This week in European sciences -- week 29|2004
 

Bold Governments and Lots of Condoms

The 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok (Thailand) gives hopes and demands for combatting the infection. According to the Economist (July 16, 2004) propering Thailand as well as impoverished neighbor Cambodia have some success to show. "The chief strategies in both countries have been to discourage men from visiting prostitutes, and to persuade those who do to use condoms (mostly by encouraging the women to insist)", notes the Economist. Promoting condoms let to a decrease of infections by an estimated factor of ten. According to mathematical modelling of the epidemic a suggested level of 60 percent or higher of paid-for sexual intercourses covered by a condom "is enough to stop an early-phase epidemic in its tracks."
In an additional background piece the Economist gives a brief of the conference (July 16, 2004) and analyses in particulare the intriguing role of the U.S. in the case: the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) brings in the biggest share of money - 10 billion U.S. dollars over five years - but favours programmes that focus on sexual abstinence (by at least 1/3 of the prevention money). "Practise has shown that such an appoach does not work", states the Economist.

AIDS research: U.S. $8 - Germany $0.07

It will take at least 10 to 15 years to provide a vaccine against the HIV infection, reports FAZ from the conference in Bangkok (July 15, 2004). Around 30 drug 'candidates' are under investigation. Each of them has to master three clinical phases over several years. One attempt, for instance, favours the implementation of three genes of the HIV 1 sub-type (which is most common in Europe and the U.S.) into another, non-AIDS virus. This virus may now produce HIV proteins to which the human body, hopefully, reacts with a respons of the immune system. Scientists hope that three or four of the 30 candidates will work. Some have already reached the 2nd phase of clinical trials. The main problem developing and using a vaccine is that in different parts of the world other sub-types of HIV show up that differ immunologically. Comparing the amount of money spent for research in AIDS, a German scientist calculates: U.S. 8 dollars per head, Germany 7 cent.
 

The Economist
July 16, 2004
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
July 15, 2004

UK Comes Second after U.S. in Science

According to a report in the Guardian (July 15, 2004) the UK takes the lead in European science. The UK government's chief science advisor, Sir David King, revealed a study which valued the amount of scientific research publications and citation rates. First place goes to the U.S. with a 35 percent share in publications from 1997 to 2001. UK follows with 9.4%, follow-ups are Japan (9.3%), Germany (8.8%), France (6.4%), Canada (4.6%) and Italy (4.1%). But look out for the (pre-expanded 15-member) EU: summed all up they made up 37.1%. "Paradoxically, Britain's strong position was the result of heavy cutbacks in public spending on research between 1980 and 1995," King is quoted.

DNA Amplification While You Wait

At present, DNA analysis via the Nobel prize honoured PCR technique (PCR = polymerase chain reaction) takes several hours to complete. David Adam, science correspondent with the Guardian (July 15, 2005) reports on how researchers develop some ready-to-go DNA amplification kit that may bring results in a quarter of an hour - Adams compares it with the conveniance of a home pregnancy test. The new techniques might make it out of the lab into the real world in a couple of years and are used for diagnosis of, for instance, HIV or other viral or bacterial infections.
 

The Guardian
July 15, 2004

Newton Missed the World of Strings

Experimentalists in physics find it hard to check predictions of string theory due to the very small distances in which strings shall exist and the huge amount of energy to probe matter on that level. Anyway, string theory dreams in ten or eleven dimensions, most of them curled down unmeasurably. Veronica Winkler writes in NZZ (July 15, 2004) that one measurable effect of string theory might be a curled extra dimension altering Newton's law of gravity at a range of about a millimeter. Scientists now reassessed an experiment (meant to study something different) and concluded that Newton's Law is corrrect from the millimeter range till nanometers. No string found.
 

Neue Zürcher Zeitung
July 15, 2004

Neutrinos Change Identity

When neutrinos - produced by the sun or in the outer atmosphere of our planet - cross the earth by the billions per second rather a few will interact with matter. Hence, their behaviour is very difficult to track down, writes Manfred Lindinger in FAZ (July 14, 2004). First experimental results supported the assumtion that neutrinos possess a small mass which is in contradiction to the physicists' standard model of particles. Two new experiments underline the findings that neutrinos - on their way through univers - oscillate between the different members of their family (myon, electron, tau). And this oscillation is only possible when they have a mass. One experiment studies the oscillating neutrinos coming from the outer atmosphere, the other looks for those emitted by a particle accelerator on earth.

Craig Venter en tour
The genome-sequencing champion Craig Venter is now sailing the Caribbean and Pacific to seek for microbes with not yet discovered genes (FAZ, July 14, 2004). On the ship Sorcerer II his team probes every 200 miles the sea water and filters out microbes. Especially, Venter heads for bacteria and their genes that will have an impact on energy utilisation and on environment. For instance, organisms that produce hydrogen or that eat dangerous waste material away.
http://www.sorcerer2expedition.org/main.htm

Fading Energy

German energy policy of the future is discussed only in a small circle of experts out of several ministries. The public is not meant to take part, reports Christian Schwägerl in FAZ (July 14, 2004). But the issue is more relevant as anything else: it touches innovation and prosperity in the economic sector, also climate issues, biodiversity and conflicts on the use of the dwindling energy reserves among countries. Even more, the German energy budget in 2004 (385 million euros) is 15 million euros lower than 1998. Nevertheless, there's some obvious confusion in the coalition of Greens and Social Democrats how to fund fusion research, renewable energy technolgies and also research on fossil fuel usage. In the year 2020 Germany is supposed to produce 20 percent of its energy by renewables. Thus, some 80 percent are still fossil fuels - and doesn't this fact call for more research into low-consumption power generation, cars, heating systems?
 

