Reflectorites
Below are web articles for the period 30 March - 7 April with my comments in
square brackets.
Steve
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http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000406/sc/science_genome_5.html Yahoo! ...
April 6 ... Celera Finishes Sequence of a Person's Genes ... WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - Celera Genomics said on Thursday it had finished the first step of
sequencing the genes of one person, making a human genetic map that could
eventually transform medicine and biology. The U.S. company aims to be the first
to have a complete sequence of the human genome, which is the collection of all
the genes and other genetic material that are the basic blueprint of life. Scientists
will use this map to learn more about genes involved in disease, how medicines
work, and the workings of basic human biology. ... The ... company's shares rose
$28 on the news to $141 ... Celera plans to use the genes of five different people,
who will remain anonymous, to make up a final human genome sequence. It will
copy this sequence several times over to make sure it is correct. ... Celera started
working on the human genome in September, using a method called whole genome
shotgun sequencing. This is a different, quicker method from that used by a public
alliance of researchers, called the Human Genome Project, which is about two-
thirds of the way through its own, more painstaking, sequence of the human
genome. "Now that we have completed the sequencing of one human being's
genome we will turn our computational power to the task of ordering the human
genome," ... "For the next several weeks we'll be working on assembly,"... Celera
has been accused of failing to keep its promise to make the human genome
information widely available. But Venter told the U.S. House Energy and
Environment subcommittee of the Committee on Science that he would keep that
promise. "We will be publishing the assembled, accurate, annotated sequence," he
told the committee. Venter also said he was still interested in cooperating with the
publicly funded Human Genome Project ... that is working somewhat more slowly
and painstakingly to sequence the 100,000 or so human genes. ... The sequence is
only a very early first step to understanding the human genome. It does not tell
scientists what the genes do ... What Celera has now is what has been described as
a big pile of jigsaw puzzle pieces. It will use its powerful computers to read the
sequences of the nucleotides -- the A, C, T and G compounds that make up DNA's
double helix -- and put together the pieces. ... [A great achievement, surely
guaranteeing Venter a Nobel Prize? But it will be interesting if Celera strikes
problems with this final stage and the `tortoise' the HGP, beats the `hare'!]
http://exn.ca/html/templates/printstory.cfm?ID=20000407-52 ... End of the
Archaeoraptor tale ... April 7, 2000 Earlier this week, a panel of paleontologists
and ornithologists convened by the National Geographic Society ... examined the
fossil specimen of Archaeoraptor and made some foreseen conclusions. They felt
that the tail-bone wasn't connected to the right bone... In fact, the tail bone
belonged to another animal altogether - a dromaesaur. Archaeoraptor was unveiled
by the National Geographic Society at a news conference last October. At the
time, there was considerable excitement over a find that might shed some light on
the elusive transition from dinosaurs to birds. That said, Chinese paleontologist,
Xu Xing, did identify the possibility that this fossil might be a composite. So why
did it take so long to figure this out? ... "The smoking gun was not found until
fairly recently," says Sues. "Our Chinese colleague, Xu Xing, found the fossil of a
small predator dinosaur from the same geological stratum, called dromaesaur.
When he looked at its tail, he realised that the tail he had on his slab of limestone
was the counterpart to the tail that the Archaeoraptor had." Now that they knew
what the tail of dromaesaur looked like, they realised that the one that was
attached to Archaeoraptor was not the right one, nor were the hind legs correctly
matched either. The breaks in the fossil that had been observed, as well as no
distinct anatomical similarities between the tail and the rest of Archaeoraptor, were
simply mismatched. However, the skull, shoulder girdle and wings did belong to a
new animal [that] could provide paleontologists with groundbreaking information
about the morphological features in animals that were in the process of evolving
from ground-dwellers to flight. ... Also at:
http://www.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/04/07/feathereddinosaur.ap/index.html
CNN ... National Geographic admits feathered dinosaur error April 7, 2000 ...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S National Geographic Society confirmed
Thursday that a fossil hailed last year as important evidence of a relationship
between birds and dinosaurs is really a composite of at least two different animals.
The specimen, Archaeoraptor, was unveiled by National Geographic last October
and paleontologists said they believed it was a key species in the transition from
dinosaurs to birds. That was later questioned by Chinese paleontologist Xu Xing
and National Geographic convened a panel of scientists to study the question. The
team headed by Hans-Dieter Sues of the Royal Ontario Museum reported
Thursday that the specimen is made up of parts from at least two different animals.
