The Many Faces of Mars: Scientific American
What we have discovered is that Mars has experienced a striking diversity of processes and conditions throughout its history. The Mars we are coming to know has embraced environments ranging from bone-dry to soaking wet to blanketed with snow and ice. Simple labels no longer fi t. Rather than “warm” or “cold,” we ask: How warm? How wet? For how long? Where? The emerging answers bear on what compels so many of us to study the Red Planet: its potential for harboring life, either now or in the past.
Monday, November 17, 2008
He'll Pay for That: Scientific American (archiving magaznie articles 7/2005)
He'll Pay for That: Scientific American:
"The Kavli Foundation began relatively quietly by contributing $7.5 million to a center for theoretical physics at the University of Santa Barbara in 2001 and then to an institute for particle astrophysics and cosmology at Stanford University. A year ago the foundation joined the ranks of notable small grantors by making endowments to eight more institutes at major universities. But instead of following the funding trend toward seeking nearer-term, measurable returns, the foundation pays for nondirected research in its three areas of interest: astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience. After Kavli finds the right people and institutions, it's hands-off. He just asks for an annual report and the occasional invitation to a lecture or event."
"The Kavli Foundation began relatively quietly by contributing $7.5 million to a center for theoretical physics at the University of Santa Barbara in 2001 and then to an institute for particle astrophysics and cosmology at Stanford University. A year ago the foundation joined the ranks of notable small grantors by making endowments to eight more institutes at major universities. But instead of following the funding trend toward seeking nearer-term, measurable returns, the foundation pays for nondirected research in its three areas of interest: astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience. After Kavli finds the right people and institutions, it's hands-off. He just asks for an annual report and the occasional invitation to a lecture or event."
This Germ Could Save Your Life | Popular Science (archiving magazine articles)
This Germ Could Save Your Life | Popular Science: "The trouble was that Hillman now had a true transgenic—an organism that expressed the genes of two different species. The prospect of tests in humans meant that he had to go to the FDA for approval. The FDA eventually referred his case to the National Institutes of Health’s Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee, created in 1974 in response to public concern over the safety of interspecies gene transfer. The committee, which includes ethicists and patients as well as scientists and physicians, reviews any application for a transgenic intended to be used outside a sealed laboratory.
In 2004, the committee gave Hillman the green light. Usually, this is enough for full FDA approval. But not this time. FDA regulators asked Hillman to cripple his bug to guarantee that it could be removed should it ever cause problems. “When we asked them what kind of problems, they had no idea,” he recalls. “I guess we were setting a precedent.”
The regulators saw a genetically modified bacteria that was robust enough to take over any person’s mouth, and they were worried about its unchecked spread. Their decision reflected a common criticism of GMO biotherapeutics. “The main problem . . . is that [GMOs] are usually poorly contained,” argues geneticist Joe Cummins. Recently retired from"
In 2004, the committee gave Hillman the green light. Usually, this is enough for full FDA approval. But not this time. FDA regulators asked Hillman to cripple his bug to guarantee that it could be removed should it ever cause problems. “When we asked them what kind of problems, they had no idea,” he recalls. “I guess we were setting a precedent.”
The regulators saw a genetically modified bacteria that was robust enough to take over any person’s mouth, and they were worried about its unchecked spread. Their decision reflected a common criticism of GMO biotherapeutics. “The main problem . . . is that [GMOs] are usually poorly contained,” argues geneticist Joe Cummins. Recently retired from"
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Training the Brain: Scientific American (archiving magazine articles 07/2005)
Training the Brain: Scientific American
To medicate or not? Millions of parents must decide when their child is diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)--a decision made tougher by controversy. Studies increasingly show that while medication may calm a child's behavior, it does not improve grades, peer relationships or defiant behavior over the long term.
Consequently, researchers have focused attention on the disorder's neurobiology. Recent studies support the notion that many children with ADHD have cognitive deficits, specifically in working memory--the ability to hold in mind information that guides behavior. The cognitive problem manifests behaviorally as inattention and contributes to poor academic performance. Such research not only questions the value of medicating ADHD children, it also is redefining the disorder and leading to more meaningful treatment that includes cognitive training.
"This is really a shift in our understanding of this disorder from behavioral to biological," states Rosemary Tannock, professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Tannock has shown that although stimulant medication improves working memory, the effect is small, she says, "suggesting that medication isn't going to be sufficient." So she and others, such as Susan Gathercole of the University of Durham in England, now work with schools to introduce teaching methods that train working memory. In fact, working-memory deficits may underlie several disabilities, not just ADHD, highlighting the heterogeneity of the disorder.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
The Microwave Magician (archiving magazine articles 12/2007)
PopSci's Best of What's New 2007: "I’m not sure if I’m watching a magic trick, or an invention that will make the cigar-chomping 64-year-old next to me the richest man on the planet. Everything that goes into Frank Pringle’s recycling machine—a piece of tire, a rock, a plastic cup—turns to oil and natural gas seconds later. “I’ve been told the oil companies might try to assassinate me,” Pringle says without sarcasm.
The machine is a microwave emitter that extracts the petroleum and gas hidden inside everyday objects—or at least anything made with hydrocarbons, which, it turns out, is most of what’s around you. Every hour, the first commercial version will turn 10 tons of auto waste—tires, plastic, vinyl—into enough natural gas to produce 17 million BTUs of energy (it will use 956,000 of those BTUs to keep itself running).
