Lab results of using the new “ProDrugs” showed very promising results. Treating certain cancers with drugs is a better approach as some cancers grow in some places difficult to remove by surgery. Thus this new wonder drugs can deal with cancers in the lungs, brain, pancreas and stomach.

Below is the full news article about this wonderful discovery.

New Zealand scientists find anti-cancer drug

WELLINGTON: Two New Zealand scientists have discovered a new class of anti-cancer medicines that kill tumors without the side effects of traditional therapies, China’s Xinhua news agency said citing a local media report Saturday.

Medicinal chemist Jeffrey Smaill and cancer biologist Adam Patterson, from Auckland University, said their “prodrugs” inactive compounds triggered by the body’s own metabolic processes have already shown dramatic results in the lab.

Their discovery, announced at an international cancer drug conference in Boston this week, is being heralded as a major breakthrough in fighting hard-to-treat cancers, like those of the lungs, brain, pancreas and stomach, according to The Dominion Post newspaper.

Smaill, who has spent 10 years synthesising the compounds, said they worked by targeting the proteins in tumors that tell cells to multiply.

“The main problem with previous drugs developed to target these proteins was they also affected normal, healthy tissue in the skin and gut, causing serious side effects such as severe diarrhea, rashes, nausea and vomiting, which limited the dose a patient could tolerate,” he said.

The surface of a healthy gut is renewed every 48 hours, about the same rate as a tumor.

For half a century, scientists have known that two-thirds of tumors have patches containing low levels of oxygen, called hypoxic tumor cells, which are harder to treat with radiation and more likely to spread.

Dr Patterson said the prodrugs actually use this feature against the tumor, by zeroing in on hypoxic cells before they activate.

“If we can target and kill these cells we should be able to dramatically improve the outcome for cancer patients,” he said.

Unlike other drugs that only stay in the tumor for a few hours, the prodrug sticks to the tumor for over 72 hours.

“It’s very common for tumors to start regrowing after you stop administering this type of cancer drug. But after we stopped doses of this prodrug, the tumors still hadn’t regrown 30 days later,” he said.

Source : TheStar.com.my

BioFuel from Algae

WASHINGTON - SOME call it pond scum, but algae is drawing increasing attention as a source of biofuel that can help replace petroleum or fuels made from crops like corn or soybeans.

The notion of using algae to produce fuel has been around for decades, but has garnered new interest and investment amid a search for energy sources that will limit carbon dioxide emissions blamed for climate change.

Algae has obvious advantages over fossil fuels and biofuels from food-based crops, but has an additional benefit in that it absorbs carbon dioxide, and thus can be used to ’scrub’ emissions from coal-burning power plants, for example.

In a sign of the new enthusiasm, ExxonMobil announced in mid-July it would invest up to US$600 million (S$864 million) in an alliance with biotech firm Synthetic Genomics to make a new biofuel from photosynthetic algae.

The biggest US energy firm said it was partnering with the firm headed by Craig Venter, a researcher who founded Human Genome Sciences and Celera Genomics and has worked on projects to sequence the genomes of humans, fruit flies and other organisms.

Dow Chemical announced plans in June to join Algenol Biofuels in a pilot-scale project to use algae and carbon dioxide to produce ethanol fuel.

These investments ‘were a great shot in arm for the industry, but you’ve seen other solid investments’, said Mary Rosenthal, executive director of the Algal Biomass Organization, which was formed in 2008 and has some 150 members including big firms such as Boeing and Raytheon.

Ms Rosenthal estimates over US$1 billion is being invested in algae biofuels, saying that ‘it shows a lot of promise.’ She said over 1,000 participants are expected at the organization’s October summit in California. — AFP

And below are further good news of biofuel from algae and algae themselves.

VIRTUES OF ALGAE

RODNEY Andrews, director of the Centre for Applied Energy Research at the University of Kentucky, said driving the push to algae is ‘an interest in getting away from fossil fuels to more renewable systems.’

Dr Andrews directs a research project that uses algae to capture carbon emissions from coal-burning plants to grow algae, getting a double benefit from the marine plant.

‘If you start doing the math on how much you can produce per acre of land, algae becomes very appealing because it offers much more per acre than other biomass materials,’ Dr Andrews said.

A move to algae could avoid the diversion of crops such as corn and soybeans for ethanol fuel, criticized for boosting world food prices.

Algae produces an oil that can be developed into a type of biodiesel for cars, and this can be refined into other products including jet fuel or gasoline.

Still, Dr Andrews said creating commercial algae fuels needs more research to determine its economic viability. The process can require large amounts of land and various technologies are still being tested.

‘Right now it’s more expensive’ than petroleum-based fuels, according to Dr Andrews, but the landscape is shifting.