... however, the panel concluded that the skull, trunk, shoulder and forelimbs of the
specimen represent a species new to science, the panel said. They said this new
find may have implications for the early evolution of birds, but so far its
relationship to other primitive birds has not been determined. .. [The end of this
modern `Piltdown' hoax. Another example of scientists seeing what they want to
see and ignoring contrary evidence. Claims that the fossil could still be of major
interest sounds like `damage control', especially in view of CNN's more objective
assessment.]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/040600sci-gm-crops.html The
New York Times ... April 6, 2000 Experts Urge Caution on Genetically Modified
Plants ... Saying that genetically engineered crops have the potential to pose food
safety risks and harm the environment, the National Academy of Sciences ...called
for stronger regulation of the novel plants. The academy focused only on plants
that have been genetically engineered to produce their own pesticides. The report
emphasized that there was no evidence that any foods on supermarket shelves
made from those plants were unsafe to eat. [and] ...inserting genes from one
species into another was not inherently dangerous. ... Still, the report is a striking
shift in tone from two earlier academy reports on the subject, which emphasized
the safety and benefits of genetically modified organisms. In the last decade,
genetic engineers have inserted foreign genes into plants to endow them with
various abilities, including withstanding exposure to herbicides and creating their
own pesticide. ... But Greenpeace and consumer groups have waged campaigns
against such crops, arguing that they pose serious risks. ... Ecologists have
expressed concern about the potential for such plants to interbreed with wild
plants, conferring virus-resistance and creating a super weed. ... many scientists
had begun to reconsider their position that the technology requires little or no
government regulation. With the growing opposition to genetically engineered
plants, he said, scientists realize that strong government regulation could help ease
the public's fears. "We're at risk of losing this technology," ... [It is noteworthy
how a plant which is too ideally engineered could be overall a bad design.]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000113078204876&rtmo=3wnAunHM&atmo=lllllljx&pg=/et/00/4/6/ecrlab06.html
Electronic Telegraph 06.04.00 ... View from the lab: Genius with a gene's-eye
view Is there kindness in Nature? Professor Steve Jones examines the legacy of the
evolutionary theorist Bill Hamilton ... So much contemporary scientific
investigation is linked to the work of the evolutionary theorist W D Hamilton who
was buried not long ago at Wytham Wood near Oxford. In a moving tribute ...
Richard Dawkins recalled Bill Hamilton's own wishes for his disposal. He wanted
to be laid out in the Amazonian rainforest, "where the great Coprophanaeus beetle
will bury me. Later, in their children, reared with care by the horned parents out of
fist-sized balls moulded from my flesh, I will escape. No worm for me, or sordid
fly: rearranged and multiple, I will at last buzz from the soil like bees out of a nest
- indeed, buzz louder than bees, almost like a swarm of motor bikes. I shall be
borne, beetle by flying beetle, out into the Brazilian wilderness beneath the stars".
... The rotting wood comes from his interest in insects in fallen tree trunks which
he used to study changes in the ratio of males to females. ... But where do the
beetles fit? Those unlikely creatures are, in fact, the most complete evidence of Bill
Hamilton's insight. He had a "gene's-eye view" of nature and showed that creatures
behave in a way that benefits their DNA, even if it harms those who bear it. That
idea (or a parody of it) has entered popular culture and is used to explain or excuse
all conceivable patterns of human behaviour. ... [My namesake here takes another
swipe at sociobiology!]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_702000/702478.stm BBC ... 5
April, 2000 ... Did the Vikings make a telescope? ... The Vikings could have been
using a telescope hundreds of years before Dutch spectacle makers supposedly
invented the device in the late 16th century. This remarkable possibility has
emerged from a study of sophisticated lenses just recognised from a Viking site on
the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. ... "It seems that the elliptical lens design
was invented much earlier that we thought and then the knowledge was lost," says
Dr Olaf Schmidt, of Aalen University in Germany. ... it was not until 1997 that a
team of three scientists went to Gotland to take a close look ... "I was excited, of
course. The polish of some of the lenses was almost perfect. The second thing that
caught our eye was that their imaging was very good." ... When the lenses were
put through their paces, the team was amazed. The lenses passed a series of tests
almost as well as modern optics. Made from rock-crystal, the lenses have an
accurate shape that betrays the work of a master craftsman. ... "The surface of
some of the lenses have an almost perfect elliptical shape," .... "They were
