The Dish: Sampling Science and Technology News – Feb. 29, 2008
The National Institutes of Health are expecting a record number of grant applications in 2008, but the budget is not keeping pace with the administrative burden that will accompany those applications. Last summer, NIH director Elias Zerhouni created two advisory committees to make suggestions for dealing with the problem. Last week, the committees released their recommendations, and as Science reported, they called for a “sweeping overhaul” of the NIH peer review process.
Craig Venter announced at the TED conference that he plans to develop fuels using living cells that consume carbon dioxide and generate fuels like methane gas. “The only way we think biology can have major impact–without increasing the cost of food or limiting its availability–is to start with carbon dioxide as a feedstock,” he said during his presentation. He referred to this project as the “fourth generation” of fuels, and he said he hopes to develop the technology within eighteen months.
A Federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended unanimously on Wednesday that all children over the age of six months should be vaccinated for influenza every year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are expected to adopt the recommendation within the next two years. “I’m very excited about this,” said Dr. Carol Baker, a member of the committee and president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. “As a pediatrician, it is my responsibility to protect my patients from influenza,” she said. Critics of the recommendation emphasized possible risks of heavy metal poisoning from vaccinations. “The CDC continues to minimize the dangers of injecting mercury and aluminum into our kids,” said Rita Shreffler, executive director of the National Autism Association. The CDC claims that those risks have not been confirmed scientifically.
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