TOP 100 SCIENCE SITES
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| Auditor-General criticises car fleets, information security The Victorian Auditor-General has questioned whether government and local council car fleets represent value for money. abc.net.au |
EO Wilson on the 'immense and hidden' crisis in biodiversity This is an extended extract of a phone interview with biologist, author and conservation campaigner EO Wilson. The problem of biodiversity loss has been "eased off centre stage" as the spotlight has focused on climate change, according to Professor Edward Wilson, the ecologist described as "Darwin's natural heir". Biodiversity is one of the hot topics of conversation on this week's regular Science Weekly podcast. Professor Wilson also discusses conservative religious attitudes to evolution in the US, which he calls "bible literalism". Post your comments below.Join our Facebook group. Listen back through our archive.Follow the podcast on our Science Weekly Twitter feed and receive updates on all breaking science news stories from Guardian Science.Subscribe free via iTunes to ensure every episode gets delivered. (Here is the non-iTunes URL feed).James Randerson guardian.co.uk |
More could get vCJD than thought More people may be incubating variant CJD, the human version of so-called "mad cow disease", than was previously thought, according to scientists who today report an unusual case of the disease. All those tested worldwide since 1994 when the first cases were identified have been MM homozygous.However, a 30-year-old man who died of vCJD in January this year was found to have a different genetic makeup from the rest of the 200 or so people diagnosed around the world. Six months before the man was diagnosed with the disease, he had been admitted to hospital with personality changes, unsteadiness in walking that became progressively worse and intellectual decline. He told doctors he had severe leg pain and memory problems. Two months later, he developed visual hallucinations. The symptoms got progressively worse and an MRI scan confirmed vCJD. The symptoms and the course of the illness were not unusual for vCJD, but the man had a different genetic makeup from the rest of the 200 or so people diagnosed around the world to date.Variant CJD is caused by prions, infectious agents which are made up mainly of proteins. The same prions cause vCJD and also BSE - bovine spongiform encephalopathy - which was dubbed "mad cow disease" because cattle who contracted it staggered when they tried to walk. Prion diseases affect the structure of the brain or other neural tissue and are currently untreatable and fatal.Doctors from the MRC Prion Unit and National Prion Clinic at the UCL Institute of Neurology and National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, report the unusual case in today's Lancet medical journal. Tests showed that the man had a particular form of the human prion protein gene. All those tested world-wide since 1994 when the first cases were identified have been MM homozygous. However, this patient was MV heterozygous.The observation could be of concern. In some other human prion diseases, such as kuru - thought to be linked to cannibalism in Papua New Guinea - people who are MV heterozygous have incubated the disease for longer than those who are MM homozygous before symptoms have shown. Some MV heterozygous patients are reported to have incubated kuru for over 50 years.It is possible, doctors say, that vCJD takes longer to develop in people who are MV heterozygous than in MV homozygous people."The majority of the UK population have potentially been exposed to BSE prions but the extent of clinically silent infection remains unclear," say the authors of the paper. About a third of the population have the MM homozygous genotype - and until now all the cases came from this group. If individuals with other genotypes are similarly susceptible to developing prion disease after exposure to BSE, further cases would be expected, they say. However, they add, it is possible that susceptibility to vCJD and incubation period may be influenced by other genetic factors which have not yet been identified.NeuroscienceGeneticsMedical researchBiochemistry and molecular biologyHealthHealth & wellbeingSarah Boseleyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
What will jobs be like in 2030? | Open thread Insect-based food developers, personal branders and five careers in a lifetime. Would you hire these futurologists?Putting the final nail in the coffin for the idea of a traditional career for life is a new report that makes bold predictions about the complexion of the future jobs market. The government-commissioned Shape of Jobs to Come, from research company Fast Future, predicts that students coming out of university now could have eight to 10 jobs in their lifetime, across five different careers.These "future thinkers" say those careers may include being a body-part maker, a space pilot or an insect-based food developer, thanks to advances in science and technology, the growth in space tourism and the challenge of feeding the population.Rohit Talwar, chief executive of Fast Future, suggests that body-part makers may be in demand by football clubs. "If you're spending £80m on a footballer and for £2m you can have a couple of spare legs, then you're going to do it," he says.Other sci-fi sounding vocations, highlighted by the government's Science: So What? campaign, include personal brander, old-age wellness manager, memory augmentation surgeon, weather modification police officer, vertical farmer and ... virtual clutter organiser. Is futurology just a mug's game? Or are you happy to put your future thinking cap on and make a prediction about how the jobs on offer will differ in 20 years time?Work & careersResearch and developmentTechnology sectorguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Australians cutting greenhouse emissions: report A new report has revealed that greenhouse gas emissions from energy use in Australia's eastern states have fallen by 1.8 per cent. abc.net.au |