The Ed's Up #60
To Beat Malaria, We Need to See It as an Ecological Problem
"Mosquitoes aren’t static, unchanging targets. They move around. They mate. They breed in some areas and not in others. Their populations swell and contract throughout the year. They bite at varying times of day. We need to understand these subtle quirks of mosquito life, because they all have a huge impact on our strategies for fighting malaria." (Credit: Jim Gathany/CDC)
Raiding the Oldest Arsenal
But you don’t need Alexander Fleming, the scientific method, or a pharmaceutical industry to exploit a microbe’s antimicrobial weapons. All you need is time and a little luck Seemay Chou and Matthew Daugherty have found that one group of antibiotic genes have repeatedly jumped from bacteria into eukaryotes—the catch-all term for complex life forms, including animals, plants, fungi, and more. The genes made these crossings on at least six separate occasions, and they are now part of their hosts’ immune systems. (Credit: USDA)
Whales Aren’t Keen on Being Flayed Alive By Gulls
The southern right whale is a huge fortress of animal—50 feet and 60 tons of muscle and blubber. At its size, this giant should have nothing to fear from ocean predators, except possibly for killer whales. But in the waters around Argentina, southern rights have been so badly tormented by an unusual threat that they have been forced to take stealthy precautions. (Credit: Nestor Galina)More good reads
- A surprisingly fascinating list of people's favourite numbers, compiled by Alex Bellos. (Click The Full Results for a spreadsheet)
- Important piece on rings of cheating scientists who rig the peer-review system, by Ivan Oransky, Adam Marcus, and Cat Ferguson.
- The man who discovered PSA explains why it’s a terrible cancer screening tool, and why scientists behind some recent trials are behaving very badly. Christie Aschwanden also takes on cancer screening at her debut at 538.
- “So what looks like anthropomorphism, the universe described in human terms, is really humans following the rules the universe follows.” Ann Finkbeiner on top form.
- 40 yrs ago, Donald Johanson discovered an incredible fossil called Lucy. Now he reflects on the find
- Jay Piatek has collected two-thirds of the oldest piece of Mars on Earth. Fantastic story by Eric Hand.
- Can the way hospitals are designed improve the experiences of staff and visitors, and even the recovery of patients? Fascinating piece by Lucy Maddox.
- “At one point not so long ago, we were willing to take away a person’s freedom — perhaps the ultimate sign of disrespect — for innocuous behaviors considered “abnormal.” And yet, at the same time, we went to great lengths to remove and preserve and label and, yes, respect these people’s dead brain tissue.” Virginia Hughes on the best brain book she’s ever read.
Talks
- On 12th December, I'll be at Bath Spa University doing the Discovering Science Christmas Lecture about science writing.
More good links will be released in tomorrow's linkfest on Not Exactly Rocket Science.
You can also follow me on Twitter, find regular writing on my blog. If someone has forwarded this email to you, you can sign up yourself.
And that's it! Thanks for reading.
-Ed