Fighting Dragons of Ara

Fighting Dragons of Ara (NGC 6188 and 6164) by Michael Sidoni.

Clouds of swirling purple, green and orange gas and dust that appear as ‘fighting dragons’, shaped by the recent birth of large stars much bigger and brighter than our Sun.

One such star can be seen to the lower left of the image within two shells of glowing gas.

The image gives a snapshot of the chaotic stellar nurseries in which stars are born.

Our own Sun probably formed in similar circumstances 4.5 billion years ago.

Picture: Michael Sidonio

Greenpeace on trial for fighting unjustified whale slaughter

Greenpeace Executive Director, Kumi Naidoo, is in Japan and has been interviewed recently by the Sydney Morning Herald

"I think that this is not only about whaling, it is about actually going to the heart of the quality of democracy, human rights, freedom of assembly, association and expression," Dr Naidoo says.

Fighting Malaria: Venderbilt and Yale Scientists Transplant the Nose of Mosquito

Scientists at Vanderbilt and Yale universities have successfully transplanted most of the "nose" of the mosquito that spreads malaria into frog eggs and fruit flies and are employing these surrogates to combat the spread of the deadly and debilitating disease that afflicts 500 million people.

The research is described in two complimentary papers, one published this week in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and the other which appeared online Feb. 3 in the journal Nature.

The mosquito's "nose" is centered in its antennae, which are filled with nerve cells covered with special "odorant receptors" that react to different chemical compounds. The insect ORs are comparable to analogous receptors in the human nose and taste buds on the tongue.

"We've successfully expressed about 80 percent of the Anopheles mosquito's odorant receptors in frog's eggs and in the fruit fly antennae," says Laurence Zwiebel, professor of biological sciences at Vanderbilt, whose lab performed the frog egg transplantation. The fruit-fly (Drosophila melanogaster) work was done in the laboratory of John Carlson, Eugene Higgins Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale.

Both accomplishments are part of a five-year project supported by the Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative funded by the Foundation for NIH through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with the goal of producing novel ways to inhibit the spread of malaria. Scientists from the Wageningen University in the Netherlands, the African Insect Science for Food and Health Institute in Kenya, Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania and the Medical Research Council Laboratories in the Gambia are also participating in the project.

High Tech Giants Fighting Against Malaria

Tech giants are putting their expertise to good use outside of the corporate arena by using IT to combat malaria by ensuring drugs are more readily available.

Dubbed SMS for Life, the solution - jointly developed by IBM, Novartis and Vodafone - is being used in association with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, to boost availability of anti-malarial drugs in remote areas of Tanzania.

SMS for Life brings together mobiles, SMS and web-based tech to help track and manage the supply of Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) drugs and Quinine injectables. Put together, these can greatly reduce the death toll linked to malaria, which totals almost one million people each year in Africa - most of which are young children and pregnant women.

After visits to clinics, hospitals and dispensaries across Tanzania, IBM, Novartis and Vodafone initiated a five-month pilot of the SMS for Life solution, covering 135 villages and over a million people in different geographic locations across Tanzania.

Healthcare staff receive automated text to remind them to check drug stocks every week. Then, using toll-free numbers, they can reply by text to a central UK-based database. Once stock levels are determined, deliveries can be arrange before they completely run out.

IBM interns - dubbed Extreme Blue - were heavily involved in the project, as was Vodafone's development partner MatsSoft.

“This is an example of a truly innovative solution helping solve a humanitarian problem. After spending time on the ground, we created a project plan, developed the application with Vodafone and Novartis and established the best way to deliver the pilot, working with the Tanzanian Ministry of Health," said Peter Ward, project manager for IBM, in a statement. "We expect other countries will also be able to benefit in the future.”

During the pilot benefits were clear almost immediately. Indeed, during the first few weeks, the number of locations reporting zero stock levels went down by more than 75 per cent. As a result, the authorities are considering extending the roll-out country wide.

“The SMS for Life programme has already had a positive effect in Tanzania. I've seen district medical officers ordering urgent stock replacements for various health facilities," said Winfred Mwafongo, senior health officer for Tanzania's Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, in a statement.

"During a visit to 19 rural health facilities in one district alone, I saw huge improvements in their inventory management systems. I'm very impressed with the results so far and look forward to following the rest of the pilot through to completion."