Monday, September 18, 2006
GreaseIced Lightening
NASA researchers have found that lightening - those powerfully hot bolts of electricity about which Ben Franklin wrote (in a paper available free here until November 2006) - is caused by ice crystals bumping together in clouds. Sadly, it takes millions of kilos of ice to do this, so fun freezer experiments may have to wait.
A couple of studies suggest that preventive diabetes treatment may help reduce disease incidence in at-risk populations. I'm always wary of this sort of thing, because it seems like we overmedicate so much as it is, we don't need yet another drug (with major side-effects) being tossed around like candy. Which is, let us be honest, what will happen if this use catches on. People don't want to change their lifestyles, they want to take a pill to make it OK.
On the good side, UK and Kenyan researchers have found that adding albumin to rehydration therapies makes young malaria victims much more likely to survive. Cool!
A couple of studies suggest that preventive diabetes treatment may help reduce disease incidence in at-risk populations. I'm always wary of this sort of thing, because it seems like we overmedicate so much as it is, we don't need yet another drug (with major side-effects) being tossed around like candy. Which is, let us be honest, what will happen if this use catches on. People don't want to change their lifestyles, they want to take a pill to make it OK.
On the good side, UK and Kenyan researchers have found that adding albumin to rehydration therapies makes young malaria victims much more likely to survive. Cool!
