Of Schemes and Memes Blog

Best of Nature Network, nature.com blogs and Scitable: 17 – 23 March

Medical Marijuana Uncovered!

Scitable’s blogger, Leyla Adali has been talking about a prevalent issue in our society today – the use of marijuana for medicinal reasons.

Advocates of the legalization of medical marijuana observe that it can help with treating AIDS, glaucoma, side effects associated with chemotherapy, muscular spasticity disorders, epilepsy, and other conditions. Jocelyn Elders, the former United States Surgeon general, released a statement in 2004 saying “The evidence is overwhelming that marijuana can relieve certain types of pain, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms caused by such illnesses as multiple sclerosis, cancer and AIDS — or by the harsh drugs sometimes used to treat them. And it can do so with remarkable safety. Indeed, marijuana is less toxic than many of the drugs that physicians prescribe every day.” Cannabis is widely known to be used recreationally for a “high”-the properties of which include craving for food, decreased reaction time, and lessened anxiety. This craving for food can be helpful for those suffering from loss of appetite as a side-effect of other illnesses, such as cancer, who may become malnourished or lose weight otherwise.

Do you oppose medical marijuana? Feel free to join in the growing conversation online.

French standoff raises fears for incarcerated physicist

Geoffrey Brumfiel, reporting on the News Blog, explains that the case this week of suspected terrorist, Mohamed Merah, shot dead in southern France bears some similarity to allegations against Adlène Hicheur, a 36-year-old high-energy physicist of French-Algerian descent who was arrested in October of 2009 on suspicion of plotting attacks in France:

Hicheur is accused of planning attacks against military targets based on a series of e-mails to suspected members of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the organization’s North African wing. Many details of the case remain hidden from public view by France’s strict anti-terrorism laws, but it seems to rest on a series of online exchanges between Hicheur and suspected terrorists in Algeria. Hicheur’s family and supporters maintain that the evidence is not enough to support his incarceration without trial for two-and-a-half years. Nature has called for a fair and timely trial in Hicheur’s case.

Hicheur is scheduled to have a two-day trial starting on 29th March. His lawyers now fear that the latest incident in France could bias the hearing. Continue to the post to find out more.

Canadian biomedical prize

Rebecca Hersher discloses in The Spoonful of Medicine blog that the immunologist who revealed the structure and function of the crucial Fc region of antibodies, was one of the researchers recognised this week by the Toronto-based Gairdner Foundation for his contributions to biomedicine:

Jeffrey Ravetch (pictured), has received one of the prestigious Gairdner awards, which have been called the ‘Canadian Nobels’. The awards come with a hefty C$100,000 ($101,000) cash prize for each winner.

You can find out more about the other six award-winning scientists in the fields of genetics, neurobiology and infectious diseases in the News Blog’s summary.

Algae

 Chris Hillier is talking about biofuels in his latest post on the Trade Secrets Blog:

As the most prolific organism on the planet, it has a lot going for it. George Church’s Joule Unlimited, and Craig Venter’s Synthetic Biology continue to race to develop the most optimal genetically modified strain of microalgae. Critically, it thrives on carbon dioxide, a commodity that the planet is desperately trying to find a use for. Furthermore, as a side product it produces oxygen which can be used, among other things, to de-acidify ocean water and protect fragile coral reefs. Compared to other feedstocks, algae produce 30x more energy per unit, and can be grown on brackish, even polluted water. Already, in Canada, it has been used to remove ammonia, nitrate, phosphate, and pathogens from wastewater. So, what’s not to like?

What do you think about algae as a biofuel? Feel free to join in the online conversation.

Cocaine arrest sparks academic rights objection

Eugenie Samuel Reich reveals in the News Blog that a prominent theoretical physicist who has spent nearly two months in an Argentine jail after drugs were found in his luggage, is accusing his university of suspending his salary unfairly:

According to Frampton,  North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) has stopped paying his salary, even though he is continuing to do research and supervise students by phone from jail. A spokeswoman for the College of Arts and Sciences at UNC, Dee Reid, confirmed Frampton’s salary was reduced to zero on 1 March, saying this was at the discretion of the university provost, Bruce Carney, also a physicist.

UNC’s policies on tenure lay out detailed protocols for suspension, demotions and discharges, but make no mention of the procedure for a change in salary. You can find out more about this in the post and feel free to share your thoughts in the comment thread.

Sari scare

Subhra Priyadarshini explains in the Indigenus blog that the media have blow up a scare with the traditional Indian women’s wear — the sari. The scare is that tying the petticoat under too tightly and at the same place repeatedly might lead to skin cancer:

The researchers from Grant Medical College, Mumbai say it is ‘debatable’ whether the sari is an ideal clothing for the Indian climate. They also point out that “to make matters worse, they wear a skirt underneath fastened securely to the waist by a cord. These tight garments induce various dermatoses along the waist in female patients”. This is primarily because of sweating and skin irritation. They, however, cite an earlier study of 140 cases of waist line lesions associated with sari wearing but no malignancy.

In both the cases that the fresh study reports, the malignancy triggered by waist dermatoses was slow to spread.

You can find out more in the post.

Where do good ideas come from? 

In her latest post, Nature Network blogger, GrrlScientist is asking, “Where do good ideas come from? How are scientific discoveries made?” She links out to a video where Adam Savage, the host of MythBusters on the Discovery Channel, explores these questions. He starts with a simple childhood observation which inspired Richard Feynman to pursue his career in physics:

We’re hiring!

The founding editorial team at Nature Chemistry was assembled back in 2008 and has stuck together since then, providing a solid foundation for the launch of the journal and its growth in these early years. But it’s time for a change explains Stuart Cantrill in The Sceptical Chymist blog:

Enjoy reading papers and fancy a move away from the bench? Enjoy reading the latest hits in the chemistry literature and would like to write about them for Nature Chemistry? Want to attend conferences to see what the latest and greatest developments are (at least at the conferences where such things are aired)? Want to blog and tweet about cool and creative chemistry (we know a lot of you do that already, but this is part of a job that you get paid to do!)? Well, if the answers to those questions are ‘yes’, have a look at the advert and give it some thought.

Applications need to be made through the website, but informal queries can be directed to their journal inbox.

Finally

This week Viktor Poór brings us a pun straight from the lab bench:

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