New Cancer Treatment

There has been an astounding breakthrough in the medical community.  ImMucin, a vaccine that targets a molecule present in 90 percent of all cancers, has been successfully tested on humans for the first time, with all the blood cancer patients tested in the trial had greater immunity to the disease after receiving the drug.  The vaccine works by priming the body’s natural defense mechanisms to fight the disease, and aims to prevent cancer conditions, rather than attack cancer cells like many other treatments.  While the immune system generally attacks foreign cells like bacteria and viruses, it often fails to recognize cancer cells because tumors are formed from patients’ defective cells.  ImMucin teaches the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells.  While this treatment does not cure cancer in all cases, it is a breakthrough mainly because of how it attacks cancer (or rather, how it doesn't).  By marking cancer cells, there aren't the negative effects and tissue damage done by chemotherapy or radiation.  Instead, its relatively harmless.  Hopefully this treatment will be commercially available soon so that the world can benefit from it

Kony 2012

Once again I have decided to stray from the focus of my blog to talk about something important to me in the news:  Joseph Kony.  I'm not going to bother giving a summary of him-chance are you already now who he is, and what he has done.  And I think it is great that so much attention is finally being paid to his attrocities.  But at the same time, I'm rather disappointed that people are just now finding out about him, and that suddenly everyone cares so much.  He's been around for a while-the only reason why people are noticing him now is because of some flashy video publicized by an inneffective charity.  There are so many worse things happening in Africa right now.  People forget that Joseph Kony is not the only monster in Africa.  They forget about the Darfur genocide, and I still remember telling people that hundreds of thousands of people were killed and they didn't know about it.  Nor did they care after I told them.  But suddenly, everyone cares about Kony.  So what is the difference?  Invisible Children.  This charity is drumming up all this support to try to get more money-and its working.  And I'm not saying that Invisible Children getting money is a bad thing.  But there are so many other, better, more effective charities out there.  Charity Water, for example, uses so much more of the actual money they receive for the purpose they say the money is going toward:  making clean water available.  Invisible children barely uses the money for helping stop child kidnappings-most of the money they receive goes towards salaries.  People could use their money in a better and smarter way.  And finally, you are not going to make a difference by liking a video, or making a "Kony 2012" poster.  While it is a public protest, it isn't effective.  Instead, if you want a US intervention in Uganda, lobby your congressman, attend an actual rally, and try to ACTIVELY make a change.  Saying you support the message behind Kony 2012 doesn't do jack shit-you need to facilitate a change to make a difference

Squid Skin Camoflage

Camouflage expert Roger Hanlon of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is co-recipient of a $6 million grant from the Office of Naval Research to study and ultimately emulate the ability of some marine animals to instantly change their skin color and pattern to blend into their environment.  Hanlon and his team will perform experiments with cephalopods to determine how opsin molecules receive light and aid the animal's visual system in adjusting skin patterns for communication and camouflage. The project team's engineers will focus on emulating cephalopod skin using new metamaterials – materials that blur the line between material and machine.

This project is really the epitome of what I love about science.  I truly feel that one of the best applications of science is to learn from biology to improve our lives.  Granted, while this is going to be used for military applications, I could see an application for instant color change in domestic life.  I mean, if the technology became cheap then it could be used for paint or clothing.  And in general, I think this type of research is amazing.

Pink River Dolphins

So normally I talk about marine biology news.  This time, however, I feel like talking about marine biology.  So I'm going to talk about pink dolphins.  The Amazon River Dolphin is the largest river dolphin, reaching lengths of 1.7-3.0 meters.  It is a native of South America, and can range from being a vivid pink (for older, larger individuals) to a blue-gray or beige.  Unlike other dolphins, the Amazon River Dolphin has a flexible neck and a hump with a ridge instead of a dorsal fin.  These dolphins have very poor eyesight, have been known to swim upside down, and use echolocation to find prey.  The Amazon River Dolphin lives probably around 30 years, lives in the Amazon Basin and Orinoco, and has been known to (during flood season) explore the jungle (an adventure which could leave the dolphin stranded.  I find this creature extremely fascinating.  Aside from its obvious differences from dolphins, the slight adaptive abilities (like very strong echolocation) have molded this creature to be extremely unique.  Also, I am extremely interested in finding out why the dolphin's pink color is permitted to develop (the color is obtained due to the dolphin's diet) as it would seem to be an evolutionary disadvantage.  Anyway, I find this creature fascinating, and just wanted to share a bit about it with the world

Lampreys Repelling Lampreys?

