Category Archives: Science

Overuse of Antibiotics

Stomach Bug Mutates Into Medical Mystery – Antibiotics, Heartburn Drugs Suspected

Shultz is one of a growing number of young, otherwise healthy Americans who are being stricken by the bacterial infection known as Clostridium difficile — or C. diff — which appears to be spreading rapidly around the country and causing unusually severe, sometimes fatal illness.
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“It’s a new phenomenon. It’s just emerging,” said L. Clifford McDonald of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. “We’re very concerned. We know it’s happening, but we’re really not sure why it’s happening or where this is going.”

It may, however, be the latest example of a common, relatively benign bug that has mutated because of the overuse of antibiotics.

Articles on the overuse of anti-biotics are available via the Curious Cat directory. From the US Center for Disease Control – Antibiotic / Antimicrobial Resistance section:

Antibiotic use promotes development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria change in some way that reduces or eliminates the effectiveness of drugs, chemicals, or other agents designed to cure or prevent infections. The bacteria survive and continue to multiply causing more harm. Widespread use of antibiotics promotes the spread of antibiotic resistance. While antibiotics should be used to treat bacterial infections, they are not effective against viral infections like the common cold, most sore throats, and the flu.

Unfortunately the continued overuse of antibiotics is increasing the danger of deadly antibiotic resistant bacteria. This problem is a significant challenge not only due to the scope of the consequences (which are huge) but due to the nature of the problem. Many thousands, hundreds of thousands maybe even millions of poor use of antibiotics incrementally put everyone at risks. But each of those individual steps of poor use of antibiotics is by itself not likely to be deadly.

Due to the way we tend to think about problems (searching for one simple cause or thing to blame and fixing that one thing), the cause of antibiotic resistance provides an opportunity for the millions of bad actions to go unchecked. Only after catastrophic consequences are recognized, and put in the proper context, are we likely to give this issue the attention it deserves. Thankfully CDC and others are trying to get us to take this issues seriously now. However, the risks are huge and each person (doctors, patients, consumers [use of antibiotics on animals used as food is a huge part of the problem], government regulators…) taking small actions that make the situation worse often don’t see any need to take more responsibility.

National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship

The deadline for applying for the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship is January 6, 2006. Some details:

The US Department of Defense will pay the fellow’s full tuition and required fees (not to include room and board). In addition, fellows receive (if in school 12 months):

Period	First Year	Second Year	Third Year
Amount	$30,500	$31,000	$31,500

The above amounts are based on a 12-month academic year. If the fellow is not enrolled in an institutionally approved academic study and/or research activity during the summer months, financial support will be paid only while enrolled.

From 2003 to 2005, 466 awards were granted out of 8,679 applications – see more details.

“You are required to enroll in a full-time graduate program at a U.S. institution offering doctoral degrees in your discipline of study. Fellowships are awarded to applicants who intend to pursue a doctoral degree. You do not have to be accepted into a program at the time your application is submitted. However, should you be selected, the award is contingent upon your admission to a suitable program.”

“NDSEG Fellowships are intended for students at or near the beginning of their graduate studies in science or engineering. Applicants must have received or be on track to receive their bachelor’s degrees by Fall 2006. Fellows selected in Spring 2006 must begin their fellowship tenure in Fall 2006.”

To apply and for more details see the NDSEG web site.

Awards provided to applicants who will pursue a doctoral degree in, or closely related to, an area of DoD interest within one of the following disciplines:

* Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
* Biosciences
* Chemical Engineering
* Chemistry
* Civil Engineering
* Cognitive, Neural, and Behavioral Sciences
* Computer and Computational Sciences
* Electrical Engineering
* Geosciences
* Materials Science and Engineering
* Mathematics
* Mechanical Engineering
* Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
* Oceanography
* Physics

Gene Linked to Fish and Human Pigmentation

A Fish of a Different Color:

Until now, the genetics underlying human skin pigmentation have remained a mystery. But while studying the zebrafish–a fish common to household aquariums and research laboratories–a team of interdisciplinary scientists found a gene that plays a major role in human coloration.

