August 2006 – Page 2 – David Bradley

Science Movies

Science in the movies was the subject of a a feature I wrote for the now sunk HMSBeagle (on BioMedNet.com), but the world of cinema has moved on apace since then with dozens more feature films that are less science fiction than what my good buddy Carl Djerassi (well, I’ve met him twice!) refers to as science in fiction as well as more impressibley many that are purely science non-fiction.

Here’s just a list of a few currently available on DVD I’d recommend, they’re available on amazon of course but seem to be cheaper at a new site, “DVD ideas”, which has a whole section dedicated to movies about science. Thanks to the guys at DVD Ideas for alerting me to this.

Me & Isaac Newton –
~~$17.99 on Amazon~~, $13.99 on DVD ideas – Seven scientists explore the scientific ethos without getting tangled in the technical details of their important work. The film concentrates on how these scientists come up with their ideas and uncovers fascinating contrasts in their biographies and their thinking.

SolarMax – ~~$19.99 on Amazon~~, $12.99 on DVD ideas – This mind-boggling presentation, originally presented in IMAX theaters, goes to great lengths to explore to far-reaching power and significance of our closest star. From ancient Earth to orbiting spacecraft, explore what the power of the sun means to humankind

Breaking Vegas – ~~$21.99 on Amazon~~, $16.97 on DVD ideas – Based on Ben Mizrich’s bestselling book, Breaking Las Vegas tells the true story of six college students from MIT – including Mizrich himself – who used their math skills to win millions of dollars at Las Vegas casinos.

Theremin – ~~$12.99 on Amazon~~, $9.89 on DVD ideas – A documentary about the inventor of one of the first electronic instruments, the eponymous theremin (the sound of which quickly became cliched in science fiction films as the accompaniment to shots of flying saucers as well as providing the eerie ooooooh-eeeeeh-ooooooh sounds in The Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations.

For All Mankind – ~~$35.99 on Amazon~~, $29.96 on DVD ideas – Shot between December 1968 and November 1972, in the heyday of the space program, FOR ALL MANKIND tells the true story of the 24 men who travelled to the moon as the entire US, and indeed the rest of the world, watched in awe.

If you’re looking for science movies of a more technical or perhaps educational nature, then check out the Sciencebase science movies page. That page has various video links, as well as a few sample science clips.

Next stop, Chemistry Central

A new open access site for chemists – Chemistry Central – launches today as part of the newly announced Open Access Central group of sites from the makers of BioMedCentral.

CC collates peer-reviewed research from a range of open-access journals and makes available the original research articles as soon as they are published.

Deputy Publisher and former chemist Bryan Vickery explains the motivation, “We have seen increasing interest from chemists in the open access publishing model and, having launched two chemistry-specific titles in the last 18 months, the time seemed right for BioMed Central to create an open access publishing website to meet the needs of chemists,” he says.

On the CC roster are OA articles from Geochemical Transactions, the Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry, and chemistry-related articles from BMC Pharmacology, BMC Biochemistry, and BMC Chemical Biology.

As well as viewing the latest research highlights and content from featured journals, the Chemistry Central site provides a forum for the discussion of articles, and users can subscribe to email alerts.

“The BioMed Central team has created an open access publishing website to meet the needs of chemists,” Vickery told Sciencebase, he adds that, “The initial launch phase of Chemistry Central has three main thrusts. Firstly, to raise awareness among chemists that a credible open access alternative to traditional scholarly publications exists, that will disseminate their work more widely and increase readership and use. Secondly, it showcases the chemistry research which BioMed Central’s journals are already publishing, proving their technical suitability for chemistry research. Thirdly, by launching Chemistry Central we are offering our open access publishing services to those who wish to launch new open access journals in chemistry, or to transfer existing journals to this model.”

For a totally unrelated discussion forum check out this link where you can share your thoughts on almost anything, it seems, from news and sport to photos and music.

