Manipulative Malaria Parasite Makes You More Attractive (to Mosquitoes)

Posted on by Lori Jia

The New York Times, August 9, 2005

Link

Malaria is a staggeringly devastating disease, striking an estimated 300 million to 500 million people a year and killing more than a million of them. Scientists have long wondered how the parasite that causes malaria — a single-cell creature, plasmodium, carried by mosquitoes — manages to be so successful.

New research has shown an unexpected source of its success. The parasite makes infected humans smell more attractive to mosquitoes.

Continue reading “Manipulative Malaria Parasite Makes You More Attractive (to Mosquitoes)” →

And Now A Word From the Astronomers…

Posted on by admin

I’ll close the week with an open letter to President Bush just released by the American Astronomical Society’s president, Prof. Robert Kirschner, to express disappointment with his comments on bringing intelligent design into the classroom. Astronomers may not deal with natural selection or fossils, but as a general principle, they don’t like seeing non-science and science getting confused.

Continue reading “And Now A Word From the Astronomers…” →

43,000 Scientists: Bush Puts Schoolchildren At Risk

Posted on by admin

The American Geophysical Union just issued a press release in response to Bush’s comments about intelligent design. It’s not online at their web site yet, so I’ve posted it here. (Update: It’s on line now.) This is not the first time that the 43,000 members of the AGU have spoken out against creationism. They protested the sale of a creationist account of the Grand Canyon in National Park Service stores, and condemned the airing of a creationist movie about cosmology at the Smithsonian Institution. But this is the first time they’ve taken on the President.

Continue reading “43,000 Scientists: Bush Puts Schoolchildren At Risk” →