Potential Cure for HIV: An Enzyme That Cuts the Virus Right out of the Cell

German scientists have engineered an enzyme that cuts HIV DNA out of infected cells. It's a new approach that would eliminate the virus rather than suppressing it  like current treatments do.

The research is in the early stages -- it hasn't even been tested in animals yet. But it could be a revolutionary approach for the 40 million people worldwide infected with HIV.

Apparently HIV is good at avoiding detection inside a cell, so a key part of the finding, published today in Science, is that the enzyme that can sniff out the virus.

This ability to recognize HIV's DNA might one day help overcome one of the biggest obstacles to finding a cure: the ability of the HIV virus to avoid detection by reverting to a resting state within infected cells which then cease to produce the virus for months or even years.

Potential Cure for HIV Discovered [AFP]

Venter Compares Species Switching Project to Changing Mac to PC

"This is the equivalent of changing a Macintosh computer to a PC by inserting a new piece of software," maverick biologist Craig Venter told the Los Angeles Times. An unfortunate choice of words, or a prescient warning? My partner in WS Brandon said it best:

Turning a Mac into a PC? A stable, safe machine into a buggy, easily hacked security threat? Calls to mind a world of synthetic bacteria that could one day quit gobbling CO2 and start spewing out erectile dysfunction ads. Somebody from Venter's PR team needs to have a talk with the old boy...

The synthetic life project researchers hope to one day design a simple genome that can be added to a bacteria, which would in turn be programed to consume carbon dioxide or produce cheap, clean energy. Most of the news coverage praised the project, but the Wall Street Journal focuses partly on the potential of abusing the technology:

In the Creation Museum, Enlightenment Is the Fall

The Creation Museum, built in Petersburg, Kentucky to celebrate young-earth creationism -- the idea that the earth is about 6,000 years old -- is expected to draw over 250,000 visitors this year.

We mentioned the museum before, when the New York Times sent Edward Rothstein there. Rothstein treated it as a freakish but oddly interesting curiosity, "an alternate world that has its fascinations, even for a skeptic wary of the effect of so many unanswered assertions."

The New Yorker's George Packer finds something far more sinister: a full assault on the Enlightenment, one which portrays our rise from the Dark Ages as a form of falling.

Swapping Genomes Switches Bacterial Species

Scientists led by J. Craig Venter turned one species of bacteria into another by replacing its DNA with a whole new set of genetic instructions.

The research is being viewed as a major step in the burgeoning field of synthetic biology, in which scientists custom-build cellular components -- and, it is someday hoped, a whole new organism -- from scratch.

Do Stem Cells Grown From Unfertilized Eggs Have Souls?

A team of scientists from Maryland and Moscow say they'e used unfertilized eggs to produce stem cells -- a potentially major early step in bringing personalized stem cell therapies to women.

The researchers used chemicals to coax the eggs, donated by women conceiving through in-vitro fertilization, into dividing. They removed the stem cells a few days later, just as they would from a fertilized embryo. Then they guided the harvested cells into forming new stem cells, while the leftover cells were discarded.

Time will tell whether this latest method works. Meanwhile, the findings will enter the contentious realm of stem cell politics. In short: is the procedure described above morally acceptable? Is it a form of murder?

That's what Tad Pacholczyk of the National Catholic Bioethics Center told the Associated Press:

"My view is that if these grow as organized embryos for the first few days and then arrest, they may just be very short-lived human beings," he said.

"One is very possibly dealing with a defective human being. And at a minimum, the benefit of the doubt should be given here, and these embryos should not be created for the purposes of destroying them."

Scientists Find Earliest Ancestor of Modern Housecats

Scientists have traced the roots of housecats not to Egypt but to wild Middle Eastern felines that interbred 150,000 years ago, producing the Felis sylvestris lybica.

The breed, whose name itself captures the sensuously ethereal essence of cathood, survives today in wild cats living in the Middle East, which have mitochondrial DNA identical to our feline friends.

Domestication of the cat -- which many cat "owners" would argue is more a matter of appearance than actuality -- began 10,000 years ago, as wild cats hunted rodents amidst the harvests of the first Fertile Crescent farmers.

Elephants Talk Long-Distance Through Their Toes

The toes of elephants are so sophisticated that the animals can hear low-frequency rumblings trumpeted by other elephants miles away, say Stanford University researchers.

The "listening" elephant catches the vibrations with its toes, behind which lie pads of acoustically sensitive fat. Similar tissue is in the heels of the elephant's feet and in its trunk, which augment the toe sensors. The vibrations speed along bones to the elephant's middle ear. They are processed in the auditory cortex area of the brain, just like regular sound.

