February and 70 degrees

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/28/technology/science-research-researchgate-gates-goldman.html?_r=0
This ia an article in the business NYT about ResearchGate, which is a science "social medium" in which scientists and researchers can have "followers" like on FB or Twitter, etc. ResearchGate is actually a company backed by venture capital investors that allows scientists to update followers on their research and share data. This is an example of a trend that aims to make science more transparent.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/27/health/who-bacteria-pathogens-antibiotic-resistant-superbugs.html
Another article from NYT about a WHO report about drug-resistant superbugs. Several new antibiotic resistant bacteria have been identified that potentially could prove as dangerous to human health as Zika or Ebola. It is estimated that they cause 23,000 deaths per year in America alone. A recommendation was made to deal with the worst of the superbugs first and not just rely on "market forces alone". "Market forces" seems like a curious formulation but I guess that is a way of declaring that research priorities ought to be reorganized.


http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/03/how-sliced-meat-drove-human-evolution Article from Science magazine about how sliced meat drove human evolution. Although it sounds humorous and makes one think of glistening packages at ShopRite, this has more to do with the early members of genus Homo evolving smaller teeth as a result of the development of small stone flakes to cut the elastic muscles of carcasses into chewable pieces.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/science/earths-oldest-bacteria-fossils.html?_r=0 This is a NYT article by Carl Zimmer about bacterial fossil findings in Canada. These were found on the remote coast of Hudson Bay and may be the oldest fossils ever discovered. A geologist at the University of New South Wales called them "dubiofossils" with doubts that they had ever been part of a living organism.


https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/14/world/asia/inky-octopus-new-zealand-aquarium.html?_r=0 An article from the NYT about an octopus in New Zealand escaping from the aquarium by slipping through a hole in the top of its tank, sliding across the floor and going down a drainpipe into the ocean.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/drug-companies-block-shareholders-voting-on-price-transparency/ar-AAnHidX From the WSJ reported by MSN an article about drug companies blocking shareholders' votes on price transparency.  Pfizer and Merck were asked to submit annual average price increases for their top-selling drugs and ten were going to omit this proposal from their proxy ballots.The SEC furthermore is not going to enforce it if the companies exclude the proposals.

http://www.philly.com/philly/health/Philly-gene-therapy-hemophilia-spark-pfizer.html This is an article from the Philadelphia Inquirer detailing the development of a "one- shot" treatment for the inherited blood disorder Hemophilia. Spark Therapeutics, an offshoot from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has developed a gene therapy made originally from the DNA of a "superclotter" which cures the disease.


http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/caesarean-births-could-be-affecting-evolution-180961316/  This is an article from the Smithsonian magazine about the effects on evolution of the increase in Caesarean births. 1/3 of births in the US are through C-sections.The number of babies too large to be delivered vaginally have gone up 20% since C-sections began. It's possible that this is allowing genes for bigger babies to be passed down which formerly would have been deadly.

Science and human woes under the fledgling new admin

https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/02/16/us/politics/ap-us-medicaid.html This is a NYT article about revisions proposed for Medicaid including tyhe elimination of maternity coverage. Seema Verma, a protegee of Mike Pence proposes the delivery of block grants for Medicaid recipients with the idea that Medicaid recipients should be able to choose how to spend money. Maternity and newborn care might be an election and therefore not a mandatory benefit. What could happen, since half of US pregnancies are unplanned, is that this care would go uncovered, resulting in more maternal and infant mortality, disability and ultimately, higher costs to the society. The reason for this is that health costs are increasing at a higher rate than inflation and the block grants that are being proposed will increase at the rate of inflation and therefore there will be less and less coverage with time. This has been a proposal by Republicans for years and has been defeated. Verma is the choice to run CMS or Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Her picture was not included in the article, probably for a good reason.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/science/turtle-neck-retraction-shells.html
 Article in the Trilobites blog in the NYT about turtles.The journal Scientific Reports includes a study on the cervical bones of turtles which evolved in some turtles to be part of their defenses against predators.Cryptodires and pleuroidires are two kinds of turtles which retract their necks differently.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/16/science/great-dying-permian-extinction-fossils.html
Interesting article in the NYT about a fossil discovery by a teenager ten years ago. An article by a Utah paleontologist in Science Advances speculates about the Permian extinction, the worst mass extinction. The fossil find was of an ecosystem which was wiped out 250 million years ago. The diversity of the fossils found points to the fact that the recovery of diversity after the extinction may have happened more quickly than suspected.



https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/science/santiago-ramon-y-cajal-beautiful-brain.html?_r=0 Article from the NYT about the anatomical drawings and discoveries of Santiago Ramon y Cajal who sketched the brain from a new book, "The Beautiful Brain."


