Malaria is the leading cause of death and disease in developing countries, according to the CDC, killing more than one million people every year.

Malaria is caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium, and transmitted to the human blood stream by mosquitoes.

Parasites are notoriously, well, parasitic. Their cells look a lot like our own, making it extremely difficult to design drugs that target them but not us.

But a new study from immunologists at the University of California, Berkeley, finds that the human response to one parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, is surprisingly simple. The researchers say this may mean that making a vaccine for other parasitic diseases, such as malaria, may be much easier than previously thought.

“The entire immune response can be boiled down to one protein,” lead author Nilabh Shastri said in a press release. “This could be a general principle of immunity to parasites—that the immune system focuses on one or a few particular proteins.”

Toxoplasma gondii, the parasite that causes encephalitis, is made up of more than 8,000 proteins. But Shastri found that the mouse immune system responds responds to only one of these proteins. With an understanding of this (relatively) simple mechanism, his team made a successful vaccine against Taxoplasma.

They’re now working on testing the same vaccine in people.

“If these findings hold true for other parasites, then the identification of these proteins would be key to making vaccines,” Shastri said.

Read his Nature Immunology study.

Tara’s just written a pretty powerful post about smallmindedness in small towns, so I figured I’d chime in, too. (And if you stay with me for a bit, you’ll see why this seemingly political discussion has everything to do with science.)

One of my biggest reservations about voting for Barack Obama is his Christian fundamentalism. You’d think that this would be one of the biggest selling points to my Midwestern family members, who believe—above all else—in Christian religious faith.

Unfortunately, rather than embrace his faith, the right-wing Christians have pegged Obama as a “Muslim extremist.”

I received my first anti-Obama email chain letter on January 8, from one of my closest family members. (Its contents below the fold…)

The letter said (formatting and grammatical errors unchanged):

Please read and go to this church’s website and read what is written there. It is very alarming .
Barack Obama is a member of this church and is running for President of the U.S. If you look at the first page of their website, you will learn that this congregation has a non-negotiable commitment to Africa. No where is AMERICA even mentioned. Notice too, what color you will need to be if you should want to join Obama’s church… B-L-A-C-K!!! Doesn’t look like his choice of religion has improved much over his (former?) Muslim upbringing.

Are you aware that Obama’s middle name is Mohammed? Strip away his nice looks, the big smile and smooth talk and what do you get? Certainly a racist, as plainly defined by the stated position of his church! And possibly a covert worshiper of the Muslim faith, even today. This guy desires to rule over America while his loyalty is totally vested in a Black Africa! I cannot believe this has not been all over the TV and newspapers. This is why it is so important to pass this message along to all of our family & friends. To think that Obama has even the slightest chance in the run for the presidency , is really scary.

(Are you not turned off by the big, navy Arial Narrow font alone?) Using my Google skillz, I can’t find anything that substantiates the claim that Obama’s middle name is Mohammad. (Not that I would care if it was.) It’s apparently not on his birth certificate, in any case. I also wasn’t aware that going to an all-black Christian church meant that you had a “covert worshiper of the Muslim faith.” (Or that any self-respecting Muslim would claim to be a fervent Christian in not one, but two best-selling autobiographies!) And, um, this hasn’t been all over the TV and newspapers? Are you kidding me?? FoxNews has been chastising Jeremiah Wright for his all-black congregation since at least March 2007.

Regardless, wanting to avoid a family flare up, I made no comment about that first email.

But the next one, sent in May, really pissed me off. The text (in all caps, obviously) read: “JUST PLANNING AHEAD IF OBAMA WINS”, followed by seven truly racist images, such as this one of “McHammed’s: Billions and Billions Opressed.”

I wrote a relatively nasty response to this. I was then informed, by my elder and oh-so-much-wiser family member, that because these images first appeared on David Letterman, there was nothing to be upset about.

“As time marches forward,” she added, “you’ll see the utmost humor in politics—from both sides. It’s amazing how some things can be deemed ‘funny’ by some, while others take them to heart as racist and dangerous!

