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Better Targeting Of Stem Cells As Medication: Arteriosclerosis May Soon Be A Thing Of The PastUntil now, it has been extremely difficult to control stem cells in such a way that they grow into new blood vessels outside the body, or -- when injected into an organ -- lead to the creation of new small blood vessels and tissue repair. New research has resulted in a method whereby the cells can be instructed. This is a great advance towards curing numerous life-threatening diseases.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Apr 2009 | 6:00 pm Men Treated For Localized Prostate Cancer Could Benefit From Pomegranate Juice ConsumptionPomegranate juice may slow the progression of post-treatment prostate cancer recurrence, according to new long-term research. Researchers found that men who have undergone treatment for localized prostate cancer could benefit from drinking pomegranate juice.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Apr 2009 | 6:00 pm Environmentally Friendly Boat Wash Developed By Swedish ResearchersToxic anti-fouling paints from thousands of leisure craft have given rise to a serious environmental problem in the Sannäs Fjord in Bohuslän, Sweden. Scientists have collaborated with municipalities, companies and the county administrative board to develop what may be the most modern boat wash in the world, setting a new Swedish standard for environmentally friendly boating.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Apr 2009 | 6:00 pm Indus Script Encodes Language, Reveals New Study Of Ancient SymbolsScholars have recently question whether ancient Indus inscriptions code for language. American and Indian scientists used statistics to show that the 4,500-year-old Indus symbols' pattern follows that of other spoken languages.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Apr 2009 | 6:00 pm Evolution In A Test Tube: Scientists Make Molecules That Evolve And Compete, Mimicking Behavior Of Darwin's FinchesScientists have set up the microscopic equivalent of the Galapagos Islands -- an artificial ecosystem inside a test tube where molecules evolve to exploit distinct ecological niches, similar to the finches that Charles Darwin famously described in "The Origin of Species" 150 years ago.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Apr 2009 | 6:00 pm Swine Flu: To Panic Or Not -- That Is The QuestionThanks to the 24-hour media coverage about swine flu, we're all aware that a potential flu pandemic could be high. But before you stock up on face masks and hand sanitizer, it's important to put some things in perspective.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Apr 2009 | 6:00 pm Evidence Of The 'Lost World': Did Dinosaurs Survive The End Cretaceous Extinctions?The idea of isolated communities of dinosaurs surviving the catastrophic extinction event 65 million years ago has stimulated a great deal of literary and cinematic drama. Today the fiction seems just a little closer to reality. New scientific evidence suggests that dinosaurs may have survived in a remote area of what is now New Mexico and Colorado for up to half a million years.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Apr 2009 | 3:00 pm Certain Ecologic Factors Associated With Greater Risk Of Bladder CancerPersons drinking well water (as opposed to public supply) may be at an increased risk of bladder cancer, according to new research. Researchers have examined data about the relationship between bladder cancer and certain ecologic factors including water source and UV radiation levels.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Apr 2009 | 3:00 pm Half A Glass Of Wine A Day May Boost Life Expectancy By Five YearsDrinking up to half a glass of wine a day may boost life expectancy by five years -- at least in men, suggests new research.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Apr 2009 | 3:00 pm Lake Tahoe Region In U.S. May Be Due For Major EarthquakeScientists have developed a more comprehensive analysis of earthquake activity in the Lake Tahoe region, which suggest a magnitude-7 earthquake occurs every 2,000 to 3,000 years in the basin, and that the largest fault in the basin, West Tahoe, appears to have last ruptured between 4,100 and 4,500 years ago.Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 30 Apr 2009 | 3:00 pm 12 slain in shooting at Azerbaijan oil academy (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Apr 2009 | 12:34 pm Earth WatchWhy carbon caps may put jam in the climate worksSource: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 30 Apr 2009 | 12:01 pm Invisibility cloak edges closerA tiny "carpet cloak" that makes objects invisible to optical light has been made by a US research team.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 30 Apr 2009 | 11:23 am French nuclear power plant evacuated in bomb alert (Reuters)Reuters - A nuclear power station at Chinon in central France was evacuated on Thursday after a phone call warning of a bomb, power supplier EDF said.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Apr 2009 | 11:21 am Pakistan's blind dolphins face hazardous existence (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Apr 2009 | 7:17 am Swine flu pandemic alert raised to fiveWorld Health Organisation raises global epidemic threat to second highest level as numbers of infected continue to rise The World Health Organisation last night raised its swine flu global epidemic threat level to phase five – the second highest – as a result of the increasing number of people being confirmed as infected with the virus across the globe. Phase five indicates the disease is able to spread easily between humans and is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent. It can lead to governments bringing in measures to prevent its spread, including travel restrictions and trade limitations. The next phase, six, is a full-blown pandemic, characterised by outbreaks in at least two regions of the world. The increase in threat level comes after a 23-month-old Mexican child died in Texas, becoming the first person to die from swine flu outside the country of origin; while in Spain officials confirmed the first case of the disease in a person who has not travelled to Mexico. The WHO had raised the alert level from three to four on Monday, the first time it had ever intervened to increase its pandemic threat warning. It said countries should activate their pandemic plans and remain on high alert. Last night, the director general of the organisation, Dr Margaret Chan, announced the change at a press conference in Geneva and said action must be taken with "increased urgency". She said: "Influenza pandemics must be taken seriously, precisely because of their capacity to spread rapidly to every country in the world. "All countries should immediately now activate their pandemic preparedness plans. It really is all of humanity that is under threat in a pandemic." She added that, on the positive side, the world was better prepared for an influenza pandemic than at any time in history. Measures taken because of the threat from avian influenza were an investment, and there was currently benefit from that investment. "For the first time in history, we can track the evolution of a pandemic in real time," she added. She said new diseases by definition were poorly understood. "Influenza viruses are notorious for their rapid mutation and unpredictable behaviour. WHO and health authorities in affected countries will not have all the answers immediately, but we will get them." Barack Obama described the situation as "serious" in a press conference last night and urged the public to show "great vigilance" in responding to swine flu. He said, however, that there was no need for panic and rejected the possibility of closing the border with Mexico. "At this point, (health officials) have not recommended a border closing," he said. "From their perspective, it would be akin to closing the barn door after the horses are out, because we already have cases here in the United States." Peru later diagnosed its first case of swine flu, which appeared to be the first case in Latin America confirmed outside of Mexico. The Health Minister, Oscar Ugarte, subsequently announced the suspension of all commercial flights arriving in Peru from Mexico. Mexico's government said it was temporarily suspending all nonessential activity of the federal government and private business as the number of confirmed swine flu cases jumped. Mexico's president, Felipe Calderon, has told citizens to stay home from Friday for the five-day partial shutdown of the economy. In his first televised address since the crisis erupted last week, he told Mexicans to stay home with their families. Nonessential federal government offices will be closed from May 1-5 and all nonessential private businesses must also close for that period however essential services like transport, supermarkets, trash collection, hospital will remain open. In the UK, five people have been confirmed as having been infected with swine flu. They included three people who returned on the same charter flight from Cancún, Mexico – a 12-year-old girl from Torbay and a couple from Polmont in Scotland who had been on honeymoon. The number of suspected cases in the UK had risen to 78 by yesterday afternoon, but that figure continued to fluctuate as new suspected cases emerged and others were ruled out as negative. Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, the government's chief medical adviser, said: "Phase five indicates that WHO considers a global pandemic to be imminent, whereas at phase four a global pandemic is not inevitable. A change to phase five is a signal to countries' governments to ramp up their pandemic preparations – which we are already doing. We have been planning for a situation like this for some years. The preparations we have in place and are continuing to make will help to ensure we respond well in the event of a pandemic." Alan Johnson, the health secretary, said the government was obtaining extra antiviral drugs that would protect 50 million people, amounting to more than three-quarters of the UK population. Last night, the European commission's most senior health official said that potentially thousands could die. Robert Madelin, director general for consumer health policy, said it was not a question of if people would die, but how many. He said there was confidence that Europe was well prepared for a pandemic. But when asked if people could die, he replied: "Every year 2,500 people die of the flu in Europe; the question now is not whether people will die, but whether it will be thousands, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands." A British flu expert said the rise in threat level was not an "end of the world scenario". Dr Alan McNally explained that this meant the disease had been spread between humans in two countries: Spain and Mexico. The senior lecturer and researcher into influenza diagnostics at Nottingham Trent University said no human-to-human cases had yet been reported in the UK, but that some could occur. He said: "The vast majority of people have been going around treating this as a bit of a joke but that stage has now gone. The time has come to have a bit of common sense about it." NHS Direct, the health and advice information service, released figures last night on the number of people visiting its website to find out more about swine flu. A spokesman said more than 63,000 people visited NHS Direct on Tuesday this week, compared with around 39,000 on Tuesday last week. Of those, 16,638 people used the Cold and Flu Self Assessment Tool. Monday saw an increase of about 30,000 hits on the website compared to the same time last week. Meanwhile, 13,481 telephone calls were taken by the service yesterday. Of these, 1,659 were related to swine flu. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 30 Apr 2009 | 4:50 am Huge ice chunks break away from Antarctic shelf (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Apr 2009 | 4:26 am Tysabri May Treat Myelin Sheath Damage From MS (HealthDay)HealthDay - TUESDAY, April 28 (HealthDay News) -- The drug Tysabri (natalizumab) appears to regenerate and stabilize damage done to the myelin sheath in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), a study from drug makers Biogen Idec and Elan Corp shows.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Apr 2009 | 3:49 am 5 Wild Diseases We Got From Animals (LiveScience.com)LiveScience.com - The swine flu is just one of many deadly diseases that have jumped from animals to humans.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 30 Apr 2009 | 12:36 am Solitary Confinement: The Invisible Torture
The expanding torture scandal has left the American public horror-struck at how casually the Bush administration and its employees countenanced torture techniques like sleep deprivation, waterboarding and stress positions. However, another form of torture was not just used on detainees, but is being used on at least 25,000 Americans right now. That’s the number of people currently held in long-term solitary confinement in the United States, living for years in 80-square-foot concrete cubes lit by round-the-clock fluorescent light, with little or no human contact. The U.S. is alone among developed countries in using long-term solitary confinement on a regular basis. Academic scientific analysis of solitary confinement is still in its early stages, but the results are obvious, and echo the experiences of Americans who’ve been held in solitary confinement by terrorists or as prisoners of war. Human beings evolved to be social creatures. Solitary confinement drives us mad. Wired.com spoke with psychologist Craig Haney of the University of California, Santa Cruz, an expert on long-term solitary confinement. Asked if it’s torture, Haney replied, “For some people, it is.” Wired.com: Everybody’s talking now about waterboarding and sleep deprivation and stress positions, but I haven’t seen solitary confinement mentioned much. Why is that? Craig Haney: My interpretation is that the other techniques are generally regarded as more severe. But solitary confinement is in the background of all this. It’s assumed to be part of the environment in which torture is occurring. And it is itself a painful, potentially harmful condition of confinement. Wired.com: What have you seen in your own work? Haney: First let me note that solitary confinement has historically been a part of torture protocols. It was well-documented in South Africa. It’s been used to torture prisoners of war.
There are a couple reasons why solitary confinement is typically used. One is that it’s a very painful experience. People experience isolation panic. They have a difficult time psychologically coping with the experience of being completely alone. In addition, solitary confinement imposes conditions of social and perceptual stimulus deprivation. Often it’s the deprivation of activity, the deprivation of cognitive stimulation, that some people find to be painful and frightening. Some of them lose their grasp of their identity. Who we are, and how we function in the world around us, is very much nested in our relation to other people. Over a long period of time, solitary confinement undermines one’s sense of self. It undermines your ability to register and regulate emotion. The appropriateness of what you’re thinking and feeling is difficult to index, because we’re so dependent on contact with others for that feedback. And for some people, it becomes a struggle to maintain sanity. That leads to the other reason why solitary is so often a part of torture protocols. When people’s sense of themselves is placed in jeopardy, they are more malleable and easily manipulated. In a certain sense, solitary confinement is thought to enhance the effectiveness of other torture techniques. Wired.com: Is it fair to say that the science of sensory deprivation is “soft,” but the results are hard? Haney: Yes. Human beings are socially connected organisms. It’s only when people are deprived of that connection that how much we depend on feedback from other people and contact becomes apparent. And all but the most resilient people begin to experience various forms of deterioration in the face of it. I’m not suggesting that everyone doesn’t recover, but not all of them do. Wired.com: Confusion and loss of self-identity sounds uncomfortable, but is it profoundly damaging? Haney: It’s certainly profoundly damaging if people lose hold of their own sanity. For some people, their sense of themselves changes so profoundly and so fundamentally that they are unable to regain it. The other thing that happens more frequently, under even less long-term solitary confinement, is that people lose the ability to interact with others. They have to learn how to live in a world in which they’re in complete isolation. Their ability to be comfortable during social interaction and maintain relationships is permanently impaired. And for some people, the actual experience of isolation is so painful that it generates an anxiety or panic reaction. People lose their ability to control themselves. They become uncontrollably and sometimes permanently depressed in the face of this kind of treatment. Others become angry and unable to control those impulses. You also find people who suffer cognitive impairments. Their ability to process information is undermined. And it’s not clear if these skills can be brought back. Wired.com: How many people in long-term solitary confinement are permanently damaged? Haney: It’s difficult to estimate precisely, because the long-term solitary conditions themselves vary, and not all people are created equal in terms of psychological resiliency. There tends to be a kind of sloppiness when we talk about this. Some people will point to a particular study where it doesn’t look like the effects were especially harmful, and conclude that there’s no harm to be concerned about. But there are many other studies showing a higher risk. I’ve heard word informally that a large percentage of prisoners in Guantanamo have experienced psychiatric problems. Was it all because they were isolated? No. They were subjected to a variety of other things as well. Wired.com: Based on your own experience with U.S. citizens in long-term solitary confinement, would you be able to hazard a guess as to how many have sustained long-term damage? Haney: I don’t know. We don’t have good data on follow-ups of people who come out of this environment. This is not something that’s easy to study, and not something that prison systems are eager to have people look at. But I can tell you that large numbers of them are in pain and are suffering while they’re in solitary confinement. And there is certainly anecdotal evidence that some people have left solitary confinement deeply disturbed. I know such cases. I’ve seen them. These are instances of people going into solitary confinement with no pre-existing psychological problems, who are given a clean bill of health when they go in. When they come out they have psychiatric problems that are permanent or long-lasting. Wired.com: Does America need to change how it thinks of long-term solitary confinement? Haney: Yes. In the last 30 or 40 years in the United States, we’ve slipped into more long-term use of solitary confinement. In some cases it’s a more complete form than was used before. We have an overwhelmingly crowded prison system in which the mandate to rehabilitate and provide activities for prisoners was suspended at the same time as the prison system became overcrowded. Not surprisingly, prison systems faced with this influx of prisoners, and lacking the rewards they once had to manage and control prisoner behavior, turned to the use of punishment. And one big punishment is the threat of long-term solitary confinement. They’ve used it without a lot of forethought to its consequences. That policy needs to be rethought. The debate over long-term solitary confinement is always over how much harm it does, not over what positive effects it can have on people subjected to it. That’s because the latter answer is obvious: none. It’s an extraordinarily expensive, extraordinarily wrong-headed way of trying to manage prisoner populations. Wired.com: Do you consider it legalized torture? Haney: I don’t think correctional administrators always put people in solitary confinement just to make them feel pain. But to the extent that’s done, to the extent they know that people in these environments will feel that pain, then that creeps very close to the definition of what’s understood internationally as torture. I think our sloppiness, our carelessness about how this policy has been implemented, raises very severe ethical concerns about the humane treatment of prisoners by both U.S. standards and international standards. See Also:
Image: Flickr/Publik15 Brandon Keim’s Twitter stream and Del.icio.us feed; Wired Science on Facebook.