Plan B contraceptive

On Friday, August 18, Barr Laboratories asked the US Food and Drugs Administration to reconsider its application to make its Plan B contraceptive available over the counter. According to FierceBiotech’s John Carroll, “Given the FDA’s sudden willingness to work out a marketing plan for the contraceptive, Barr has a good shot at finally obtaining an approval that should have come through in 2004.” Carroll reckons that the FDA now has the opportunity to show the US that science and not ideology controls how therapeutics are reviewed. “Given the Bush administration’s clear preference for ideology,” Carroll says, “the FDA may have more difficulties ahead. But for now, there’s reason for hope.”

Plan B is an “emergency” contraceptive, backup birth control, in other words, a form of contraception often referred to as a morning after pill. It comes in the form of two levonorgestrel pills, which are taken orally after unprotected sex. Plan B reduces the risk of pregnancy. Those who oppose it on ideological grounds posit that it is tantamount to an abortion despite the fact that the timescale within which it must be used can be shorter than the time within which conception generally occurs.

More on Plan B from the FDA here. The FDA announced at the end of July that, “It is proceeding to work with [Barr] to resolve the remaining policy issues associated with the marketing of Plan B as an over-the-counter option.”

Will keep you posted on this or you can subscribe for free to FierceBiotech to get the low down.

Statins, heart attacks, and a protection racket

Long-term treatment with statins help lower cholesterol and reduce heart attack and stroke incidence. But, it seems, GPs have not been prescribing enough as yet another benefit is now being touted in new research published today in the British Journal of Pharmacology. This latest study suggests this action only needs a few days of treatment, is independent of cholesterol lowering and helps the heart to recover following a heart attack.

Jing-Lin ZHAO and colleagues at the Fuwai Heart Hospital, Beijing, China, have demonstrate decreased ‘no-reflow’ and better preservation of ventricular function in animals treated for only two days with a statin called simvastatin (structure shown). They also identify the mechanism underlying this cardioprotective action, showing that the observed beneficial effects of simavastatin are abolished by blocking the KATP channel in mitochondria.

Following a heart attack, blood does not flow properly into vessels in the heart, even once they are re-opened. Increasing the blood flow in these vessels would decrease the area known as ‘no-reflow’ and restore more of the ventricular function. ZHAO’s results suggest that taking statins long-term not only reduces the likelihood of a heart attack, but could also give the heart a chance to recover from a heart attack by decreasing the damage done to heart muscle.

Of course, if those heart attack patients had been on statins in the first place…

The Loh down on corrosion

Once more, a news story from the Sciencebase global offices features in Sandra Tsing Loh’s science news podcast out of Caltech. Click the little speaker icon, top left of this post to hear her voice.

“…there’s a new way to stop corrosion: Put it to SLEEP.

The secret, say Dmitry Shchukin of the Max Planck Institute in Germany and colleagues? A gel-like material embedded with nanoparticles .. tiny bits, billionths of a meter across, which house a chemical additive called benzotriazole.”

An elephant task

The ivory trade was banned by CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) in 1989. However, illegal trade continues and as such researchers in India suggest that there is a continued need to characterize Asian elephant ivory and to be able to compare it with African ivory so that national and international laws can be implemented more effectively.

Previously, Erich Raubenheimer and colleagues in the Department of Oral Pathology, Medical University of Southern Africa, established an ivory database that would allow law enforcers to trace the source of illegal ivory and so identify poorly managed game parks, particularly in Africa. However, the ivory of Asian elephants, of which half are found in India, is more prized than African ivory. It is only the males of the Asian elephant that has tusks and they are much smaller than those of its African counterpart. Despite the illegal price differential between continents, the ivory of African and Asian elephants is indistinguishable in superficial appearance, particularly once processed, so it is almost impossible to trace the origin of tusks or a piece of work.

Read the elephant’s tale on spectroscopynow.com

Chemistry jobs

There are lots of opportunities out there in the job market for chemists, so check out our newly updated chemistry jobs newsfeed powered by ScienceJobs.net. You will find the latest opportunities in all areas of the chemical sciences: Lectureships, research jobs, MBAs, tenure track positions, fellowships, university programs, lectureships, post-doctoral positions, research experience opportunities, research assistant jobs, and faculty positions from all the big players.

Technical tasks include Pfizer looking to fill Molecular & Cell Biology Pathways R4-R6 2 positions and Cell Biologist / Assay Development R3-R5. On the admin side of science, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is looking for an Assistant to Chairman.