Pringle created the machine about 10 years ago after he drove by a massive tire fire and thought about the energy being released. He went home and threw bits of a tire in a microwave emitter he’d been working with for another project. It turned to what looked like ash, but a few hours later, he returned and found a black puddle on the floor of the unheated workshop. Somehow, he’d struck oil.
Or rather, he had extracted it. Petroleum is composed of string"
The machine is a microwave emitter that extracts the petroleum and gas hidden inside everyday objects—or at least anything made with hydrocarbons, which, it turns out, is most of what’s around you. Every hour, the first commercial version will turn 10 tons of auto waste—tires, plastic, vinyl—into enough natural gas to produce 17 million BTUs of energy (it will use 956,000 of those BTUs to keep itself running).
Pringle created the machine about 10 years ago after he drove by a massive tire fire and thought about the energy being released. He went home and threw bits of a tire in a microwave emitter he’d been working with for another project. It turned to what looked like ash, but a few hours later, he returned and found a black puddle on the floor of the unheated workshop. Somehow, he’d struck oil.
Or rather, he had extracted it. Petroleum is composed of string"
new solar (archiving magazine articles 12/2007)
PopSci's Best of What's New 2007: "Imagine a solar panel without the panel. Just a coating, thin as a layer of paint, that takes light and converts it to electricity. From there, you can picture roof shingles with solar cells built inside and window coatings that seem to suck power from the air. Consider solar-powered buildings stretching not just across sunny Southern California, but through China and India and Kenya as well, because even in those countries, going solar will be cheaper than burning coal. That’s the promise of thin-film solar cells: solar power that’s ubiquitous because it’s cheap. The basic technology has been around for decades, but this year, Silicon Valley–based Nanosolar created the manufacturing technology that could make that promise a reality.
The company produces its PowerSheet solar cells with printing-press-style machines that set down a layer of solar-absorbing nano-ink onto metal sheets as thin as aluminum foil, so the panels can be made for about a tenth of what current panels cost and at a rate of several hundred feet per minute. With backing from Google’s founders and $20 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, Nanosolar’s first commercial cells rolled off the presses this year.
Cost has always been one of solar’s biggest problems. Traditional solar cells require silicon, and silicon is an expensive commodi"
The company produces its PowerSheet solar cells with printing-press-style machines that set down a layer of solar-absorbing nano-ink onto metal sheets as thin as aluminum foil, so the panels can be made for about a tenth of what current panels cost and at a rate of several hundred feet per minute. With backing from Google’s founders and $20 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, Nanosolar’s first commercial cells rolled off the presses this year.
Cost has always been one of solar’s biggest problems. Traditional solar cells require silicon, and silicon is an expensive commodi"
offsetting your carbon (archiving magazine articles 7/2005)
Wired 13.07: START
Now they have TerraPass, a clever eco-capitalism experiment. Launched by a group of Wharton Business School classmates, the startup sells a decal that drivers can slap on their windshields. The sticker price - $79.95 for SUVs, less for greener cars - gets invested in renewable energy projects and credits. The credits are traded through local brokers on the new Chicago Climate Exchange.
Now they have TerraPass, a clever eco-capitalism experiment. Launched by a group of Wharton Business School classmates, the startup sells a decal that drivers can slap on their windshields. The sticker price - $79.95 for SUVs, less for greener cars - gets invested in renewable energy projects and credits. The credits are traded through local brokers on the new Chicago Climate Exchange.
TerraPass lets consumers participate in an emissions trading system the US established in 1990. (Give credit to economist Ronald Coase, who won a Nobel Prize for the idea in 1991.) Under the system, industrial operations that spew less than their share of emissions can sell a credit to companies that fail to keep gunk out of the air. In effect, the dirtier factories can pay greener operations to do the work of cutting emissions. The approach has taken off worldwide, spawning a billion-dollar market.
And it's not just for big-time polluters. Today, farmers cash in on credits by collecting and processing cow dung, which produces globe-cooking methane. Land-owners earn credits by installing wind farms on their blustery fields, which top off the power grid with carbon-free electricity.
But until now, the Chicago Climate Exchange was off-limits to all but registered traders, and the transaction cost of buying credits piecemeal from small outfits was too high. TerraPass aggregates the money plunked down by guilty - ahem, environmentally concerned - SUV drivers, allowing them to participate in the market.
YouTube Does Science, From Fruit-Fly Fight Clubs to Stem Cell Extractions (archiving magazine articles 7/2007)
YouTube Does Science, From Fruit-Fly Fight Clubs to Stem Cell Extractions
WIRED MAGAZINE: ISSUE 15.07
YouTube Does Science, From Fruit-Fly Fight Clubs to Stem Cell Extractions
John Geirland 
06.26.07
06.26.07 START
NEXT: What's Inside: Red Bull
Years behind the lab bench taught Moshe Pritsker that the trickiest part of any science experiment isn't the hypothesis, it's the method. The former Harvard researcher learned this lesson back in his student days, after carefully following the instructions on a specialized kit for isolating DNA. "Surprise," Pritsker says, "no DNA!" A colleague finally showed him how to make the kit work. And that gave Pritsker an idea: methodology porn. The Web site he cofounded, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, launched last October. Now its videos of experimental procedures and techniques — from stem-cell culture prep to hippocampal dye injection — get 300 pageviews a day. The journal's still a work in progress (nothing's gone viral yet), but just wait. "No one has published results in video before," Pritsker says. "Scientists don't know how to do it." Here are a few of the journal's faves.
