This week in European sciences -- week 40
 

Overview
La Repubblica reports on a new foundation aimed at bringing Italy to the forefront of international research. Die Zeit starts a series of articles covering "Life in Germany in the 21st century". This week: How we are born. In La Repubblica, Carlo Rubbia philosophizes about Sunday's blackout and power production in the future. Der Spiegel accuses car electronics of causing an increasing number of breakdowns. Dagens Nyheter on Swedish governmental funding. Svenska Dagbladet on the Swedish and their forests. In addition: NY Times reports on a new study questioning hormone replacement to prevent osteoporosis. Also NY Times welcomes disclosure of financial ties to industry now required by medical journals. The Washington Post writes that the US prepare for a possible new SARS outbreak this winter.
 

New funds for Italian research

Italy is afraid it might lag behind other nations in scientific progress, writes Emilio Piervincenzi in La Repubblica (October 1, 2003). The "Umberto Veronesi Foundation", officially presented earlier this week, is supposed to counteract Italy's increasing brain drain and pave the way for more scientific awareness and a new scientific culture. Veronesi, a prominent cancer researcher, pointed out that an event such as the huge blackout that paralyzed the entire nation last Sunday should be enough to make one realize that science and its achievements are taken too much for granted. The foundation also wants to further research on the human genome and cancer research, especially in developing countries where the incidence of tumors is expected to increase alarmingly in the near future.
 

What's life?

Everyone has already wondered about "What's life?". And everyone did - or did not - find his personal answer. The German weekly Die Zeit (October 1, 2003) puts that question in a larger context. In 29 issues starting this week different editors deal with "Life in Germany in the 21st century". This week, the science resort begins: How we are born, the scientific and medical possibilities of fertilization and birth. A good overview of the "state of the art" from Martin Spiewak.
Furthermore, Christoph Drösser is discussing the new idea to solve the paradox of time-machines with the tools of string theory. Nothing really new, but well explained.
And Martin Rees, the famous astronomer foresees the apocalypse in an interview with Max Rauner - but has no idea what can be done to prevent it.
 

Study Recommends Not Using Hormone Therapy for Bone Loss

A new study is speaking out against hormone replacement therapy as recommended by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because the risks of heart disease, breast cancer, strokes and blood clots in the lungs outweigh the benefits. Hormone replacement therapy is used to prevent osteoporosis or bone-loss. On Oct. 7, FDA officials will meet with researchers to discuss the data on osteoporosis Denise Grady reports in The New York Times (October 1, 2003). Discussions will specifically target the use of Prempro, "the combined hormone therapy of estrogen and progestin, a form of progesterone," Grady writes. Prempro is also used to treat hot flashes, night sweats and vaginal discomfort ­ symptoms of menopause. "Even among women at high risk of fracture, there was no added benefit," Dr. Jane Cauley, professor of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburg, said.

Health Agency Taking Steps To Speed Results of Research

U.S. lawmakers are pushing biomedical research to bring results to patients sooner. Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health, presented a master plan, which lays out priorities for grant recipients in specific fields, Robert Pear reports in The New York Times (October 1, 2003). According to Zerhouni the 28 new initiatives would "transform the way we conduct research." The National Institutes of Health plans to prioritize and coordinate its work more efficiently. The Institutes are known for its decentralized management style. In the past five years, its budget has doubled. Most of the $27.3 billion are awarded to 212,000 researchers at 2,800 institutions throughout the country. Mary Woolley, president of Research America, a non-profit organization promoting health research, said the changes might allow more people to participate in clinical trials sooner. One goal is to get away from scientific projects with one lead researcher to more teamwork "conducted by interdisciplinary groups of molecular biologists, chemists, physicists, mathematicians, behavioral scientists, pharmacologists and epidemiologists," Pear writes. Dr. Zerhouni also wants to create "a public collection of hundreds of thousands of chemical compounds that could be tested by scientists with advanced technology now available only to pharmaceutical companies." These compounds would help speed the development of new drugs and bring them to people sooner.
 

Blackout Brings Rethinking of Power Generation to the Agenda

In the aftermath of Italy's gigantic blackout last Sunday, in La Repubblica (September 30, 2003) Nobel Laurate Carlo Rubbia reflects on the future of electric power in Italy and Europe. Apart from the obvious conclusion that a truly EU-wide power grid is needed in order to avoid similar events in the future, Rubbia also points out that it is high time for an alternative to fossil fuels (whose use in the power sector accounts for 95% of the the total CO2 emission) to be found. As a nuclear physicist, he is clearly not adverse to the idea of building more nuclear plants (even though other countries are in the process of phasing them out), but also advocates solar power as a technique to be taken into serious consideration. So, Italy's (and the world's) future may be bright, after all.
 

Disclosure at the Medical Journals

Nature magazine announced to require the authors of review articles to disclose any financial tie to the products they evaluate. Formerly this was only done with research articles. A NY Times editorial (September 30, 2003) welcomes the decision because authors reviewing a particular field of research do weigh the value of one therapy against another. Their statements are opinionated. Further, "requiring the authors of original research articles to disclose their financial conflicts has always made sense because industry financing is often associated with pro-industry findings."
 

Electronics Cause Increasing Number of Car Failures

Today's cars are stuffed full with electronics. For instance, several kilometers of cables are used to connect dozens of sensors and control gadgets. The grand achievements made possible by modern car electronics such as anti-brake systems, stability controls, airbags and other safety features are now counterbalanced by a frequent occurrence of electronics failtures. Rüdiger Etzold and Christian Wüst report in Der Spiegel (September 29, 2003) that according to a German breakdown service about 50 percent of car failtures are caused by electronics.
 

Swedish government in favour of nanotech

Maria Gunther Axelsson reports in Dagens Nyheter (September 28, 2003) on the Swedish government's autumn budget and its effects on science and education. The clear winner is economically relevant research in nanotechnology and information technology, the losers are some universities, such as Umeå universitet, whose teaching budgets are slashed.
Karin Bojs writes a grand piece about capucine monkeys' sense of justice.
Lisbeth Brattberg reports on a success story of Swedish space research: the first Swedish lunar satellite "Smart-1" has been launched from Kourou in French Guyana on Sunday (28.9.2003) morning. One purpose of the mission is to test a new low-volume propulsion system that will make it possible in the future to increase the payload of research satellites.
 

Svenska Dagbladet steers clear of monkey business and devotes a lengthy article to Swedish forest history. The occasion is the publication of volume 1 of "Svenskarnar och skogen" (The Swedish and their forest) by Lars Kardell. The author claims that two historical factors have moulded the current shape of Swedish forests: the aristocracies desire for hunting and the need to plant sufficient numbers of oaks for ship-building.
 

Preparing For Next Outbreak of SARS

The United States is anticipating the possibility of another SARS outbreak this winter and federal health officials announced an elaborate preparation plan, Washington Post staff writer Rick Weiss reports (September 27, 2003). Preparations for the respiratory illness, for which health officials do not have a specific treatment or vaccine yet, include “crash programs to discover drugs effective against SARS and the creation of teams with expertise in isolating airplanes, hospitals and other settings in which the disease might appear,” Weiss writes. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expected to publish guidelines for doctors and hospitals soon. The guidelines explain how to deal with suspected SARS cases. The proposed guidelines have created some controversy over when protective respiratory masks should be worn, and who is to pay additional costs when a SARS case is suspected.
 

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