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BIOTECHNOLOGY & LIFE SCIENCES
AA09257
Biba, Erin SECOND LIFE Wired, vol. 17, no. 8, August 2009, pg. 98-101, 122-123
Available from the publisher's website: [HTML format, 2 pages]
Raul Cano is a microbiologist who made a huge sensation in the scientific world in the 1990s when he successfully revivified a microbe extracted from a lump of amber. This feat, performed on bacteria similar to yeast, opened a new understanding of the capabilities of microorganisms, and made real what had only been considered theoretically possible prior to that time. Cano had hopes that his process might bring back to life other organisms that could have potential as medicines or antibiotics, but no biomedical miracles emerged from the company he started. The effort folded in the late 1990s and Cano went on to other work, but in 2006 a chance encounter put the prehistoric yeast in the hands of a brewmaster. His experimentation has led to the creation of Fossil Fuel, a beer that is soon to be marketed in California restaurants and bars. A brewery capable of bottling the beer has signed on to the project with an aim to wider distribution in the future.
AA09285
Mooney, Chris VACCINATION NATION Discover, June 2009, pp. 58-65, 75
Available from the publisher's website: [HTML format, 9 pages]
Several recent court rulings that vaccines do not cause autism have done little to quiet the angry debate that began a decade ago, when a study first alleged that there was a connection between the use of a mercury compound, thimerosal, as a preservative in vaccines, and the growing incidence of autism among children. The anti-vaccine story has spread rapidly in the mass media and on the Internet, drawing many celebrity supporters. While there is still uncertainty on whether the reported increase in autism is merely due to increased attention to the condition or a range of environmental triggers, the vaccine-autism connection has been refuted by scientific research. The author notes that the scientific and medical community was slow to respond to the growing public reaction against vaccines, noting that "it's not hard to scare people, but it's extremely difficult to unscare them." The greater threat, notes the author, is holding back vaccines. The great success of vaccines in eradicating diseases is a reason why the antivaccination sentiment has thrived; few people today remember the devastation caused by these scourges. The major challenge today, Mooney notes, is to maintain public support for vaccination programs and to "explore how science and so many citizens fell out of touch."
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY POLICY
PHYSICAL SCIENCES
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
FACT SHEET: RECOVERY TO DISCOVERY: $5 BILLION RECOVERY ACT INVESTMENT IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND JOBS.
The White House. September 30, 2009.
Full Text: [HTML format, various paging]
Since September 1st, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the Department of Health and Human Services, has awarded more than 12,000 grants to research institutions in every state across the country. This $5 billion investment through the Recovery Act is the largest infusion of capital into biomedical research ever and is expected to support tens of thousands of jobs over the next two years, ranging from support staff and lab technicians to database managers and scientists.
ENSURING THE INTEGRITY, ACCESSIBILITY, AND STEWARDSHIP OF RESEARCH DATA IN THE DIGITAL AGE.
National Academy of Sciences. July 22, 2009.
Full Text: [HTML format with links]
Though digital technologies and high-speed communications have significantly expanded the capabilities of scientists, allowing them to analyze and share vast amounts of data, these technologies are also raising difficult questions for researchers, institutions, and journals. Because digital data can be manipulated more easily than other forms, they are particularly susceptible to distortion. Questions about how to maintain the data generated, who should have access, and who pays to store them can be controversial, according to the study.
[Note: contains copyrighted material]
SPACE ACTIVITIES
TECHNOLOGY
AA09258
De Kecker, Kris THE MONSTER FOOTPRINT OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY Low-Tech Magazine, posted June 16, 2009
Available from the publisher's website: [HTML format]
The author notes that, for most of the modern industrial era, durable equipment such as cars, refrigerators or washing machines consumed more energy over their lifetime of use and operation than during their manufacture. The advent of computer technology has turned this situation upside down -- vastly more energy is required in the manufacture of computers and other electronic gadgets than they consume. Most of that embodied energy is in the microprocessors, which can be six orders of magnitude greater than for conventional manufacturing processes, and the energy required during manufacture keeps growing, as bigger and more powerful computer chips are needed for graphics and video games. This is exacerbated by the fact that high technology is evolving quickly, and equipment becomes obsolete after only a few years. Recycling is not the complete answer, notes the author; addressing technological obsolescence would be the best approach to lowering the ecological footprint of digital technology.