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 30 Apr 2009 | 12:30 am AP NewsBreak: US wants to move on climate change (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 Apr 2009 | 11:02 pm The joys of copper sulphateDig out your labcoat, pull on your safety goggles and sequester a pen or two into your top pocket. In today's lesson, we will learn how to use classroom chemistry to conjure a glittering sapphire cavern from an ordinary flat in a south London lowrise. If the idea sounds hopeful, you haven't seen artist Roger Hiorns's work, Seizure, which has been shortlisted for this year's Turner prize. The walls of the flat in question are encrusted with brilliant blue copper sulphate crystals the size of brazil nuts. Against all odds, beauty has arrived in London SE17. The very sight of Hiorn's alchemic grotto is enough to stir distant memories of school experiments on crystal growth: a rich introduction to thermodynamics, nucleation and the strict geometric rules of lattice formation. "It's that one where you dangle a crystal on a piece of string into a solution, isn't it?" says Dr John Emsley, author of several books on chemistry. Emsley recalls correctly. A tiny copper sulphate crystal is dangled from a thread into a warm solution of the same compound. As it cools, it becomes "supersaturated" and copper sulphate crystallises out on the surface of the crystal. The crystal grows and grows. Slowly. Hiorns seems to have used a similar trick to spruce up his flat. Instead of dunking the whole apartment into a giant vat of copper sulphate, it looks as if the crystals were grown on meshed panels that were later fixed to the walls and ceiling. If the flat had a pedants' corner, these words would be written on the wall: "Copper sulphate crystals are not blue." The blue colouring comes from water absorbed into the crystal structure. Drive all the water off, and they turn a brilliant white. Unless you are of school-going age, this exhibit might sadly be the closest you get to growing your own copper sulphate crystals. Although the compound is still used by the organic food industry as a pesticide, it is thoroughly poisonous and was banned from children's chemistry sets many moons ago. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 29 Apr 2009 | 11:01 pm Why all this fuss about a lotion that works?Boots's fabled wonder face-cream is called Protect and Perfect. It sounds like your standard-issue, ASA-approved half-speak, but these words are actually true. It genuinely does protect, against time. And it does perfect: not literally, of course; it won't take the second-rate ragbag that is your face and make it perfect. But in so far as "perfect" means "improve", then this works. The British Journal of Dermatology has spoken. The evidence of a recent clinical trial is that a substantial percentage of the people who had been using the cream for six months saw an improvement - one visible to outside observers. This makes it the most effective over-the-counter cream ever. I just can't help thinking how pathetic this makes us look. When you think how much the face cream industry is worth, to think there would be such a furore over an article in a journal, just because an unguent finally came along that did more or less what it said it was going to do (when, in 2007, an episode of Horizon drew similar conclusions about this cream, it caused a Boots stampede). It's like letting off fireworks because your teenager remembered to say happy birthday to you. And that's before you even factor in how pitifully small was this study - 60 people in total, only 30 of whom used the cream rather than the placebo, only 43% of whom registered a difference. Let's just call it what it is ... 13 people. Who'd have thought it took no more than a cocktail-party-sized sample to get you into the British Journal of Dermatology? Look, I won't pretend I shan't be buying some of the Boots No 7 Ludicrous Face Cream. I just don't think we should be getting too excited about it. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 29 Apr 2009 | 11:01 pm Nanostitch makes light work of woundsSurgeons are always handy with a needle and thread, but the idea of closing skin incisions without stitches is attractive too. Thanks to Professor Irene Kochevar of the Wellman Centre for Photomedicine at Massachusetts general hospital, the combination of a clinical laser and a pink medical dye may soon do the job. "Nanosuturing" is set to become the latest method for closing an incision following years of research by Kochevar and her colleague Dr Robert Redmond. Although lasers can connect tissues by generating heat (laser tissue welding), it kills cells and damages the tissue beyond. "A colleague suggested that photochemical processes might be able to bond tissue surfaces together without the collateral thermal damage accompanying laser welding of tissues," says Kochevar. The two photochemists already knew that light energy absorbed by molecules is converted into chemical energy rather than heat. A key part of skin is collagen, a protein that gives strength and elasticity. Chemical crosslinking reactions between collagen molecules join them together - the nanosutures are the crosslinks themselves. "The dye/photosensitiser absorbs the light energy and starts the reactions leading to protein-protein crosslinking," says Kochevar. Their tests with corneal tissue (the surface of the eye) demonstrated that photochemical tissue bonding worked. So how does nanosuturing join skin? The stain Rose Bengal is dripped on to both sides of the skin incision and a laser beam carefully focused along it. After a few minutes' harmless exposure, it has sealed neatly together by collagen crosslinking with natural healing following. It has been tried on patients with skin cancers and suspicious moles; what about facial injuries? "Plastic surgeons are highly skilled with suturing techniques and can repair facial injuries with very little perceptible scarring. However, many patients may not have access to highly trained plastic surgeons - our technology could help physicians (non-plastic surgeons) close wounds with less scarring," says Kochevar. Approval from the US Food and Drug Administration will be sought for nanosuturing in dermatology with more clinical trials planned. Preclinical studies have already shown that photochemical tissue bonding can reconnect severed peripheral nerves and help treat eye injuries. Sheila MacNeil, professor of tissue engineering at the University of Sheffield (Sweet peas make a second skin, 31 July 2008) thinks the method is promising. "As a light-activated super-glue for tissues, it's been overdue. It will now open up lots of research," she says. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 29 Apr 2009 | 11:01 pm Wine may help men outlive teetotallers• Moderate drinkers are said to outlive teetotallers Men who drink less than half a glass of wine a day may live up to five years longer than teetotallers, and could have less chance of a heart attack, a study has found. An analysis of the impact of alcohol on men's health by a team at Wageningen University in the Netherlands found that long-term light consumption - less than 20 grams daily - is more beneficial than being teetotal. Although the findings are not the first to link a moderate intake of alcohol with certain health benefits, the study is the first to examine the effects of different drinks, claiming that wine is much healthier than beer or spirits. The research, reported in today's Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, was undertaken by a team led by Dr Marinette Streppel of the Division of Human Nutrition, which examined the lifestyle and alcohol consumption of 1,373 men born between 1900 and 1920 whose health had been examined regularly between 1960 and 2000. The men were studied to see how much alcohol they consumed, what type, and over what period of time, to find out if their risk of dying from a heart attack, stroke or other cause was affected. The researchers concluded that drinking up to 20 grams a day could extend men's lifespan by up to two years over those who avoided alcohol. They also found that men who drank only wine, and less than half a glass a day, lived