Worldmapper

This is cool. The paper just out in PLoS Medicine features Worldmapper illustrations of global public health data. As author Danny Dorling notes, “You can say it, you can prove it, you can tabulate it, but it is only when you show it that it hits home.” For example, below is a [...]

Scifi name for new bacteria

Where do names for new microorganisms from? Apparently, the powers that be will accept names from science fiction—Star Wars, in the case of Midichloria mitochondrii, bacteria discovered within mitochondria in tick ova.
Discoverer Nate Lo named them after “midichlorians,” the fictional creatures that exist inside the cells of living beings and communicate the [...]

Identity and migration: if you read nothing else today

Muslims are just the latest of insular groups demanding special treatment in multicultural societies of the west. This excellent essay by Francis Fukuyama explains that western societies’ weak identities leave us and our way of life vulnerable to the pressures of such groups. A key excerpt:
Whatever its exact causes, Europe’s failure to better [...]

Inner life of a cell, explained

Remember the fantastic animation of The Inner Life of a Cell, created for Harvard students? Biosingularity has posted the news that the narrated version is available. Enjoy!

Ebola treatment test results published

The Canadian and U.S. researchers who previously reported a method that appeared very effective in treating Marburg virus (see my post here), have now tested the method against Ebola and found it successful at varying rates when administered pre- and post-infection in guinea pigs, mice, and monkeys.
The method involves inoculation with a harmless virus that [...]

Senate hearing concludes U.S. not “scared enough” of bird flu

It’s flu season again, did you get your flu shot? And if an especially deadly flu begins circulating this year, such as H5N1, would you be ready to change your routine or even spend an extended period at home in order to avoid or contain illness in your household?
A Senate hearing yesterday concluded people [...]

Where does your political compass point?

Are you a little confused about where you stand politically? If you’re already happily settled at a political extreme, read no further! But for me the political landscape is a little complicated. I generally call myself conservative, but really that’s only where it applies to economics and to a large extent, national [...]

BioDIY: enjoy with caution

The Pimm – Partial Immortalization blog offers a few comments on how easy bioDIY is and encourages anyone with a biological bent and an interest in a fun new hobby to play around with his or her own genome at home.
If interested, you can do home biotech, you have the right and power to work [...]