Must-See Experiments
Culture of Mouse Neural Stem Cell Precursors
D. Spencer Currle, Jia Sheng Hu, Aaron Kolski-Andreaco, Edwin S. Monuki, UC Irvine.
Video Extracting a mouse uterus, removing embryos, and harvesting stem cells from the cerebral cortex.
Goal Improving stem-cell handling skills for eventual use on human cells.
Highlight Close shot demonstrating how to use bent forceps to tease out cortical tissue.
Studying Aggression in Drosophila
Sarah Certel, Edward A. Kravitz, Sibu Mundiyanapurath, Harvard Medical School.
Video Building glass arenas and staging bouts between drosophila.
Goal Figuring out how aggression is wired in the brain.
Highlight It's fruit-fly fight club — close-up lunges, blocks, and feints.
Testing Visual Sensitivity to the Speed and Direction of Motion in Lizards
Kevin L. Woo, Centre for the Integrative Study of Animal Behaviour, Macquarie University, Sydney
Video Coaxing Jacky dragons (an Australian lizard species) to take cues from moving dots.
Goal Working with lizards as a model for motion sensing.
Highlight The lizard actually completes the experiment. It's tough to motivate reptiles to stay interested in scientific work, Woo says.
A MILLION LITTLE ID TAGS - Popular Science Magazine, February 2007 (archiving magazine articles)
A MILLION LITTLE ID TAGS - Popular Science Magazine, February 2007:
"Unmistakable identification keeps car thieves away from your ride.
THE THREAT: More than one million vehicles are stolen in the U.S. every year, with a total value of over $7.6 billion. And once thieves remove license plates and vehicle identification numbers, there's no way of knowing who the vehicles once belonged to.
THE SOLUTION: Datadot Technology - a startup company in Australia which has the highest rate of vehicle theft in the developed world—has devised a way to cover valuable items in identifiers as small and invisibly scattered as hairspray droplets on a bouffant. Transparent DataDots are laser-etched with an identification number unique to you and glued to every internal surface of your car, boat or laptop, The sheer number of sand-grain-size dots on treated possessions—up to 5,000—makes it all but impossible for thieves to take them off and sell the harvested parts. In contrast, existing theft-deterrent systems such as a LaJack can be hidden in only one of about 20 places, and so can be removed much more easily.
Cops determine who stolen property belongs to by using a 50x magnifier to read the dots. If a person reporting a theft mentions that the item was Data-Dotted, police departments can access a company-run international database to find out if the car has turned up elsewhere. '"
"Unmistakable identification keeps car thieves away from your ride.
THE THREAT: More than one million vehicles are stolen in the U.S. every year, with a total value of over $7.6 billion. And once thieves remove license plates and vehicle identification numbers, there's no way of knowing who the vehicles once belonged to.
THE SOLUTION: Datadot Technology - a startup company in Australia which has the highest rate of vehicle theft in the developed world—has devised a way to cover valuable items in identifiers as small and invisibly scattered as hairspray droplets on a bouffant. Transparent DataDots are laser-etched with an identification number unique to you and glued to every internal surface of your car, boat or laptop, The sheer number of sand-grain-size dots on treated possessions—up to 5,000—makes it all but impossible for thieves to take them off and sell the harvested parts. In contrast, existing theft-deterrent systems such as a LaJack can be hidden in only one of about 20 places, and so can be removed much more easily.
Cops determine who stolen property belongs to by using a 50x magnifier to read the dots. If a person reporting a theft mentions that the item was Data-Dotted, police departments can access a company-run international database to find out if the car has turned up elsewhere. '"
Blood Simple | Popular Science (archiving magazine articles 7/2007)
Blood Simple | Popular Science
Their solution is a device that converts all blood into type O, the most coveted of the four major blood types because it can be safely transfused into nearly any patient. "Press 'start,' and the machine does everything else," says Douglas Clibourn, the CEO of ZymeQuest.
Their solution is a device that converts all blood into type O, the most coveted of the four major blood types because it can be safely transfused into nearly any patient. "Press 'start,' and the machine does everything else," says Douglas Clibourn, the CEO of ZymeQuest.
Surfing the Stars | Popular Science (archiving magazine articles 6/2007)
Surfing the Stars | Popular Science
Within a decade, a dream team of astronomers and computer geeks vows to bring a world-class observatory to every desktop, giving anyone with a PC access to remote galaxies and exploding supernovae. The pledge is the result of a partnership announced last winter between a network of 19 national research institutions and engineers from the search-engine giant Google. Their collective objective is to develop potent software to process the estimated 30 terabytes of astronomy imagery (think 12 billion five-megapixel photos) that will stream nightly from the newly built Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, or LSST, slated to go online in 2013.
Within a decade, a dream team of astronomers and computer geeks vows to bring a world-class observatory to every desktop, giving anyone with a PC access to remote galaxies and exploding supernovae. The pledge is the result of a partnership announced last winter between a network of 19 national research institutions and engineers from the search-engine giant Google. Their collective objective is to develop potent software to process the estimated 30 terabytes of astronomy imagery (think 12 billion five-megapixel photos) that will stream nightly from the newly built Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, or LSST, slated to go online in 2013.
Set atop Cerro Pachn Mountain in Chile, the LSST will be the largest survey scope of its kind, sequentially imaging nearly 20 billion astronomical objects in the night sky twice a week at least 2,000 times over the scope's 10-year lifetime. Google's role in this $350-million project (beyond the modest $25,000 annual dues payment) is still largely undefined, but Rob Pike, Google's principal engineer for the LSST, envisions a tool set akin to Google Earth, which combines a search tool with satellite imagery. So instead of killing time flying over your ideal vacation spot onscreen, you can opt for more productive surfing, such as scanning the skies for hazardous near-Earth asteroids.