for about two and a half years longer than those who drank beer or spirits, and almost five years more than teetotallers. The researchers say: "Long-term wine consumers had about five years longer life expectancy at age 50 compared with non-alcohol users. Of these five years, about two years can be attributed to an effect of alcohol intake. The remaining three years can be attributed to an effect of wine consumption." For the study, 70% of the wine consumed was red. The researchers add: "This suggests that the cardioprotective effect of wine could be due to a protective effect of polyphenolic compounds in red wine, but other explanations cannot be ruled out." In the UK, 720m bottles of red wine were consumed last year, compared with 764 million bottles of white and 150 million of rosé. The Wine and Spirit Trade Association, which represents wine producers, importers and wholesalers, welcomed the research. "This study reinforces the view taken by a government committee some years ago that moderate consumption of alcohol can have a positive impact on people's health, particularly in relation to heart disease," said a spokesman, Gavin Partington. "It's important to recognise the benefits of moderate consumption, while acknowledging the risks associated with alcohol misuse." But alcohol campaigners said any idea that drinking could promote good health was dangerous. Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said: "Some evidence shows that very moderate alcohol intake can be beneficial, but this must be weighed up against the serious harms caused by drinking more than moderate amounts. For example, in men, drinking more than half a glass a day, there's a drop in life expectancy. "And individual risk must be taken into account. Research earlier this year found that drinking a small glass of wine per day increases the risk of cancer in women. The notion that we can somehow use alcohol for health benefit is a dangerous one. Swapping a healthy lifestyle for half a glass of wine a day would be counter-productive." guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 29 Apr 2009 | 11:01 pm Tablet to treat multiple sclerosis seen as huge step forwardCampaigners for the 85,000 Britons with multiple sclerosis yesterday welcomed the emergence of a drug promising to greatly alleviate symptoms of the debilitating disease. Trials of cladribine found that it offers significant benefit to the estimated 55,000 people who have relapsing-remitting MS, its commonest form, with alternating periods of good and bad health but a decline, sometimes into total paralysis, when the gaps between spells start to shorten. Research on more than 1,300 MS patients over two years found those taking the cladribine tablet were 55% less likely to relapse than those on a placebo; they were 30% less likely to suffer worsening disability; and 80% were relapse-free, compared with 61% on the placebo. The results were presented yesterday at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology. Just a few tablets could reduce by half the chances of a relapse, while cladribine led to a very significant fall in brain damage by MS, with few serious side effects. Patients were monitored with magnetic resonance imaging to reveal nerve damage. The drug, a tablet version of a treatment given as injections to leukaemia patients under the commercial name Leustat, is much more user-friendly than the five existing drugs for MS administered with a needle. Lee Dunster, head of research at the MS Society, said: "These are remarkable results; being able to take a tablet instead of having injections will be a huge step forward for people with MS." The drug is a powerful immunosuppressant that damps the immune system through affecting the multiplication and behaviour of white blood cells. The research was led by Gavin Giovannoni, a professor at Queen Mary, University of London. He said: "These results are really exciting. MS can be a really debilitating illness and at the moment treatment options remain limited. Having an effective oral therapy will have a major impact for people with MS." It is hoped the drug may be available in the UK in 12 to 18 months. Its manufacturer, Merck Serono, plans to apply to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for a licence. It could then apply to the National Institute of Healthcare and Clinical Excellence to decide if cladribine represents value for money for the NHS. MS is a disabling disease caused when the immune system attacks nerves in the brain and spinal cord. It destroys insulation around nerve fibres, leading to problems with vision, muscle control, balance and memory. Symptoms range from tingling to major paralysis. The five existing drugs each bring some benefit to at least some patients. But, said the MS Society, cladribine "blows the current treatments out of the water in terms of efficacy, disease progression and user-friendliness". guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 29 Apr 2009 | 11:01 pm WHO Raises Swine Flu Alert to Next-Highest LevelThe WHO indicates the fast-spreading swine flu could soon become a global pandemic.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Apr 2009 | 10:25 pm NASA's New Spaceship to Carry Fewer Astronauts (SPACE.com)SPACE.com - NASA has cut the crew size for its new Orion spacecraft down from six seats to four in order to keep the space shuttle replacement on track for a March 2015 debut.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 Apr 2009 | 10:15 pm CO2 Must Be Slashed More to Limit WarmingModeling shows that pollution needs to be cut more than current goals to limit warming.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Apr 2009 | 8:00 pm Google Could Have Caught Swine Flu Early
Google’s search data may have been able to provide an early warning of the swine flu outbreak — if the company had been looking in the right place.
Last week, at the request of the Centers for Disease Control, Google took a retroactive look at its search data from Mexico. And there the team found a pre-media bump in telltale flu-related search terms (you know, “influenza + phlegm + coughing”) that was inconsistent with standard, seasonal flu trends. “We did see a small increase in many parts of Mexico before major news coverage began last week,” said Jeremy Ginsberg, lead engineer for Google.org’s Flu Trends. But the Google Flu Trends team, which aggregates and analyzes search queries to estimate how many people are sick, wasn’t watching Mexican flu data until after the outbreak had already begun. That highlights the problem with tech-heavy disease-detection systems: Often, we don’t know what internet data to look at until after a problem starts. The early signals of disease are hidden in plain sight, and it takes humans recognizing that something is happening before the computers can be asked to find it. And even if Flu Trends had picked up a noticeable bump in flu searches in Mexico early, a lot of additional analysis would have been required to understand the potential severity of the pandemic. But it’s encouraging to think that if the Flu Trends system were built out across the globe, it might sound an early alarm about the next unusual flu outbreak. You can check out the data yourself at the site, Experimental Flu Trends for Mexico, launched today. Ginsberg cautioned, though, that the correlation between the Mexican flu-search terms and actual epidemiological data hadn’t been verified. For the U.S. version of Flu Trends, the Google engineers have been able to check their equations and graphs against actual reported cases of flu. It turns out their system tracks the CDC data quite nicely. The U.S. version of Flu Trends also appears to be handling the latest swine flu epidemic well. The system hasn’t reported large upticks in states like New York, where the number of cases remains still quite small relative to standard seasonal flu infections. That means that people simply searching for swine flu or #swineflu aren’t generating false-positive spikes in Flu Trends. See Also:
Image: Screenshot, Google. WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal’s Twitter , Google Reader feed, and book site for The History of Our Future; Wired Science on Facebook.