Besides unraveling some of the mysteries of human variation, the research, which is featured on the cover of the Dec. 16 issue of Science, has implications for understanding a host of human diseases including cancer, diabetes and rickets.

Superconductivity and Superfluidity

Ultracold test produces long-sought quantum mix – Unbalanced superfluid could be akin to exotic matter found in quark star, Rice University:

In the bizarre and rule-bound world of quantum physics, every tiny spec of matter has something called “spin” — an intrinsic trait like eye color — that cannot be changed and which dictates, very specifically, what other bits of matter the spec can share quantum space with. When fermions, the most antisocial type of quantum particle, do get together, they pair up in a wondrous dance that enables such things as superconductivity.
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In the Rice experiment, when temperatures drop to within a few billionths of a degree of absolute zero, fermions with equal but opposite spin become attracted to one another and behave, in some respects, like one particle. Like a couple on the dance floor, they don’t technically share space, but they move in unison. In superconductors, these dancing pairs allow electrical current to flow through the material without any resistance at all, a property that engineers have long dreamed of harnessing to eliminate “leakage” in power cables, something that costs billions of dollars per year in the U.S. alone.

Science Careers

ScienceCareers.org web site from AAAS, Science Magazine.

includes an average of over 1,000 job postings which are updated daily, career advice articles written by the editors of Next Wave, graduate program information, meetings & event information, funding opportunities on GrantsNet, and a Career Forum where scientists can get free advice about career-related issues from veteran advisors… All for free.

An article providing an overview of the site: ScienceCareers.org: Your Science Career, in a Nutshell

And it doesn’t matter whether you’re a life scientist, a clinical scientist, a physical scientist, or a computer scientist: We’ll continue to meet your scientific career needs, with an archive of nearly 4000 articles on scientific careers and new content every week.

Self Aware Robot

Robot Demonstrates Self Awareness by Tracy Staedter, Discovery News (they broke the the link so I removed it):

Some interesting news from Junichi Takeno and a team of researchers at Meiji University in Japan as the year nears completion:

A new robot can recognize the difference between a mirror image of itself and another robot that looks just like it.

This so-called mirror image cognition is based on artificial nerve cell groups built into the robot’s computer brain that give it the ability to recognize itself and acknowledge others.

SMART Fellowships/Scholarships

The Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship application opened yesterday (the application closes February 17, 2006.

More details available online

Financial Assistance
Subject to the availability of funds, scholarships awarded will pay: salary or stipend, full tuition, required fees, up to $1000 book allowance per year, room and board and other normal educational expenses for the institution involved. The annual salary will be in the range of $20,000 to $40,000 depending upon student’s academic status. Students are required to spend their summer as an intern with a Department of Defense (DoD) Agency.

Employment Obligation
Upon selection, students must sign a DoD civilian service agreement. The employment obligation to the DoD civilian workforce upon completion of the scholarship/fellowship will be a one-for-one commitment. Failure to complete the required period of service will require the reimbursement of funds expended by the Government for the individual’s education under this program.

SMART scholarships and fellowships are awarded to applicants who are pursuing a degree in, or closely related to, one of the following SME disciplines:

* Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering
* Biosciences
* Chemical Engineering
* Chemistry
* Civil Engineering
* Cognitive, Neural, and Behavioral Sciences, Psychology
* Computer and Computational Sciences
* Electrical Engineering
* Geosciences
* Materials Science and Engineering
* Mathematics, Operations Research
* Mechanical Engineering
* Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
* Oceanography
* Physics, Physical Sciences

Science Researchers: Need for Future Employees

Scientists and engineers: Crisis, what crisis? by Mario Cervantes. More data on the question of a shortage of skilled workers, this time, researchers from January 2004:

The number of researchers in OECD countries rose from 2.4 million in 1990 to 3.4 million in 2000, a 42% increase, and demand is still expanding – the EU estimates it will need 700,000 new researchers to meet its commitment to increase investment in R&D to 3% of GDP by 2010. The US National Science Foundation projects that some 2.2 million new jobs in science and engineering will be created over 2000-2010, especially in computer-related occupations. In Japan the University Council predicted in 1998 that demand for masters students would exceed supply by 2010.

