Sci@Night

Having seen at first hand the terror and fear instilled by a small minority of extremist animal rights activists, not least the strain put on Police resources near my childhood home (Huntingdon Life Sciences, a major target, is located nearby), I realise that the use of primates in research is a topic close to the hearts of many. However, intelligent discussion rather than radical violence is the only route towards an informed debate. Let’s hope that this BBC article, written about the publication of a recent government report, can help add to that dialogue.

The Weatherall report was commissioned by the Academy of Medical Sciences, Royal Society, Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust to review the scientific case for [primate research].

Its chair, Sir David Weatherall, emeritus professor of medicine at Oxford University, said: “There is a scientific case for careful, well-monitored and meticulously regulated non-human primate research, at least for the foreseeable future, provided it is the only way of solving important scientific or medical questions.

“At this moment in time, if we were to take [primate research] away tomorrow, there would be certain areas of science which I think might suffer very greatly,” Sir David added.

A nine-strong working group spent 18 months examining the areas of science where primates are most heavily employed, although it did not look at their use for toxicity testing of medicines.

It concluded non-human primate research remained vital for understanding the basic biology of the brain, neurological diseases, communicable diseases, and some aspects of fertility and ageing.

[UK experts back primate research]

I know, I know. I should really be selling this site on the quality of the typos alone. However, in an effort to give myself the proverbial kick in the backside, here is a flagrant attempt at luring some more readers. So…

Dear readers, this lowly Science blog pales in comparison to many others. Why not take the time to peruse an alternative? Perhaps Bad Astronomy? Then, why not vote for it in the 2006 Weblog Awards?

Maybe next year, you can vote for Sci@Night!

The wonders of Google Earth never cease to amaze, and, I’m pretty certain, could be blamed for an international productivity deficit that must be equal to the annual turnover of a few media savvy geek blogs. Over the past year, I’ve found myself checking out the roofing situation of each new apartment I’ve moved into (and there have been a few…) as well as enjoying virtual trips through the Grand Canyon and the mountains of Ecuador. Where the wünder-map fails, however, is in it’s lack of real-time information.

At the time of the Tsunami, there were regular satellite updates both on Google’s databases and others. They were posted especially to highlight the devastation that occurred. But the world’s geography is in a constant state of dynamism and Google Earth just can’t quite keep up on a day to day basis. What’s needed is a service providing regularly updated satellite images of the world so that you, the armchair Marco Polo, can explore everything from tropical storms off Japan to bare ski-slopes in the French Alps.

Thankfully, the European Space Agency has launched exactly that:

“ESA designed MIRAVI [MERIS Images RApid VIsualisation] so that the public could have access to daily views of Earth. Naturally, scientists are already familiar with these data, but we thought these images would be interesting to everyone. Seeing the most recently acquired images of the planet will allow people to witness the magnificent beauty of Earth and become more knowledgeable about the environment,” said the ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes Volker Liebig…

…Envisat [the world’s largest Earth Observation satellite] circles the Earth in a polar orbit at an 800-km altitude, allowing MERIS to acquire global coverage every three days. MERIS measures the solar radiation reflected by the Earth, which means the sun must be present for MERIS to produce an image. Because the sun is low over Nordic areas during winter, images of Scandinavia, for example, are not currently available, except through the archive. The situation will reverse, however, from March onwards, and images of the area will be acquired daily. In contrast, Antarctica is visible for the next two months.

To access this fun new tool, head here:

[Observing The Earth]

Have fun trying to find that field you accidentally set light to last week!