UK declares meat from clones safe
The UK Food Standards Agency will advise its ministers that products from cloned animals should be considered novel foods, but that they are safe to eat.
UK Food Standards Agency: 7 December 2010
Virus put to use as a battery
The “self-renewing” and “self-assembling” properties of the virus have been harnessed to build a small, powerful and highly efficient batteries and fuel cells.
University of Maryland: 7 December 2010
Image on home page: SEM image of Ni/TiO2 nanocomposite electrode (top), cross-section TEM image of an individual nanorod showing the core/shell nanostructure (Credit: University of Maryland, College Park)
Australians prefer science to sport
Jason Major
TechNyou
An Australian National University poll found that far from being a sports-obsessed nation, Australians prefer to hear about health issues, medical discoveries and the environment in their news bulletins.
When I was working at CSIRO communication we consistently found a similar attitude.
What I found more relevant to TechNyou was that the poll also found a large number of people feel poorly informed about science; that Australians remains divided and unsure about climate science, both in terms of what climate scientists think is happening with climate change, and its causes; and Australians are positive about the benefits of science, but believe that science is not solving the problems of poverty and hunger around the world.
Poorly informed, or informed poorly
Probably both, but I suspect there is a lot more going on here that warrants further investigation.
Either way, based on this finding, TechNyou, as an information service, should be overwhelmed with enquiries, but we are not.
OK, I am pretty confident that most Australians don’t know we exist, which will have a lot to do with it. This is a marketing issue we need to deal with. However, lot of anecdotal stuff has poured in over the last few years relevant to the need for information and the quality of the information people get or seek.
If people want more information it is all out there. They just need to spend a small amount of time hunting for it. But, I know myself there are lots of issues I think I should be more informed about: the war in Afghanistan, the issues surrounding Indigenous Australians….and so on. There are only so many hours in a day, consequently I rely on the 60 second stories on TV news and the occasional spare hour or two on the weekend when I get to read the paper. Obviously, my lifetime experiences that have helped shape my personal values have a powerful influence on how I interpret these news items, but my information from the media is scant, at best and barely adding to my ability to form an informed opinion.
I suspect this is a similar situation for most Australians. We are poorly informed, not because the information isn’t available, but because we don’t have time to get it, read it and digest it.
It is no wonder that Australian are divided on the issue of climate change, GM foods, some of the nanotechnologies and most likely many other emerging technologies that have yet to hit our radars.
As mentioned I am basing this on anecdotal evidence only and doubtless, there are loads of other reasons influencing why we are poorly informed – or informed poorly. I could blame the media, but the media works in a particular way to get you to read the story, so it can sell it story. That doesn’t mean it is inaccurate (though it can be), but in the case of science, and especially in the case of climate science and GM crops, it can often be present a misleading picture about scientific consensus. To get that proper understanding you need the time to read and discuss, which we don’t possess, at least not for anything outside our specific few interests.
Scientific solutions
As for science solving all the world hunger and poverty, few recent posts have mentioned this. Simply, science can only ever be one part of the solution. War, corruption, education, infrastructure and the host of social/ethical issues need to be sorted as well. Science does not operate in a vacuum. It is an integral part of society, indeed it underpins much of our daily lives, but it operates within the confines of human values. I guess the issue for us as members of society, is which human values will or should science operate under.
Image: PicNick productions
Nanotubes stays rubbery at more than 1000 degrees
Japanese scientists have made nanotubes with silicon-like rubbery characteristics that can be stretched and still spring back to its original shape over temperatures ranges of -196°C to 1000°C.
PhysOrg: 6 December 2010
Science Magazine Perspective
Release the food labelling guidelines
Jason Major
TechNyou
There is some angst over the government review of food labelling guidelines, which include GM foods.
The one argument that will cause most controversy is the call to have meat labelled as coming from sources that have been fed GM material. If this gets any serious airing then I suspect that farmers and feed manufacturers and any industry in the processing chain will have something to say as the cost of setting up a monitoring and tracing system for every ingredient fed to livestock that is or may be genetically modified will come at a cost, and someone has to pay for it.
Where we are now
Food Standards Australian New Zealand’s web site will outline what the labelling laws are at the moment.
And for anyone really into genetically modified livestock feed the Dept of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry has a series of publications and reports on the issue.
If you have any questions feel free to contact TechNyou
Taking the lottery out of gene therapy
New Scientist: 4 December 2010
Gene therapy should become a more exact science thanks to the discovery that it is possible to predict where a transferred gene is likely to be inserted into the recipient’s DNA.
Patents on biological material: opinion
More views on recent Senate report and private members bill relating to patents on genes, this time from perspective of two patent attorneys
Life Science Australia 29 November 2010
Nano gold, the animated version
By Jason Major
TechNyou
A freind of mine has just put together this animation about nano gold. I thought it did a pretty good job of explaining why nano gold is getting everyone excited and it does so with some simple (his budget wasn’t comparable to Disney or Pixar) yet effective animation. It is available on the Access Nano You Tube Channel
Home page image: Tich-Lam Nguyen, University of Melbourne Nanoscience Laboratory
Muscles contain the fountain of youth
Endurance exercises such as jogging can unlock muscle stem cells and make us look younger.
Tel Aviv University 1 December 2010
Will the future of food technology take place at a nano-level
FoodMagazine 1 December 2010
Although it has yet to revolutionise the foods we eat on a global scale, the potential of nanotechnology to deliver healthier, longer-lasting and better-tasting foods cannot be ignored.