TOP 100 CAMPING SITES
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| 50 Years Ago: Kidney Transplantation OCTOBER 1959 FOUNDER OF KIDNEY TRANSPLANTS -- “Identical-twin grafts have demonstrated that where an immunological barrier does not exist kidneys can be successfully transplanted to cure otherwise incurable kid­-ney and vascular disease. We transplanted a kidney from a healthy man to his criti­cally uremic brother. Though the men were probably not identical twins, we hoped that their relationship might make for some immunologic compatibility. The recipient was given a total dose of X-rays large enough to depress his reticuloendothelial tissues severely. As the patient’s reticuloendothelial system recovers from the radiation, it may be forced to become familiarized with the antigens and the transplanted kidney. It is as yet too early to evaluate the results of this transplant, but initially it appears to be successful. -- John P. Merrill ” [More] rss.sciam.com |
New compound provides a better cage for carbon dioxide Capturing carbon dioxide is simple chemistry. In fact, you may have seen it in your high school chem lab. Remember that tightly sealed bottle of sodium hydroxide, aka lye ? Simply popping the top off that strong base and exposing it to air resulted in a chemical reaction in which the ambient CO2 was absorbed and the lye became sodium carbonate. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Algae, Art and Attitudes: A Roundtable About the AAAS Conference Scientific American staffers Mark Fischetti and Robin Lloyd talk with podcast host Steve Mirsky about sessions they attended--including those about algae for energy, dissecting the astronomy in art and attitudes about climate change--at the recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Plein-Air Painters, Out From Hibernation It is the busy season for plein-air painters in Central Park, where the artists can find both inspiration and companionship. nytimes.com |
From chytrid to ranavirus: Another disease is devastating frog populations The chytrid fungus ( Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ) isn't the only thing killing frogs and amphibians around the world. Now we have word that a disease from the genus Ranavirus is devastating frog populations in the U.K. According to research published in the October 2010 issue of Animal Conservation , the rapidly spreading ranavirus is killing common frogs ( Rana temporaria ) in areas where it has never been seen before. And where ranavirus is present in the U.K., common frog populations have dropped 81 percent in the last 12 years . The disease causes infected frogs to bleed to death through hemorrhaging organs and skin ulcerations.Previously restricted to southeast England, and possibly introduced to the U.K. through imported frogs or fish, ranavirus has now spread to Lancashire in the west, Yorkshire in the north, and the south coast of the country. "[What] we desperately need to solve is how the disease spreads," co-author Trent Garner of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) said in a prepared statement. [More] rss.sciam.com |