HOW IT WORKS
Tumor Grenades | Popular Science (archiving magazine articles 6/2007)
Tumor Grenades | Popular Science:
"Particle accelerators, the giant machines that create highly energetic beams of subatomic particles, are designed to solve the universe's grand mysteries. Now they're battling cancer. Since 1992, more than 50,000 patients have undergone proton therapy, which uses particle accelerators to precisely blast tumors with high-speed protons.
Now physicists at CERN, the European particle-physics center in Switzerland, have begun experimenting with antimatter made of rare, negatively charged twins of protons, and the results are promising. In studies involving hamster tissue, antimatter therapy has even proved to be four times as powerful as protons.
X-rays, which deliver conventional radiation therapy, burn through the body, increasing the cancer risk in healthy tissue. Protons and antimatter, by comparison, can be tuned to release most of their energy right at the tumor site, thus damaging fewer of the surrounding cells. 'I didn't experience any nausea or radiation burn,' says Florida state congressman Stan Jordan, who received proton therapy for advanced prostate cancer earlier this year at the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute in Jacksonville. Jordan, who likened the treatment chamber to the Starship Enterprise, says the actual 'beam-me-up-Scotty' part of the therapy lasted less than two minutes.
Unfortunately, each facility costs more than $100 milli"
"Particle accelerators, the giant machines that create highly energetic beams of subatomic particles, are designed to solve the universe's grand mysteries. Now they're battling cancer. Since 1992, more than 50,000 patients have undergone proton therapy, which uses particle accelerators to precisely blast tumors with high-speed protons.
Now physicists at CERN, the European particle-physics center in Switzerland, have begun experimenting with antimatter made of rare, negatively charged twins of protons, and the results are promising. In studies involving hamster tissue, antimatter therapy has even proved to be four times as powerful as protons.
X-rays, which deliver conventional radiation therapy, burn through the body, increasing the cancer risk in healthy tissue. Protons and antimatter, by comparison, can be tuned to release most of their energy right at the tumor site, thus damaging fewer of the surrounding cells. 'I didn't experience any nausea or radiation burn,' says Florida state congressman Stan Jordan, who received proton therapy for advanced prostate cancer earlier this year at the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute in Jacksonville. Jordan, who likened the treatment chamber to the Starship Enterprise, says the actual 'beam-me-up-Scotty' part of the therapy lasted less than two minutes.
Unfortunately, each facility costs more than $100 milli"
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Tobacco Could Hold the Key to Revolutionary Gene Therapy | Wired Science from Wired.com
Tobacco Could Hold the Key to Revolutionary Gene Therapy | Wired Science from Wired.com
Scientists are using a modified tobacco virus to deliver delicate gene therapies into the heart of diseased cells, with the potential to treat most cancers, viruses and genetic disorders.
The tobacco mosaic virus, which plagues the plant but is harmless to humans, is hollowed out and filled with "small interfering RNA" molecules, or siRNA, which some scientists consider to be the most significant development in medicine since the discovery of vaccines.
The virus' tubular shell provides a safe way to slip the delicate siRNA drugs into cells, serving as both a protective coating and a Trojan horse.
o0O0o
Bentley hopes that a drug company will take interest in his discovery, but he has a long way to go before it is ready for human trials. First, the team must gather more evidence that the system is an effective way to deliver medicine. It has worked with cells in a dish, but not yet been proven effective in living organisms.
Unfortunately, some scientists foresee a problem that could make the viral carrier unsuitable for long term use: Humans will eventually develop an immune response to the plant virus that would limit their effectiveness.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Did Life Evolve in Ice? | Arctic & Antarctic | DISCOVER Magazine
Did Life Evolve in Ice? | Arctic & Antarctic | DISCOVER Magazine
One morning in late 1997, Stanley Miller lifted a glass vial from a cold, bubbling vat. For 25 years he had tended the vial as though it were an exotic orchid, checking it daily, adding a few pellets of dry ice as needed to keep it at –108 degrees Fahrenheit. He had told hardly a soul about it. Now he set the frozen time capsule out to thaw, ending the experiment that had lasted more than one-third of his 68 years.
Miller had filled the vial in 1972 with a mixture of ammonia and cyanide, chemicals that scientists believe existed on early Earth and may have contributed to the rise of life. He had then cooled the mix to the temperature of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa—too cold, most scientists had assumed, for much of anything to happen. Miller disagreed. Examining the vial in his laboratory at the University of California at San Diego, he was about to see who was right.
As Miller and his former student Jeffrey Bada brushed the frost from the vial that morning, they could see that something had happened. The mixture of ammonia and cyanide, normally colorless, had deepened to amber, highlighting a web of cracks in the ice. Miller nodded calmly, but Bada exclaimed in shock. It was a color that both men knew well—the color of complex polymers made up of organic molecules. Tests later confirmed Miller's and Bada’s hunch. Over a quarter-century, the frozen ammonia-cyanide blend had coalesced into the molecules of life: nucleobases, the building blocks of RNA and DNA, and amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. The vial’s contents would support a new account of how life began on Earth and would arouse both surprise and skepticism around the world.