The messages vibrating through the ground appear to be a rich form of pachyderm communication, used to "raise long-distance alarms, offer advice, advertise love yearnings, or just swap greetings." Elephants can also distinguish between the rumbles of friends and strangers.

Elephants' toes get the message, study finds [Boston Globe]

Image: Mark Lee

Stone Age Diet May Be Good for Diabetics

Swedish scientists say that people with diabetes are better able to metabolize carbohydrates when eating a pre-agricultural diet.

The researchers, having observed that diabetes rates are low among indigenous inhabitants of South Pacific islands where modern agrarian cuisine is unavailable, split 29 people with type 2 diabetes into two groups. The first followed a regimen high in lean meat, fish, fruit, vegetables and nuts. The second adhered to a Mediterranean diet of whole-grain cereals, low-fat dairy poducts, fruits and vegetables.

After three months, the Paleolithic group displayed a 26 percent improvement in glucose tolerance, compared to a 7 percent improvement in the Mediterranean dieters. In other words, people in the former group were less prone to the dangerous blood sugar spikes that characterize diabetes.

Related Wired stories here and here.

Original Human 'Stone Age' Diet Is Good For People With Diabetes, Study Finds [press release]

Senators Push for Pharmaceutical Industry Gift Registry

Two US Senators say they will support legislation to create a record of gifts given to doctors by makers of drugs and medical devices.

The announcement by Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, and Herb Kohl, D-Wisconsin, came during a Congressional hearing on drug industry gifts. Activists and public health experts say that the $19 billion stream of drug samples, free meals and speaking fees compromises the integrity of caregivers.

Nanosurface [Repels/Attracts] [Oil/Water/Dirt] (and Conducts Electricity Too)

Imagine something that looks like a sheet of glass, but if you could get really close... okay, electron microscope-close, you'd see a carpet of tiny fibers.

This newly developed nanomaterial can be made to repel or attract water, oil and dirt, and can even conduct electricity. The potential applications are mind-boggling.

The developed of these fibers was announced by Ohio State University researchers today, with an paper in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

By exposing the fibers to different chemicals during their fabrication, the researchers were able to give them different properties. In one example, they could make the fibers repel water, and in another situation, attract it.  

Microwave Zaps Plastic Back Into Oil

Using a tweaked-out industrial-strength microwave oven, the Global Resource Company has developed a technique that turns plastic into oil and gas.

Key to the process is the oven, known as the Hawk-10, which emits 1200 different microwave frequencies. When hit with the right wavelength, hydrocarbon molecules that make up the plastic are broken down.

Beyond providing fuel and cleaning up landfill-clogging waste, the process also makes recycling easier.

Chemicals that Keep Cells from Killing Themselves

Many injuries and diseases cause healthy cells to kill themselves en masse. A group of chemists, radiologists, and anesthesiologists at Washington University in Saint Louis believe they have a lead on how to stop unwanted cell suicide -- or at least study it.

It is actually quite natural for our cells to destroy themselves. Cell death, known by scientists as apoptosis, plays a surprising role in growth. We would have webbing between our fingers if the cells there had not been programmed to destroy themselves at the proper time during our development in the womb. When operating normally, cell suicide also serves as a safeguard against cancer. Normal cells with irreparable DNA damage will destroy themselves before becoming malignant.

But when someone has a heart attack or a stroke, cells in the oxygen-deprived tissue kill themselves -- a process called apoptosis. A drug that can halt unwanted apoptosis if used quickly could prevent a lot of damage.

Calcium From Food Better Than Calcium From Supplements

Eating foods containing calcium provides better protection against osteoporosis than taking calcium supplements, say researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine.

The researchers found that women who get their calcium from food have stronger bones than women who take calcium pills, even though the latter group had higher average calcium levels.

The study, based on 183 postmenopausal women, isn't definitive, but it's possible that dietary calcium is easier for bodies to absorb. That could explain the higher calcium levels and weaker bones in women taking supplements.

Calcium from food seems most effective [Associated Press]

Image: Lepacifique

Bald Eagle No Longer Endangered

The American Bald Eagle, which two generations ago was nearly extinct in the lower 48 states, is thriving once again and will be taken off the endangered species list.

The recovery, say conservationists, shows that the Endangered Species Act -- under attack from industry and the Bust administration -- can work.

Government biologists have documented nearly 10,000 nesting pairs of bald eagles, including at least one pair in each of the 48 contiguous states. This compares to only 417 such pairs in 1963 when the bird was on the verge of disappearing everywhere in the country except for Alaska.

