TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

[Stanley]

What good advice! Basically the people who fall for these claims are the idle ones who want a quick fix. Just as bad as people who take drugs to get a high.

[Stanley]

I'll bet Tiz is listening to Sir Paul Nurse (President of the RS) on Today talking common sense about research. He's the guest editor of the programme this morning.

[Tizer]

Unfortunately I missed most of it due to a bad cold keeping me awake during the night and having to make up some sleep...but I got the gist of it from Mrs Tiz!

[Stanley]

His comments about the way science is reported came straight from the Book of Tiz..... Get well soon.....

[Bodger]

Are we dscended from the Beaker People ?
http://eurogenes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05 ... nd-it.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaker_culture

[Stanley]

According to the gemtisists we are all related to the same small group of women in Africa. (LINK)

[Stanley]

Have a look at this LINK

Jim Al-Khalili meets chemist and science showman Andrea Sella and they talk about the Rare Earths. Fascinating stuff.

[Tizer]

This morning BBC Radio 4 News reported that a decline in lead poisoning from environmental sources may account for falling levels of crime. They sounded surprised by the news but there's really nothing new, it simply helps confirm what was expected. Lead levels fell when copper replaced lead in water pipes and then fell again in recent times as lead was removed from many products, especially paint, and later from motor fuel. The latter was particularly important because the lead was present in organic form (tetraethyl lead) which could be absorbed through the skin as well as by breathing and ingestion, whereas the inorganic lead in paint and pipes could not pass through the skin. The significance of the removal of lead from motor fuel was probably suppressed by vested interests - take a look at the long and detailed Wikipedia page on Lead Poisoning (LINK) and you'll probably be surprised at how little mention is made of it. The same can be said for the Wikipedia page on Gasoline - the use of lead is mentioned but there is almost nothing about the toxicity of tetraethyl lead. Lead is especially toxic to children and the lead from motor fuel still remains in the environment, deposited in soil and water. Many people worry about the persistence of radioactive substances but they should also consider lead. Rick Nevin was promoting the theory, over 10 years ago, that decline in lead was linked to falling crime rates, as explained in this old Washington Post article: LINK

[Stanley]

I know that lead can lead to irrational behaviour because I once gave myself a dose while sanding lead based paint off an old gate. It seemed to wear off after a few hours but I was definitely talking rubbish immediately afterwards!

[Stanley]

If you're short of something to worry about have a look at this LINK!

Fascinating that scientists have identified the elevated radiation in the 8th century from timber that was growing at the time in Japan.

[Bruff]

Tetraethyl lead is the 'tel' in Associated Octel, who are down the road in Ellesmere Port. Many anti-fouling agents on ships' hulls contained lead. A chap in the next lab to me during my research days was looking at this using Mossbauer Spectroscopy (uses the gamma ray portion of the electro-magnetic spectrum) on an MoD contract.

I don't contest that the removal of lead may be one factor in declining crime rates, but it is surely only one of many. Indeed, it is well known that we have crime hotspots and if lead were a significant factor would not these hotspots be smeared out? In addition, some criminals mend their ways which perhaps you would not expect if lead was a major factor? I wouldn't deny the impact, just that it's a messy business crime and so on. Interesting stuff though.

Richard Broughton

[Stanley]

Richard, bottom line is that simplistic explanations, whilst attractive, don't always tell the true story. Add Trybutyltin to the list. Very effective anti fouling properties but incredibly poisonous and banned for all small boats. I was once told that Trybutyltin was the active ingredient in the show liners that stopped smelly trainers! Perhaps Tiz has info on this? Could anti-smell pads have tended to cause criminal tendencies.....?

[Bruff]

Shows how long it was since my research days in that a mention of 'lead' clicked something in my mind, and I now realise thanks to the post above that my colleague way back then was looking at tin anti-fouling agents on ships!

Richard Broughton

[Stanley]

It's deadly stuff Richard. Fish farms were using it as well to stop algae growth on the fish pens.

