A Flu Shot For Life

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

Why do flu shots only protect us for a single season? Why can’t influenza vaccines be like polio vaccines: get them in childhood and be done with them? Wouldn’t that be the best way to prepare ourselves for the next pandemic?

These are among the questions that will be addressed at next month’s World Science Festival. To lay the groundwork, I’ve written a blog post  at the festival web site on where we stand on the road to a universal flu vaccine. At this point, we have good reason to believe that such a vaccine could be invented. Which makes it all the more urgent that we do so. Check it out.

Originally published May 19, 2012. Copyright 2012 Carl Zimmer.

What the Moon is Really Made of

Posted on by Carl Zimmer

This post was originally published in “Download the Universe,” a multi-author blog about science ebooks edited by Carl Zimmer.

Moon Rocks: An Introduction to the Geology of the Moon. By Andrew G. Tindle and Simon P. Kelley. Published by The Open University.

Guest reviewed by Veronique Greenwood

May 18, 2012

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The Vital Chain: Connecting The Ecosystems of Land and Sea

Posted on by admin

Yale Environment 360, May 17, 2012

Link

For the past few years, Douglas McCauley has been tracking Pacific manta rays that live around a chain of remote islands called Palmyra Atoll. McCauley, a marine biologist at the University of California at Berkeley, and his colleagues tag the giant fishes with “pingers” — acoustic devices that emit pulses — and then follow the sound. “You’re in a boat, following the animal night and day,” says McCauley.

The scientists embarked on this study to learn more about the ecology of these majestic animals. “There’s remarkably little known about manta rays,” McCauley says.

Continue reading “The Vital Chain: Connecting The Ecosystems of Land and Sea” →

The Vital Chain: Why Manta Rays Need Forests

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

Manta rays spend their lives in the ocean, sweeping up microscopic animals. And yet scientists have found that their well-being depends on forests. Meadows in the northwestern United States are ecologically linked to salmon thousands of miles out at sea. Today, I’ve got a piece in Yale Environment 360 in which I explore the bonds that join land and sea together. Check it out.

Originally published May 17, 2012. Copyright 2012 Carl Zimmer.