A Breakthrough Cure for Ebola
Posted on May 31, 2010 Comments (0)
A breakthrough cure for Ebola By Steven Salzberg
This is a breakthrough not only because it may give us a cure for an uncurable, incredibly nasty virus, but also because the same method might work for other viruses, and because we have woefully few effective antiviral treatments. We can treat bacterial infections with antibiotics, but for most viruses, we have either a vaccine or nothing. And a vaccine, wonderful as it is, doesn’t help you after you’re already infected.
The scientists, led by Thomas Geisbert at Boston University, used a relatively new genomics technique called RNA interference to defeat the virus. Here’s how it works.
First, a little background: the Ebola virus is made of RNA, just like the influenza virus. And just like influenza, Ebola has very few genes – only 8. One of its genes, called L protein, is responsible for copying the virus itself. Two others, called VP24 and VP35, interfere with the human immune response, making it difficult for our immune system to defeat the virus.
Geisbert and his colleagues (including scientists from Tekmira Pharmaceuticals and USAMRIID) designed and synthesized RNA sequences that would stick to these 3 genes like glue. How did they do that? We know the Ebola genome’s sequence – it was sequenced way back in 1993. And we know that RNA sticks to itself using the same rules that DNA uses. This knowledge allowed Geisbert and colleagues to design a total of 10 pieces of RNA (called “small interfering RNA” or siRNA) that they knew would stick to the 3 Ebola genes. They also took care to make sure that their sticky RNA would not stick to any human genes, which might be harmful. They packaged these RNAs for delivery by inserting them into nanoparticles that were only 81-85 nanometers across.
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Related: Science Explained: RNA Interference – Amazing Science: Retroviruses – Ebola Outbreak in Uganda (Dec 2007)
Tags: genes,medical research,rna,science explained,science facts,scientific inquiry
Sub $100 Tablet in 2011
Posted on May 30, 2010 Comments (3)
I must admit I am skeptical. If it happens this looks very cool.
One Laptop Per Child Revamps Tablet Plans
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The first XO, for instance, never reached its price target of $100; it now sells for $172. About 2 million of the devices have been sold–a significant achievement for a small nonprofit, but far less than its initial projections. And a flashy double touch-screen model known as the XO-2 was quietly scrapped last year when OLPC decided it couldn’t be made cheaply enough.
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As for Marvell, the partnership with OLPC could lend more credibility to its Moby tablet, which is designed for educational uses like electronic textbooks. OLPC is also building Marvell’s chips into an upgraded form of its XO, known as the XO 1.75, later this year. “When we first met Nicholas, we were very moved by his leadership,” says Dai Weili, Marvell’s chief operating office. “We’ve got the cost structure, feature capability and scalability to support his vision for many years to come.”
Related: OLPC and Marvell partner to design a line of tablets – $100 Laptops for the World – A Child’s View of the OLPC Laptop – Apple’s iPad
USA Science And Engineering Kavli Video Contest
Posted on May 29, 2010 Comments (0)
Do you think Science is cool? Do you want to share your passion for science with others? Here is your chance to inspire thousands of people to be more curious, and to care about science & engineering the way you do: create a short video that explores the question “Why is Science Cool?”
We are seeking videos that are creative, surprising, and “contagious” in terms of spreading your enthusiasm about science to others. Videos might explore a scientific concept, show us the wonders of nature, give us a glimpse into the future, show us what scientific discovery has done for us in the past or will do for us in the future, introduce us to a great scientist or engineer, tell us why you think science is so cool or simply show us why we should care about science and/or engineering.
1st prize: $1,000 (to the school or science club); plus $500 electronics gift certificate for the student (or student group); plus a travel stipend to travel to Washington DC for the Expo!
In addition, the winning videos will be screened during the USA Science & Engineering Festival Expo on the National Mall in Washington DC on October 23 and 24, 2010 and at other key Festival events.
Find out how to submit a video.
Related: Science Postercasts – Science Webcasts @ SciVee – Botball 2009 Finals – EngineerGirl Essay: The Cure to Vitamin D Deficiency
Home Engineering: Bird Feeder That Automatically Takes Photos When Birds Feed
Posted on May 28, 2010 Comments (3)
During a trip to the Smithsonian last week I found this great home engineering project. Kayty Himelstein and Amy Darr were frustrated: birds came to their bird feeder while they were away at school, so the girls never got to see them. They decided to build a bird feeder that automatically takes pictures of all the birds that came to the feeder. I believe, they used Lego Mindstorms as part of building it.
Related: Lego Mindstorms Robots Solving: Sudoku and Rubik’s Cube – Awesome Cat Cam – Science Fair Project on Bacterial Growth on Packaged Salads
Tags: birds,fun,home engineering,kids,museum,photos,science fair project
Top Kill Effort to Stop Oil Leak Initially Working
Posted on May 27, 2010 Comments (2)
‘Top kill’ stops gulf oil leak for now, official says
Engineers have at least temporarily stopped the flow of oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico from a gushing BP well, the federal government’s top oil-spill commander, U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said Thursday morning.
The “top kill” effort, launched Wednesday afternoon by industry and government engineers, had pumped enough drilling fluid to block oil and gas spewing from the well, Allen said. The pressure from the well was very low, he said, but persisting. The top kill effort is not complete, officials caution.
Once engineers had reduced the well pressure to zero, they were to begin pumping cement into the hole to entomb the well. To help in that effort, he said, engineers also were pumping some debris into the blowout preventer at the top of the well.
Update: The top kill effort failed. BP is now trying to capture the oil as it spills into the water with a funnel like device.