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 29 Apr 2009 | 7:40 pm Lizard Rolls Over to Avoid SexSome female lizards rely on testosterone for a unique way to keep amorous males off their backs.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Apr 2009 | 7:30 pm US reports first swine flu deathA Mexican child visiting the US dies of swine flu - the first such death outside Mexico, where the virus may have killed up to 159.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 29 Apr 2009 | 7:00 pm Humans Halfway to Causing Dangerous Climate Change
When human injection of carbon into the atmosphere reaches 1 trillion tons, dangerous climate change with average global warming of more than 2 Celsius degrees will likely occur, a new analysis finds. And humans are hurrying toward that 1 trillion mark. So far, We’ve added about 520 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere. With the addition of an estimated 9 billion tons of carbon a year — a number that’s been growing since 1850 — dangerous warming is likely to occur within half a century. That’s the message from a new paper in the journal Nature, which — along with half a dozen other papers in the issue — provides a simpler way of looking at the climate change problem. What matters is the total amount of carbon that we release into the atmosphere, and focusing on that number as a budget can shape the way policymakers look at the problem, argues Myles Allen, lead author of one of the papers and a climatologist at the University of Oxford. “The important thing about the cumulative budget is that a ton of carbon is a ton of carbon. If we release it now, it’s a ton we can’t release in 40 years’ time. Every ton we put out is using up a ton of that atmospheric capacity,” Allen told Wired.com. “Reducing emissions steadily over 50 years is much cheaper and easier and less traumatic than allowing them to rise for 15 years and then reducing them violently for 35 years.”
Previous climate change efforts have tried to find the correct “stabilization level” for which to aim. Policymakers would try to craft scenarios showing that the world’s people should aim to peg the concentration of carbon dioxide at 350 or 450 or 550 parts per million. Beyond the scientific complexity of finding what that number should be — which Myles called “a nightmare” — the esoteric nature of those numbers made the climate problem difficult to communicate to populations across the world. Allen hopes his team’s new analysis, along with a similar paper lead-authored by Malte Meinshausen of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, will let people look at the problem square on. The numbers presented in their research are probabilistic. They look at different levels of carbon and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and try to assign the likelihood that a certain emissions level would equate to a temperature change across the Earth. The two papers use different periods of analysis and base cases, but they are broadly consistent in their findings that it’s the total amount of carbon added to the atmosphere that will determine the peak warming of the globe. Where Allen’s team found that adding 480 billion tons of carbon from here on out would push the risk of 2 degrees of warming to over 50 percent, Meinshausen’s team found even more alarming results. The German team estimates that 310 billion tons is all that would be needed. Without policy changes, that means humans would hit dangerous warming levels in 20 years (Meinshausen) to 40 years (Allen) . “The bottom line? Dangerous change, even loosely defined, is going to be hard to avoid,” write Gavin Schmidt of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Science and David Archer, a geoscientist at the University of Chicago, in an accompanying commentary in Nature. “Unless emissions begin to decline very soon, severe disruption to the climate system will entail expensive adaptation measures and may eventually require cleaning up the mess by actively removing CO2 from the atmosphere.” Forcing emissions to decline will require changing the way the world uses fossil fuels. In Allen’s view, humans can pull a trillion tons of carbon-rich fossil fuels out of the ground and burn them with risks that have been deemed acceptable by most people. But it’s the second trillion tons of fossil fuels, largely in the form of coal and oil shale, that will determine how recklessly humans play with the climate system. “From all the incredible arcane arguments that go on, in the end, it’s really a very simple question: what are we going to do with the second trillion tons?” Allen asked. Fossil-fuel–reserve estimates vary. While it’s clear that there is a lot of coal and oil shale on Earth, there is intense debate over how much of that fossil fuel will be economical to mine. Allen’s group used the World Energy Council’s estimates, which show nearly 6 trillion tons of fossil fuels still left to be mined. Other scientists believe that fossil fuel reserves could be much lower. See Also:
Image: NASA WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal’s Twitter , Google Reader feed, and book site for The History of Our Future; Wired Science on Facebook.
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 29 Apr 2009 | 6:39 pm Wired Science Nominated for a Webby Award — Help Us Win!
And indeed, we’re not too proud to beg. Thanks to your patronage, Wired Science was nominated for a Webby for Best Science Website. We face some stiff competition from two eminently respectable Nature and Scientific American, so we need your help to win. After all, our moms can only vote so many times. If you’re reading this, we assume that you like what we do here at Wired Science, but just in case, let me remind you that we’re the plucky underdog in this thing. Underfunded and with only a tiny fraction of the staff of our competition. We’re Rudy. We’re Rocky. We’re Wegener (you know, the continental drift guy). Ok, actually, we’re probably more like Spud Webb, or the undersized NBA player of your choosing. So, head over to the voting page before Thursday. On the website voting page, We’re inside the “Society” section near the bottom of the page. You’ll need to sign up — and the site could be slow and annoying, but if you tough it out, we’d mightily appreciate it. WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal’s Twitter , Google Reader feed, and book site for The History of Our Future; Wired Science on Facebook.
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 29 Apr 2009 | 6:35 pm Fastest Camera Ever Built Uses Lasers
The camera works by illuminating objects with a laser that emits a different infrared frequency for every single pixel, allowing them to custom-amplify a signal that would otherwise be too dim to see. “We have invented a new type of imaging technology that overcomes the fundamental limitation between sensitivity and speed,” said Keisuke Goda, an optoelectronic specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “It’s the world’s fastest camera.” High shutter speeds enable moving objects to be clearly photographed. The less time a camera’s optical eye is open, the less time a subject has to move. But this comes at a price: less light enters the camera, causing the image to be underexposed. That’s why sports photographers use high-powered strobe lights. Workarounds include the use of extra-sensitive chemicals in traditional films, or amplification of signals captured by the photoelectronic light sensors of digital cameras. But film is relatively limited in its range, as are digital cameras. At the speed of Godas camera, there isn’t enough light to magnify. “The camera has a built-in optical image amplifier that overcomes the tradeoff between sensitivity and speed,” he said. “It could be especially useful for microscopy. On the meta-microscale, even slow-moving objects require a high temporary resolution, because your field of view is so small.”
When reflected light hits the camera’s sensor, each pixel picks up its dedicated wavelength, and is given an electronic boost of a matching wavelength. That amplifies the original dim signal, composed of just a few photons, until it becomes visible. This can’t be done in a conventional digital camera, because the sensor doesn’t know what the original wavelengths were. For now, STEAM can only produce images composed of just 3,000 pixels, a far cry from the multi-million-pixel cameras used by consumers. But Goda’s team intends to develop a multi-megapixel camera that can take 100 million pictures per second, with a frame rate of they’re hoping to up this to mega-multipixel mode competitive with standard digital camers, taking 100 million pictures per second, with a shutter speed of just one-trillionth of a second. Citation: “Serial time-encoded amplified imaging for real-time observation of fast dynamic phenomena.” By K. Goda, K. K. Tsia, & B. Jalali. Nature, Vol. 458, April 29, 2009. Video: YouTube/Keisuke Goda Images: Dave Bullock (eecue)/Wired.com Brandon Keim’s Twitter stream and Del.icio.us feed; Wired Science on Facebook.