US Bald Eagle Population Makes Recovery [ABC News]

Image: Jon

For Newborns, Mom's Antidepressants Less Risky Than Mom's Depression

Children born to mothers who take antidepressant drugs during the early stages of pregnancy have an increased risk of several rare birth defects, say two studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Scientists, however, caution that the defects are so rare that the drugs' risks are outweighed by the risks of maternal depression.

Two research groups -- one from the CDC, the other from Boston University and funded partly by GlaxoSmithKline -- analyzed the records of 20,000 newborns with birth defects and 10,000 without them.

New Way to Catch Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is a tricky disease to find and diagnose. The first signs can be problems with vision, balance, or even swallowing. The symptoms come and go in the beginning, and it's only in retrospect that the puzzle adds up to a diagnosis of MS. Since people are using their brains at the time they contract the condition, new diagnosis methods need to be developed.

The disease is so prevalent, chances are you know someone suffering from it right now. It affects the neurons in the brain that transmit information, slowly dissolving the myelin sheath that surrounds these neurons. This disrupts the neural pathways and leads to the wide range of symptoms.

Neutron Stars Join the Jet Set

Black holes create some of the most spectacular environments in the Universe. One major feature is the jets of material blasting out particles at relativistic velocities. Astronomers used to think these jets were only possible from black holes.

Well, step aside black holes, neutron stars apparently share this feature too.

In case you haven't been keeping up with your astrophysics, a neutron star is the leftover remnant when a massive star dies in a supernova. Without any outward light pressure from nuclear fusion, gravity collapses the star down so tightly that the protons and electrons are mashed together into neutrons. If the star gets even bigger, it turns into a black hole.

More on carbon fiber wings and planes

After my post yesterday on the carbon-fiber wings on Boeing's new 787 jet, reader Craig Steffen pinged to alert me to a mistake I made. He points out that while the 787 is certainly an ambitious deployment of carbon-fiber composite, it ain't the first commercial attempt. That honor seems to go to the Beech Starship. "Even though only 53 were ever made, [it] was certainly a production aircraft," Craig writes. "It was made entirely, wings and all, of carbon fiber."

Here's a picture of a Starship currently still in service, above an aircraft that should be familiar to Wired readers:
That's SpaceShipOne, of course, riding on the belly of the White Knight. SSO's the first private rocket to get to space, winner of the Ansari X-prize in 2004. But you already knew that. And how are these craft related? Well, the canards and the pusher-propellers on the Starship should have given this away: Both were designed by legendary aerospace engineer Burt Rutan. That Starship design is 15 years old or so, and it's still one of the most futuristic, beautiful things in the air.

And from the "duh!" file: Rutan's company is called Scaled Composites, and the "composites" part refers to carbon-fiber.

Hey, also: I have a call in to Boeing to find out what they're thinking about testing carbon-fiber wings and whether they see any health concerns if the composite breaks. as some of you commented upon in that last post. Seems to me that, as commenter Ravi pointed out, the concerns are over fullerenes—carbon nanotubes—not the fibers in composite materials, but I'll post again when I hear back.

Image: Robert Scherer's Starship Page

UPDATE 6/27/07 5:25 PM: Auuggghh. Now Craig Steffen writes to tell me that maybe the Starship wasn't actually carbon fiber but fiberglass. Any other experts out there want to weigh in?

Enzyme Blocking Treats Fragile X in Mice

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have successfully treated mice suffering from fragile X syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes attention deficits, learning difficulties and cognitive retardation. 

The scientists accomplished this by blocking production of PAK, an enzyme that regulates neuron formation. With the enzyme blocked, brain cells that are typically stunted in people with fragile X grew whole and strong, and fragile X symptoms in the mice were reduced.

The procedure worked even after the mice had already developed the disorder, suggesting that - if it can be applied to people -- therapies could be used to reverse the condition in people.

Scientists Reverse Mental Retardation in Mice [Scientific American]

Fujifilm Turns Landfill Gas Into Energy

By using methane gas emitted by a nearby landfill to run two of four boilers at a Fujifilm plant in Greenwood, South Carolina, the company expects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those produced by 17,000 cars per year.

The move is a boon not only for the atmosphere but for the town of Greenwood, which had been ordered by the EPA to cut back landfill emissions of methane, which is twenty times more damaging to the ozone layer than carbon dioxide.

The project is part of Fuji's plan to cut its CO2 emissions by 20% within the next seven years.

Related Wired coverage here, here and here.

Fujifilm Reduces its Greenhouse Gas Emissions with Methane Reclamation Program [press release]