JournalFire Blog » Blog Archive » Welcome to Journalfire
JournalFire Blog » Blog Archive » Welcome to Journalfire
Welcome to Journalfire
Until recently, large media publishers controlled what we read, listened to, and watched. Now blogs, podcasts, and Youtube have put the users in control. Unfortunately science has lagged behind. Publishers still act as the primary filter of scientific information, with some top-tier journals rejecting up to 83% of submitted papers even before they are sent to peer review. Combine this with the fact that grants and faculty positions often hinge on the number of publications one has in these top journals, and the result is that a handful of people have tremendous impact on the global scientific agenda. Journalfire exists to put scientists back in control of science.
Journalfire provides a centralized location for you to share, discuss, and evaluate published journal articles. You, the scientists, are put in charge of determining what studies are significant and noteworthy.
Use Journalfire to create groups to share articles and ideas with scientists in your lab or from around the globe. Currently Journalfire links to every article in the PubMed database, with access to more databases on the horizon. When discussing articles, you decide whether the discussion is public or private, and whether or not to use your name or remain anonymous. Journalfire creates a permanent open access record of each discussion and links it directly to a specific article or group. See what articles your colleagues are discussing in their groups, and see what comments are being made about the papers that interest you most, including your own.
Journalfire provides a new way to assess scientific merit. The value of a journal article is often first assessed by the name of the journal in which it appears. Unfortunately, this is typically determined by fewer than five people. Journalfire offers a more democratic approach. By enabling you to evaluate published articles, the combined opinion of the scientific community can be used as a measure of scientific merit.
Journalfire search results take into account several criteria, including the amount of discussion an article has generated and the rating an article has received. Thus Journalfire enables you to quickly find the papers that other scientists are talking about, or papers that may have otherwise slipped through the cracks.
Journalfire was created by a group of graduate students who were frustrated with the current system of scientific discourse and publication. We believe Journalfire is a step in the right direction towards a more open and democratic scientific community. If you’d like to join us, visit journalfire.org.
Monday, August 18, 2008
By amplifying cell death signals, scientists make precancerous cells self-destruct
via KurzweilAI.net
By amplifying cell death signals, scientists make precancerous cells self-destruct
When a cell begins to multiply in a dangerously abnormal way, a series of death signals trigger it to self-destruct before it turns cancerous. Now, in research to appear in the August 15 issue of Genes & Development, Rockefeller University scientists have figured out a way in mice to amplify the signals that tell these precancerous cells to die. The trick: Inactivating a protein that normally helps cells to avoid self-destruction.
By amplifying cell death signals, scientists make precancerous cells self-destruct
When a cell begins to multiply in a dangerously abnormal way, a series of death signals trigger it to self-destruct before it turns cancerous. Now, in research to appear in the August 15 issue of Genes & Development, Rockefeller University scientists have figured out a way in mice to amplify the signals that tell these precancerous cells to die. The trick: Inactivating a protein that normally helps cells to avoid self-destruction.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Drug that uses the body's cells to blast cancer | Mail Online
Drug that uses the body's cells to blast cancer | Mail Online:
"Cancer patients have seen their tumours blasted into submission by a new drug which harnesses the power of their own immune cells.
The 'serial killer' treatment completely eliminated some tumours and shrunk others resistant to existing therapies.
Further successful trials could lead to blinatumomab being on the market in less than five years."
"Cancer patients have seen their tumours blasted into submission by a new drug which harnesses the power of their own immune cells.
The 'serial killer' treatment completely eliminated some tumours and shrunk others resistant to existing therapies.
Further successful trials could lead to blinatumomab being on the market in less than five years."
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Nanoparticle Stops Cancer From Spreading | LiveScience
Nanoparticle Stops Cancer From Spreading | LiveScience
(HealthDay News) -- California researchers say they have developed molecular "smart bombs" that stop pancreatic and kidney cancer from spreading in mice while causing fewer side effects and damage to healthy surrounding tissues than traditional chemotherapy.
A team from the University of California, San Diego, designed a "nanoparticle" anti-cancer drug delivery system that zooms in on a protein marker called integrin avB3, which is found on the surface of certain tumor blood vessels. The marker is tied to the development of new blood vessels and malignant tumor growth.
While the system had little impact on primary tumors, it halted the metastasis of pancreatic and kidney cancers throughout the bodies of mice. Cancer metastasis normally is much harder to treat than the primary tumor, and it usually leads to the patient's death.
The findings were published in this week's online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
According to the report, the system works with a lower dose of chemotherapy because it attacks the cancer with such precision. In most chemo treatments, the destruction of healthy tissue is a side effect as it floods the body with cancer-killing toxins.
"We were able to establish the desired anti-cancer effect while delivering the drug at levels 15 times below what is needed when the drug is used systemically," study leader David Cheresh, vice chairman of pathology at UCSD, said in a university news release. "Even more interesting is that the metastatic lesions were more sensitive to this therapy than the primary tumor."
UCSD engineers and oncologists together designed the nanoparticle -- a microscopic particle made of lipid-based polymers -- to work with the cancer-killing drug doxorubicin.
(HealthDay News) -- California researchers say they have developed molecular "smart bombs" that stop pancreatic and kidney cancer from spreading in mice while causing fewer side effects and damage to healthy surrounding tissues than traditional chemotherapy.
A team from the University of California, San Diego, designed a "nanoparticle" anti-cancer drug delivery system that zooms in on a protein marker called integrin avB3, which is found on the surface of certain tumor blood vessels. The marker is tied to the development of new blood vessels and malignant tumor growth.
While the system had little impact on primary tumors, it halted the metastasis of pancreatic and kidney cancers throughout the bodies of mice. Cancer metastasis normally is much harder to treat than the primary tumor, and it usually leads to the patient's death.