…We, the populus in general, all need to be more enlightened, if you will, more tolerant of others, and with that comes being tolerant of others’ opinions. Simultaneously, we need to be much less sensitive.”

(Pretty rich that the person sending these photos says we need to be more tolerant of others, eh?) Anyway, here’s why I can’t take this lightly.

Spreading false claims about Obama is no different from claiming that vaccines cause autism, or that the human eye was created by an intelligent designer. Choosing our elected officials should involve the same mental process as interpreting scientific evidence—rational inquiry.

]]> http://virginiahughes.com/2008/06/30/obamapropaganda/feed/ virginiahughes http://virginiahughes.com/2008/06/22/coffee-complexity/ http://virginiahughes.com/2008/06/22/coffee-complexity/#comments Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:32:57 +0000 virginiahughes http://virginiahughes.wordpress.com/?p=138

Yesterday morning, in an adorable backyard patio apartment in Carroll Gardens, I experienced my first coffee cupping. The organizers, coffee consultant Daniel Humphries and dancer-gourmet chef Bobbie Marchand, put out an amazing spread. The coffees—some sweet and citrusy, some spicy and savory—came from Sumatra, Ethiopia, and Panama. They were paired with: orange blossom yogurt over red quinoa; a medium-boiled egg over pea puree; a vanilla-bean encrusted roast beef sandwich; and a sticky citrus-banana bread cake. To quote the uber-annoying Rachael Ray: YUMO!

Distinguishing among the subtle layering of flavor in the coffees was, for me, much more difficult than doing so in wine. I’m not sure if that reflects coffee’s complexity or my insensitivity to it. 

Daniel told us about the World Barista Championship, which is happening right now in Copenhagen. Contenders have to make 12 drinks—four cappuccinos, four espressos, and four “signature drinks”—for four judges in just 15 minutes! He said that the Scandinavians always win. (The top finalists so far are from Sweden, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Australia.)

Anyone who’s a coffee snob (or, like me, interested in becoming one) should definitely check out Daniel’s amazing blog. I can’t wait until he and Bobbie host another event!

On December 14, 1994, in the basin of China’s mighty Yangtze River, construction began on what will be the world’s largest dam: the Three Gorges. The Chinese government took on this 17-year, $29 billion-plus building project in the Hubei Province primarily to end thousands of years of disastrous flooding downstream, especially near Wuhan and Shanghai. (In the last century alone, the untamed waters have taken more than 1 million lives.)

But in addition to flood control, the dam’s builders say that its hydroelectric power plant will generate a sizable portion—18.2 million kilowatts, or about as much as 18 nuclear power plants—of the energy needed to fuel China’s growing economy. The 1.5-mile-wide, 607-foot-tall concrete structure, they say, will support a reservoir 400 miles long that holds 10.4 trillion gallons of water.

In almost 14 years since construction began on this high-profile site, spectators across the globe have raised their eyebrows at the touted natural and sociological benefits of the Three Gorges. The reservoir, projected to be 574 feet deep when the dam is finished, has already forced 1.2 million villagers to relocate and has destroyed several archaeological sites. Scientists worry that the steep hills surrounding the dam will lead to erosion and landslides, and that algal blooms popping up downstream will threaten aquatic
species.

At the same time, political leaders fear conflicts over land shortages. Last September, a group of experts in China agreed that the construction of the Three Gorges has had an adverse effect on the environment around the Yangtze River and “if protective measures are not taken, the project could lead to catastrophe.”

The Three Gorges project has met with obstacles since it was first proposed, almost a century ago, by Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen. For now, it’s slated for completion in 2011. In scale, it dwarfs every dam that’s come before. But its ecological and political issues aren’t unique. Controversy inevitably surrounds the construction of each of the 800,000-plus working dams across the world, and especially the 45,000 “large dams” that are more than 50 feet tall.

