Ψoid - Science Snippets

Science Magazine's Donald Kennedy published an editorial today declaring the public debate over anthropogenic climate change as being over (the scientific debate has been (mostly) done for some time). Why you might ask? Well here are his words:

With respect to climate change, we have abruptly passed the tipping point in what until recently has been a tense political controversy. Why? Industry leaders, nongovernmental organizations, Al Gore, and public attention have all played a role. At the core, however, it's about the relentless progress of science. As data accumulate, denialists retreat to the safety of the Wall Street Journal op-ed page or seek social relaxation with old pals from the tobacco lobby from whom they first learned to "teach the controversy." Meanwhile, political judgments are in, and the game is over. Indeed, on this page last week, a member of Parliament described how the European Union and his British colleagues are moving toward setting hard targets for greenhouse gas reductions.

Donald Kennedy Editorial Climate: Game Over, Science 27 July 2007: Vol. 317. no. 5837, p. 425

Powered by ScribeFire.

Recent genetic work by Driscoll et al. reveals that the domestic cat was domesticated in the Near (Middle) East, likely in the "Fertile Crescent" likely coinciding with village development at the onset of agriculture.

"The Near Eastern Origin of Cat Domestication" Science 27 July 2007: Vol. 317. no. 5837, pp. 519 - 523

Technorati Tags: cat, cats, genetics, science

Powered by ScribeFire.

An interesting article in Science News points to the genetic markers that contribute to resistance to AIDS. Seems that about 1 in 300 people that contract HIV have an immune response that keeps the virus largely at bay for 10 years or more. Seems the key for some of this resistence is a section of genetic material that was itself part of a long forgotten viral infection sometime in human history. A genetic fossil. Here's the quote:

One protective variation was in a gene called HCP5. Goldstein says that the gene presents an intriguing subject for further study because it is an endogenous human retrovirus. That is, HCP5 is a genetic fossil of an ancient virus that once infected people and eventually wormed its way into the human genome. "We're working hard to establish if this new gene contributes to [HIV] control," says Goldstein.

So far they have found the genetic reasons for about 15% of the variablity in susceptiblility to infection.

AIDS Abated: Genome scans illuminate immune control of HIV, Science News, Week of July 21, 2007; Vol. 172, No. 3 , p. 35

Technorati Tags: HIV, AIDS

Powered by ScribeFire.