The findings were published in this week's online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
According to the report, the system works with a lower dose of chemotherapy because it attacks the cancer with such precision. In most chemo treatments, the destruction of healthy tissue is a side effect as it floods the body with cancer-killing toxins.
"We were able to establish the desired anti-cancer effect while delivering the drug at levels 15 times below what is needed when the drug is used systemically," study leader David Cheresh, vice chairman of pathology at UCSD, said in a university news release. "Even more interesting is that the metastatic lesions were more sensitive to this therapy than the primary tumor."
UCSD engineers and oncologists together designed the nanoparticle -- a microscopic particle made of lipid-based polymers -- to work with the cancer-killing drug doxorubicin.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted): ScienceBlogs To Take Over The World
Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted): ScienceBlogs To Take Over The World
I have been made privy to a special 1 July 2008 press release from Seed Media Group, the parent organization for ScienceBlogs, which hosts my blog. The news is good.
I have been made privy to a special 1 July 2008 press release from Seed Media Group, the parent organization for ScienceBlogs, which hosts my blog. The news is good.
In short, Seed Media Group announced that ScienceBlogs, the internet's largest science community, has experienced a phenomenal growth in readership: total visits for the first six months of 2008 has topped 14 million, an all-time high.
ScienceBlogs was launched in mid-January 2006 after inviting 14 science blogs [including my blog, Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)] to join their ranks. Since then, ScienceBlogs has received a total of more than 41 million visits, or "hits", and more than 107 million individual page views. According to Amazon's Kindle statistics, ScienceBlogs hosts 70% of their top-selling science blog subscriptions, and ScienceBlogs are one of Amazon's top 25 selling sites overall, along with Daily Kos, BoingBoing, and The Huffington Post (where I occasionally volunteer).
"ScienceBlogs has become a must-read destination site for the intellectually curious from around the world and we are continuously working to make it more useful and interactive for our readers," said Sarah Glasser, Vice President of Marketing for Seed Media Group.
ScienceBlogs is an international community of blog authors whose writings span the entire world of science and technology, covering fields from neuroscience to computer science. ScienceBloggers, informally known among their friends and readers as "SciBlings", comprise a group of scientists, medical doctors, educators, and journalists -- among them are 42 PhDs, 5 MDs and 2 Rhodes Scholars. More than 90 blogs have been recruited to join ScienceBlogs so far, 70 of which are written in English, and another 28 are written in German and are hosted by our sister site, ScienceBlogs.de, in partnership with Hubert Burda Media.
Seed Media Group is a global media and technology company. Their portfolio includes publishing, software, digital media, conferences, museums, and social media. Their main foci are their passion for science and their advocacy of science literacy around the world. Seed Media Group is headquartered in New York City.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Slashdot | Cancer Resistance Technique Moves To Human Trials
Slashdot | Cancer Resistance Technique Moves To Human Trials
TaeKwonDood tips us to news that a new cancer resistance treatment is going into clinical trials after being quite successful at eradicating cancer in mice. Researchers discovered that certain white blood cells called granulocytes from cancer-immune mice were able to cure cancer in other mice. Now, doctors are putting out the call for healthy granulocyte donors in order to test how well it works on humans. The article quotes lead researcher Zheng Cui saying, "In mice, we've been able to eradicate even highly aggressive forms of malignancy with extremely large tumors. Hopefully, we will see the same results in humans. Our laboratory studies indicate that this cancer-fighting ability is even stronger in healthy humans."
TaeKwonDood tips us to news that a new cancer resistance treatment is going into clinical trials after being quite successful at eradicating cancer in mice. Researchers discovered that certain white blood cells called granulocytes from cancer-immune mice were able to cure cancer in other mice. Now, doctors are putting out the call for healthy granulocyte donors in order to test how well it works on humans. The article quotes lead researcher Zheng Cui saying, "In mice, we've been able to eradicate even highly aggressive forms of malignancy with extremely large tumors. Hopefully, we will see the same results in humans. Our laboratory studies indicate that this cancer-fighting ability is even stronger in healthy humans."
Cancer patient cured with his own immune system
KurzweilAI.net
Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have developed a new cancer immune therapy by using large numbers of a patient's own T-cells (a special type called helper CD4 cells) to fight tumors.
The researchers collected some of these cells from the patient, cultured them, and injected five billion of them back into the patient. The treatment removed the tumors within two months.
Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have developed a new cancer immune therapy by using large numbers of a patient's own T-cells (a special type called helper CD4 cells) to fight tumors.
The researchers collected some of these cells from the patient, cultured them, and injected five billion of them back into the patient. The treatment removed the tumors within two months.
Accidental fungus leads to promising cancer drug | Reuters
Accidental fungus leads to promising cancer drug | Reuters
Tests in mice showed it worked against a range of tumors, including breast cancer, neuroblastoma, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, brain tumors known as glioblastomas and uterine tumors.
It helped stop so-called primary tumors and also prevented their spread, Ofra Benny of Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School and colleagues reported.
"Using the oral route of administration, it first reaches the liver, making it especially efficient in preventing the development of liver metastasis in mice," they wrote in their report. "Liver metastasis is very common in many tumor types and is often associated with a poor prognosis and survival rate," they added.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Google Health
Google Health
Google Health allows you to store and manage all of your health information in one central place. And it's completely free. All you need to get started is a Google username and password.
Google believes that you own your medical records and should have easy access to them. The way we see it, it's your information; why shouldn't you control it?