https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062368621/i-contain-multitudes
This is a fabulous new book by the blogger and science writer Ed Yong. (The Ed's Up). He writes about microbial-animal connections with such humor and purpose, subverting the way we used to teach the immune system as routing the microbial (foreign) enemy instead of as managing the multifarious bacterial/animal symbiosis.  I hope everyone will read this book. Yes! The bugs are the good guys in a lot of cases! He gets down and dirty with researchers, explaining their methods and rationale in their investigations in an engaging and informative way.  I am a big fan of Lynn Margulis and loved his mention of her, not that long gone, and a revolutionary, as credited in the book. Read it and respect your bugs!




https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hot-dispute-emerges-over-first-land-bridge-from-north-to-south-america/ This is an article from Scientific American about a new dispute (not fake news) about dating the first land bridge from North to South American, which may have happened (the connection) fifteen million and not three million years ago as previously thought. Montes a geologist at the U of the Andes at Bogota proposed the older date as a result of the collection of fossils during the recent widening of the Panama Canal.



https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/respiratory-syncytial-virus-vaccine-enters-clinical-testing This from the NIH, a report of an RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) vaccine in clinical trials. This is a trial for adults.  RSV is a major cause of death in infants and children, causing 250,000 deaths per year.

Trumpest in a Teapot

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/nyregion/dna-familial-searching-police-new-york.html?_r=0 This is an article in the NYT about using familial searches of DNA of relatives related to the alleged perpetrator. NY may join 9 other states which have authorized the use of familial DNA searching. This allows them to question innocent relatives of alleged perpetrators and is used in hard-to-solve cases. Identifying the guilty but protecting the innocent is the mission of law enforcement.  But, as mentioned in the commentary, the relatives of suspects are not themselves suspects and undoubtedly this new extension of law enforcement's powers will fall more heavily upon communities of color.


http://www.philly.com/philly/health/cancer/New-worry-for-cancer-patients-When-immunotherapy-leads-to-deadly-heart-damage-.html From the Philadelphia Inquirer, a column by Marie McCullough about the downside of the new checkpoint inhibitor drugs. The first checkpoint inhibitor was approved in 2011 for advanced melanoma treatment. This drug takes the brakes off the immune system and interferes with cells' ability to halt an immune attack and this class of drugs is expected to expand in the future. But there are problems just as there are problems with conventional chemotherapies and the new molecularly targeted cancer drugs. Data is being collected of heart complications and a cardiologist at Mass Gen is trying to identify characteristics that might predispose  patients to heart damage from these drugs.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/health/human-gene-editing-panel.html?_r=0  From the NYT an article on the approval by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine of germ-line gene editing of human embryos. This was once considered unthinkable and is on the border of being considered unethical but the committee so far has only approved alterations in the cases where babies might inherit genes causing disabilities and disabilities. These genes include Huntington's, Tay-Sachs Disease and beta-thalassemia. Opponents of gene editing of human embryos say that traits like strength, beauty and intelligence will be engineered.







https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/world/europe/winston-churchill-aliens.html
This is a commentary in the NYT about a recently discovered essay by Winston Churchill on extraterrestrial life. He was the first primne minister to have a science advisor and also wrote many essays on science. This is in stark contrast to our chief executive who is a science disbeliever.




https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/06/science/donald-trump-scientists-politics.html Another article in NYT about scientists considering a run for political office. This was the topic of a webcast hosted by Rush Holt, former congressman from Princeton, NJ, former head of the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab and current CEO of the AAAS. One of the scientists considering a run is Michael Eisen , evolutionary biologist and professor at UC Berkeley whose campaign slogan is "Liberty, Equality, Reality."

Two weeks into Trump

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/30/science/this-prehistoric-human-ancestor-was-all-mouth.html?_r=0 This is a NYT article by Nick Wade about an early deuterostome that is reported about in Nature.These were found in China and lie close to the base of the family tree of all animals. (Protostomes are mouth first anus second, deuterostomes (mouth second) the other way around, like us.)

Welcome to the dark side

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/20/business/dealbook/betsy-devos-neurocore.html
This is a NYT article about one of the reasons that Betsy DeVos shouldn't be confirmed as Secretary of Education. The article details a major conflict of interest in the performance of her duties. The DeVos' own a major share in a Biofeedback company called Neurocore which used Biofeedback to supposedly enhance children and teenager's performance in school. Although the company claims great success none of their results has been published in peer-reviewed journals.




https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/well/live/for-better-vision-let-the-sunshine-in.html?_r=0  From the Well blog in the NYT magazine, an article reporting  that the rate of myopia (nearsightedness) has increased by 66% since the 1970s. This is a report in JAMA Opthalmology. A study was done at Kings College in London and other places, giving eye exams to older men and women and asking about their exposure to sunlight in childhood and adolescence (from memory). There is a correlation between exposure to sunlight in childhood and adolescence and incidence of myopia. There was also the implication that increased screen time may play a role.