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 29 Apr 2009 | 6:16 pm To keep warming low, deeper pollution cuts needed (AP)AP - If the world is going to limit global warming to just a few degrees, it has to slash carbon dioxide pollution much more than now being discussed, two new science studies say.Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 29 Apr 2009 | 5:51 pm New DNA coding to track mosquitoes, fight diseaseOSLO (Reuters) - A novel genetic technology will be used in Africa to track mosquitoes that can spread a disease disfiguring millions of people with often grotesque swellings, scientists said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 29 Apr 2009 | 5:50 pm Swine flu: For once the media are rightEven if the predicted millions don't die, a risk is still a risk – and that's why I've turned down everyone from the BBC to al-Jazeera First it was the emails, and the tweets. This is all nonsense about the aporkalypse, surely? Just like with Sars, and bird flu, and MMR, is this all hype? The answer is no, but more interesting is this: for so many people, their very first assumption on the story is that the media are lying. It is the story of the boy who cried wolf. We are poorly equipped to think around issues involving risk, and infectious diseases epidemiology is a tricky business: the error margins on the models are wide, and it's extremely hard to make clear predictions. Here's an example. In Glasgow in the 1980s, less than 5% of injecting drug users were HIV positive. In Edinburgh at the same time, it was almost 50%, even though these two places are only an hour apart by train. Lots of people have got theories about why there should have been such a huge difference in the numbers of people infected, and there's no doubt that it's fun to try and come up with a plausible post hoc rationale. But you certainly wouldn't have predicted it. Maybe some bloke with HIV got off the train at Edinburgh station instead of Glasgow on a whim, some fateful day in the early 1980s. Maybe there was a different culture among heroin users, or services. Nobody really knows. We face the same problem with swine flu. All people have done is raise the possibility of things really kicking off, and they are right to do so, but we don't have brilliantly accurate information. Someone has said that up to 40% of the world could be infected. Is that scaremongering? Well it's high, and I'm sure it's a bit of a guess, but maybe up to 40% could be. Annoying, isn't it, not to know. Someone has said 120 million could die. Well I suppose they could: I'm sure it was done on the back of an envelope, by guessing how many would be infected, and what proportion would die, but I don't think anyone's pretending otherwise. You could no more predict what will happen here than you could have predicted the enormous disparity in HIV prevalence between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Everyone is just saying: we don't know, it could be bad, and the newspapers are reporting that. Sure there's a bit of vaudeville in the headlines, but they're not saying things that are wrong, and do you really know actual, real people, normally pretty solid, who are suddenly now panicking? By Tuesday, pundit-seekers from the media were suddenly contacting me, a massive nobody, to say that swine flu is all nonsense and hype, like some kind of blind, automated naysaying device. "Will you come and talk about the media overhyping swine flu?" asked Case Notes on Radio 4. No. "We need someone to say it's all been overhyped," said BBC Wales. I assumed they were adhering, robotically, to the "balance" template, but no: he kept at it, even when I protested and explained. "Yeah, but you know, it could be like Sars and bird flu, they didn't materialise, they were hype." Simon Jenkins suggested the same thing. It's not true, I said. They were risks, risks that didn't materialise, but they were still risks. That's what a risk is. I've never been hit by a car, but it's not idiotic to think about it. Simon Jenkins won't be right if nobody dies, he'll be lucky, like the rest of us. Do people think this flappily in casinos? The terrible truth is yes. In the time that I have been writing this piece – no embellishment – I've had similar calls off This Week at the BBC ("Is the coverage misleading?"), Al-Jazeera English ("We wanted to talk to someone on the other side, you know, challenging the fear factor"), the Richard Bacon Show on Five Live ("Is it another media scare like Sars and bird flu?") and many more. I'm not showing off. I know I'm a D-list public intellectual, but I just think it's interesting: because not only have the public lost all faith in the media; not only do so many people assume, now, that they are being misled; but more than that, the media themselves have lost all confidence in their own ability to give us the facts. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 29 Apr 2009 | 5:30 pm Debut for world's fastest cameraScientists demonstrate an imaging system that each second can take millions of images just half a trillionth of a second long.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 29 Apr 2009 | 5:23 pm 'Safe' climate means 'no to coal'Keeping global temperatures within "safe" limits means leaving most fossil fuel reserves unburned, scientists say.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 29 Apr 2009 | 5:15 pm Blue Laser Could Help Lead to Autism CureScientists use a laser in mice to induce a brain wave that is linked to concentration.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Apr 2009 | 5:10 pm Burn this much and no more ...To avoid dangerous climate change of 2C, the world can only burn another half a trillion tonnes of carbon, climate change experts warn The world has already burned half the fossil fuels necessary to bring about a catastrophic 2C rise in average global temperature, scientists revealed today. The experts say about half a trillion tonnes of carbon have been consumed since the industrial revolution. To prevent a 2C rise, they say, the total burnt must be kept to below a trillion tonnes. On current rates, that figure will be reached in 40 years. Myles Allen, a climate expert at Oxford University who led the new study, said: "Mother Nature doesn't care about dates. To avoid dangerous climate change we will have to limit the total amount of carbon we inject into the atmosphere, not just the emission rate in any given year." The scientists say their research could simplify political attempts to tackle global warming, which encompass a range of targets and timetables. Such proposals usually set future limits on the amount of carbon dioxide allowed to build up in the atmosphere, such as 450 parts per million (ppm), or as future emission rates, such as the UK's pledge to slash emissions 80% by 2050. The new study effectively re-frames such targets as an available budget - to avoid dangerous climate change of 2C the world can only burn another half a trillion tonnes of carbon. Writing in today's Nature, Allen and colleagues say a trillion tonnes of carbon burnt would be likely to produce a warming of between 1.6C and 2.6C, with a "most likely" 2C rise. Chris Huntingford of the NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology said: "Research often reveals new complexities, but this analysis could actually simplify matters for policy makers. The relationship between total emissions and future warming can be inferred largely from quantities we can observe, and is remarkably insensitive to the timing of future emissions." The key implication of the research, the scientists say, is that access to fossil fuels must somehow be rationed and eventually turned off, if the 2C target is to be met. "If country A burns it then country B can't," said Bill Hare, a climate expert with the Potsdam Institute in Germany. "It's like a draining tank." The research also highlights that continued high rates of fossil fuel use in the next decade will demand extraordinary cuts in emissions in future decades to hit the 2C target. Allen said: "If you use too much [carbon] this year, it doesn't mean the planet will come to an end. It means you have to work even harder the next year." A separate study, also published today in Nature, led by Malte Meinshausen at the Potsdam Institute, use a similar approach and sets a different carbon budget. They say the world can only emit 190bn tonnes of carbon between now and 2050 if it aims for a 2C rise. Emissions over 310bn tonnes in that time lead to a 50% chance of going over 2C. The new research does not say anything about the likelihood of reaching the 2C target. They simply change the way progress towards the target is measured. In an accompanying commentary article, the scientists behind both studies say: "These results are not incompatible with current proposals for near-term emission targets -- the small size of the cumulative emission budgets to 2050 reinforces the need for global CO2 emissions to peak around or before 2020 so that emission pathways remain technologically and economically feasible." They add: "Having taken 250 years to burn the first half trillion tonnes of carbon we look set, on current trends, to burn the next half trillion in less than 40. No one could credibly suggest that we should carry on with business as usual to the 2040s and then somehow suddenly stop using fossil fuels, switch to 100% carbon capture or just shut down the world economy overnight." guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 29 Apr 2009 | 5:03 pm Evolution: The real 'missing link'Evidence from seal fossils adds yet more weight to evolutionary theory. Those still sceptical about it have nothing to fear We found another "missing link" this month. Or, to be more precise, a team of Canadian and American scientists found a missing link between modern seals and their land-dwelling ancestors. A report in this week's Nature magazine described fossils of an extinct land-dwelling animal, now called Puijila darwini, discovered in the Canadian arctic. Its remarkable skeletal structure