Copper Doorknobs and Faucets Kill 95% of Superbugs

Copper door handles and taps kill 95% of superbugs in hospitals

A study found that copper fittings rapidly killed bugs on hospital wards, succeeding where other infection control measures failed.
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It is thought the metal ‘suffocates’ germs, preventing them breathing. It may also stop them from feeding and destroy their DNA. Lab tests show that the metal kills off the deadly MRSA and C difficile superbugs. It also kills other dangerous germs, including the flu virus and the E coli food poisoning bug.
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Researcher Professor Peter Lambert, of Aston University, Birmingham, said: ‘The numbers decreased always on copper but not on the steel surfaces.’
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The healing power of copper has been recognised for thousands of years. More than 4,000 years ago, the Egyptians used it to sterilise wounds and drinking water and the Aztecs treated skin conditions with the metal. The ancient Greeks also knew of its benefits. Hippocrates, sometimes called ‘the father of medicine’, noted that it could be used to treat leg ulcers.

NFL Stars no Match for Bacteria

NFL stars no match for bacteria

The problem came to the forefront last week with Cleveland Browns player Kellen Winslow, who recently had his second staph infection. He is reportedly the sixth player to acquire staph among the Browns in five years.
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Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts was revealed to have a staph infection, the Indianapolis Star reported Friday. University of North Carolina-Asheville fans also recently learned that Kenny George, the 7-foot-7 center on the basketball team, had a staph infection complication that led to part of his foot being amputated. It’s unclear how these high-profile athletes acquired their infections, but locker rooms have been found to habor staph bacteria in previous outbreaks.
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A study on the St. Louis Rams published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2003 found that during the 2003 football season, there were eight MRSA infections among five of the 58 Rams players.

Vampire Moth Discovered

Entomologist Jennifer Zaspel at the University of Florida in Gainesville said the discovery suggests the moth population could be on an “evolutionary trajectory” away from other C. thalictri populations.

In January, she will compare the Russian population’s DNA to that of other populations and other species to confirm her suspicions. “Based on geography, based on behavior, and based on a phenotypic variation we saw in the wing pattern, we can speculate that this represents something different, something new,” Zaspel said.
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Only male moths exhibit blood feeding, she noted, raising the possibility that as in some species of butterflies and other moths, the Russian moths do it to pass on salt to females during copulation.

“There is no evidence it prolongs the life of the male, or anything like that,” she said. “So we suspect that it is probably going to the female.” The sexual gift, she said, would provide a nutritional boost to young larvae that feed on leaf-rich, but sodium-poor, diets.

Dean Kamen: Stirling Engines

Dean Kamen: part man, part machine

Conceived in Scotland almost 200 years ago, the Stirling [engine] is a marvel of thermo-dynamics that could help to replace the internal combustion engine – in theory it can turn any source of heat into electricity, in silence and with 100 per cent efficiency. But corporations including Phillips, Ford and Nasa have devoted decades of research, and millions of dollars, to developing the engine, and all retired defeated, having failed to find a way of turning the theoretical principles of the engine into a workable everyday application. Kamen, nevertheless, has spent the past 10 years and, he estimates, up to $40 million working on the problem.

Now he and his engineers have built and tested a range of Stirling engines suitable for mass production that can be run on anything from jet fuel to cow dung. The one in the boot of the small blue car is designed to extend its range and constantly recharge its batteries to make a new kind of hybrid vehicle: one fit for the roads of the 21st century. A Stirling-electric hybrid, Kamen tells me, can travel farther and more efficiently than conventional electric cars; it generates enough power to run energy-hungry devices such as heaters and defrosters that are essential for drivers who, unlike those he calls the ‘tofu heads’ of California, must cope with a cold climate; and even using petrol, the engine runs far cleaner than petrol-electric hybrids such as Toyota’s Prius.

However, Kamen confesses, his new creation isn’t quite finished yet: ‘The Stirling engine’s not hooked up. Which really pisses me off.’

But it could work?

‘It will work,’ he says. ‘Trust me.’

Common Cold Alters the Activity of Genes

Scientists Come Closer to Unlocking Secrets of Common Cold

Canadian and U.S. researchers have found that the human rhinovirus, long blamed for causing the common cold, doesn’t actually cause those annoying sniffles, sneezes, and coughs.

Instead, the ubiquitous virus alters the activity of genes in the body, which then results in the misery that afflicts most people every year or so, according to a study in the first November issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
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Human rhinovirus (HRV) causes some 30 percent to 50 percent of common colds and can also worsen more serious conditions, such as asthma.
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A “microarray analysis” of DNA showed no genetic changes eight hours after infection. But, after two days, about 6,500 genes had been affected, either with heightened activity or dampened activity.

