This press release contains:
· Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Security: Fake Botox, Real Threat
Environment: Washing Carbon Out of the Air
What the Future Holds: 12 Events That Will Change Everything
Archaeology: Did Neandertals Think Like Us?
Medicine: Alzheimer’s: Forestalling the Darkness
PDFs of all the papers mentioned on this release can be found in the relevant journal’s section of http://press.nature.com. Press contacts for the Nature journals are listed at the end of this release.
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The full articles highlighted below are available on the Nature Press Site: http://press.nature.com/press and are also now live at www.scientificamerican.com
[1] & [2] Security: Fake Botox, Real Threat (p 84 & p 28)
Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT)—a major component of Botox—can be a lethal poison, but procuring it has become much easier, as a result of a booming market for counterfeit versions of Botox. Writing in this month’s Scientific American, Ken Coleman and Raymond Zilinskas explain why collaborations between governments, law-enforcement agencies and legitimate pharmaceutical manufacturers is needed to regulate counterfeits of this potential biological weapon.
Fake Botox generally contain real toxins, albeit in widely varying amounts. And though tiny vials of bogus Botox could do little harm as terrorist weapons, they do point to a growing number of illegal producers, who are a serious threat. Presently, nothing prevents illicit manufacturers from making and selling the toxin for subversive interests, nor does it stop terrorists from getting into the counterfeiting business—for profit or for access to toxins. BoNT is relatively easy to manufacture and a single molecule is believed potent enough to incapacitate a single nerve cell. Thanks to the Internet, consumers are driving the demand for counterfeits, and anonymous Web-based suppliers of BoNT products could become portals for direct sales of pure toxin.
To solve this problem, the authors advocate a scientific approach such as conducting detailed laboratory analyses of counterfeits to establish how many illegal producers are operating and to provide evidence for future crackdowns.
Similarly, this month’s Perspectives column discusses how the U.S. and other nations have been slow to react to the threat posed by illicit botulinum toxin, a drug that could be turned into a deadly bioweapon. As the editors note, there needs to be greater involvement by scientists in proactive measures.
Author contact:
Ken Coleman (Monterey Institute of International Studies, CA, USA) Author article [1]
Tel: +1 831 647 6545
E-mail: [email protected]
Raymond A. Zilinskas (Monterey Institute of International Studies, CA, USA)
Author article [1]
Tel: +1 831 647 4154
E-mail: [email protected]
Editors at Scientific American are available to comment on this topic Perspective piece [2]
Please contact the Press Office
E-mail: [email protected]
[3] Environment: Washing Carbon Out of the Air (p 66)
Machines that absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere could be the answer to growing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, as discussed in this month’s Scientific American.
Methods for reducing CO2 levels currently being assessed rely mainly on reducing emissions, but it is unclear whether this alone will be practical or economical. Klaus Lackner proposes that one option is to pull CO2 out of the air. In theory, this could be done using natural methods, such as expanded forests, which would absorb more CO2. But this approach may not result in the huge increases in uptake that we need, he says. Instead, the author suggests that compact, low-cost devices could be the answer. Collecting carbon in this way would allow cars, planes and ships to continue burning fossil fuels, with their emissions being captured by air collectors located far away, as cleaner, more efficient transportation technologies gradually replace the old ones.
Lackner also discusses what to do with the CO2 once it is collected. Aside from storing it underground, he suggests it could be sold to industries where CO2 is already used—not only classic applications such as carbonating drinks, freezing foods, or making dry ice—but also in environmentally friendly applications such as nourishing algae farms, producing biofuels or providing raw material for carbonate-based cement.
Author contact:
Klaus Lackner (Columbia University, New York, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 212 854 0304
E-mail: [email protected]
[4] What the Future Holds: 12 Events That Will Change Everything (p 36)
What would happen if we discovered a giant asteroid on a collision course with Earth or if we built computers that developed consciousness? In this month’s Scientific American, the editors contemplate 12 scientific possibilities that could transform our lives and discuss their likelihood of happening by 2050.
Science transforms our perception of the universe and helps us figure out where we stand. A sun-centered solar system, natural selection, and the rise of the Internet have remade our intellectual and cultural landscapes. What is next? The editors delve into the possibilities, some bringing to mind long-standing dystopian visions: extinction-causing asteroid collisions, melting polar caps, war-waging intelligent machines, and life rising from the depths of laboratories. But the future is not all doom and gloom—scientific advances also promise to help us cope.
One thing is certain: these 12 events have the power to reshape how we think about ourselves and how we live.
Author contact:
Philip Yam (Editor, Scientific American, New York, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 212 451 8852
E-mail: [email protected]
[5] Archaeology: Did Neandertals Think Like Us? (p 72)
The controversial idea that Neandertals had similar cognitive abilities to modern humans is defended by Joäo Zilhäo in this month’s Scientific American. His recent work has implications for this dispute, and he discusses these with Kate Wong.
Paleoanthropologists have argued about Neandertal behavior for decades. Zilhão recently described cultural remains from nearly 50,000 years ago, long before modern humans made their way to Europe, and he believes this shows that “Neandertals were behaviorally modern. They were not like early modern humans anatomically, but they were cognitively as advanced or more so.”
Author contact:
Kate Wong (Editor, Scientific American, New York, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 212 451 8826
E-mail: [email protected]
[6] Medicine: Alzheimer’s: Forestalling the Darkness (p 50)
Failures of drugs intended to stem the course of Alzheimer’s disease have prompted scientists to contemplate new therapeutic trials aimed at patients who have yet to experience any symptoms. This radical step, discussed in this month’s Scientific American, has been made possible because of two developments: the advent of technologies that can track the disease before it is manifested in patients, and the availability of genetic tests that can identify people most likely to get the disease.
Gary Stix discusses how an “enriched” population of patients who are at high risk of Alzheimer’s could help pharmaceutical companies determine faster and with more resolution what drugs will work or not. This could speed development of truly effective remedies for the disorder. A novel aspect to this approach is a cross-border collaboration that plans drug trials involving 25 extended families in and around Medellín, Colombia—the world’s largest contingent of hereditary early-onset Alzheimer’s. Subjects who carry the gene may start receiving a new drug candidate seven years or so before the expected arrival of the disease.
Author contact:
Gary Stix (Editor, Scientific American, New York, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 212 451 8846
E-mail: [email protected]
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