https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/01/21/opinion/sunday/does-breast-milk-have-a-sex-bias.html Article from the Sunday Review section of the NYT about whether breast fed girl and boy children get the same nourishment and how this relates to evolution. Work published in the Journal of  Experimental Child Psychology and done at Cal State Fullerton and the London School of Economics shows that they do not. When parents have beaucoup resources they devote them more to their sons but when resources are scare they devote them more to their daughters. The evolutionary explanation (the Trivers-Willard Hypothesis) is that males with access to more resources  are likely to gain access to more females to increase the likelihood that their genes will be passed on. Studies of lipid content of macaque and human mothers' milk was examined and compared based on the sex of the offsping recipient. And the research was continued on twins.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/health/cervical-cancer-united-states-death-toll.html?_r=0 Article from the NYT aboutracial disparities that have been discovered in cervical cancer deaths . This study has been done at Texas' MD Anderson Hospital and published in the journal Gynecological Oncology. The alarming statistic of 10.1 deaths per 100,000 black women compared to 4.7 white women per 100,000 is a change from 5.7 to 3.2 in previous studies.


https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/study-finds-premature-death-rates-diverge-united-states-race-ethnicity  Here is a report of a study done by the NIH about the rates of premature deaths in the US separated by race and ethnicity.  Premature death rates have declined among Hispanics, Blacks and Asian Pacific Islanders and increased among whites and American Indian/Alaskan Natives from 1999 and 2014 as reported in the Lancet.

Under the snow

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/07/opinion/sunday/what-the-muck-of-walden-pond-tells-us-about-our-planet.html?_r=0  This is an article from the Sunday Review section of the NYT. It is written by a science professor about studies of the protists in the mud in Walden Pond, which is a wonderful place. A Boston University ecologist compared the dates for the Spring melt  reported in Thoreau's diaries with the current situation. The pond also freezes later than it did in Thoreau's time.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/09/science/dna-tads.html?_r=0
An article in the Science Times about syndactyly, a genetic defect involving the fusion of fingers, which runs in families. This mutation allows for the study of TADS, or Topologically-Associated-Domains (TADs) in which chromosomes are divided up into neighborhoods with partitions between them. This work was done at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics.




http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/01/19/health/ap-us-med-cancer-virus-men.html?_r=0 Article in the NYT about the prevalence of HPV infection among men. (almost 50% have genital infections caused by a sexually-transmitted virus). This report was published in JAMA Oncology and underscores the importance of having boys as well as girls vaccinated against HPV.  Of that 50% about 25% have strains that are associated with cervical cancer.  Vaccines can prevent infections but only one-third of 13 year old girls and boys are fully vaccinated.

Status quo ante bellum

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20170102_Commentary__Good_math_skills_begin_at_home.html This is an opinion in the Inquirer about how using math terms to your preschooler may influence their math abilities later on in life. It references an international study (PISA) in which US students (sophomores in HS) rank 31 out of 35 nations in math abilities.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160105-the-man-who-studies-the-spread-of-ignorance A selection of the Best of 2016 from the BBC about "the man who studied the spread of ignorance". Robert Proctor, a science historian at Stanford researched tobacco industry practices to confuse smokers about the connection between smoking and lung cancer. He coined the term "agnotology" and defined it as the study of willful acts to spread ignorance in order to sell a product.




http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/31/business/scientists-loved-and-loathed-by-syngenta-an-agrochemical-giant.html  This is a New York Times article about scientists working for agrobusiness companies like Syngenta and Ciba-Geigy whose work was compromised by, in some cases, contractual stipulations of non-disclosure of adverse results.  One scientists researching BT corn's effects on the lacewing, a beneficial insect, warned against it and was harrassed even after she left the employ of the company.



http://www.sciencealert.com/it-s-official-a-brand-new-human-organ-has-been-classified From Science Alert, a new organ has been declared. It is the intestinal mesentery. Work has been cited in the Lancet Gastroenterology and Herpetology (I mean Hepatology- checking on your attention) done at University Hospital in Limerick, Ireland. According to ScienceAlert, Leonardo was one of the first to describe the mesentery and now it has been elevated to the status of organ,


http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/science/dinosaur-eggs.html?_r=0 This is a report of studies of fossilized dinosaur eggs looking at unhatched embryos which reveal that dinosaurs had longer incubation times than birds. This study was published in PNAS and was done at Florida State University. This identifies a difference between birds and dinosaurs when many similarities (warm-bloodedness, feathers) have been identified. Embryonic tooth age was studied. I am currently reading a book on the Evolution of the Human Head and it was interesting to read about tooth age in this article.


http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/well/eat/feed-your-kids-peanuts-early-and-often-new-guidelines-urge.html?_r=0 This is a report of a 2008 British study of British-Jewish and Israeli-Jewish children consuming peanuts. It was determined that the allergy rate for British-Jewish children was ten times greater than Israel-Jewish children, the latter having been fed Bamba, a peanut-based snack, since infancy. The new guidelines for early peanut consumption to prevent later severe and possibly fatal anaphylaxis, were published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.This is meant to promote a reeducation campaign among parents of allergy-prone infants.