WASHINGTON — A small black mushroom found in the woods of northern Europe contains the first of what may be a powerful new class of antibiotics and antivirals, a researcher here says. ‘I think we are looking at a whole new world of antibiotics,’ said Michael Zasloff, M.D., Ph.D., of Georgetown University Medical Center. Plectasin, a peptide derived from a fungus called Pseudoplectania nigrella, is as effective as penicillin and vancomycin in combating experimental peritonitis and pneumonia in mice, Dr. Zasloff and colleagues reported in the Oct. 13 issue of Nature. The peptide is one of a class of molecules called defensins, which have previously been found in plants and animals. Plectasin is the first to be isolated from a fungus, Dr. Zasloff said. Plectasin was tested against a range of bacteria, including streptococcus, enterococcus, and staphylococcus, Dr. Zasloff said, but other defensins have been shown to have activity against viruses. Since about 200,000 other species of fungus exist, he said, it seems likely that many more fungal defensins will be found, possibly allowing for highly-targeted antimicrobial drugs that will render today’s broad-spectrum drugs obsolete. ‘I think we as physicians are going to see […]
Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the Moon, has issued a stark warning that America must invest now in the space agency Nasa, or surrender leadership of space exploration to Russia and China. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Aldrin revealed that he intends to lobby Barack Obama and John McCain, the two US presidential candidates, in an effort to ensure they find sufficient funds for Nasa’s goal to establish a permanent base on the Moon and then send a manned mission to Mars. Nasa celebrates its 50th anniversary this year but faces grave embarrassment. The ill-fated Shuttle is due to make its last flight in 2010 but it will be a further five years before its replacement, the Ares rocket and Orion crew capsule – also intended for trips to the moon – are ready. In that time American astronauts will have to hitch lifts on Russian Soyuz flights merely to visit the International Space Station. Mr Aldrin, 78, said: ‘To me it’s abysmal that it has come to this: after 50 years of Nasa, and after putting about $100 billion into the space station, we can’t get our own astronauts to our […]
Solar energy will cost the same as power produced by coal, natural gas and nuclear plants in about a decade, a recently released report suggests. By 2025, solar could account for 10 percent of U.S. electricity generation. ‘Solar prices are falling as the solar industry scales [up],’ said Alisa Gravitz, executive director of Co-op America, a nonprofit advocating ‘green’ economic solutions. ‘For the first time in history, cost-competitive solar power is within the planning horizon of every utility.’ The Utility Solar Assessment Study, produced by Co-op America and the Clean Edge research firm, projects that the cost of solar will fall from an average of $5.50 to $7 for a peak watt today to $1.43 to $1.62 per average peak watt by 2025. (A peak watt is the number of watts output when a solar panel is illuminated under test conditions.) At the same time, fuel costs and the capital costs to build traditional power plants will increase. Ron Pernick, Clean Edge’s managing director and a co-author of the study, said progress will come only with concerted efforts by solar companies, utilities and regulators. And with lots of money – $450 billion to $560 billion, he said. […]
DETROIT — After three decades at work in a GM factory, John Martinez has reached a crossroads. Martinez, 50, must choose between retiring and making a long and expensive commute across state lines to stay with General Motors Corp. Any future he can imagine is going to be costly and tough. ‘My whole family is under stress,’ he said. The same can be said of the embattled U.S. auto industry and its recession-hardened hometown, Detroit. GM, once an emblem of U.S. post-war economic might, is being driven to the brink by dwindling sales that are expected to test cash reserves and the nerves of investors in the months ahead. Crosstown rivals Ford Motor Co and privately held Chrysler LLC face similar pressures. As the automakers weigh their options to ride out the industry’s most-trying slump in 25 years, thousands of Detroit families are doing the same. For many, the choices line up from bad to worse. With four kids, retirement is not an option for Martinez. But driving more than 100 miles daily between home in the Detroit suburb of Lincoln Park and Toledo, Ohio — where GM has a job for him — […]
A pilot project on hybrid taxis in Alberta has concluded the vehicles — including larger SUVs — pay for themselves in fuel savings within 14 to 18 months. The Hail a Hybrid program, which was run by Climate Change Central and paid for by the Alberta government, tracked five hybrid taxis in Calgary and Edmonton to determine the cost of operating the vehicles compared to a typical cab. ‘It’s good, it’s really good,’ said cab driver John Tait, who participated in the program with his Ford Escape Hybrid. ‘It’s not in my pocket every day. It saves you money on gas. ‘It’s better than getting a raise some days.’ Tait, who has been driving cabs for 32 years, said driving the hybrid SUV has cut his gas bill by more than half — to $25 on a busy day from about $60 a day when he drove a regular taxi. According to the final report, all of the hybrid taxis that participated in the pilot project had higher fuel efficiency than the conventional Alberta taxi, the Ford Crown Victoria. Overall fuel costs for hybrids — based on driving the same distance — were much […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