- Keep your doctors up-to-date
- Stop filling out the same paperwork every time you see a new doctor
- Avoid getting the same lab tests done over and over again because your doctor cannot get copies of your latest results
- Don't lose your medical records because of a move, change in jobs or health insurance
With Google Health, you manage your health information — not your health insurance plan or your employer. You can access your information anywhere, at any time.
It's safe and secure
We believe that your health information belongs to you, and you should decide how much you share and whom you share it with. We will never sell your data. We store your information securely and privately. Check out our privacy policy to learn more.
You are in control — you choose what you want to share and what you want to keep private.
Features
With Google Health, you can:
 | Build online health profiles You can enter your health conditions, medications, allergies, and lab results into your Google Health profile and you can name the profile anything you want. You can even create multiple profiles for family members or others you care for. |
 | Import medical records from hospitals and pharmacies Choose from a list of Google Health partners to see if your hospital or pharmacy can send copies of your medical records or prescriptions to your Google Health profile. This way, you can save an accurate history of your medical conditions, medications, and test results all in one place. |
 | Learn about health issues and find helpful resources Review trusted information on diseases and conditions and learn about possible medication interactions and other topics to talk your doctors about. |
 | Search for doctors and hospitals You can search for a doctor's name or location, find a doctor's website, get directions to a doctor's office, and save a doctor's information to your medical contacts list. |
 | Connect to online health services Browse the online health services directory to find services that are integrated with Google Health that can help you better manage your health needs. |
Monday, June 02, 2008
The Loom : A New Step In Evolution
The Loom : A New Step In Evolution: "One of the most important experiments in evolution is going on right now in a laboratory in Michigan State University. A dozen flasks full of E. coli are sloshing around on a gently rocking table. The bacteria in those flasks has been evolving since 1988--for over 44,000 generations. And because they've been so carefully observed all that time, they've revealed some important lessons about how evolution works."
Friday, May 23, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
NASA - Artist's representation of binary galaxy 3C321 eating a nearby galaxy
NASA - NASA Announces Discovery of Assault by a Black Hole
The one galaxy appears to be eating the second galaxy.
The one galaxy appears to be eating the second galaxy.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
YouTube - Charlie Rose: August 23, 2002
YouTube - Charlie Rose: August 23, 2002
The interview with Stephan Wolfram from 8/23/2002 is interesting and starts at about 14:25.
That said, it is also interesting to see the latter half of the Jim Lehrer interview (which is just prior to Wolfram's segment) to hear how he and Charlie Rose discussed Iraq and the issues of the day (8/23/2002).
The interview with Stephan Wolfram from 8/23/2002 is interesting and starts at about 14:25.
That said, it is also interesting to see the latter half of the Jim Lehrer interview (which is just prior to Wolfram's segment) to hear how he and Charlie Rose discussed Iraq and the issues of the day (8/23/2002).
Wolfram's snowflake cellular automaton
YouTube - Wolfram's snowflake cellular automaton
Coupled Cellular Automaton:
Artificial life and multiagent systems:
Coupled Cellular Automaton:
Artificial life and multiagent systems:
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Copy That
Copy That (pay):
"Identical twins may look alike, but their DNA is not the same as long thought, a new study finds. Moreover, each twin grows more genetically distinct over time. Aside from maybe giving forensic investigators a way to tell which twin committed a crime, these recent findings highlight just how changeable human genomes might really be, twins or not.
Identical, or monozygotic, twins result when a fertilized egg, or zygote, splits in two. Because they derive from the same cell, such twins are generally assumed to be physically identical except for features shaped by environmental factors, such as fingerprints, and by womb conditions."
"Identical twins may look alike, but their DNA is not the same as long thought, a new study finds. Moreover, each twin grows more genetically distinct over time. Aside from maybe giving forensic investigators a way to tell which twin committed a crime, these recent findings highlight just how changeable human genomes might really be, twins or not.
Identical, or monozygotic, twins result when a fertilized egg, or zygote, splits in two. Because they derive from the same cell, such twins are generally assumed to be physically identical except for features shaped by environmental factors, such as fingerprints, and by womb conditions."
Monday, April 14, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Cancer Therapy Without Side Effects Nearing Trials
Cancer Therapy Without Side Effects Nearing Trials
A promising new cancer treatment that may one day replace radiation and chemotherapy is edging closer to human trials.
Kanzius RF therapy attaches microscopic nanoparticles to cancer cells and then "cooks" tumors inside the body with harmless radio waves.
Based on technology developed by Pennsylvania inventor John Kanzius, a retired radio and TV engineer, the treatment has proven 100 percent effective at killing cancer cells while leaving neighboring healthy cells unharmed. It is currently being tested at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
“I don’t want to give people false hope,” said Dr. Steve Curley, the professor leading the tests, “but this has the potential to treat a wide variety of cancers.”
Modern cancer treatments like radiation and chemotherapy have proven remarkably effective at treating many cancers, especially in combination, but are plagued with toxic side effects. These treatments kill healthy cells as well as cancerous ones.
Kanzius RF therapy is noninvasive, and uses nontoxic radio waves combined with gold or carbon nanoparticles, which have a long history of medical use.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Wolfram...a new kind of physics
Bloggingheads.tv - diavlogs
I put this here for the first 30 seconds from the ding-a-link. At about 1:30 in, however, they get a bit into the why other scientists ignored him. Then he self-exemplifies why.
Wolfram on Committee work: "... it's not my way ... there's some kind of cognitive disconnect in that way of making progress in things ..."
