VA-bloggen
Influensan – är mardrömmen snart här?
Idag läser vi att WHO skruvat upp varningsnivån för pandemi till en femma på den sexgradiga skalan. Burr… påminner om en otäck film jag såg för ett tag sedan. Nu sätts myndigheternas (och deras forskare/experters) kommunikation med/till allmänheten verkligen på prov. Hur undviker man att folk panikköper Tamiflu? Läs mer
Boom in Science journalism in Germany
A recent report from The Technical University in Dortmund shows that there has been a huge boom in science reporting in the mass media in Germany. And interestingly the reporting has not been limited to the Science sections.
”Teknik, nej tack!”
De flesta av dem som går ut nionde klass i år ser teknik som ett lågstatusämne. Men bättre lärare och fler laborationer skulle kunna höja intresset. Det är kontentan av en ny attitydundersökning som Teknikdelegationen låtit göra.
En forskare ska känna sig korkad
I fredags satt jag för att lyssna på ett keynote-föredrag under forskningsinstitutet SICS årliga ”open house”-dag. Den som introducerade talaren berättade att han nyligen läst en artikel om ”stupidity in research”, där det framgick att en forskare bör känna sig dum varje dag – annars gör han/hon troligen inte bra forskning. Jag googlade såklart raskt fram artikeln, som finns publicerad i juni 2008-numret av tidskriften Journal of Cell Science, i min iPhone (tack, du fantastiska lilla pryl!) och skummade den där och då.
Bio-engineering and the London Marathon
With the London marathon taking place this weekend, this Tuesday’s Daily Telegraph ran a full-page article entitled “What makes the perfect marathon runner?”
I read the science-related articles press with interest, as they generally feature subjects which (they hope) appeal to the wider public. In this quite extensive article, the journalist Sanjida O´Connell manages to cover several topics guaranteed to interest the reader:
1) The limits of the human body: are we running as fast as we can? (answer: nearly)
2) Is it all in our genes or can we all run that fast if we just train a bit harder? (answer: relax – its mainly in the genes) and
3) Could we bioengineer a perfect marathon runner? The surprising answer here is yes, probably! But it would not be a good idea.
The perfect marathon runner really could (in theory at least) be bio-engineered through a technique called gene doping. This technique involves injecting into the body a harmless virus that carries a performance-enhancing gene. This new gene would override genes in the appropriate cells, leading to enhanced athletic performance.
This technique is already being used to develop treatments for conditions such as muscular dystrophy, and whereas few people would question whether this was a Good Thing, many may take issue with gene doping to win races. There are many serious health-related risks, as well as the obvious questions about whether this is an acceptable way to enhance sporting prowess. (Probably not, I would have thought).
But this story is a great example of how to connect every day stories with science. Read the article at: –