obviously made on a turning lathe." ... the lenses are of such high quality that they
could have been used to make a telescope some 500 years before the first known
crude telescopes were constructed in Europe in the last few years of the 16th
century. ... it is clear that the craftsmen who figured the lenses knew more about
applied optics than did the scientists of the time. They must have worked by trial
and error because the mathematics to calculate the best shape for a lens did not
become available for several hundred years. The researchers speculate that the
knowledge to make such an accurate lens was known to only a few craftsmen,
perhaps only one person. ...the Vikings did not make the lenses themselves. "There
are hints that the lenses may have been manufactured in [the ancient empire of]
Byzantium or in the region of Eastern Europe," ... [More evidence that the ancient
world was more sophisticated than previously thought.]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/040400sci-universal-theory.html
The New York Times ... April 4, 2000 Physicists Finally Find a Way to Test
Superstring Theory ... For a quarter of a century, superstring theory has promised
that the universe could be understood more deeply than ever before, with all the
forces unified into one, if it were seen in a startling new light -- as a kind of
mathematical music played by an orchestra of tiny vibrating strings. Each note in
this cosmic symphony would represent one of the many different kinds of particles
that make up matter and energy. But despite heroic efforts to keep this strange
vision alive, with one mathematical embellishment after another, a seemingly fatal
credibility problem has remained: no one has been able to figure out how to test
the idea with experiments. To give the strings enough wiggle room to carry out
their virtuoso performance, theorists have had to supplement the familiar three
dimensions of space with six more -- curled up so tiny that they would be
explorable only with absurdly highpowered particle accelerators the size of an
entire galaxy. ... In the last few months, however, new ideas emerging from the
theoretical workshops offer some hope of connecting the airy speculations to
reality. Physicists are proposing a revised view in which at least one of the extra
dimensions is vastly larger -- large enough perhaps to be indirectly detected with
existing accelerators. ... In fact ... it is conceivable that experimenters have already
found subtle hints of other dimensions. .... [A large and interesting article. If the
universe is vastly more complex than we thought, the greater the problem for the
atheist who has to explain how all this complexity arose out of a quantum
fluctuation!]
http://www.chicagotribune.com/leisure/features/article/0,2669,SAV0004040042,FF.html
Chicago Tribune ... Sine of the Times. Berlinski Makes Hard Science Soft Reading
... April 4, 2000. ...David Berlinski ... is a living refutation of the idea that
scientists must be dry, austere eggheads with no appreciation for literature ... His
latest book, "The Advent of the Algorithm: The Idea That Rules the World"
(Harcourt), takes on a ... great idea: the algorithm, which is, according to
Berlinksi, "a finite list of instructions that lets you get something done. ... a set of
rules, a recipe, a prescription for action, a guide, a linked and controlled injunction,
an adjuration, a code, an effort made to throw a complex verbal shawl over life's
chattering chaos." ... He employs his doctorate in physics from Princeton
University and his many years of teaching experience not to impress...but to bridge
the gap between science and the rest of the world. ... "There is no culture of
criticism in science, which is a great weakness in Western civilization," said
Berlinski, ... "The fault doesn't lie with the general public, but with the scientific
community, which is extremely reactionary, extremely conservative." And
sometimes, extremely hostile to Berlinski: ... his willingness to question evolution
("a theory that I now regard with disbelief"), have probably doomed his chances of
being named Mr. Congeniality at any future gathering of scientists. ... Scientists
spend far too much time talking just to each other, he believes, and are far too
willing to leave the lay person out of the conversation ... . "Science plays the same
role in popular culture that the clergy did back in the 13th Century," he said.
Scientists "dominate the agenda. They define the questions that can be answered.
... scientists need the help, Berlinski said. "Our real understanding of human nature
is still what it's always been: wafer-thin. We still tiptoe around the deepest mystery
of all -- the mystery of consciousness." He has great faith in readers: "There's an
extremely literate, cultivated audience out there." Many people have been scared
off by the fear -- partially pushed by scientists themselves, Berlinski said -- that the
hard sciences are impossibly daunting. .... "Some of the best science criticism I
know comes from laymen. My wish is that the whole culture would be suffused
with that." ... [It is interesting that the idea of the science establishment being like
medieval clergy and that evolution is not sacrosanct, is starting to take hold in the
media!]
