Earlier today, the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to:

• Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge,United Kingdom
• Thomas A. Steitz, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
• Ada E. Yonath, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

“for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome.”

These scientists used a method called X-ray crystallography to map the position for each and every one of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome.

But, what is a ribosome?

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This morning, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009 was awarded to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.

But, what is a telomere and why is this research important?

The Telomere (click to expand)

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Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics is bold. It’s exciting. And, it’s green.

In fact, Chicago 2016 organizers even call their concept of the Olympics the “Blue-Green Games.”

Blue for clean air and water. And, green for parks and nature. Together, the blue and green combine to create the ideal conditions necessary for optimal athletic performance.

What’s more, Chicago 2016 organizers have developed a comprehensive plan that will deliver the most eco-friendly games in modern history.

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Swine flu is spreading like wild fire in India.

Indian Yoga Guru and Herbal Specialist Swami Baba Ramdeo claims that Swine flu is caused by the lack of resistant power inside our bodies.

He has suggested some tips to save ourselves from the deadly swine flu so below is the list of remedies which claim to treat or prevent Swine flu.

Giloy / Giloy Herb

Take GILOY herb (AMTA) one foot long branch and seven leaf of TULSI and mix it and collect juice of this mixture in a vessel. Boil this juice and drink it. This herbal juice will increase our body resistant up to three times. By which we can “save” from H1N1 Flu.

Nilgiri oil

Use Nilgiri Oil drops on handkerchiefs and masks and inhale regularly as one of the preventive measures against swine flu.

The first swine flu death in Indiahas been reported in Pune, where Riya Shiekh, a 14-year old schoolgirl died at the local hospital.

The city of Pune in India

A resident of Pune’s Camp area, the little girl has been admitted to the private Jehangir hospital on July 27. Two days later she has been taken to ICU and put on a ventilator. Another two days later, on July 31, Riya tested positive for swine flu only to die on August 3.

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United States President Barack Obama has named genome project leader Dr Francis S Collins as head of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The National Institutes of Health, which is a part of the US Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary federal agency responsible for conducting and supporting medical research.  It was Dr Collins, 59, the geneticist, who discovered the causes of half a dozen diseases and supervised the US government’s efforts to map the human genome.

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The first all-purpose anti-anthrax product is ready. A remarkable anti-microbial pesticide, it is claimed to get rid of anthrax spores on any clean, hard surfaces.

The new product, which has been approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is a substance that can decontaminate buildings, vehicles, ships, and devices infected with anthrax spores. More to it, this also means that anthrax being used as a biological weapon, especially by terrorists, could be tackled.

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Stockholm Convention of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) has been targeting 12 hazardous pesticides and industrial chemicals that are linked with human health problems – nerve and immune system damage, cancer, reproduction disorders and disruption of child development.

“The risks posed by such chemicals are profound and these toxic substances leave chemical footprints around the globe. Farmers, pregnant women, young people, the unborn and certain remote communities such as those in the Arctic are particularly vulnerable,” said UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive, Achim Steiner.

“This week in Geneva governments can make an important contribution to the poverty-related UN Millennium Development Goals as well as catalyzing a transition to a healthier, more sustainable Green Economy. I would urge them to take that opportunity and begin lifting another health threat from literally millions of peoples’ lives,” he added.

Feel better?

There are four problems to removing the POPs

1. the transition of moving from production of POPs towards safer alternatives. What to do in the meantime?
2. Identifying new POPs. If the “12″ don’t get you, something will.
3. What about countries that can’t afford It? Communism!
4. Every person already carried some POP in his/her body. Can we get a do over on the creation of people?

The solution – grow/buy/eat organic say some. Just don’t let people who have been contaminated do the growing/picking/distributing. [via TwilightEarth] (Image courtesy of greencolander)

A swine flu outbreak in Mexico has killed at least 16 people in the past few weeks. Dozens of more deaths are suspected.

Schools K-university are sending youngsters home and telling them to stay inside if they have the flu-like symptoms.

”We’re dealing with a new flu virus that constitutes a respiratory epidemic that so far is controllable,” Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova told reporters late Thursday.

Mexico’s flu season was supposed to be over by now, but then Mexican official have noticed a significant spike in flu cases.

The World Health Organization is reporting some 800 cases of flu-like symptoms in Mexico. Most of the sick are healthy young adults. There were 57 deaths in Mexico City and 3 in the central part of the country. At least 16 deaths are from swine flu, and said another 45 were under investigation.

Mexico is particularly worried because flu typically kills infants and old people. But pandemic flus often strike young, healthy people the hardest. And this is the kind of flu that is happening now.

Looks like a different kind of border control will be called for if Mexico can’t contain this, eh?

Read more about swine flu.

Image by hundreds

Knock Some Sense Into Them

Part of a broader campaign to give the poorest children a voice at the G-20 summit of world leaders gathering in London on April 2 to discuss a way out of the financial crisis, the film below is a viral that carries a simple message “They’ve helped save the banks and big business. Now it’s time they helped save children’s lives.”

Unlike big business, children don’t have shareholders. Which is probably why they don’t have a voice at the G-20. Yet the world’s poorest children are already suffering the worst effects of the financial crisis. If we don’t act now, up to 2.8 million more children could die by 2015 – many because they just don’t have enough to eat.

While the financial institutions have been bailed out to the tune of $2.5 trillion, saving these children’s lives would take only a tiny fraction of this amount.

The film is backed up with a targeted press and outdoor campaign carrying the same message and the image of a child holding the Chancellor’s budget box while standing on the steps of Downing Street. The headline bluntly emphasizes where the agenda lies in the eyes of the world’s leaders. And it’s not with children.

Life-size cut-outs of this message and the boy holding the budget box will line the route of the ‘Put People First’ march that will precede the G-20 summit on Saturday March 28. Teams of Save the Children support workers will collect names for the petition from the 20,000 protestors expected to turn out.