Science Friday
So much science, so little time. Here are some interesting bits from the past week.
A couple of hopeful items on the infectious-disease front. The Lancet reports on the clinical trial of a malaria vaccine in Mozambique, involving 2022 children between 1 and 4 years of age; the vaccine apparently reduced the odds of developing the disease by 30% relative to controls. And from Science comes news of an experimental drug that can block transmission between male and female monkeys of simian HIV, the monkey cousin of the human AIDS-causing virus HIV. The drug apparently works by binding to receptors on the surface of vaginal cells and thereby making those receptors, which the virus uses as an entry point, unavailable. The ultimate result could be some sort of topical agent to protect humans from AIDS transmission -- though there is "still a lot of work to be done," according to the study's lead scientist.
A 25-year-old quadriplegic, his brain outfitted with a tiny chip that can interact with a hundred neurons at a time, has been able to perform tasks including sending e-mail and playing Pong using only his thoughts. It's part of a trial of a device called BrainGate, developed by the Foxborough, Massachusetts, firm Cyberkinetics. USA Today and news@Nature.com have more.
A new study published online at Science suggests a troubled future for the world's amphibians. The study -- the fruit of the Global Amphibian Assessment, an effort involving some 500 scientists -- concludes that almost a third of the world's 5,743 known amphibian species are at risk of extinction. And amphibians, according to the researchers, are the "canaries in the coal mine": the health of amphibian communities is a sensitive indicator of the health of the wider environment. The decline in these amphibians reflects a variety of factors: climate-induced drought, habitat destruction, disease, and overharvesting of some species for food. The BBC and news@Nature.com have more.
On the stem cell front, France has removed a final legal hurdle on the study of human embryonic stem cells (ESCs), while the Swiss will vote next month in a referendum on whether to allow an ESC law now on the books to actually take effect. And the U.N. is gearing up once again to debate an international convention against human reproductive cloning, with the outcome apparently too close to call.
And lots of other interesting stuff.
. . .
Carve out your place in history! Enter the Dump Bush Pumpkin-Carving Contest.
A couple of hopeful items on the infectious-disease front. The Lancet reports on the clinical trial of a malaria vaccine in Mozambique, involving 2022 children between 1 and 4 years of age; the vaccine apparently reduced the odds of developing the disease by 30% relative to controls. And from Science comes news of an experimental drug that can block transmission between male and female monkeys of simian HIV, the monkey cousin of the human AIDS-causing virus HIV. The drug apparently works by binding to receptors on the surface of vaginal cells and thereby making those receptors, which the virus uses as an entry point, unavailable. The ultimate result could be some sort of topical agent to protect humans from AIDS transmission -- though there is "still a lot of work to be done," according to the study's lead scientist.
A 25-year-old quadriplegic, his brain outfitted with a tiny chip that can interact with a hundred neurons at a time, has been able to perform tasks including sending e-mail and playing Pong using only his thoughts. It's part of a trial of a device called BrainGate, developed by the Foxborough, Massachusetts, firm Cyberkinetics. USA Today and news@Nature.com have more.
A new study published online at Science suggests a troubled future for the world's amphibians. The study -- the fruit of the Global Amphibian Assessment, an effort involving some 500 scientists -- concludes that almost a third of the world's 5,743 known amphibian species are at risk of extinction. And amphibians, according to the researchers, are the "canaries in the coal mine": the health of amphibian communities is a sensitive indicator of the health of the wider environment. The decline in these amphibians reflects a variety of factors: climate-induced drought, habitat destruction, disease, and overharvesting of some species for food. The BBC and news@Nature.com have more.
On the stem cell front, France has removed a final legal hurdle on the study of human embryonic stem cells (ESCs), while the Swiss will vote next month in a referendum on whether to allow an ESC law now on the books to actually take effect. And the U.N. is gearing up once again to debate an international convention against human reproductive cloning, with the outcome apparently too close to call.
And lots of other interesting stuff.
. . .
Carve out your place in history! Enter the Dump Bush Pumpkin-Carving Contest.
posted by ahab at 5:53 AM
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