Clinilabs has several jobs to fill in New York: Clinical Research Associate, Clinical Research Coordinator, Director of Business Development, Quality Assurance and Compliance Manager, and several others.

For more science jobs, check out the Careers section here.

Brazilians wax lyrical on food testing

Brazilian researchers have developed a method to analyse the metal ion content of food products by combining X-ray spectroscopy (XRS) with a partial least-squares (PLS) data treatment. Their approach promises to be faster, more widely applicable to a range of food and agricultural products, and less expensive than other methods.

Food quality control is critical to consumer safety and satisfaction. Knowing levels of inorganic analytes, such as the toxic elements arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and lead, is important, as is information on macro-nutrients like calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium, phosphorus, and sulfur and micronutrients (copper, iron, manganese, and zinc).

Read the complete story in the latest science news round-up from David Bradley in Spectroscopynow.com

Cellulite and weight loss

Cellulite weight loss Cellulite is of growing concern to a huge number of women and many consider different ways of reducing it including bariatric surgery or a tummy tuck liposuction procedure, diets and other methods, while others really couldn’t care less about the superficial dimpling of their subcutaneous fat. Moreover, it provides yet another example of the medicalisation of a perfectly harmless “condition” as exemplified by the description of “sufferers” as patients.

But, recent research into weight loss and its effects on so-called cellulite is making a big splash. Losing weight can reduce the appearance of cellulite for some women, according to research undertaken by plastic surgeon John Kitzmiller and colleagues. But, here’s the rub, weight loss could make the condition much worse for others.

About 85% of women (that’s 8.5 women in every ten ;-) are affected by cellulite, Kitzmiller claims, “Cellulite is not specific to overweight people, but excess weight may worsen the condition. We found that weight loss in overweight patients improved the appearance of cellulite, but for a few, it actually worsened the condition.”

He examined 29 women [not the biggest most statistically significant sample] who enrolled in medically supervised weight loss programs including low-fat meals, liquid diets, medication, and bariatric surgery. Seventeen patients experienced an improvement in the appearance of their cellulite, while 9 worsened. The average weight loss was 30.5 pounds (range 2.3 — 102 pounds).

Those women who lost most weight and reduced their thigh fat too saw the greatest reduction in cellulite. These patients had a significantly higher starting body mass index (BMI) and had more severe cellulite on average. “Patients” whose cellulite worsened started with a significantly lower BMI, lost smaller amounts of weight, and had no change in percentage of thigh fat.

“There is no answer for completely eliminating cellulite, however, it appears the more weight one loses, the better its appearance,” explains Kitzmiller. “Although the appearance of cellulite diminished for the majority of patients, weight loss did not totally eradicate the condition. The dimples appear to be permanent features that lessen in depth as the pounds come off.”

Needless to say the cosmetic industry and plastic surgeons the world over will be rubbing their hands with glee at Kitzmiller’s revelations. Meanwhile, those women who should be reducing their weight for genuine health reasons who are looking for another reason to procrastinate may find the study most useful in providing them with another reason to put off that new fitness regime and low-cal diet.

Watching the stars closely

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope continues to surprise astronomers, this time by identifying the parent star of a distant planet through the observational technique of gravitational microlensing. By elucidating detailed information about the star associated with an exoplanet, astronomers should now be able to unearth the properties of the planet itself and so improve our understanding of planet formation and evolution.

Read the full story in the latest issue of Spotlight from David Bradley and Intute.

Also in this month’s Spotlight – Cornell physicist J.C. SÃ©amus Davis and colleagues at Tokyo University and AIST Labs, Tsukuba, Japan, have been watching superconductors ever so closely, atom by atom in fact. Now, his shocking observations could turn up the heat on this area of research as he has found that high-temperature superconductors may be much more like low-temperature superconductors than scientists previously thought. The discovery has implications for making new superconducting materials. Read on…

And…

The radioactive decay of the rust-coloured mineral monazite can help scientists synchronise their geological clocks thanks to work carried out at New York’s Vanderbilt University. Microscopic crystals of the material act as tiny clocks allowing a date to be stamped on rich ore deposits in rock formations altered by high-temperature fluids. More…