Related: Solar Thermal in Desert, to Beat Coal by 2020 – Oil Consumption by Country
Essentials of Genetics Website Reference
Posted on May 24, 2010 Comments (1)
Scitable is a science library and personal learning tool on genetics developed by Nature. I must admit I am against the closed science stance Nature normally supports. But this is a good effort on their part at actually talking advantage of the internet to openly promote science. I imagine Nature will eventually more and more move toward supporting open science.
The website has a library of over 200 faculty-written, peer-reviewed articles on core concepts in genetics, plus a video-based online primer called Essentials of Genetics, glossaries, spotlights on key issues, and lots more high quality faculty and student resources.
Scitable is a great place to research and learn more about genetics topics such as diseases, evolution, genetics and society.
Related: Gene Duplication and Evolution – DNA Passed to Descendants Changed by Your Life – Anger at Anti-Open Access Press Strategy
Google Prediction API
Posted on May 19, 2010 Comments (1)
This looks very cool.
The Prediction API enables access to Google’s machine learning algorithms to analyze your historic data and predict likely future outcomes. Upload your data to Google Storage for Developers, then use the Prediction API to make real-time decisions in your applications. The Prediction API implements supervised learning algorithms as a RESTful web service to let you leverage patterns in your data, providing more relevant information to your users. Run your predictions on Google’s infrastructure and scale effortlessly as your data grows in size and complexity.
Accessible from many platforms: Google App Engine, Apps Script (Google Spreadsheets), web & desktop apps, and command line.
The Prediction API supports CSV formatted training data, up to 100M in size. Numeric or unstructured text can be sent as input features, and discrete categories (up to a few hundred different ones) can be provided as output labels.
Uses:
Language identification
Customer sentiment analysis
Product recommendations & upsell opportunities
Diagnostics
Document and email classification
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Related: The Second 5,000 Days of the Web – Robot Independently Applies the Scientific Method – Controlled Experiments for Software Solutions – Statistical Learning as the Ultimate Agile Development Tool by Peter Norvig
Tags: cool,data,experiment,Google,innovation,internet,software development,software engineering,statistics
Why Does the Moon Appear Larger on the Horizon?
Posted on May 16, 2010 Comments (0)
Why does the Moon look so huge on the horizon?
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When the Moon is on the horizon, your brain thinks it’s far away, much farther than when it’s overhead. So the Ponzo Illusion kicks in: your brain sees the Moon as being huge, and it looks like you could fall into it. The Illusion works for the Sun, too. In fact, years ago I saw Orion rising over a parking lot, and it looked like it was spread across half the sky. It’s an incredibly powerful illusion.
Oddly enough, when it’s on the horizon, the Moon actually is farther away than when it’s overhead. Not by much, really, just a few thousand kilometers (compared to the Moon’s overall distance of about 400,000 kilometers).
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So the Moon Illusion is just that. It’s not the air acting like a lens, or foreground objects making it look big by comparison. It’s just the way we see the shape of the sky together with the well-known Ponzo Illusion.
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Science taking something we perceive as real, breaking it down, and showing it to be an interesting but decidedly unreal illusion? Well, that’s what science does! It helps us not only understand the world better, but it also makes the world cooler, too.
Related: Why People Often Get Sicker When They’re Stressed – Why is it Colder at Higher Elevations? – Albert Einstein, Marylin Monroe Hybrid Image – Answers to Why? – Bigger Impact: 15 to 18 mpg or 50 to 100 mpg?
Friday Fun: Mother Bear Rescues Cub From a Tree
Posted on May 14, 2010 Comments (1)
Isn’t it great how the sibling seems to try and help the mother.
Related: The Cat and a Black Bear – Polar Bears and Huskies Playing Together – Orangutan Attempts to Hunt Fish with Spear – Friday Fun: Octopus Juggling Fellow Aquarium Occupants
Iron Man 2 Via 3-D Printing
Posted on May 11, 2010 Comments (2)
Ever since I first heard of 3-D printing I have though it was very cool. Well first I thought it was science fiction, not real, but a cool idea. Then when I found out it was real I thought it was very cool. Not only is it cool, it is practical. Iron Man 2′s Secret Sauce: 3-D Printing
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In addition to speed, the benefit is that you can print out costumes custom fitted to the actors, down to the millimeter. And with custom-fitted suits, Robert Downey, Jr. and Mickey Rourke can put a lot more action into their fight scenes, without the wonky effect of layering on too much CGI. (Downey complained that the original Iron Man suits, which were made more traditionally, were too clunky to act in, and extremely uncomfortable.)
Related: Open Source 3-D Printing – 3D Printing is Here – A plane You Can Print
Teaching Through Tinkering
Posted on May 9, 2010 Comments (9)
I wrote about the Tinkering School, Engineering camp previously. I am a strong believer in the value of helping kids (even adult kids – the few that haven’t resigned themselves to limited capacity to wonder since they now are grown up and not suppose to waste their time dreaming) explore their ideas and assisting them in making those ideas into reality. I think this is the best way to learn, not learning to pass a test, but learning to gain knowledge and accomplish things. Here is a nice 15 minute talk by the founder of the Tinkering School, Gever Tulley: “Turning Curriculum Design On Its Head: Engage First Then Look for Learning Within”
The format of the tinkering school is week long sessions where the kids stay overnight.
Some quotes: “we would use real tools and real materials and we would build real things, not model building, [but instead] actual building.” “create a meaningful experience and learning will follow”
Gever Tulley recently published: Fifty Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do).
Related: Home Engineering: Building a Hovercraft – Kids Need Adventurous Play – Automatic Cat Feeder – Science Toys You Can Make With Your Kids – What Kids can Learn
Tags: books,Engineering,engineering webcast,home engineering,K-12,kids,learning,quote,teachers
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