Curing Our Influenza Amnesia

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World Science Festival, May 22, 2012

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Our brains are not the only places where we can store memories. Each time a new pathogen invades our bodies, our immune cells have an opportunity to recognize it by some feature, usually some distinctive cleft or spike of a protein on its surface. After our bodies defeat the infection, some immune cells are tasked with keeping the memory of that feature alive for years. If that same pathogen returns for a second attack, our bodies can launch a far faster counterattack.

We can tutor our immune systems with vaccines. Depending on the disease they protect against, vaccines may contain dead viruses, protein fragments, or some other substance derived from a pathogen.

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Inside the Atavist: A conversation with Evan Ratliff

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.

May 22, 2012

By Carl Zimmer

The Atavist is no stranger to this site. In fact, we’ve set up a category for the ebooks that come from this innovative ebook publisher. Yesterday, The New York Times‘s David Carr broke the news that it has gotten $1.5 million in seed money from some of the biggest names in technology, such as Eric Schmidt of Google. So this afternoon I Skyped Evan Ratliff, the chief executive of the Atavist, to talk about how they do what they do, why they end up publishing so much science, and what lies in the future for their operation. I recorded our Skype conversation on a Macbook that’s really only good these days as a walkway tile. But for some reason the video file turned out to be fairly viewable, and the audio very audible (I think an office dog chimes in late in the conversation). So I’ve uploaded it to YouTube and embedded it below. I’ve posted the audio below, too.

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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

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Yale Environment 360, May 17, 2012

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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.

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