Having seen at first hand the terror and fear instilled by a small minority of extremist animal rights activists, not least the strain put on Police resources near my childhood home (Huntingdon Life Sciences, a major target, is located nearby), I realise that the use of primates in research is a topic close to the hearts of many. However, intelligent discussion rather than radical violence is the only route towards an informed debate. Let’s hope that this BBC article, written about the publication of a recent government report, can help add to that dialogue.
The Weatherall report was commissioned by the Academy of Medical Sciences, Royal Society, Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust to review the scientific case for [primate research].
Its chair, Sir David Weatherall, emeritus professor of medicine at Oxford University, said: “There is a scientific case for careful, well-monitored and meticulously regulated non-human primate research, at least for the foreseeable future, provided it is the only way of solving important scientific or medical questions.
“At this moment in time, if we were to take [primate research] away tomorrow, there would be certain areas of science which I think might suffer very greatly,” Sir David added.
A nine-strong working group spent 18 months examining the areas of science where primates are most heavily employed, although it did not look at their use for toxicity testing of medicines.
It concluded non-human primate research remained vital for understanding the basic biology of the brain, neurological diseases, communicable diseases, and some aspects of fertility and ageing.
I know, I know. I should really be selling this site on the quality of the typos alone. However, in an effort to give myself the proverbial kick in the backside, here is a flagrant attempt at luring some more readers. So…
Dear readers, this lowly Science blog pales in comparison to many others. Why not take the time to peruse an alternative? Perhaps Bad Astronomy? Then, why not vote for it in the 2006 Weblog Awards?
Maybe next year, you can vote for Sci@Night!
The wonders of Google Earth never cease to amaze, and, I’m pretty certain, could be blamed for an international productivity deficit that must be equal to the annual turnover of a few media savvy geek blogs. Over the past year, I’ve found myself checking out the roofing situation of each new apartment I’ve moved into (and there have been a few…) as well as enjoying virtual trips through the Grand Canyon and the mountains of Ecuador. Where the wünder-map fails, however, is in it’s lack of real-time information.
At the time of the Tsunami, there were regular satellite updates both on Google’s databases and others. They were posted especially to highlight the devastation that occurred. But the world’s geography is in a constant state of dynamism and Google Earth just can’t quite keep up on a day to day basis. What’s needed is a service providing regularly updated satellite images of the world so that you, the armchair Marco Polo, can explore everything from tropical storms off Japan to bare ski-slopes in the French Alps.
Thankfully, the European Space Agency has launched exactly that:
“ESA designed MIRAVI [MERIS Images RApid VIsualisation] so that the public could have access to daily views of Earth. Naturally, scientists are already familiar with these data, but we thought these images would be interesting to everyone. Seeing the most recently acquired images of the planet will allow people to witness the magnificent beauty of Earth and become more knowledgeable about the environment,” said the ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes Volker Liebig…
…Envisat [the world’s largest Earth Observation satellite] circles the Earth in a polar orbit at an 800-km altitude, allowing MERIS to acquire global coverage every three days. MERIS measures the solar radiation reflected by the Earth, which means the sun must be present for MERIS to produce an image. Because the sun is low over Nordic areas during winter, images of Scandinavia, for example, are not currently available, except through the archive. The situation will reverse, however, from March onwards, and images of the area will be acquired daily. In contrast, Antarctica is visible for the next two months.
To access this fun new tool, head here:
Have fun trying to find that field you accidentally set light to last week!
I remember my first Chemistry lesson at secondary school. It was pretty fun. Our approval-hungry teacher, who ended up being generally regarded as obnoxious, knew exactly what his public wanted, and that’s exactly what they got;
Balloons tethered to the workbench and filled with mildly explosive gases. A lit splint on the end of a broom handle. The logical conclusion. These are things that make 12 year old boys go weak at the knees. Well, some.
In the age of YouTube, it’s good to see that educators are still taking advantage of simple chemistry with spectacular results. Dr Sarah Heath, Outreach Director for the School of Chemistry at The University of Manchester is making a mess with one of this year’s top internet phenomenons.
