Surgery in weightlessness? Two doctors and an engineer are about to test equipment that might make it possible.
The idea actually has more significance for controlling bleeding during brain and spinal surgeries here on Earth.
A new study of the Earth’s past climates has revealed that during warming periods the number of species multiplied.
The article spends a lot of time explaining that just because global warming in the past was beneficial for life does not mean that global warming today will be a good thing. Or to put it another way: “Absolutely not! We mustn’t think that! It can’t be! Never!!!! My fingers are in my ears! La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!”
Have scientists found an oral drug that can cure all strains of malaria?
A previously unknown tick-borne virus has been identified from samples taken from two infected farmers in Missouri.
The possibility that NASA might finally agree with Russia’s repeated request to fly a year-long mission to ISS grew stronger this morning with two stories:
The first, by James Oberg, digs into the underworld of NASA politics to find that plans might very well be more advanced than NASA is letting on:
» Read more
Russian authorities struggle to contain the spread of African swine fever, a deadly virus that attacks pigs.
Russian authorities have incinerated tens of thousands of pigs and closed roads in the past few weeks, in an attempt to contain an emerging outbreak of African swine fever, a viral disease so lethal to the animals that it has been likened to Ebola. The spread of the disease comes with a heavy economic toll — last year, the Russian Federation lost 300,000 of the country’s 19 million pigs to swine fever, at an estimated cost of about 7.6 billion roubles (US$240 million).
The Russians are once again pushing for a year long mission on ISS, while NASA once again appears unenthusiastic.
Though from this article it appears that this time NASA officials are at least considering the idea.
Good news! NASA today announced that recent research on ISS into bone loss due to weightlessness has found that proper exercise and diet can stabilize bone loss.
Past Russian research on Mir had found that exercise and diet could limit the bone loss, but not stop it entirely. The key difference in this recent work seems to be the use of more sophisticated exercise equipment.
If this research holds up, it eliminates one of the most serious obstacles to interplanetary travel.
Phosphorus and the origins of life on Earth.
A new AIDS-like disease has appeared, attacking about 100 Asians since 2004.
Scientists do not know what causes it, though it appears it is not contagious.
What do you do with a giant space station when its lifespan is over?
The article notes that no date has been set for deorbit, and that it likely will not happen before 2028. The article also includes information about some of medical and engineering problems of long term weightlessness that have been discovered on ISS, and how engineers have attempted to address them.
Unfortunately, some of these problems, such as the recently discovered vision problems, remain unsolved. It is a shame that while Russia wants to do multi-year missions on the station to study these issues, NASA continues to resist.
Science marches on! New research has now proven that owning a cat will not increase your cancer risk.
Not good: This year there will be the most cases of whooping cough in more than a half century.
The CDC is trying to figure out what’s going on, but Schuchat said a couple of factors are clearly at work. The formulation for the whooping cough vaccine was changed in 1997, and kids hitting age 13 and 14 now are the first to have been fully vaccinated with five doses of the new vaccine. The new formulation causes less of a reaction, but it may also wear off sooner, Schuchat said.
The older vaccine was made using a whole pertussis bacterium. It was very effective, but it did cause swelling in some kids who got it, and sometimes caused a fever — something that scared parents. It also was widely blamed for causing rare but serious neurological reactions, although Schuchat said studies have not confirmed this.
I imagine the formulation was changed because of the uproar in the 1990s about the dangers of the old vaccine.
No one’s gotta get stoned: An Israeli company has developed a medical marijuana strain that doesn’t make you high.
I like this factoid, that the company’s research facility is at “an undisclosed location” in northern Israel.
Six patients are suing one of the world’s largest stem cell companies, accusing it of fraud.
The patients claim that at RNL workshops they were misled into believing that treatments, still in the experimental stage, had already been proven effective. They allege that Hong told them stem cells would cure all ailments from which they suffered, including diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure, back pain and insomnia, and “reverse aging, restore health and virility including sex drive, and rejuvenate their body functions to that of their twenties and thirties.” They all say they have received no benefit from the treatments.
Altogether these patients spent $75,000 for these treatments.
It is very suspicious for any respectable medical institution to charge patients for experimental work. That should have been a red flag from the beginning.
Hope and dispair for American bats: New results on the fungus that is killing them.
A newly discovered fossil of a very early dinosaur strongly suggests that all dinosaurs had some form of plumage.
The stink bug, first seen in the east, has now invaded 38 states including the Pacific coast.
The sex life of a living rock. With video.
Killer microbes from the edge of space? One organization wants to know.
The uncertainty of science: New research suggests that the “good” cholesterol isn’t as good as previously believed.
Our government in action: An NIH nationwide study to track hundreds of thousands of children from birth to age 21 is wracked with budget and management problems.
All told, this study has already cost the taxpayers almost a billion dollars for the enrollment of only 4,000 children, not the 100,000 envisioned. That’s about $250,000 per child, an amount that seems incredibly high.
In addition to the above problems, it appears there are scientific ones as well:
» Read more
A microscopic algae-eater that lives in a Norway lake has now been identified as one of the Earth’s oldest living organisms.
The elusive, single-cell creature evolved about a billion years ago and did not fit in any of the known categories of living organisms – it was not an animal, plant, parasite, fungus or alga, they say.
Good news: Data now suggests that the bats are showing signs of recovery in the first caves hit by white nose syndrome in New York. More here. Plus here’s a link describing some of the research being done on this subject.
Note that the death toll listed in these stories is nothing more than an arbitrary exaggeration by government officials. The National Speleological Society estimates that the numbers are probably far less, and based on my own caving experience, I agree.
Caving for science! A bacteria, naturally resistant to all antibiotics, has been found in Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico.
Good news for wind power: A new study suggests that building wind turbines is a far greater problem to birds than actually operating them.
The uncertainty of science, however: the study also showed a wide range of effects, depending on bird species.