…read the rest of my latest feature from BOSS Magazine

About 80 percent of adults with autism exhibit restricted or repetitive behaviors, such as hand flapping, teeth grinding, or rocking back and forth. A new fMRI study of 15 autistic people finds that these repetitive behaviors are associated with abnormal activity in the “executive” brain system that’s responsible for attention, planning, and for inhibiting inappropriate behaviors.

Older brain-imaging research on people with autism overwhelmingly focused on social aspects of behavior, such as the processing of faces.

Testing for neural changes during repetitive behaviors is more difficult because of the constraints of an fMRI machine, in which subjects must lie still. “More than three to four millimeters of head motion will invalidate an entire study,” says Hofstra University neuroscientist Keith Shafritz, lead author of the new study.

To jump this hurdle, Shafritz used a novel testing paradigm that forced subjects to activate the cognitive processes behind repetitive behaviors without actually making any motions.

…read the rest of my latest piece at the Simons Foundation website

I was cranky tonight after the evening news mentioned Jenny McCarthy’s crackpot “green the vaccines” rally in DC this weekend. She and Jim Carrey are scheduled to appear on Good Morning America tomorrow. Ugh.

Orac, thankfully, snapped me out of my funk, by posting an (albeit mild) counter-response: an open letter to Congress on immunization policy written by a slew of doctors and public health experts. The money quote (emphasis mine):

Well-designed scientific studies are the only valid method of demonstrating medical cause and effect. In contravention of this fundamental principle, beliefs not based on science have led increasing numbers of parents to choose not to immunize their children. The implications of this choice are profound.

For those who don’t know, McCarthy, whose son is autistic, is now the high-profile spokesperson of those who believe that vaccines are the cause of the rising prevalence of autism in the U.S. On March 9, she distributed a letter online urging parents of children with autism to call the White House and “demand” the resignation of CDC director Julie Gerberding, who has led the CDC, in McCarthy’s words, “during a time when the autism epidemic has only gotten worse.”

Though the idea of an autism “epidemic” originated several years ago, it’s received massive media attention in the last year thanks to celebrities like McCarthy and Don Imus and the 4,800 families who are suing the government in federal “Vaccine Court.”

It’s true that autism diagnoses across the world have skyrocketed in the past few decades. Before 1990, the reported autism prevalence in America was 4.7 out of every 10,000 children; it’s now 60 per 10,000. The anti-vaccination gang says this correlates exactly with the rise in the number of childhood vaccinations, which went from 10 in 1983 to 36 in 2007. But scientists say the rise in autism diagnoses is instead a result of a broadened definition and better awareness of autism spectrum disorders in the medical establishment.

Don’t let their cute children fool you: The Antivaccers are a scary bunch. If Jenny and Jim have their way, the anti-vaccination movement will bankrupt the Vaccine Compensation Fund, start suing the pharmaceutical companies who manufacture the vaccines, and cause a public health disaster. Here’s hoping for rain in D.C. this weekend.

:: :: ::

Above is Desmoxytes purpurosea, a millipede that was recently chosen (somewhat arbitrarily) by Arizona State University’s International Institute for Species Exploration as one of the “top ten” species described in 2007. Also called the “shocking pink dragon millipede,” scientists suspect its coloration warns predators of its toxicity. Here, from the press release, is the full list of the top ten: 

On the list are an ornate sleeper ray, with a name that sucks: Electrolux; a 75-million-year-old giant duck-billed dinosaur; a shocking pink millipede; a rare, off-the-shelf frog; one of the most venomous snakes in the world; a fruit bat; a mushroom; a jellyfish named after its victim; a life-imitates-art “Dim” rhinoceros beetle; and the “Michelin Man” plant.

Benny Bleiman isn’t too happy with those choices. He describes a few more that didn’t make the list:

[S]ome of the year’s sweetest creatures didn’ t make the list! For example, this frogfish whose eyes are in the front of its face like a mammel; and what about this GIANT SHREW that is the size of a house cat!? Yeah, no biggie; And why for any reason would a brand new, 9 foot-long, spitting cobra, who has enough poison to kill 20 people or an elusive tiny dwarf, Amazonian, river manatee make the list? They’re only ridiculously sweet.

