New Molecule for Alzheimer’s Detection

According to the Alzheimer Society of Canada, an estimated 290,000 Canadians over 65 have Alzheimer’s.  Researchers at UCLA have discovered a new compound that can map the plaques and tangles in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s.  This may help detect and treat the disease earlier and more effectively.alzheimer.jpg

 The compound, named FDDNP, may help test new treatments for Alzheimer’s.  There may also be a reduced need for volunteers in clinical trials.

Susan Molchan, M.D., program officer in the United States’ National Institute on Aging (NIA) Neuroscience and Neuropsychology of Aging Program, said “The ability to image brain changes may allow us to see how drugs affect the accumulation of proteins in the brain that cause Alzheimer’s plaques and tangles, possibly preventing or delaying the progression of Alzheimer’s.”

Heart of the Earth

Researches have discovered that the Earth has a heartbeat. This just sounds neat! I wonder where exactly the heart is.

“In the early half of the 20th century, Serbian physicist Milutin Milankovitch first proposed that cyclical variations in the Earth-Sun geometry can alter the Earth’s climate and these changes can be discovered in the Earth’s geological archives, which is exactly what this research team, consisting of members from the United Kingdom, the U.S. and Canada, has done.”

The Best Christmas Gift: Fight Climate Change

Over at the BBC’s Green Room, there is a recent article by Menghestab Haile in which he argues that the best thing people can do for one another is essentially change the way we live. Climate change is destroying the way many poor people survive and the best gift we can give them is to try to stop more damage from happening, if not undoing the damage done.

So you can make a difference by fighting climate change and thereby giving a gift to the entire world.

“Ask Mohamed Abey, a pastoralist leader in the dusty roadside community of Skanska in north-eastern Kenya. The 47-year-old says he owned 400 livestock before the 2005 drought; now he has just 20.

He admits pastoralism is no longer sustainable. While he is grateful for the monthly package of food aid, he urges the world to do more so the 2,000 people in Skanska can get back on their own feet.”

Farming With no Gas

A farmer in the states has successfully used an electric tractor for all his farming purposes. THe tractor was converted from a gas machine into an electric one that can run for 4 hours.

“If you are doing all electric, most people are very aware of the environment,” Wallace said. “Some just want to get off gas. There are so many different reasons for doing this. Some people are aware of the energy independence and don’t like buying foreign oil. Some like the clean air aspects. Some just want to be different.”

The Lennon Files

An historian has finally received the remaining FBI documents on John Lennon, that were kept secret for decades.  Jon Wiener obtained 10 pages detailing the intense scrutiny Lennon received from the FBI.  Lennon.jpg

One report describes how two prominent British leftists tried to persuade Lennon to finance “a left-wing bookshop and reading room in London”, but Lennon gave them no money.

Another page states that there was “no certain proof” that Lennon had provided money “for subversive purposes.”

Wiener told the L.A. Times, “Today, we can see that the national security claims that the FBI has been making for 25 years were absurd from the beginning.”

Wiener had originally asked for the documents in 1981, a year after Lennon was killed.  The FBI originally provided some files showing how closely monitored he was from 1971-1972.  The rest were not given, for reasons of national security.  In addition, the Freedom of Information Act was declared to not apply.

Wiener sued the U.S. government and received some of the documents in 1997. In 2004, a judge ordered the FBI to hand over the remaining 10 pages.