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/astrobiology000405.html
ABCNEWS ... The Birth of Astrobiology NASA's New Field Draws Many
Researchers ... The Associated Press MOFFETT FIELD, Calif., April 5 - Two
years ago, NASA took a chance and launched a new field of research christened
"Astrobiology" with a bold Nobel laureate at the helm and about $10 million for
research. This week, at the first ever Astrobiology Science Conference, NASA
organizers were surprised when 600 scientists - three times as many as expected
showed up brimming with research papers, new ideas and enthusiasm about the
questions of origins and evolution of life in the universe. "This is an irresistibly
exciting field," said Baruch Blumberg, director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute
.... "It's like when Gallileo first looked through a telescope and everything he saw
was new." ... Physicists, geologists, biologists, chemists and astronomers are using
NASA's new research tools - orbital probes, infrared telescopes, observing
satellites and more to discover and solve new mysteries, possible signatures of life
in space. With a new planet discovered every few months, Blumberg said the field
is burgeoning. "The response from the scientific community to the questions we're
asking in astrobiology as been pretty overwhelming," he said. ... The questions are
whoppers: How did life begin and evolve? Is there life elsewhere in the universe?
What is the future for life on Earth and beyond? The answers, said researchers at
the conference, will come from focusing on their own narrow fields on earth and in
space. ... the habitability of Europa's crust and ocean. ... how mineral reactions on
earth help explain the origin of life. ... life in deep sea hydrothermal vents. "The
model we're using to find life on Mars is the same model we use to find life on
earth," said Blumberg. "Once we really know how life originated on Earth, we can
learn more about life in the universe." ... ["Astrobiology" is just the 50-year old
"Exobiology" given a new name. Despite the hype, the actual words about learning
first how life originated on Earth sounds like NASA is repositioning itself to
having less funds for space exploration and is going to have to concentrate more
on Earth-based abiogenesis. Presumably they will try to find some `startling new
evidence of life in Mars-like environments on Earth' in order try again to extract
more funding from the increasingly cynical taxpayer!]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/040400sci-animal-dog.html The
New York Times ... April 4, 2000 Dogs and Humans Are Seen as Partners in
Evolution ... After splitting genetically from wolves about 135,000 years ago, dogs
have followed humans through every step in their cultural and social development,
from hunting and gathering to agricultural societies, from the farm to the city and
suburb. ... So closely entwined are their lives that a number of evolutionary
biologists argue that dogs and humans have evolved together. Over the past
decade, a loose-knit band of scientists in laboratories in the United States and
abroad have worked diligently to bring man's esteemed friend into the
postindustrial age of the genome. Compared with the Human Genome Project, the
dog effort resembles a poorly capitalized cottage industry...But researchers have
recently begun to speed the search for disease-causing genetic mutations in dogs,
which often have human counterparts. ... The dog seemingly changed little in
appearance from the wolf until some 15,000 years ago, when it began to move
with humans into more permanent settlements ... Since that time, through
conscious and unconscious selection, humans have created more than 400 breeds
with greater variability in size and shape than any other species, with the exception
of humanity itself. Breeders have traditionally relied on the "founder effect,"
mating popular sires to numerous females to spread their characteristics rapidly,
and inbreeding, mating related descendants of that dog to fix the traits they want...
nearly 60 percent of the genetic disorders in dogs correspond to genetic diseases in
humans ... Although the canine genome, like that of humans, is estimated to have
three billion base pairs of DNA and 100,000 genes, they are distributed over 78
chromosomes, compared with 46 in humans. To date, only about two-thirds of the
dog chromosomes have been identified, ... Encouraging as those advances are, the
Dog Genome Project has yet to contribute significantly to its initial goal of
understanding morphology and behavior. ... it was time to sequence the entire dog
genome. That would not only accelerate the search for individual genes but help
scientists understand more complicated questions about the nature of the dog, its
incredible talents and the origin of breeds. ... [It is interesting that the dog has the
same number of genes as us and many more chromosomes. Sounds like another
dent in the `genes-are-everything' viewpoint espoused by sociobiologists.]
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000331/sc/environment_biocrops_1.html ...
Yahoo! ... March 31 ... American Farmers Loosen Embrace of Biocrops ...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. farmers, at the dawn of a new planting season,
are loosening their embrace of genetically engineered crops labeled as
"Frankenstein foods" by some environmental and consumer groups. This year's
sowings could prove crucial to the future of the biotech seed industry. An
Agriculture Department report said on Friday sowings of gene-spliced corn,
soybeans and cotton would be down by several percentage points. While the crops
have been declared safe by U.S. regulators, skeptics say the long-term effects on
people, plants and animals are unclear. A study showing potential harm to the
monarch butterfly from a bio-corn variety stirred public concern last year. ... "The
handwriting is on the wall...biotechnology is on the way out," Charles Margulis of
the environmental group Greenpeace said in assessing the government report.
