End of Summer

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-attack-on-science-isnt-going-very-well/2017/08/10/096a0e1e-7d2c-11e7-a669-b400c5c7e1cc_story.html?utm_term=.397d0ecd0c8f  This is a commentary from The Washington Post by a former member of the EPA Board of Scientific Advisors. The writer reviews Trump's first 200 days in which he drastically cut the budgets of climate change research programs, removed climate change statistics from government websites, and refused to renew more than 30 appointments to the EPA Board of Scientific Counselors, including the author. The writer refers to the draft report received by the NYT which blamed human activities for the recently observed climate changes. In fact, it is advised that the language"weather extremes" be substituted for climate change, which is censorship, and the Orwellian language obfuscation.doesn't lower the temperature of the earth.





https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/21/science/the-deep-seas-are-alive-with-light.html?mcubz=1&_r=0 This is an article from the NYT about bioluminescent organisms. Bioluminescence is described in the article as one of the earth's dominant ecological traits. This work was published in Scientific Reports and it was done by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California. Although oceanic bioluminescence existed in the primal seas long before dinosaurs, terrestrial bioluminescence is fairly recent (fireflies, beetles, millipedes, earthworms.)


http://www.philly.com/philly/health/salmonella-outbreak-backyard-chickens-pennsylvania-new-jersey-20170822.html
This is an article from the Philadelphia Inquirer reporting a salmonella outbreak being investigated by the CDC. Almost 1,000 people have been infected since January of this year.  Scientists believe that the infection started with backyard chickens since most of the people who were infected had had contact with live poultry.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41003105 From BBC News:  Starting in September there will be a new curriculum in Turkey's schools which will include more religious instruction and less evolution. The Education Minister denied that evolution will not be taught, instead says the "repetitious parts" have been eliminated and that the topic was being delayed until college.


https://www.democracynow.org/2017/8/24/headlines/johnson_johnson_speak_out_against_its_drug_being_used_in_execution  This is a Democracy Now Report about  J and J executives protesting its drug being used for lethal injection. The state of Florida is scheduled to use its drug against convicted murderer Mark Asay, the first time this particular drug will have been ushttps://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3044922893199343269#editor/target=post;postID=4501253204352444230;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=postnameed for this purpose.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/health/syphilis-std-united-states.html?mcubz=1&_r=0 This is a nyt article about recent outbreaks of syphilis, a deadly, sexually-transmitted disease especially difficult to contain and diagnose since most doctors haven't seen a case since the late 1990s.  The Trump administration, confounding the problem, has proposed a 17% decease in the disease prevention budget for 2018.


http://www.philly.com/philly/health/study-annual-mammograms-starting-at-age-40-is-best-strategy-for-breast-cancer-screening-20170825.html Article from the Inquirer about a study published in the journal Cancer that confirmed that having yearly mammograms from the age of 40 and continuing annually thereafter saves the most lives. The three- pronged study also examined lives saved screening annually from 45-54 then every other year from 55 to 79, and every other year from 50 to 74. A problem is that a woman getting screened annually starting at 40 could expect to be called back to evaluate a suspicious mammogram that turns out to be a false alarm once every 13 years.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/disease-diagnostics-take-top-honors-debut-biomedical-engineering-design-competition This is an NIH report of a disease diagnostics bioengineering competition that will focus on undergraduates.  It is called DEBUT Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams. The prizes total $65,000, awarded by the partnership of NIH (National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering) and VentureWell, a nnon-profit higher education network. The winning project, which was awarded $20,000 was a portable EEG machine which could aid in the diagnosis of Alzheimers Disease.




https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/26/opinion/sunday/cure-yourself-of-tree-blindness.html?mcubz=0
Opinion piece in the NYT Sunday Review about the importance of tree identification and "consciousness".  According to the author, tree deaths reflect "deeper truths" about our environment. An example would be the death of the ash trees due to the ash borer, an invasive, non-native species. Similar pests have also affected the chestnut, hemlock and elm trees. The piece also recommends eating wild tree fruit such as tree nuts.

https://www.statnews.com/2017/08/30/novartis-car-t-cancer-approved/ This is from STAT about a new cancer drug treatment that has been approved by the FDA. It is extremely expensive (costs $475,000) and is made by removing patients' T cells and reengineering them and injecting them back into the patient. It is called CAR-T cell treatment and the drug, made by Novartis, is Kymriah. It is used to treat children and adults with relapsed Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (a blood cancer) and has been successful in 83% of cases after a single dose.