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?

Ribosomes are cellular structures that produce proteins. DNA contains the informational “blueprint” for proteins, but ribosomes are the structures that actually make proteins. There are tens of thousands of proteins in the body and they all have different forms and functions. Essentially, poteins build and control life at the chemical level.

Thanks to the work of these three scientists, we now have a more detailed understanding of how ribosomes function. Specifically, they researched how different antibiotics bind to ribosomes. After all, if an antibiotic can be designed to specifically bind to –and impair function of –the ribosomes of a bacteria, the bacteria cell will die.

This information is now being used by scientists in order to develop new antibiotics, directly assisting the saving of lives and decreasing humanity’s suffering.

Source: Nobelprize.org

Photo image: Milosz1

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

The Telomere (click to expand)

The Telomere (click to expand)

Telomeres are the “caps” at the ends of chromosomes. The long, thread-like DNA molecules that carry our genes are packed into structures called chromosomes, and telomeres are found at the ends of the chromosomes.

Telomerase is an enzyme that forms these caps.

Telomeres are important because they help regulate chromosome deterioration.

If the telomeres are too short, cells age. What’s more, certain inherited diseases are characterized by a defective telomerase, which results in damaged cells.

On the other hand, if telomerase activity is high, telomere length is maintained, and cellular senescence is delayed. This is the case in cancer cells, which can be considered to have eternal life.

The award of the Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of a fundamental mechanism in the cell, a discovery that has stimulated the development of new therapeutic strategies.

Source: NobelPrize.org

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.

Here are just a few of the green highlights from the Chicago 2016 bid:

• All electricity for Games operations will come from renewable energy sources.

• All generators supplied for the Games will run on biofuel.

• For the first time ever, athlete and spectator travel emissions will be offset in partnership with the Chicago Climate Exchange.

• Venues will reduce water consumption by 20% from baseline levels through design, technology and equipment, such as low-flow fixtures and smart irrigation.

• Waste will be minimized by reusing or recycling 85% of the materials used for the Games.

• Existing structures and parklands will be utilized whenever possible to minimize the carbon emissions associated with construction. Design and construction of all new and temporary venues will be conducted in accordance with best practices for sustainability.

“Blue and green reflect the natural landscape that all Chicagoans enjoy—the blue of Lake Michigan, and the green of our parks,” says Bob Accarino, the Director of Environment for Chicago 2016. “The name highlights these features and our Games plan further enforces it, with the majority of venues located along the lakeshore in our historic parks. From an environmental perspective, the concept of a Blue-Green Games emphasizes the importance of promoting clean water in addition to clean air.”

You can read the complete 31-page Blue-Green Games Commitment document here.

Photo of Chicago’s Grant Park from David Paul Ohmer.

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 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.

Although she didn’t travel abroad the little girl has been diagnosed with an H1N1 infection.

Currently there are 551 swine flu cases in India — with 422 patients treated and already discharged until now. In Pune, 16 other students (out of 101 H1N1 confirmed cases in the city) have been hospitalized and are being treated for swine flu.

There’s no need to shut schools reporting swine flu cases and the Union Health Ministry had issued relaxed guidelines to states to deal with the virus — patients must be isolated at home itself instead of being hospitalised unless the case is chronic.

Image courtesy of lecercle

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.

As the chief of the NIH, Dr Collins will oversee 27 institutes and an annual budget of about $30 billion for biological and medical research.

In 2006, Dr Collins published the famous book titled The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, in which he presented scientific evidence for a belief in God.

The appointment of Dr Francis Collins as head of the NIH, which has been widely welcomed, will make him one of the most powerful and influential scientists not only in the United States but also worldwide.

It was in 1989 that Dr Collins first attained fame when he and his colleagues at the University of Michigan announced that they had found the defective gene that causes cystic fibrosis. The team developed a technique – known as ‘positional cloning’ – that allowed researchers to scan large segments of the human genome in order to look for disease-causing genes even when they did not know the function of the genes in question.

Using that technique, Dr Collins and team identified the genes responsible for Huntington’s disease, neurofibromatosis, multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (a tumor of the parathyroid and pituitary glands), and the M4 type of adult acute leukemia.

In 1993, Dr Collins took over as the head of the National Human Genome Research Institute, and supervised the effort to sequence the human genome – a collection of over 3 billion bases of DNA that comprise the human blueprint.

Source: Reuters

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.

A dangerous disease that can infect both humans and animals, if untreated, anthrax is often fatal.

The US Environmental Protection Agency said, in a press release, that it had approved the first registration (or, license), of an anti-microbial pesticide product to deactivate anthrax spores on hard surfaces. It will be manufactured by Clean Earth Technologies.

If the anti-anthrax pesticides available so far were only authorized for emergency use, it looks like we may have, hopefully, a product that will protect troops, equipment, buildings as well as civilians.

[via TreeHugger] Photo via Stanford

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)

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

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.