Agricultural analysts said the downturn was dramatic but also surprisingly small in
light of months of campaigning against genetically modified crops. .... It would be
a notable departure from avid adoption of the crops in the 1990s. "Why? Because
the consumer says they don't want them," said Illinois farmer T. Jeffrey Martin. ....
[More signs of widespread consumer distrust of big science?]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_695000/695589.stm BBC ... ... 30
March, 2000 ... GM super rice unveiled More yield for less work and investment is
the hope A genetically-engineered strain of rice which could boost yields by up to
35% has been developed by US scientists. ... Rice is part of the staple diet of a
third of the world's people, and the researchers believe their new product could
play a major role in combating hunger. The plant was produced by scientists at
Washington State University and by agricultural researchers in Japan. ... genetic
material from maize was inserted into the rice plant including the gene for pyruvate
orthophospate dikinase. This raised the efficiency of photosynthesis - the process
plants use to make their life-giving sugars. ... Field experiments saw yields jump by
up to 35%. ...experts say rapid population growth has caught up with advances in
cereal yields made over the past 34 years. ... "Rice stockpiles in developing
countries have been going down at an alarming rate...However, critics argue that
while high yield rice may benefits farmers on good soil, it does nothing to help the
poorest farmers working in the worst conditions. ... [Let's hope this GM rice does
fulfill its promise.]
HIV/AIDS:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/global/040600un-aids.html The New York
Times ... April 6, 2000 Simple Antibiotic Urged for Africans With H.I.V. ...
PARIS, April 5 -- The 23 million Africans infected with the virus that causes AIDS
should be given regular doses of a common and affordable antibiotic to ward off
fatal secondary infections, the World Health Organization and the United Nations
AIDS program said today. The groups based their recommendation on
encouraging preliminary studies, and added that if the results are borne out, the
impact could be dramatic. Virtually all of those infected with the virus will still die
prematurely of AIDS, but many could add years to their lives and have longer gaps
between debilitating complications. The drug, known as trimethoprim-
sulfamethoxazole or as cotrimoxazole, is marketed as a generic medicine in the
United States, treating a variety of ailments including urinary tract infections and
bronchitis; it is best known as Bactrim ... In Africa, continuing use of the drug can
cost as little as $8 a year per patient. Its use to protect against disease in Africa
was endorsed for the first time last week by AIDS experts who convened in
Zimbabwe to assess the studies. ... we're extremely enthusiastic about it," said Dr.
Helene Gayle, director of the AIDS division of the United States Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "It's cost-effective, it's ready to roll,
and it may become an important component of the program." ... Dr. Peter Piot,
executive director of Unaids, ... said, "This drug, which is widely available and
affordable, can prolong the life of H.I.V.-infected people and improve their quality
of life." ... Only a tiny number of Africans can afford the $15,000 annual cost of
the "cocktails" of drugs that can prevent the infection from progressing to full
AIDS. Many African countries have national annual medical budgets of as little as
$6 per citizen. No public health system ... Many Africans who develop AIDS die
rapidly of diseases like tuberculosis or malaria, which are common in the region. ...
Others fall prey to parasitic diseases that are common in parts of the continent. ...
Doctors Without Borders, the Nobel Prize-winning group of doctors working in
poor countries and pressing for global access to inexpensive drugs, backed the
decision. "Bactrim is very cheap, and it's not too complicated to implement, so if
they have good data on mortality, I'm sure it's a good decision," said Bernard
Pecoul ... [This is going to be interesting, if $8 a year drug does as much (or
better), with a higher quality of life, as the $15,000 drug cocktail. Also interesting
is the things that Africans have always died of which is now attributed to AIDS.]
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"Nor, fifthly, would it yield his inquire more satisfaction to be answered
that there existed in things a principle of order, which had disposed the
parts of the watch into their present form and situation. He never knew a
watch made by the principle of order; nor can he even form to himself an
idea of what is meant by a principle of order, distinct from the intelligence
of the watch-maker." (Paley W., "Natural Theology: or, Evidences of the
Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected from the Appearances of
Nature," [1802], St. Thomas Press: Houston, TX, 1972, reprint, p.5)
Stephen E. Jones | sejones@iinet.net.au | http://www.iinet.net.au/~sejones
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