A study from Michigan State University has discovered a new way to repel sea lampreys, a destructive invasive organism which acts like a leech and is infecting the Great Lakes.  Researchers have found that sea lampreys rely on pheromones for navigation, and will swim away if they smell pheromones coming from a dead lamprey.  As such, scientists are using dead lamprey pheromones in traps to sterilize and track lampreys, as well as in "scent dams" which prevent lampreys from invading sensitive areas.
This study fascinates me.  On an evolutionary standpoint it makes sense:   sea lampreys would want to swim away from a dead lamprey, as a dead lamprey would generally indicate disease or predators.  Furthermore, the entire process of using natural pheromones as a repellent has huge economic impacts in my mind.  After all, why use a harmful pesticide when a natural and safe repellent exists.  Finally, this new and innovative way of controlling  invasive species could be used to help control other invasive species, which are, in general, a serious problem for the ecosystem

Deadly Flu

So I'm going to stray from my blogs typical subject, marine biology, to focus on another passion of mine:  biotechnology.

Two scientific journals are deciding whether to publish details of a man-made mutant killer flu virus that has sparked concerns of mass deaths if it were released.  A US government's science advisory committee urged the US journal Science and the British journal Nature to withhold key details so that people seeking to harm the public would not be able to manufacture the virus that could cause millions of deaths.  The virus in question is an H5N1 bird flu strain that was genetically altered in a Dutch lab so it can pass easily between ferrets, meaning that it is likely contagious among humans and could trigger a lethal pandemic if it emerged in nature or were set loose by terrorists.  Scientists could benefit from knowing about the virus because it could help speed new treatments to combat this and other related lethal forms of influenza.  Paul Keim, a microbial geneticist, said that he had huge concerns about the potential havoc the man-made virus could unleash.  "I can't think of another pathogenic organism that is as scary as this one," Keim was quoted as saying. "I don't think anthrax is scary at all compared to this."

There is an interesting moral dilemma here.  On one hand, this virus is deadly and could be used for mass terrorism on an unprecedented scale.  On the other hand, the data from this virus could be of great use to scientists working on flu vaccinations and other methods for treating viruses.  Personally, I think that they should not release a full version of the flu until they have synthesized a cure to this deadly flu-that way the  threat of this deadly virus can be negated.

Crocodiles and Snakes Left Behind in Bangkok

Due to recent floods in Bangkok a number of aquatic animals, like crocodiles and poisonous snakes, have become trapped in the city as retreating water abandoned the animals.  These animals have terrorized some of the local residents, who in turn have become poachers (especially in regard to the crocodiles).  The local animal  control centers have been preoccupied trying to relocate these animals, and they are plagued by false alarms and poaching.
This entire situation brings up an interesting and important point-what do you do when a marine animal, capable of living on land, has been unwillingly transported out of its local habitat?  To me, relocation seems like an obvious choice, though clearly there are downfalls to this-it can be costly and dangerous.  So then the next logical option is to kill it and harvest the remains for profit-which is all good and fine if no alternative exists.  But relocation is a viable option for many of these animals (including the crocodiles) and yet the locals continue to poach.  This poaching then disrupts the swamp environment, which could possibly be devastatingly altered by the lack of crocodiles (an essential predator).  Hopefully the local officials will find and punish the poachers (an optimistic viewpoint considering how many live crocodiles are still out there) and that the remaining animals are relocated (another optimistic viewpoint-especially considering the number of extremely poisonous snakes now present in Bangkok).  Still, one can dream of such ecological awareness.