provides a spectacular demonstration of how evolution modified the limbs of a land-dwelling animal to produce the flippers of modern seals and sea lions. So, another mystery is solved, and even more evidence is piled up in favor of Darwin's theory of evolution – as if we didn't have enough already. But there is another "missing link" that many of us haven't found, and in many ways it is the one that matters most. It is the link that would join us the rest of the living world. We humans have a tendency to see ourselves as completely different from other animals, and the way in which large segments of the public continue to reject the theory of evolution is just one symptom of that malaise. Americans, of course, are famously skeptical of evolution, but so is a large segment of the British population – nearly 40% according to one recent poll. No matter what you hear from anti-evolution groups in the US and UK, lack of scientific evidence isn't the problem. The discovery of Puijila darwini was just the latest in a spectacular series of fossil finds demonstrating how evolution produced the first land vertebrates, the first whales, and even the first humans. Our own genomes carry the story of evolution, written in DNA, the language of molecular genetics, and the narrative is unmistakable. No, scientific evidence isn't really what bothers most people about evolution. What bugs them is that evolution carries with it a message they just don't want to hear. That message is that we not only live in a natural world, but we are part of it, we emerged from it. Or more accurately, we emerged with it. To them, that means we are just animals. Our lives are an accident, and our existence is without purpose, meaning or value. My concern for those who hold that view isn't just that they are wrong on science, wrong about the nature of the evidence, and mistaken on a fundamental point of biology. It's that they are missing something grand and beautiful and personally enriching. Evolution isn't just a take-it-or-leave-it story about where we came from. It's an epic at the centre of life itself. It tells us we are part of nature in every respect. Far from robbing our lives of meaning, it instils an appreciation for the beautiful, enduring, and ultimately triumphant phenomenon of life. Seen in this light, the human presence is not a mistake of nature or a random accident, but a direct consequence of the characteristics of the universe. What evolution tells us is that we are part of a grand, dynamic, and ever-changing fabric of life that covers our planet. Even to a person of faith, in fact especially to a person of faith, an understanding of the evolutionary process should only deepen their appreciation of the scope and wisdom of the creator's work. Acknowledging that "missing link" between ourselves and the rest of the living world doesn't demean human life – it enhances it. We may be animals, but we are not just animals. We are the only ones who can truly appreciate, as Darwin put it, that there is "grandeur in this view of life," and indeed there is. To accept evolution isn't just to acknowledge the obvious – that the evidence behind it is overwhelming – it is to open one's eyes to the "endless forms most wonderful and most beautiful" that life has generated and continues to produce. It is to become a knowing participant, in the truest sense, in the living world of which we are all a part. In an age where our own excesses as a species threaten so much of the living world, it is about time we saw through the metaphor of the missing link, and took charge our of responsibilities to our living kin on planet earth. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 29 Apr 2009 | 4:30 pm Laser-Controlled Humans Closer to Reality
Flashes of light may one day be used to control the human brain, and that day just got a lot closer. Using lasers, researchers at the MIT Media Lab were able to activate a specific set of neurons in a monkey’s brain. Though the technique has been used to control and explore neural circuits in fish, flies and rodents, this is the first time the much-hyped technology has ever been used in primates. “It paves the way for new therapies that could target a number of psychiatric disorders,” said MIT neuroscientist Ed Boyden, who led the research with postdoctoral fellow Xue Han. “This is very exciting from a translational standpoint.” The beauty of this optogenetic technique is its specificity. By using a combination of lasers and genetic engineering, scientists can control, to the millisecond, the firing of a specific class of neurons, allowing them to pinpoint problematic cells and circuits while leaving innocent bystanders alone, thus minimizing potential side effects. Viruses are engineered to infect neurons with a special type of channel, originally discovered in algae, which is sensitive to blue light. Once a blue laser shines on the infected neurons, the channels snap open, ions rush into the cell, and the neuron fires. Crucial to the technique is that the virus is only injected into a very small part of the brain, and only a certain class of neurons, once infected, actually turn the channel on. The sharp laser beam further zeros in on a small portion of the brain. This precise aim is in contrast to current techniques, such as drugs and electrodes, both of which have a much broader reach. The optogenetic method was pioneered in 2005 by Boyden and Karl Deisseroth at Stanford University and has since been used to understand how circuits of neurons control various behaviors, such as learning in mice and predator escape in fish. But until now, scientists had never demonstrated the technique in primates — a move essential for developing therapeutic uses for the technology in humans. Boyden’s new research, published Wednesday in Neuron, demonstrates not only that the technology works in primates, but also that it is safe. The rhesus macaques received multiple rounds of injections and laser stimulations over the course of eight or nine months without damaging the neurons or activating the brain’s immune system, an obvious concern when viruses are involved. “Many disorders are associated with changes in specific cell types,” said Boyden. “For therapeutic purposes, you want to affect certain cells, but you want to leave normal cells intact. The ability to use light to turn specific cells on and off with very precise timing could in principle allow new therapies.” Future applications could involve using light-emitting neural prosthetics to replace the electrodes used in deep brain stimulation, which currently activate or silence a broad range of neurons. Deep brain stimulation has shown promise in treatments of Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and depression, but it has a number of side effects, stemming in part from its lack of specificity. “Our ability to remedy problems in the brain may ultimately be limited by how many side effects occur,” said Boyden. “We could find ways to shut down seizures but the side effects might be intolerable. By pinpointing specific cell types, we could craft therapeutic neuromodulators and directly develop therapies, while preserving a high degree of well-being.” Proving the method works in primate brains paves the way not only for cleaner therapies, but also for understanding the relationship between specific neural circuits and behaviors, particularly higher cognitive functions. Genetically, mice are ideal model organisms — but their behavioral repertoire isn’t very sophisticated. If neuroscientists hope to understand and treat problems like ADHD, schizophrenia, depression and compulsive behaviors like addiction, they can run far-more-powerful experiments using primates. “This is a very important and exciting step forward for all systems neuroscience,” said a neuroscientist who preferred to remain anonymous due to recent attacks against primate researchers. “There are many limitations with the current way we try to understand neural circuits, primarily the lack of specificity. The hope is that as this sort of research continues in labs around the world, it will become possible to specifically target many different classes of neurons. We can learn how each of them contributes to specific cognitive functions.” See Also:
Citation: “Millisecond-Timescale Optical Control of Neural Dynamics in the Nonhuman Primate Brain,” by Xue Han, Xiaofeng Qian, Jacob G. Bernstein, Hui-hui Zhou, Giovanni Talei Franzesi, Patrick Stern, Roderick T. Bronson, Ann M. Graybiel, Robert Desimone and Edward S. Boyden. Neuron 62, 191–198, April 30, 2009. Image credit: Dr Jonathan Clarke. Wellcome Images, images@wellcome.ac.uk. Copyright work available under Creative Commons by-nc-nd 2.0 UK
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 29 Apr 2009 | 4:01 pm Science Photo Library gets movingAfter 25 years in stills photography, the picture library is branching out into video
Source: Evolution, genetics, medicine, physics & astronomy news | guardian.co.uk | 29 Apr 2009 | 3:39 pm Unique Roman glass dish found at London grave siteLONDON (Reuters) - Archaeologists have unearthed a Roman glass bowl, thought to be a unique find in the Western Roman Empire, at an ancient cemetery beyond the walls of the old city of London.Source: Reuters: Science News | 29 Apr 2009 | 3:32 pm Influenza evolving1918 was the 'mother of all pandemics'Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 29 Apr 2009 | 2:53 pm Op-Ed: Reversing the Congressional Science Lobotomy
Beginning with a declaration during his inaugural address that we will “restore science to its rightful place,” President Obama has placed science and scientific process at the heart of his public policy and decision making. We see it in the $22 billion invested in science research and development through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. We see it in his appointments. And we see it in administrative policy changes. From the Fields is a periodic Wired Science op-ed series presenting leading scientists’ reflections on their work, society and culture.
