Abe Diaz

CNN.com – Researchers reconstruct 1918 virus: “Researchers reconstruct 1918 virus”. Scientists have made from scratch the Spanish flu virus that killed as many as 50 million people in 1918, the first time an infectious agent behind a historic pandemic has ever been reconstructed. Why did they do it? Researchers say it may help them better understand — and develop defenses against — the threat of a future worldwide epidemic from bird flu. The researchers also refined their focus on one gene, the HA gene, that encodes the hemagglutinin surface protein that help the virus attach to cells and multiply. The 1918 virus is deadly with the HA gene, but when the gene was replaced, it was not virulent, Tumpey said. The virus particles are being stored at the CDC, and there are no plans to send samples off campus, said Dr. Julie Gerberding, the agency’s director.

Biosingularity » Blog Archive » Newly discovered killer cell fights cancer: “A mouse immune cell that plays dual roles as both assassin and messenger, normally the job of two separate cells, has been discovered by an international team of researchers. The discovery has triggered a race among scientists to find a human equivalent of the multitasking cell, which could one day be a target for therapies that seek out and destroy cancer.”

Chicago Tribune | Genes show humans are still evolving: “Providing the strongest evidence yet that human beings are still evolving, researchers have detected some 700 regions of the human genome where genes appear to have been reshaped by natural selection, a principal force of evolution, within the last 5,000 to 15,000 years.”The genes that show this evolutionary change include some responsible for the senses of taste and smell, digestion, bone structure, skin color and brain function.”
And you thought X-Men was just sci-fi!

LiveScience.com – Immortal Styrofoam Meets its Enemy: “Bacteria that have been found to eat Styrofoam”Yes just as you heard this maybe the future for Solid Waste Centers. The scientists fed this styrene oil (what Styrofoam is made of) to the soil bacteria Pseudomonas putida, which converted it into biodegradable plastic known as PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates).

Hybrid Technologies, Inc.: “Hybrid Living Home”. This is the future people… “Using the latest technologies, this house features solar panels and wind turbines as an alternative energy source and Lithium-powered energy for storage. While providing a zero-emission, off-the-grid lifestyle, it maintains all the comforts of home, with the integration of a geothermal system for heating and cooling.” What more do you want…? Now don’t ask if it comes with Cable TV