The genes most affected by the presence of the virus were ones that make antiviral proteins and pro-inflammatory chemicals that contribute to airway inflammation, the researchers said.

Read: Learning How Viruses Evade the Immune System – Gene Carnival – Black Raspberries Alter Hundreds of Genes Slowing Cancer – Study Finds No Measurable Benefit to Flu Shots

Webcast: Engineering Education in the 21st Century

National Academy of Engineering President, William A. Wulf, discusses the future of engineering education. Very good quick overview (skip to 1m 45s point for start of the speech) – see links below for additional resources. From the speech:

“the practices of engineering has changed enormously in the last 20 years and engineering education has changed hardly at all.”
“It is a disgrace: about half the students who start in engineering do not finish in engineering… we are not weeding out the poor students we are turning off half the students with the way that we teach”
“engineering schools generally have not provided courses for the general liberal arts students but they must.”

view the rest of the talk

Science, Engineering and National Development in Nigeria

Science and national development

In spite of urbanization, Nigeria remains essentially an agricultural country, since about 80 percent ‘of our population continues to engage in agriculture.
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The application of science and technology has made it possible to carry out agricultural activities in areas hitherto considered impossible. A good example is the state of Israel, which has successfully engaged in agriculture in the desert through intelligent application of irrigation and information technology. Israel has literally made the desert bloom.

With increased crop yields, a new problem arises, namely, storage and retardation of spoilage. Again, science and technology come to the rescue. Modem storage silos designs and chemical fumigation are available to facilitate long term storage without spoilage.
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We have illustrated and drawn a correlation between advances in science and national economic development. Fortunately this country is endowed with brilliant men and women who have distinguished themselves in the physical, biological and medical sciences, engineering and technology. The country is also rich in natural resources; therefore, we have no reason to remain underdeveloped if only we apply suitable policies to harness the available talents to achieve meaningful and sustained development. We can borrow a leaf from the Asian tigers to seek our own niches for focused advancement. This is the challenge for our leaders in all tiers of government.

As I have said numerous times the development and application of science, engineering and technology solutions is an important factor to economic success.

Friday Fun: Tortoise and the Cat

Once again the tortoise show persistence can pay off:

a fierce little tortoise that would not allow a cat to invade what it perceived to be its territory. Instead, it actively sets about attacking and ultimately expelling the feline, which at first cannot believe the sheer audacity of this small but spirited creature.
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Ever-encroaching urbanisation is just one of the onslaughts natural spaces around the world are facing. The killer tortoise of Port Elizabeth, South Africa as this little fellow has become known is a small but powerful symbol that some things are worth fighting for.

NIH Punished Scientist Who Called for Open Records

NIH Punished Scientist Who Had Called for Open Records

The National Institutes of Health and some leading universities, such as Harvard and Stanford, have suffered black eyes this year because of revelations that researchers with federal grants failed to disclose secret payments that they took from pharmaceutical companies.

The NIH was warned about the dangers of the problem years ago by one of its own scientists, Ned Feder, who wrote letters to several publications suggesting that the agency require its grantees to publicly disclose money they earn from medical companies. Instead of heeding Dr. Feder’s advice, the agency punished him
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Dr. Feder went on to suggest that “the NIH could require grantees to make public disclosures of their paid arrangements with pharmaceutical, investment, and other companies, as well as their ownership of stock and stock options, as a condition of having their medical research funded by the government.”

The agency formally reprimanded Dr. Feder for writing to Nature and identifying himself in the letter as an employee of the NIH. Dr. Feder protested the reprimand, and it was subsequently removed, without explanation.
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“The NIH has shown no interest in reforming its policies unless they’re forced to do it,” said Dr. Feder, who is now staff scientist at the Project on Government Oversight.

Wind Turbine Manufacturing in Colorado

Vestas picks Pueblo for plant

Danish wind turbine manufacture Vestas Wind Systems has chosen Pueblo for what it has said is a nearly $240 million manufacturing plant to build the steel towers needed to hold wind turbines aloft, state officials said Friday.
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Two weeks ago, on Aug. 15, Gov. Ritter announced that Vestas was building two new manufacturing plants in Brighton. The wind-blade production plant and nacelle assembly factory represent a $290 million capital investment and will bring 1,350 new jobs to Colorado.

Just months before that, in March, the company opened Vestas Blades America Inc., a $60 million manufacturing plant in Windsor, north of Denver, employing about 464 people to build blades for wind turbines. Before that plant was even finished, the company announced in November 2007 that it would increase the plant 50 percent in size, production and employee numbers.

This is a reminder that manufacturing output continues to grow in the USA. In June they received an order for 500 MW in the USA. In October Vestas has received orders for 102 MW of turbines from Italy and 99 MW of turbines from Spain.