https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jun/06/broccoli-coffee-scientists-create-new-way-to-eat-more-greens From The Guardian, Scientists have made powdered broccoli, which can be added to foods to increase the amount of greens in one's diet. This was done by the Australian science agency CSIRO. But I don't think of broccoli as "ugly" produce.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/09/opinion/protected-area-myth.html This is an opinion in the NYT about areas devoted to wildlife protection according to the 1993 Convention on Biological Diversity. The author asks us to examine what he calls the "delusions" that accompany this type of project. Apparently, designating these areas is easy but protecting them hard. In Australia's Barrow Island Marine Park, a designated protected area due to the richness of wildlife there, the government allowed construction of a vast energy complex. There is something called Paddd, protected area downgrading, downsizing and degazettement (?) because this is such a common occurrence.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/09/climate/trump-administration-science.html An article from NYT about the fact that, even now as Trump meets with North Korea, when denuclearization is sure to come up as a topic of conversation, Trump has no science advisor. Past advisors to presidents say that the absence of such high level expertise could put Mr. Trump at a disadvantage. (I would have said "is sure to"). This indicates the marginalization of science is shaping US policy. Neither the State Department nor the Department of Agriculture have chief scientists, for example. Even as we speak, Scott Pruitt, head of the EPA, is rolling back legislation designed to protect the environment.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/13/health/mediterranean-diet-heart-disease.html An article in NYT about the Mediterranean Diet Study, much-cited, reporting that the Mediterranean diet, containing more vegetables and fruits, cuts risk of heart attacks/strokes, was not randomized. The paper was reanalyzed and, according to Barnett Kramer, director of cancer prevention studies at NCI. contains the same flaws.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/13/climate/antarctica-ice-melting-faster.html This goes into the Antarctica is Melting column. 0.3 inch doesn't sound like a lot for the sea level to rise but this is the statistic for the years 2112-2117 as published in the journal Nature. By 2100 it is expected that there will be a rise of another 6 inches as estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Oh, not to mention that Greenland also lost one trillion tons of ice between 2011 and 2014.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/15/health/alcohol-nih-drinking.html This is a NYT article reporting the discontinuing of a federally-funded study of drinking. The study dealt with whether a daily beer or cocktail can prevent stokes and cardiovascular disease. It was recently determined that major funding for the study as provided by the alcohol industry, solicited by the NIAAA, a federal agency.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180614213608.htm
This is an article from Science Daily reporting on a finding discussed in Science about a new type of photosynthesis that uses near-infrared light. Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) when they grow near bacterial mats. Chlorophyll a is normally used for photosynthesis but in near-infrared light chlorophyll f takes over. It used to be thought that light damage would be severe beyond the "red limit", that is longer than near-infrared, but this changes the textbook understanding of the energy requirements for photosynthesis. Our understanding of life pushed incrementally forward....
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/health/alzheimers-virus-herpes.html An article from the NYT about a new study in the journal Neuron suggesting that by analyzing brains some with Alzheimer’s, some with other types of neurological problems, and some without cognitive impairment, two hypes of herpes viruses, 6A and 7, were found in Alzheimers brains. People with elevated APOE4 had more 6A. This is a controversial and not a new theory and by no means has wide agreement in the Alzheimers field. But peole could be screened who have susceptibility to these viruses. The question, "Do infections contribute to the development of Alzheimers?"
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/health/fetal-bone-marrow-transplant.html An article from NYT about a patient who received 5 blood transfusions in the womb. This was for treatment of alpha thalassemia, a genetic blood disorder which causes red blood cells to be unable to carry oxygen, causing severe anemia, heart failure and brain damage. Stem cells in the bone marrow, which is being tranferred with the transfusion, could replace cells which have the genetic defect. It is a recessive disease, but when two carriers have children, an offspring could have 2 copies and therefore have the disease. Pregnant women are usually advised to abort. The donor in the case of this transplant is the mother, since the mother and the fetus' blood streams are in contact and there is little chance of rejection.This can work even if the mother is a carrier.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/28/science/sea-spiders-oxygen.html This is a fascinating article about the Antarctic sea spider in the NYT. They have a small heart, but no lungs or gills. A fluid called heterolymph carries oxygen. And pores on their legs bring sea water thtough their exoskeletons. This work is reported in the Journal of Experimental Biology. There is also a video accompanying the article.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojmvz5kLN5M
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/science/mars-nasa-life.html This is an article in the NYT from an article in the journal Science about the discovery by the Mars Rover of carbon molecules which could have originated from living material. These molecules could have also been produced by chemical reactions that were not biological. In the same issue of Science it was reported that Mars' atmosphere contains a low amount, less than 0.5 parts per billion, by volume, of methane. This methane also may be the product of geological interactions (non-biological) or could have been produced by microbes as a waste product. Future missions could provide additional clues.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/us/politics/epa-toxic-chemicals.html A NYT article about the reevaluation of rules by the EPA that were passed to ensure worker safety from toxic chemicals used in dry cleaning, paint strippers, cosmetics and other beauty products. The EPA is narrowing its scope in reviewing the use of these chemicals and removing from consideration the possible improper disposal of these chemicals. This has been the result of heavy lobbying by the chemical industry.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/health/immunotherapy-lymphoma.html An article from the NYT from a study reported in NEJM about patients with adult T-Cell leukemia-lymphoma who received immunotherapy with the drug Opdivo and whose disease became worse after treatment. This drug, a monoclonal antibody is from a class of therapies called "Checkpoint Inhibitors" and is not specifically approved for this type of cancer. After the third patient's disease became worse, the trial was stopped. These checkpoint inhibitors work by activating a type of white blood cell called T-cells, which should be mobilized to attack tumors but this didn't happen. It is thought that maybe disease T-cells became activated as well.
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