I put this here for the first 30 seconds from the ding-a-link. At about 1:30 in, however, they get a bit into the why other scientists ignored him. Then he self-exemplifies why.
Wolfram on Committee work: "... it's not my way ... there's some kind of cognitive disconnect in that way of making progress in things ..."
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Slashdot | Large Sheets of Carbon Nanotubes Produced
Slashdot | Large Sheets of Carbon Nanotubes Produced
StCredZero brings news that scientists have developed sheets of nanotubes that measure up to three feet by six feet, and they promise "slabs 100 square feet in area as soon as this summer." The developers see uses for the sheets in electromagnetic shields and airplane construction, and according to the Next Big Future blog, the sheets could also impact the development of solar sails.
"The sheets, which the company can produce on its single machine at a rate of one per day, are composed of a series of nanotubes each about a millimeter long, overlapping each other randomly to form a thin mat. The tensile strength of the mat ranges from 200 to 500 megapascals--a measure of how tough it is to break. A sheet of aluminum of equivalent thickness, for comparison, has a strength of 500 megapascals. If Nanocomp takes further steps to align the nanotubes, the strength jumps to 1,200 megapascals."
StCredZero brings news that scientists have developed sheets of nanotubes that measure up to three feet by six feet, and they promise "slabs 100 square feet in area as soon as this summer." The developers see uses for the sheets in electromagnetic shields and airplane construction, and according to the Next Big Future blog, the sheets could also impact the development of solar sails.
"The sheets, which the company can produce on its single machine at a rate of one per day, are composed of a series of nanotubes each about a millimeter long, overlapping each other randomly to form a thin mat. The tensile strength of the mat ranges from 200 to 500 megapascals--a measure of how tough it is to break. A sheet of aluminum of equivalent thickness, for comparison, has a strength of 500 megapascals. If Nanocomp takes further steps to align the nanotubes, the strength jumps to 1,200 megapascals."
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
When the world's great scientific thinkers change their minds
Edge: Cover Story - Publico Sunday Magazine
by Ana Gerschenfeld
One hundred and sixty-five eminent thinkers, researchers, and communicators, at the annual request of the edge.org website, answered the following question: 'What Have You Changed Your Mind About? Why?'
From particle physics to evolutionary theory, to the atomic bomb, to global warming, to the battle of the sexes, to the equality of human beings, to God and the paranormal, and to the dogmatism of scientists themselves, dozens of the big thinkers in the world explained online, at the start of 2008, what the most important things that they’ve change their minds about during their lives are.
more
by Ana Gerschenfeld
One hundred and sixty-five eminent thinkers, researchers, and communicators, at the annual request of the edge.org website, answered the following question: 'What Have You Changed Your Mind About? Why?'
From particle physics to evolutionary theory, to the atomic bomb, to global warming, to the battle of the sexes, to the equality of human beings, to God and the paranormal, and to the dogmatism of scientists themselves, dozens of the big thinkers in the world explained online, at the start of 2008, what the most important things that they’ve change their minds about during their lives are.
more
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Sunday, February 03, 2008
First Google Health Screenshots
First Google Health Screenshots
Google Health, codename “Weaver”, is Google’s planned health information storage program. Google’s Vice President of Engineering Adam Bosworth lobbies for the program for quite a while now. Adam said the current US health care system is challenged when it comes to “supporting caregivers and communicating between different medical organizations.” Adam went on to say that people “need the medical information that is out there and available to be organized and made accessible to all ... Health information should be easier to access and organize, especially in ways that make it as simple as possible to find the information that is most relevant to a specific patient’s needs.” Adam adds that this – making information accessible – happens to be along Google’s mission.
Google Health, codename “Weaver”, is Google’s planned health information storage program. Google’s Vice President of Engineering Adam Bosworth lobbies for the program for quite a while now. Adam said the current US health care system is challenged when it comes to “supporting caregivers and communicating between different medical organizations.” Adam went on to say that people “need the medical information that is out there and available to be organized and made accessible to all ... Health information should be easier to access and organize, especially in ways that make it as simple as possible to find the information that is most relevant to a specific patient’s needs.” Adam adds that this – making information accessible – happens to be along Google’s mission.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Slashdot | Carbon Nanotubes Can Exist Safely Inside the Body, Help Treat Cancer
Slashdot | Carbon Nanotubes Can Exist Safely Inside the Body, Help Treat Cancer
"A team of scientists at Stanford University has tracked the movement of carbon nanotubes through the digestive systems of mice. They've determined that the nanotubes do not exhibit any toxicity in the mice, and are safely expelled after delivering their payload. As a result, the study paves the way toward future applications of nanotubes in the treatment of illnesses. Previous research by the same team demonstrated that nanotubes can be used to fight cancer. The nanotubes do this in two ways. One method involves shining laser light on the nanotubes, which generates heat to destroy cancer cells. Another method involves attaching medicine to the nanotubes, which are able to accurately 'find' cancerous cells without impacting healthy cells."
"A team of scientists at Stanford University has tracked the movement of carbon nanotubes through the digestive systems of mice. They've determined that the nanotubes do not exhibit any toxicity in the mice, and are safely expelled after delivering their payload. As a result, the study paves the way toward future applications of nanotubes in the treatment of illnesses. Previous research by the same team demonstrated that nanotubes can be used to fight cancer. The nanotubes do this in two ways. One method involves shining laser light on the nanotubes, which generates heat to destroy cancer cells. Another method involves attaching medicine to the nanotubes, which are able to accurately 'find' cancerous cells without impacting healthy cells."
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