[Tizer]

Wikipedia says: "Uses include wood preservation, antifouling pesticide in marine paints, antifungal action in textiles and industrial water systems, such as cooling tower and refrigeration water systems, wood pulp and paper mill systems, and breweries. Tributyltin oxide is the most widely used compound in TBT–containing commercial products."
Of course, saying these are `uses' doesn't mean they are still allowed in all countries for that use. It also says: "These compounds are included in the Rotterdam Convention and have been banned by the International Maritime Organisation".
I think similar compounds are used to kill ticks and mites.

[Stanley]

Interesting discussion on World Service this morning about new theories as to how the sense of smell works. Previously the research had concentrated on the shape of the molecules but now it is thought that an additional factor may be the way they vibrate. I don't fully understand why they should do this but I think it's something to do with the arrangement of the neutrons in the molecule. They went on to say that this same property may explain how birds can navigate for long distances because the light entering the eyes can be affected by disturbances in the earth's magnetic field and causes a similar perturbation in the structure of the eye giving the birds what is effectively a 'heads-up' display as their vision is disturbed. Fascinating stuff......

[Bodger]

We will see,
http://www.prw.com/subscriber/headlines ... =1&id=2248

[Stanley]

An encouraging report this morning that a new breath test can detect stomach cancer at an early stage. See this LINK

[Stanley]

The Chief Medical Officer warns this morning that the threat of redundancy in common antibiotics is as great a threat as terrorism. She says that if no new classes are developed, in twenty years, common operations will be too dangerous in terms of infection to be undertaken lightly. We've known this for years but have allowed the problem to escalate. She says that money should be thrown at the drugs industry to encourage research because the profit level on these drugs doesn't justify the investment in R&D.

[Tizer]

We've known this for years but have allowed the problem to escalate.

So true, and I'm glad she's raising the issue again. Doctors have known for decades that they shouldn't prescribe antibiotics for virus infections (they are useless against viruses) but some of them still do, for an easy life (keep the patient happy). The veterinary industry has been misusing them for decades. But nothing is done about it. Private industry won't do anything unless there's a fat profit, they cherry pick now and only the juicy cherries are wanted.

[Bruff]

Yes, known almost from the time they came on stream thanks to the work of the great Sir C N Hinshelwood, English chemist, Nobel Prize winner and recipient of the Order of Merit who applied his foundation work on reaction kinetics to bacteria showing they could adapt to their environment.

Quick point. The pharmaceutical companies will apply themselves to the development of new drugs once a critical mass has been reached to make it worth their while - that is, about the time we all start dropping like flies. This is how the world works - private companies are not 'in it' for the likes of you and me. But it is also why as the CMO suggests we get Government(s') intervention to pump-prime the search in the absence of a commercial driver. Yet Government intervention is not the 'done thing' these days as it just gets in the way of these matters stiflling the creativity and vim of enterprise, as we have been told incessantly these past 3 decades.

Just as with the climate change issue, none of this is going to be cracked via laissez faire. Intervention here, backing off there; tax breaks here, tax rises there; regulation here, a relaxation there. So on and so forth.

In part, significant pro-active Government intervention and a complete anathema to anyone subscribing to the received wisdom of the day. But sensible consensual problem-solving to the rest of us.......

Richard Broughton

[hartley353]

Scientists have just found primeval soup in a frozen lake beneath the antartic, this bacteria may contain all our answers. Never known to science before it may contain our fate,good or bad ,funny how its the little things which are the most important.

[Stanley]

"none of this is going to be cracked via laissez faire. Intervention here" So true Richard, There are times when government intervention is the only sensible way, that's why we have governments! Remember the 'lame duck' argument about industry under Thatcher and the wonderful result when Rolls Royce was rescued? (Funny how lame duck argument wasn't used against the banks....)

[Stanley]

The antibiotic resistance scare has re-awakened interest in 'Phage Therapy'. See LINK

[Sue]

Gosh I used to teach about phage therapy about 15 years ago. There was an excellent TvProgramme I used to show.