Forecast22

Dad Participates in Pregnancy

Image by walker cleavelands via Flickr

Fatherhood 21c

An excellent 21c story about an excited father-to-be and Web 2.0  Story from Reuters ...

fatherhood,21c,twitter

More on Stem Cells

Update on previous articles.

stem cells,update

Kola Network Website announced: Longwave

Enter the Longwave

Sony Rolly

Something for Fun: It's a Sony

 

Find out more at Sony Rolly

Sony Rolly,Rolly,Bluetooth

A New Crop of Scientists Are Using Their Children as Research Subjects - NYTimes.com

A New Crop of Scientists Are Using Their Children as Research Subjects - NYTimes.com

Test Subjects Who Call the Scientist Mom or Dad

Even before his son was born, Pawan Sinha saw unique potential.

At a birthing class, Dr. Sinha, a neuroscience professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, stunned everyone, including his wife, by saying he was excited about the baby’s birth “because I really want to study him and do experiments with him.” He did, too, strapping a camera on baby Darius’s head, recording what he looked at.

Dr. Sinha is among a new crop of scientists using their children as research subjects.

Other researchers have studied their own children in the past, but sophisticated technology allows modern-day scientists to collect new and more detailed data. The scientists also say that studying their children allows for more in-depth research and that the children make reliable participants in an era of scarce research financing.

“You need subjects, and they’re hard to get,” said Deborah Linebarger, a developmental psychologist who directs the Children’s Media Lab at the University of Pennsylvania

This is quoted from New York Times

The question: Is this trend -- using offspring as test subjects -- dangerous, unsavoury, ot in any way unethical?

professional ethics,medicine,science

Transgenic drugs article from FierceBiotech

FierceBiotech,transgenics,genetic engineering,pharma,new drugs

Quoted from http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/fda-staffers-endorse-gtcs-transgenic-anti-clotting-drug/2009-01-07?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal&cmp-id=EMC-NL-FB&dest=FB:

FDA staffers endorse transgenic anti-clotting drug - FierceBiotech

The field of transgenics--developing therapies in genetically engineered animals--just got a big boost from staffers at the FDA. Regulators said that Framingham, MA-based GTC BioTherapeutics's drug ATryn, an anti-clotting treatment produced in goats, appeared to be safe and effective. The recommendation was released in documents made available ahead of an expert advisory committee meeting on Friday.

...GTC is one of a handful of companies out to demonstrate that it can produce a less-expensive stream of therapeutics from transgenic animals, harvesting drugs through their milk.

Other references on transgenic or ATryn include:

Xconomy Report on Genetically Engineered Goats

Transgenic Animals

Market Reaction to ATryn Pact

Transgenics News

In Silicon Valley, Venture Capitalists Turn Cautious - NYTimes.com

clean technology,venture capital,economy

Quoted from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/technology/start-ups/05venture.html?_r=2&ref=technology:

In Silicon Valley, Venture Capitalists Turn Cautious - NYTimes.com

CLEAN TECH GETS REALISTIC Venture capitalists are still chasing clean technology. Through September, $3 billion was invested in technologies that create alternative energy and conserve power, up from $1.9 billion the year before, according to the National Venture Capital Association. But big, expensive projects like building factories to manufacture solar panels or biofuels are falling out of favor.

“The economic arguments for those businesses literally went upside down in a year,” said Paul Holland, the general partner in charge of the clean tech practice at Foundation Capital.

Instead, some venture capitalists are looking at technologies that monitor energy demand, like software that tracks and regulates a building’s energy use.