Curious and playful

July 25, 2010 in art, engineering, pretty stuff, technology | Leave a comment

"Solid Liquid Gas"

“Its like 5th grade science mixed with sculpture. Its about being curious and playful. There is still a lot to wonder about.”
–Caleb Charland, photographer, physics enthusiast

From My Modern Metropolis:

Caleb Charland demonstrates lessons in physics and mathematics with his mind-blowing photography. Inspired by children’s books of science experiments, he photographs everyday objects (like matches, pens and mirrors) in ways we’ve never imagined, often using multiple exposures to tell the story.

…The beauty of it all is that there’s an honesty to Charland’s work. By transforming everyday household objects into unexpected experiences, he makes us appreciate multiple disciplines; art, science and photography. In addition, his work evokes that sense of curiosity that often lays dormant in us as adults. While looking at his photos, you can’t help but marvel at the scientific laws that govern us and, at the same time, feel as though Charland’s somehow cheated them.

(Hat tip: Ed)

Obsessive mice

July 21, 2010 in autism, brains, immunology, medicine, psychology | Leave a comment

Lately, I’ve been obsessed with the A&E tv show Obsessed. It’s about people with obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, who carry out compulsive rituals — such as washing their hands — in order to relieve the anxiety produced by intrusive thoughts. People (myself included) often trivialize OCD in everyday conversation, but the show really illustrates that, at least in severe cases, OCD is debilitating.

No one has pinpointed genes or pathways that cause the condition and, partly because it can be triggered by ordinary stressors, it’s difficult to diagnose. Its biology now becomes even more baffling with the release of two new mouse models of compulsive behaviors, each implicating a different type of brain cell.

Three years ago, Guoping Feng‘s team created mice that compulsively groom themselves by deleting the SAPAP3 gene. SAPAP3 makes a protein expressed exclusively at neuron connections in the striatum, a deep region that’s important for planning movements.

Circuits in the striatum are also highlighted in one of the new studies, which appeared in May in Nature Medicine. By knocking out part of SLITRK5, which encodes a synaptic protein found in the striatum, researchers created mice whose intense self-grooming leads to severe facial lesions.

The second new report looked at mice carrying mutations in the HOXB8 gene. Scientists first noticed in 2002 that these animals feverishly groom themselves and their littermates, but didn’t know why. In the 28 May issue of Cell, they reported that HOXB8 is expressed only in microglia, immune cells that originate in the bone marrow and then migrate to many regions across the brain.

Although the two studies finger very different systems, they might begin to explain how and why OCD overlaps with other psychiatric illnesses, such as autism. For instance, some people with autism have movement problems, or abnormally big striata.

There are also many genetic and neurobiological links between the immune system and autism. Most relevant, a study presented at a meeting last year found that postmortem brain samples from individuals with autism have large numbers of microglia.

HIV: Outlook for a cure

July 20, 2010 in health, medicine, new research, pharma | Leave a comment

Not long ago, you would have been hard-pressed to find an HIV researcher who would utter the word ‘cure’.

HIV has a remarkable ability to resist antiviral drugs and hide in the body, so the idea of eradicating the virus seemed impossible. Suggesting otherwise, researchers feared, could create false hope and complacency.

In the past few years, however, there are increasingly loud whispers about a cure for HIV. The year 2007 saw the clinical debut of integrase inhibitors, which prevent HIV from inserting into the host genome. The following year, a bone-marrow transplant eliminated the virus from the body of an infected German man. Last year, breakthroughs in cell-culture techniques allowed researchers to screen for drugs that can lure HIV from its hiding places.

“I was very pessimistic five years ago, but we had to try,” says Warner Greene, director of the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology in San Francisco. “And as we’ve tried, I’ve become much more optimistic that we might be able to achieve a drug-free remission.”

His optimism is understandably tinged with caution, however, as scientists promising eradication were proven wrong once before.

Read the rest of this entry »

One reason I’m not worried about genetic testing

July 19, 2010 in funnies, genetics, health, weird, woo | Leave a comment

Genetic tests that claim to help parents identify their kids’ “true” talents were taken to task last week on The Los Angeles Times‘ health blog:

There’s an informational video that the Inborn Talent website urges you to watch “if you end up doing nothing else today,” because the information is “critical” and “will affect and impact both the childhood and the adulthood of your child.” It warns that, without the info the test can provide, “you may be unconsciously forcing your child to do something that he or she really dislikes doing.”

And there is a long, long funny page filled with DNA images and references to the “Drawing Gene” or “Intelligence Gene” or “Self Detoxifying Gene” as well as lots of Visa/MasterCard logos and test-ordering hyperlinks that say things like “Wow, This will be the best christmas gift for my child! I want my child’s report now.”

As genetic testing gets more popular, we’re undoubtedly going to see more and more companies springing up with these sorts of ridiculous claims. (In case anyone didn’t know, researchers have not found any genes for drawing, intelligence, detox, etc…go read Elaine’s great post with more crazy examples.) But these smart, critical responses are exactly why I’m not worried about it.

In fact, when I Google “Inborn Talent” or “Inborn Talent genetic test”, the first articles that show up are critical, such as this one from Psychology Today. It’s hard enough for companies (ie, 23andMe, DeCode) that are built on some actual science to succeed; when a company is built on bullshit, its reputation will quickly plummet, and ultimately it will fail.

