Not An April Fool

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/22/science/dinosaur-family-tree.html?_r=0 This is an article from the NYT about the reclassification of the dinosaur family tree. It used to be based on whether the dinosaurs were "bird-hipped" or "lizard-hipped", now that has changed. A graduate student has re-written the family tree of dinosaurs as a Ph.D. project. Since the Ornithischian dinosaurs didn't fit into the scheme he reconsidered the entire family tree visiting museums around the world. The results are to be published in the journal Nature.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/27/opinion/the-trump-administrations-war-on-science.html This is an editorial from the Science Times inauspiciously titled "The Trump Administration's War on Science". "Setting free the dreams of the American people" seems to involve overturning worker protections, allowing big coal unfettered free reign, demolishing internet protections, returning foreign-born American citizens to their countries of origin if they are the wrong color and, according to this editorial shortchanging basic scientific research throughout the government. Forty of the top government science positions are currently vacant. The NIH is approving only 10-15% of eligible grant applications.




https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/28/climate/trump-executive-order-climate-change.html?_r=0 This is an article in the NYT about Trump's signing the executive order rolling back Obama's climate change efforts. The Environmental Protection Agency is ordered to rewrite the Clean Power Plan to allow for the reopening, and construction of, new coal-fired power plants, leaving China as the main player in environmental efforts to curb pollution. There is also the sad possibility that Mr. Trump will renege on the Paris agreement. Whether this will lead to the promised greater number of mining jobs is pure speculation.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/us/politics/epa-insecticide-chlorpyrifos.html?_r=0 This ia a NYT article about Scott Pruitt's refusal to ban chlorpyrifos from use as an insecticide. It has the potential to harm children and farm workers. The mechanism of chlorpyrifos is that it binds to acetylcholinesterase and keeps it from digesting unbound acethylcholine at the synapse, causing muscle paralysis and asphyxiation.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/30/us/politics/science-technology-white-house-trump.html?_r=0 Article from NYT about the dearth of science advisors or occupied high level science positions including White House Chief Technology Officer in the new Trump administration. The deputy chief technology officer, who has a BA in political science, doesn't attend Trump's daily briefings, nor does anyone else in the science and technology office.

Idling Through March

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/health/eyes-stem-cells-injections.html?_r=0 Starting this blogpost with a horrible report from the NYT about 3 patients who became blind after STEM cells derived from fat obtained from their liposuction were injected into their eyes in order to cure macular degeneration. This is a report from NEJM of three women who thought they were enrolling in government-approved clinical trials for a treatment for macular degeneration who each paid the company US Stem Cell for the treatments. Apparently the therapy was listed on a government website but didn't have government approval.




https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/mar/10/great-barrier-reef-coral-bleaching-worsens-as-scientists-fear-heatwaves-impact  The Great Barrier Reef has sustained significant damage due to coral bleaching, according to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. High water temperatures are to blame. The worst-to-date mass bleaching event took place in 2016 and there is evidence that another mass bleaching event is taking place before the corals have had time to possibly recover.


https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/mar/16/climate-shaped-the-human-nose-researchers-say An article from the Guardian reporting how climate shaped the evolution of the human nose. The research was done at Penn State and published in PLOS Genetics. The study, based on variations of shapes of  human noses, confirmed that nose shape is "highly heritable" and found a link between nostril width and temperature. Nostrils function to warm the air.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/12/business/lloyd-conover-dead-inventor-of-groundbreaking-antibiotic.html A NYT obit for Lloyd Conover, who discovered tetracycline. He also discovered that natural products could be modified synthetically to make them more effective. Taxol, a frontline cancer chemotherapy is made partly from the bark of a yew tree and partly by chemical synthesis.


http://hyperallergic.com/361446/picturing-math-at-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art/  This is from the blog Hyperallergic about a new exhibit at the Met on artistic expressions of math. Picturing Math has prints that go back seven centuries and also includes some modern and contemporary pieces.




https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/world/canada/trump-budget-canada-great-lakes.html?_r=0 Article for NYT about the 2018 Trump budget which proposes to gut the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative which was tasked with water clean up and algae removal on both sides of the border. This is rightly perceived as an unwillingness to collaborate with our northern neighbor on environmental remedy.


http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/a-map-of-lexical-distances-between-europes-languages This is a link from the blog bigthink which shows the "lexical" distances between Europe's languages. The smaller the distance between languages, the more words are shared. Maybe this is obvious but I love information rendered in graphical format and all maps. The map also shows orphan languages (without families) like Albanian and Greek.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/opinion/sunday/the-seasons-arent-what-they-used-to-be.html?_r=0  From the NYT Sunday Review section an opinion piece about the start of Spring  Monday (for us) and the disconnect for plants and animals. Spring peepers, for the writer, were unleashed in February in Tennessee for example. The spring emergence of leaves, amphibians, birds and insects is advancing 2.8 days per decade in the Northern Hemisphere. Did you know what phenology is? It's the study of the seasonal timing of biological events.




https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/20/upshot/why-cystic-fibrosis-patients-in-canada-outlive-those-in-the-us.html?_r=0 Article from the NYT reporting a publication from the Annals of Internal Medicine that sufferers from cystic fibrosis have longer life spans in Canada than US although the life spans in both countries increased.  It should be noted that more CF sufferers in Canada received lung transplants although few in general received the transplants so there must be other factors involved.



https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/health/global-health-fogarty-international-center-viruses.html?_r=0 This is an article from the NYT about the 2018 budget plan to eliminate the Fogarty Center, part of the NIH, which is a reference lab for the WHO and collects and shares information about disease outbreaks, with the idea of developing vaccines. These various reference labs are considered "sentinel labs" and only two are in American hands.



https://earth.nullschool.net/ This is a neat graphic showing wind, weather, ocean and pollution conditions as predicted by supercomputers. It's an interactive, animated map.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/critical-thinking-pseudoscience_us_58d14903e4b0be71dcf83b0e This is a link to a Huff Post article about a Humanities course at North Carolina State University investigating historical frauds. A study was done of students in the class which found that participation in the course had reduced students' belief in psuedoscience and developed their critical thinking skills.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2017/03/23/breaking-the-cold-chain-new-vaccine-doesnt-need-refrigeration/#38807e457912 From Forbes magazine a report of a rotavirus vaccine developed in India that doesn't need refrigeration. Rotavirus causes 1/3 of all cases of diarrhea and kills a lot of children. Doctors Without Borders, the Cincinnati Children's Hospital and the Serum Institute of India conducted the Phase III clinical trial. This disease affects people without access to electricity and water which is why this vaccine is important.



https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/24/world/asia/china-air-pollution-smog-climate-change.html This is an article from the NYT about the effects of climate change in China. As reported in the journal Science Advances, the "airpocalypse" that fell on Beijing in January of 2013 was due to unusually stagnant air brought on by climate change.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/24/opinion/the-real-threat-to-national-security-deadly-disease.html An editorial in the NYT about the importance of infectious diseases to national security. The editorial writers fume about the cuts in the State Department, NIH (18%) and United States Agency for International Development (28%) budgets and the increase in military spending. The spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria is also mentioned as a global threat. There is as yet no licensed vaccine for Ebola or plan to deal with an epidemic.

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.