Well, Benny, a top ten list is, by definition, limited. I’m just happy that some much-deserved attention is going to the incredible diversity of species on Earth. 

A month ago I started an absolutely delightful beginner’s course on wine tasting at the 92nd Street Y. At the end of my second two-hour class, I was—surprise, surprise—feeling friendly. I started chatting with my instructor, Meg, about wine books and wine blogs.

In one of my favorite science books, A Natural History of the Senses, author Diane Ackerman points out that although humans have an incredible ability to differentiate among thousands of different smells, we’re lousy at describing them in words. As she puts it:

“The physiological links between the smell and language centers of the brain are pitifully weak…Who can map the features of a smell? When we use words such as smoky, sulfurous, floral, fruity, sweet, we are describing smells in terms of other things (smoke, sulfur, flowers, fruit, sugar). Smells are our dearest kin, but we cannot remember their names. Instead we tend to describe how they make us feel. Something smells ‘disgusting,’ ‘intoxicating,’ ’sickening,’ ‘pleasurable,’ ‘delightful,’ ‘pulse-revving,’ ‘hypnotic,’ or ‘revolting.’

Ackerman goes on to list the seven categories that all smells fall under:

-minty (peppermint)
-floral (roses)
-ethereal (pears)
-musky (musk)
-resinous (camphor)
-foul (rotten eggs)
-acrid (vinegar)

Anyway, I mentioned Ackerman’s general point to Meg, and she responded with the names of some of the best wine writers out there. One of them was Eric Asimov, the New York Times wine critic who hosts a blog called The Pour. I promptly added it to my RSS reader, and have been reading it devoutly ever since.

The Pour is a really fun read, even for a wine amateur like me. (Everyone can surely relate to his post on hangovers, for instance.) But tonight I put my analytical hat on to see how this master of the vino rhetoric describes smells. I searched his blog for “smell” and then “smells” and was actually a bit surprised to find that Ackerman was right. All of his described “smells” are not smells at all, they’re foods or metaphors or feelings. See for yourself:

“It’s the tangy, crisp, saline quality of the sherry, especially manzanilla, which smells like the sea, that makes it such a good accompaniment to almost anything salty.”

“…my first impression was that this wine smelled like grapes – piercingly – grapes and alcohol. It was almost painful to sniff. There was a candied quality to the aroma, too…”

“…the wine was so light and delicious, smelling of cinnamon and leather, and so pure.”

” …it was bottled with a good dose of sulfur dioxide, a stabilizing agent that, if it’s still present when you open a bottle can smell like a just-struck match.”

“The Nickel & Nickel might have been too young, but it was oaky enough to smell like a vanilla panna cotta.”

So, can anyone think of words that are designated for smells? I can’t. Perhaps we should create some…

:: :: ::

A few weeks ago, a NASA satellite caught a tiny star making a big show. EV Lacertae is a small, red dwarf star, located about 16 light years from us (which, amazingly, makes it one of our closest star-neighbors). EV Lac has about 1/3 the mass of our Sun, and normally shines with about 1 percent of the Sun’s light. Normally.

But every once in awhile, the star sets off a massive flare. That’s because it rotates once every four days, which is extremely fast (for comparison, our Sun rotates once every four weeks). The star is made up of ionized gas, which has an electric charge. The charge, when moved so quickly, produces incredibly strong magnetic fields. The energy stored in the fields builds and builds until….boom!

“This star has a record of producing flares, but this one takes the cake,” Rachel Osten, a Hubble Fellow at the University of Maryland, College Park said in a NASA press release. “Flares like this would deplete the atmospheres of life-bearing planets, sterilizing their surfaces.”

(Hat tip: Phil)

Check out this awesome TED talk, by Michael Moschen.

Who is he?

“A high school dropout turned MacArthur ‘genius grant’ recipient, Michael Moschen is an art juggler, spawning scores of imitators and an entire methodology of crystal-ball juggling he likes to call Dynamic Manipulation.”

Definitely worth your next free 37 minutes!!

(Hat tip: Greg Laden)