He said the price may not take into account benefits of carbon capture or any future program that includes cap-and-trade systems for carbon emissions.

‘When you look at the the CO2 footprint, it’s not the number of tons you release but how much usable energy you get before the CO2 is released in the atmosphere,’ he said.

California-based alternative fuel company Sapphire Energy is already producing gasoline from algae that meets current standards and expects to produce by 2011 one million gallons (3.8 million litres) of biodiesel and jet fuel per year.

‘Fuel from algae is not just a laboratory experiment or something to speculate on for years to come,’ said Sapphire vice president Brian Goodall.

‘We’ve already successfully tested our fuel with two commercial airlines and within the next three years we’ll be producing enough to help meet the growing demands of industry and the military.’ Greener Dawn Research, a clean tech equity research firm, said algae is becoming competitive, needing far less land than corn or soybeans to provide an equivalent amount of fuel.

‘Due to increased productivity, algae based fuel has the potential to be a revolutionary breakthrough,’ said Greener Dawn research director George Santana. — AFP
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Gliese 581

Here is the full piece of news from NY times.

Astronomers Find Planet Closer to Size of Earth

European astronomers said Tuesday that they had discovered the smallest planet yet found orbiting another star. The planet could be as little as only 1.9 times as massive as the Earth and belongs to a dim red star known as Gliese 581, which lies about 20 light-years from Earth in the constellation Libra.

The star was already know to harbor at least three more massive planets. The new planet, known as Gliese 581e, is probably rocky like the Earth, but it lies in such a close orbit — only three million miles from its star — that it is surely blasted with too much radiation and heat to be livable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/science/22planet.html

The name of the box is named after the UN’s Kyoto Protocol. It is hoped that the use of this solar cooker will help to save trees from being cut down for fire woods. Cutting down trees for fire wood is wide spread and by saving trees this can help in the fight against global warming.

More details and news report about this eco-friendly oven at : -
Inventor turns cardboard boxes into eco-friendly oven

… free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from cultures around the world, including manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, architectural drawings, and other significant cultural materials. The objectives of the World Digital Library are to promote international and inter-cultural understanding and awareness, provide resources to educators, expand non-English and non-Western content on the Internet, and to contribute to scholarly research.

Here is some more information about this digital library.

About the World Digital Library Project

The World Digital Library will make available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from cultures around the world, including manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, archi­tectural drawings, and other significant cultural materials. The objectives of the World Digital Library are to promote international and inter-cultural understanding and awareness, provide resources to educators, expand non-English and non-Western content on the Internet, and to contribute to scholarly research.
The Planning Process

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington proposed the establishment of a World Digital Library (WDL) in a speech to the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO in June 2005. The Library of Congress is currently engaged in a planning process to determine how this vision can be realized. Participants in the planning process include national libraries and other libraries and cultural institutions from around the world that have expressed interest in joining the project, as well as UNESCO and IFLA. The planning process is being underwritten by a gift from Google, Inc.

Source :- http://www.worlddigitallibrary.org/project/english/

Robot makes key AI step

WASHINGTON - ADAM formulates hypotheses, devises and conducts experiments, interprets the results and discovers new scientific knowledge - all without help from scientists. The catch? Adam is no mortal, he’s a robot.

The ‘robot scientist’ has become the first machine capable of coming up with experiments and analyzing their results without human help, according to research to be published on Friday.

The robot Adam was created by scientists at Aberystwyth University in Wales and the University of Cambridge in England.

Thanks to its artificial intelligence, Adam has discovered new scientific knowledge without human intervention, lead researcher Ross King of Aberystwyth University said in the journal Science.

‘Because biological organisms are so complex, it is important that the details of biological experiments are recorded in great detail,’ Mr King said. ‘This is difficult and irksome for human scientists, but easy for robot scientists.’

Adam was tasked with studying the genomics of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a baker’s yeast which scientists use to model more complex life forms. The researchers conducted independent experiments that verified the robot’s findings.

Such artificial intelligence is growing in importance as the scientific process becomes more computerized and automated. The huge increase in scientific data requires a concurrent increase in the use of computers to interpret and analyse the data.

Robot scientists could one day work side by side with their human counterparts.

‘Robot scientists could provide a useful tool for managing such data and knowledge, making scientific procedures easier and more efficient,’ said Profesor Douglas Kell, who heads Britain’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council which funds scientific research.

Adam is a prototype, and Mr King’s team is at work on a follow-up robot, named Eve, which they say holds promise for scientists seeking new drugs to fight diseases such as malaria and schistosomiasis. — AFP

Source : - http://www.straitstimes.com/

The second news is about having robots up in the moon by 2020. This idea is mooted by scientist in Japan. Not an impossible task since Japan has been famous for it’s walking robots, like the model from Honda. Anyway here is the news.