Wonder weird

July 14, 2010 in art, food, pretty stuff, weird | Leave a comment

Catherine McEver makes art out of Wonder Bread. I’m not really sure why. But it is kind of fun to look at.

(Hat tip: Diana)

Disgusting news of the week

July 14, 2010 in engineering, health, technology, weird, world news | Leave a comment

London’s sewer system holds enough fat to fill nine double-decker buses! It comes from people pouring bacon juice and the like down the drain, and apparently causes flooding in 7,000 homes a year. Yes, true (there’s even a video)! Yes, gross!

Experts call for microarray testing in delayed kids

July 7, 2010 in genetics, health, medicine, technology | Leave a comment

For more than three decades, the first-line test for spotting genetic disorders in young children has been a basic laboratory assay in which a technician analyzes a toddler’s chromosomes under the microscope for unusual structural rearrangements. About four years ago, a new technology based on fluorescent probes hit the scene and, in short order, became the default assay for most testing labs.

But some insurance companies have resisted paying for the newer tests, called chromosomal microarrays, because they are more expensive than older techniques. This delay in technological uptake could be keeping many children from receiving crucial early treatment for their conditions. Now, an expert group is calling on large medical associations to adopt microarrays as the preferred genetic tests for children with unexplained autism, developmental delays or other birth defects.

Traditional karyotyping techniques are still the best choice for conditions such as Down’s syndrome that are caused by gross chromosomal abnormalities and are easily recognized by clinicians. But most developmental disorders show a range of symptoms and can arise from more subtle genetic glitches, such as microscopic DNA deletions or duplications. That’s where the much more sensitive microarrays come in.

…read the rest of my latest in Nature Medicine

The first “real” stethoscopes

June 28, 2010 in business, medicine, technology | Leave a comment

The word ‘stethoscope’ is a bit of a misnomer. It comes from the Greek stethos (chest) and Latin scopium (to look in), but of course doesn’t look inside the chest. In fact, says cardiologist Eric Topol, since all it does is listen to the heart, the device would be better dubbed a stethophone.

Topol has launched a company, the West Wireless Health Institute, that is working on real stethoscopes and related technologies — using iPhones and other wireless devices. Here’s what he told the San Diego Union Tribune:

This technology is already here, introduced in February 2010, by GE (a device called “Vscan”). I use this for all the patients I see, at no cost except for initially purchasing the pocket echo device, and have been able to markedly reduce the number of full echoes that are needed (which cost more than $1,500, take 40 to 45 minutes, and require another appointment to be set up to get the test). Each year in the United States, over 8 million heart echoes are done at a cost of well over $10 billion. If we can cut that at least 10 (percent) to 20 percent, it has enormous potential.

As far as taking one’s vital signs, this is right around the corner. Sensors on the wrist can be used to get blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen concentration in the blood, breathing rate, temperature, and this will ultimately be displayed on the cell phone. Very exciting for people who need this, and potentially worrisome for inducing “e-hypochondriacs” for those who don’t.

The sensors will undoubtedly play an enormous role in the years ahead, since they can measure virtually anything that makes us tick, anytime, anywhere, continuously — it is just a matter of using these appropriately, validating the improvements, and making sure they can reduce the costs of health care.

Crop circle science

June 27, 2010 in art, mathematics, physics, pretty stuff, weird, woo | 1 comment

Crop circles are “quixotic, beautiful” and (brace yourself) “seem to have no larger meaning”. Ann Finkbeiner told me so:

Crop circles have been seen for centuries.  How they got there is a little mysterious and has been the subject of a great number of theories:  scientific ones include hill-induced vortices, and less-scientific ones include aliens.  The majority of the circles are not mysterious at all:  they’ve been done by hoaxer/artists and the most recent ones are increasingly mathematical, fractal, and gorgeous.  The artists work in teams and use some of the same math that nature uses — like the golden ratio — to create the same designs nature does.

Doggie DNA database

June 27, 2010 in animal behavior, genetics, weird | Leave a comment

Earlier this year, I wrote about a group of scientists who are analyzing canine DNA to learn more about human psychiatric diseases. I’m happy to report that other researchers are using genetic tools to help abused dogs.

Last year, police in seven states took down a large dog-fighting ring, which included some 400 animals. After running DNA tests, the investigators discovered that most of the dogs were related — compelling evidence that their owners acquired them from the same sources and were involved in the same crimes.

That large collection of DNA (stored at the University of California, Davis) will help authorities in future cases, according to a piece in the New York Times:

“There is definitely a C.S.I. effect,” said Melinda Merck [a veterinarian for the A.S.P.C.A.]. “Juries want to know that if you have evidence you’ve run every possible test. The DNA is just one more tool in our kit that can bolster our cases.” She added, “I do think it’s something that is going to make the dog-fighting world very nervous.”

…The database may also prove useful in forensic investigations of blood samples found at a dog-fighting site, allowing them to establish the presence of a particular dog.

“One of the challenges in a lot of these fighting pits is that the losing dogs are often executed and dumped along the side of the road somewhere,” said [A.S.P.C.A. investigator] Tim Rickey. “This database may provide a useful tool for tracking down where the animal was bred, and maybe the owner.”

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