Results tagged “malaria” from 60 Second Science
Jeremy Brown on March 8, 2008 3:07 PM
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In the past six months we’ve heard a couple grand and divergent pronouncements regarding two of the world’s deadliest diseases. David Baltimore recently waxed hopeless on the prospect of finding an HIV vaccine, in what amounts to a sober echo of Chris Rock’s resigned vision of the future:
"Yo, man, you weren't at work yesterday. What's up?''
''My AlDS is acting up."
''You know, when the weather get like this, my AlDS just pop up."
''But l took some Robitussin. l'm fine now!''
Conversely, opponents of malaria aren’t blinking as of yet. Indeed, they’re digging in for a fight. In October, in front of 300 of the globe’s leading malaria experts, Melinda Gates delivered a message of almost scandalous optimism: “The only way to end death malaria is to end malaria,” she boomed. The London Observer chronicles the response:
What she meant, and it provoked gasps from her audience, was 'end' as in 'eradicate' - known as the 'e' word in the malaria community because of its almost taboo status, so improbably, unscientifically dreamy does the task appear.
Continue reading 'Malaria researchers: dream on' >
John Pavlus on February 13, 2008 11:19 AM
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What up, infotainment? The Monitor now appears every week.
In this episode: A scientific sting operation, a reality check on Bush's science budget, AIs programmed for neurosis, and some disturbing sex news out of Iceland.
Created, written & designed by John Pavlus / Screencasts produced by Smashcut Media / Music by Jeff Alvarez
Halo machinima clip from Red vs. Blue
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Ted Alvarez on February 12, 2008 9:24 AM
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We've all been awakened to the possibilities of science to solve murders on TV, but sometimes even the most obscure scientific disciplines becomes invaluable to an international criminal case involving intrigue, espionage and, of course, drugs.
INTERPOL had been trying to catch a gang that made millions selling fake malaria drugs all over Asia for years, but they were only able to crack the case with the help of forensic palynologists, who analyze pollen. The palynologists found trace amounts of pollen indigenous to a very specific region in China in the air pockets of the blisterpacks of artesunate, a common malaria treatment. They backed up their claim by also detecting calcite specific to this same region in southern China.
With scientific evidence to back them up, Johnny Law swooped in to arrest a suspect in China's Yunnan Province in 2006:
He is alleged to have traded 240,000 blisterpacks of counterfeit artesunate, enough to "treat" almost a quarter of a million adults with a medicine with no activity against a potentially fatal disease. Whilst the Chinese authorities were able to seize 24,000 of these packs, the remainder are alleged to have been sold at crossings on the border of Yunnan and Myanmar (Burma), accounting for almost a half of all blisterpacks of artesunate sold to the region.
Continue reading 'Move over, CSI: Pollen detectives help bust counterfeit malaria drug runners' >
Ted Alvarez on December 13, 2007 2:51 AM
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