Dr. Heath… goes into schools in the Greater Manchester area to give exciting science demonstrations on solids, liquids and gases.
“I mentioned to my daughter that I was looking at doing the Mentos and Diet Coke experiment, and she said all her friends at her school had been talking about it.
“I think it’s a great thing because it’s got children interested in science. We can talk about the chemistry that lies behind it later, but the important thing is to capture their attention in the first place.”
And in case you were guessing…
“When you look at a Mento under a microscope you will see that it’s quite pitted and therefore has lots of nucleation sites, which causes the carbon dioxide to be released. There is probably also a chemical reaction occurring but there is a lot of debate about this.”
Let’s face it, it’s demonstrations like these that we still remember, not the number of electron orbits around a Lithium nucleus. Dr. Heath is probably not the first to hijack a web time-waster for educational use, but either way, let’s hear it for more showmanship in schools!
And in case you hadn’t seen the latest exemplar…
…she’s probably ovulating. Well, so claims this article in yesterday’s Guardian.
Women are more likely to dress to impress when they are at their most fertile, according to psychologists. A study of female university students found they eschewed drab clothing for a more flamboyant style when they were ovulating, suggesting hormonal changes had an unconscious effect on their behaviour.
Photographs of the women revealed they more frequently wore jewellery as well as trendy and more revealing clothes at the most fertile phase of their monthly cycle. “They tend to put on skirts instead of pants, show more skin and generally dress more fashionably,” said Martie Haselton, the University of California Los Angeles researcher who led the study.
While hormonal changes affecting behaviour is nothing new (PMS anyone?), humans had, previously, been a thought a species that hides its fertility:
In the animal kingdom, displays of fertility abound. Some female crabs secrete powerful sex pheromones into the water to attract males, while female elephants, which may be fertile for less than a week every five years, let out a low-pitched bellow to attract nearby males. But overt signs of human ovulation have proved notoriously difficult to detect.
Apologies for the leave of absence. All is well, and I’m glad to welcome you back with this image of Saturn from Riding with Robots:
Cassini’s infrared imager can see heat rising from deep within the planet, silhouetting clouds against the glowing interior. This image serves as a reminder that planets are not mere lumps of rock or gas, but resemble living things, pulsing with energy and changing with time.
Cities across the US are using the commonly found Bluegill fish as an early warning system to warn of chemical attacks on municipal water supplies, according to this Associated Press report.
Small numbers of the fish are kept in tanks constantly replenished with water from the municipal supply, and sensors in each tank work around the clock to register changes in the breathing, heartbeat and swimming patterns of the bluegills that occur in the presence of toxins.
“Nature’s given us pretty much the most powerful and reliable early warning center out there,” said Bill Lawler, co-founder of Intelligent Automation Corp., a Southern California company that makes and sells the bluegill monitoring system. “There’s no known manmade sensor that can do the same job as the bluegill.”
Bluegills — a hardy species about the size of a human hand — are considered more versatile. They are highly attuned to chemical disturbances in their environment, and when exposed to toxins, they experience the fish version of coughing, flexing their gills to expel unwanted particles.
The computerized system in use in San Francisco and elsewhere is designed to detect even slight changes in the bluegills’ vital signs and send an e-mail alert when something is wrong.
Similar systems have been used in the mining industry for over a hundred years: the canaries have just learned to swim…
Call me obsessive, but I’ve found the recent body of work studying the binary pulsar system compelling.
It’s great stuff and I doff my hat to all those Jodrell Bank and around the world who are involved. For those who’s curiosity isn’t satisfied by writings on this page (I can’t begin to imagine why!), this website has great videos and images that help to clear things up.
Enjoy.
Saturn’s tiny moon Daphnis making ripples in the rings last Saturday
From Riding with Robots. Details of the Cassini Mission can be found here.
Filed under: Comment, Sci@Night
There’s been a lot of coverage of the new ESA topographic Mars maps, but just in case you missed it, below is an image taken from Sci@Night’s astrobuddy, RidingWithRobots.org.
With contours and a 3D model, these maps will be accessible on the 25th generation iPhone!
[Mars Express hiking maps]