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
July 14, 2004

Main Argument for Climate Change under Fire

The changes in temperatures and rainfall, the retreat of ice off the glaciers and pole caps are prominent indicators of climate change - and not at all questionable. Anyway, as Christopher Schrader reports in Süddeutsche Zeitung (July 13, 2004) the main argument for climate change (even in the IPCC report) is under fire. In 1998 three scientists figured out the temperature curve from the year 1000 until today by collecting all accessible data. The result: the last decade has been the warmest in the last thousand years. Now, critics show that there are a couple of flaws in the assessment. But as Schrader points out, the overall conclusions of the so-called MBH98 paper are confirmed by many other studies. Scientists acknowledge the uncovered flaws and related discussions as normal for scientific achievements. "If we had to draw a conclusion, than that climate change is faster than previously thought," Hartmut Graßl, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, is quoted.
 

Süddeutsche Zeitung
July 13, 2004

Will Compasses Point South, Soon?

Many aspects of nature and our society rely on the earth's magnetic field and its steadiness, writes William J. Broad in the NY Times (July 13, 2004). But the protecting field changes slightly, the north pole wanders across the Arctic direction Siberia. It'll fade out, vanish mostly and flip to reappear on the south. Hence, when will our compasses point to the south? "Like many of the earth's invisible rhythms, the field reversals are typically slow, taking anywhere from 5000 to 7000 years to complete," writes Broad. Many animals rely on the magnetic field for navigation: loggerhead turtels, pigeons, salmon, whales, honeybees, frogs, some rats, to name a few. Anyway, scientist didn't managed a consensus on whether alterations or even a decrease in the field might have doomed creatures in the earth's history. Most biologists think that due to the very slow reversal nature would learn to adapt. Speeding particles from the solar wind that penetrate deeper into the atmosphere might indeed knock out power grids and harm satellites. (Impressive is also the map showing the moving north pole from 1600 to 2004.)
 

New York Times
July 13, 2004

Human Skin Connects Devices

People made jokes after noting that Microsoft patented the human body as a computer bus to exchange data. Will the company now also rule our bodies? So did Der Spiegel and Gerald Traufetter reports in an article (July 12, 2004) that a small computer company in Bavaria, Germany, is already doing it. Peter Rosenback, head of Ident Technology, says, he is already in discussions with car and chip makers, for instance, to use the idea to unlock a car's door by just touching it. The ID card is in the drivers jacket, and the code is transported via the skin.
 

Der Spiegel
July 12, 2004

"To Get On With the Nanotech Debate"

"The important thing is to get on with the sensible debate that should accompany the introduction of such technologies which work at the level of the basic building blocks of life itself," writes Prince Charles in an opinion piece in the Independent on Sunday. (July 11, 2004). One year ago he addressed a first time the public with his fears on nanotechnology and a so-called grey goo scenario which means that tiny, self-replicating nanobots will destroy our habitable world. This first argument covered largely in the media provoked the goverment to commission a report on nanotech with the Royal Society (the British academy of science). The report is scheduled to be published in a couple of weeks and promptly the Royal Society welcomed Prince Charles partly revoking his claims. "So, for the record, I have never used that expression and I do not believe that self-replicating robots, smaller than viruses, will one day multiply uncontrollably and devour our planet", Prince Charles writes. Nanotech will provide science and commercialisation huge options. But, "it is important to ask how we will ensure that risk assessment keeps pace with commercial development. This is clearly a very fast-moving area of science, involving many disciplines, yet if we look at the EU's research programme for nanotechnology, only an estimated 5 per cent of total funding is being spent on examining the environmental, social and ethical dimensions of these technologies. That certainly doesn't inspire confidence." After all, Prince Charles asks which group (by branch, country, profession) will benefit from the emerging technology and "who will lose from that process, and will it widen the existing disparities between rich and poor nations?"
In addition, Geoffrey Lean, the environmental correspondent of The Independent gives a personal account on a meeting with Prince Charles and describes how the Prince got in touch with nanotech, who influenced him and what goals might spring off - possibly to campaign against the technology.
 

The Independent on Sunday
July 11, 2004

Software Prevents Printing Money on Your Desktop

As desktop publishing becomes a daily routine to anybody of us and handling Photoshop isn't a mystery anymore, bank officials get concerned how to enhance the security features of bank notes, reports Michael Lang in Süddeutsche Zeitung (July 8, 2004). They consider a new approach in preventing people from low-level desktop publishing of bogus money. In principle, everybody could reprint his own (false) money with a scanner, PC and a colour printer. Hence, bank managers in the national central banks and the European Central Bank (ECB) enforce legislation to incorporate into image processing software, like Photoshop, a tiny binary code that prevents manipulating note images. 'Binary code' means that you cannot see what the plug-in is doing (for which you need the source code) and how the protection mechanism works. Some people are concerned of the spyware on board the PC, others say that it's good to prevent counterfeiting that way, but computer geeks would easily circumvent the obstacles.
 

Süddeutsche Zeitung
July 8, 2004

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