In other words, while few scientists are out of work, a significant proportion of them are not finding jobs in occupations that are closely related to their studies. This would weaken the claim of a widespread shortage of science and engineering graduates, but may signal another problem: “mismatches” between what the market (industry or academia) needs and is willing to pay in terms of research, and the skill sets, interests and salary aspirations that graduates have.

Well, if they are employed then there is a match between workers and jobs. The whole idea of the market working to match up the workers to jobs is based on the idea that workers and employers will react to shortages and surpluses by paying more and offering inducements to change career paths (employers facing a shortage) and some workers will decide to take them up on these offers.

I don’t doubt the market has and will continue to be dynamic. Knowledge workers should expect continuing education and learning throughout their careers. And I think most do expect that.

The strong case that the system was failing to match workers to jobs would be high unemployment rates and open jobs that employers couldn’t fill because people did not have the right skills. Taking actions to align higher education with the needs of the economy for science and engineering knowledge is wise. However, I think there will always be slight adjustments needed once students graduate. The key is that they are prepared to quickly learn the specific needs of the current marketplace. That I think is achievable and should be one of the goals of institutions of higher education.

Our Single-Celled Ancestors

choanoflagellates in water (photo by Melissa Mott)

Our Single-Celled Ancestors by David Pescovitz, ScienceMatters@Berkeley. Photo: propelled by their flagella, choanoflagellates move through water collecting bacteria on a collar of tentacles at the base of the cell body. (photo by Melissa Mott)

Six-hundred million years ago, a pivotal turning point in the history of life occurred. In the ancient sea, multicellular organisms evolved that are now recognized as the world’s first animals. But what was the biology of the single-celled organism that made the transition? And how did it become the common progenitor of all animals?

As always this issue of ScienceMatters@Berkeley includes excellent articles. Other articles from this issue: Extreme Biomaterials and Machines That Learn.

Science and Engineering Innovation Legislation

Ensign, Lieberman Introduce Major Bipartisan Innovation Legislation – the press release from Senator Lieberman’s office indicates Science and Engineering Fellowships Legislation we mentioned previously, has been introduced:

Our legislation will significantly increase federal support for graduate fellowship and traineeship programs in science, math, and engineering fields in order to attract more students to these fields and to create a more competitive and innovative American workforce.
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China and India alone graduate 6.4 million from college each year and over 950,000 engineers. The United States turns out 1.3 million college graduates and 70,000 engineers.
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Expands existing educational programs in the physical sciences and engineering by increasing funding for NSF graduate research fellowship programs as well as Department of Defense science and engineering scholarship programs.

The recent report from Duke, explains that the figures on science and engineering graduates used are not accurate (see below). Still, this seems like a good idea. The press release also includes a list of organizations supporting the legislation including: Athena Alliance, Business Roundtable, Council on Competitiveness, Council of Scientific Society Presidents. From the section by section details included on the web site:

The Director of NSF will expand the agency’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program by 250 fellowships per year and extend the length of each fellowship to five years. Program by 250 fellowships per year and extend the length of each fellowship to five years. The bill authorizes $34 million/year for FY 2007- FY 2011 to support these additional fellowships. In addition, funding in the amount of $57 million/year is authorized for a similar expansion of the Integrated Graduate Education and Research Traineeship program by 250 new traineeships per year over five years.

The Tech Talent expansion program encourages American universities to increase the number of graduates with degrees in mathematics and science. The bill authorizes $335 million from Fiscal Year 2007 to Fiscal Year 2010 for continued support of this program.

This section extends the Department of Defense’s Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarships program through September 30, 2011, and authorizes $41.3 million/year over 5 years for the SMART program to support additional participants pursuing doctoral degrees and master’s degrees in relevant fields. This section also authorizes $45 million/year over 5 years to be appropriated to the Department of Defense through 2011 to support the expansion of the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship program to additional participants.