes to mate-attracting feathers.

Tailfossil_2

A part-bird, part-dinosaur described in the journal Nature this week didn't have feathers for flying, but did possess ostentatious ornamental plumage, including four tailfeathers three times longer than its pigeon-sized body.

Epidexipteryx ("display" + "wing, feather") lived during the middle-to-late Jurassic, predating the famed Archaeoptryx, and represents an alternative evolutionary pathway from dinosaurs to birds.

The discovery by the Chinese Academy of Sciences adds complexity to the presumed road from T-rex to turkey vulture because the creature looks like a mythological chimera. And that, in the words of the authors of the paper, is "bizarre".

Citation: "A bizarre Jurassic maniraptoran from China with elongate ribbon-like feathers" doi:10.1038/nature07447

Images: 1 & 2: Qui Ji & Xing Lida; 3: Nature.

WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal's Twitter , Google Reader feed, and webpage; Wired Science on Facebook.

Source: Wired: Wired Science | 22 Oct 2008 | 5:16 pm

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