Japan aims for walking robot on the moon by 2020

Japan hopes to have a two-legged robot walk on the moon by around 2020, with a joint mission involving astronauts and robots to follow, according to a plan laid out Friday by a government group.

Specifics of the plan, including what new technologies will be required and the size of the project’s budget, are to be decided within the next two years, according to Japan’s Strategic Headquarters for Space Development, a Cabinet-level working group.

Development of a lunar robot is part of a broad framework outlined by the group, which is charged with plotting a new course for Japan’s space strategy. As a next step, joint exploration of the moon involving robots and astronauts will be considered.

The framework is to be finalized late next month, after the public has a chance to comment on the proposals.

The group also recommended promoting research into military satellites, such as an early warning system for detecting ballistic missile launches and systems to detect and analyze radio waves sent in space.

Other recommendations by the group include using space research as a tool to foster diplomacy with other countries and developing an advanced satellite to predict and monitor natural disasters.

The Strategic Headquarters was established last year by a law passed to advance Japan’s space technology and exploration. It allows the country, which has a largely peaceful constitution, to use space for military defense.

Friday’s proposal was released as North Korea was completing preparations to launch a multistage rocket over Japan. The communist country says it will send a communications satellite into orbit, but Tokyo suspects the North, which has acknowledged it has nuclear weapons, is actually testing long-range missile technology.

Japan launched its first satellite in 1970 and has long been among the world leaders in space technology. But in recent years, it has been overshadowed by China, which is aggressively pushing its own space program.

In January, Japan used one of its rockets to launch the first satellite to monitor greenhouse gases worldwide, a tool to help monitor global warming.

Source : - http://www.sfgate.com

Barrel Eye Fish

Scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute have solved an over 50-year mystery behind the Barreleye fish, finding that the fish can rotate its eyes, but only after discovering that the front of its head is see through.

The see through Barreleye Fish (Macropinna microstoma) was first discovered in 1939, but the transparent nature of the fish wasn’t known. The fish had previously been caught in nets, but the see through part is destroyed when the fish dies. The eyes on the fish are unique, facing upwards, so it was thought that it couldn’t see in front of itself. The Monterey Bay team sent remotely operated vehicles to the ocean floor to study the fish, only to make the remarkable discovery.

The team managed to capture a live specimen, and over several hours observed the fish rotating its eyes. The see through portion of the Barreleye allows the fish to literally see through itself when looking for food at different angles above it.

What ever the science, the see through fish is simply a marvel of nature.

And here is a video of the Barreleye fish.

These gases when dissolved into the rain form a much stronger acid rain with PH as low as 4.3! (the lower the PH value, the stronger the acid strength). The source of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are from the burning of fossil fuels and this had increased since the industrial revolution in the 19th century.

The adverse effect of acid rain are according to (http://www.policyalmanac.org/environment/archive/acid_rain.shtml) :-

Effects of Acid Rain

Acid rain causes acidification of lakes and streams and contributes to damage of trees at high elevations (for example, red spruce trees above 2,000 feet) and many sensitive forest soils. In addition, acid rain accelerates the decay of building materials and paints, including irreplaceable buildings, statues, and sculptures that are part of our nation’s cultural heritage. Prior to falling to the earth, SO2 and NOx gases and their particulate matter derivatives, sulfates and nitrates, contribute to visibility degradation and harm public health.

Thus it can be noted that the effect is large as it affect the soil, water ,plant and animals. Well to reduce acid rain , it is required to reduce the emission of the sulfur and nitrogen oxides. One way to do so is by using alternative energy sources that are non polluting.

Three good resources I found on the Internet about acid rain are :-
http://www.policyalmanac.org/environment/archive/acid_rain.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_rain
http://www.chemistry.wustl.edu/~edudev/LabTutorials/Water/FreshWater/acidrain.html

BRIEF DESCRIPTION:

Euglena excretes by the cytostome and the cytopharinx.

Anyway on the subject of algae, innovative companies are coming up with uses using algae. Amid high crude oil prices, more companies are investigating whether green algae may hold promise as a biofuel. But challenges remain. Below a video report by WSJ’s Russell Gold.

What is Histoplasmosis?
Bacteria and mold are not the only causes of lung infections. Fungus, such as those found in soil and bird droppings, can also cause lung infections. Find out about histoplasmosis and how you can avoid exposure to this infectious fungus.

Taken from :- http://lungdiseases.about.com/

More information about histoplasmosis at http://www.dhpe.org/infect/histo.html and http://lungdiseases.about.com/od/termsdefinitions/f/histoplasmosis.htm