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Science In Action: 19/02/2010

19/02/2010

BBC World Service - Science In Action, 19/02/2010

Personalised cancer treatment, public trust in science, acid oceans and alien life.

Personalised cancer treatment that can detect microscopic tumour cells, lack of public trust in science, AIDS vaccine development, could acidic oceans cause a mass extinction and where are the aliens.

Personalised cancer treatment

Researchers in the US have developed a test which allows them to look for a specific genetic fingerprint of a cancer. They can then use this test, or assay, to look for any residual traces of cancer after surgery for example, or to see how well a treatment like chemotherapy is working. This is still at the early stages, and needs expensive DNA reading equipment, but the hope is the price will fall quickly as that kit becomes more common.   Jon Stewart speaks to Professor Victor Velculescu and Rebecca Leary from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Centre in Baltimore.  Their work is published in the journal Science.

Public perception of science

Can we trust science and scientists?  It’s a question that is increasingly being asked by the media, and the public, after some high profile apparent mistakes.  Did UK scientists manipulate data on global warming?  Is the International Panel on Climate Change credible after it admitted that it had made a mistake in asserting that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035? In the past few years there have also been false claims about stem cells, and erroneous warnings about vaccines.  Michael Specter is the author of “Denialism”, where he asks why we have begun to fear scientific advances instead of embracing them.  He was speaking at TED – Technology, Entertainment, and Design – a conference in California billed as some of the biggest thinkers coming together to spread ideas. This year the theme was “what the world needs now”.  Jon Stewart went along to find out more.  He also spoke to Dr. Seth Berkely, the President and the CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, to find out how far the development of a vaccine against HIV transmission has got.

If you’d like to attend TED, the next one is in Oxford, England, in July – there a more details on the Science in Action website. There is a fellowship programme, which focuses on attracting people who have world changing ideas, living or working in the Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Middle East.

Ocean acidification 

The oceans are becoming more acidic and at a faster rate than previously measured.  This could lead to a massive extinction in the deep seas, according to new research. The ocean is what is known as a carbon sink – it has taken up between a quarter and a third of all atmospheric CO2 since the start of the industrial revolution.  A study published in the journal Nature Geoscience shows that the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is leading to a similar increase in the oceans today.  But it is believed that the process is making the seas much more acidic which is damaging the delicate shells of organisms that are critical to the marine food chain. In fact the rate of acidification is now the highest in 55 million years. Danniella Schmidt from the University of Bristol, one of the scientists behind the work, joins us on the programme. 

Aliens calling

Where is ET and should he have not called by now?  Tracey Logan asks exactly that question after speaking to the top scientists hunting for proof of alien life.  She went to the Royal Society in London where the possibility of detection of extra-terrestrial life, and its consequences for science and society, were discussed.

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