Representative Rush Holt has represented New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District since 1999. He has a PhD in Physics from New York University, has done research on alternative energy and has his own patent for a solar energy device. Prior to coming to Congress, he taught physics, public policy and religion at Swarthmore College, was assistant director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and worked as an arms control expert at the State Department. In Congress, Holt has made investment in science research and development a priority. He is also a five-time Jeopardy! winner. It is time for Congress to do the same by restoring a once robust science resource to its rightful place: the Office of Technology Assessment. With so much on our agenda, every member of Congress needs access to unbiased technical and scientific assessments finished in a time frame appropriate for Congress, written in a language that is understood by members of Congress, and crafted by those who are familiar with the functions of Congress. The issues have grown more complex, but our tools to evaluate and understand them have not kept pace. An emphasis on science in our national discourse and public policy has been dangerously absent in recent years. It is well documented that political aides and appointees in the Bush Administration aggressively challenged, manipulated, and at times silenced the work and judgment of professional scientists. On March 9, I witnessed President Obama sign an executive order lifting the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. While that move received most of the attention that day, as a scientist I find equal significance in his presidential memorandum directing the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop a strategy for restoring scientific integrity to government decision-making. It’s not simply for the sake of scientists that the President wants to protect their work and thinking. More importantly, it is for the sake of good public policy. Science works if scientists are free to ask questions and answer them as the evidence directs, without political restraints. The public gets poor results from the government if taxpayer-funded scientists are hobbled. President Obama is not a scientist, yet I am confident that when he makes a policy decision — whether it concerns health care, energy or the economy — he is thinking like a scientist. I can’t say the same about many of my colleagues in Congress. Among the 535 members of Congress, there are three physicists, one chemist, six engineers, and one microbiologist. Most members of congress avoid science at all costs, and the handful of trained scientists cannot and do not try to inject the scientific thinking on the particulars of every issue. What Congress needs is its own science advisors. We need not look far for a model: Until 1995, Congress could rely on the Office of Technology Assessment. While members of Congress do not suffer from a lack of information, we lack time and resources to assess the validity, credibility, and usefulness of the large amount of scientific information and advice we receive as it affects actual policy decisions. The purpose of the OTA was to assist members of Congress in this task. It both provided an important long-term perspective and alerted Congress to scientific and technological components of policy that might not be obvious. By the time it was defunded in 1995, for example, OTA had written on now current topics, such as “Electronic Surveillance in a Digital Age,” “Potential Environmental Impacts of Bioenergy Crop Production,” and countless other topics. The work of the OTA served as the basis for legislation on genetic non-discrimination and for policy on Alzheimer’s disease. The additional information that could have been gathered since the 1995 report “Innovation and Commercialization of Emerging Technologies” might have helped guide Congress more effectively through our current economic crisis. A clear appreciation of the current science and technology involved in each of these topics is even more important today than when these assessments were first written. This year, Congress and the President are prepared to address health care reform and energy reform. In the 1990s, OTA wrote comprehensive reports on clinical preventive services, patient cost-sharing, health care in rural America, and health technologies. It also wrote informative reports on energy efficiency, including how to save energy on transportation. Despite its importance, new leaders in Congress successfully defunded the OTA in 1995, which as one former member put it, was like Congress giving itself a lobotomy. Our national policies have suffered ever since. In the years since the demise of the OTA, no group or combination of groups has been able to assume OTA’s place as the provider of scientific and technical assessment and advice to Congress. Like President Obama, members of Congress need to think like scientists and rely on the scientific process as we make public policy. We need the help that only an office like OTA, one that is of Congress and for Congress, can provide. See Also:
Image: Princeton University/Wired.com
Source: Wired: Wired Science | 29 Apr 2009 | 2:40 pm Raise the barcodeDNA "barcodes" to halt a disfiguring diseaseSource: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 29 Apr 2009 | 2:33 pm Collectors Abuzz Over Silver Dollar AuctionAn Adams-Carter silver dollar, rated as the seventh most valuable coin, goes to auction.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Apr 2009 | 2:10 pm Animals That Play Dead Sacrifice OthersAnimals that play dead often survive, but more often when others are there to take the heat.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Apr 2009 | 1:27 pm Russia mulls rocket power 'first'Russia's next-generation manned spaceship might use thrusters to perform a precision landing on its return to Earth.Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 29 Apr 2009 | 12:59 pm Hypersonic 'WaveRider' Poised for Test FlightThe X-51 is designed to fly more than six times faster than the speed of sound.Source: Discovery News Top Stories : Discovery Channel | 29 Apr 2009 | 12:50 pm South Korea moves for first stem cell study in 3 yearsSEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea has moved to allow human stem cell research for the first time since about three years ago when its pre-eminent researcher was accused of fraud for his work in the subject, officials said Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Science News | 29 Apr 2009 | 12:27 pm
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It’s that time of year again, when your favorite websites beg you to vote for them in the Webby’s People’s Choice Awards.
Scientists have made the fastest camera ever. It can take 6.1 million pictures in a single second, at a shutter speed of 440 trillionths of a second. Light itself moves just a fraction of a centimeter in that time.
The technology is dubbed STEAM, short for serial time-encoded amplified microscopy. It illuminates objects with an infrared laser that cycles through a series of different wavelengths, one for each pixel on the sensor.
