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Positive Results From Interferon-Free Phase 2

Positive Results From Interferon-Free Phase 2 "Co-Pilot" Study For The Treatment Of Hepatitis C

Apr 19 2012 | comment(s)

Abbott and Enanta Pharmaceuticals announced data from "Co-Pilot," an interferon-free, Phase 2 study of Abbott's direct-acting antiviral medicines for the treatment of hepatitis C (HCV) that found that more than 90 percent of patients new to HCV treatment achieved sustained viral response through 12 weeks (SVR12). Results were released today at a press conference at the International Liver Congress 2012 (ILC 2012), the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), in Barcelona, Spain, and will also be presented in an oral platform presentation at the latebreaking trials session on Saturday, April 21.

Good News, Science 2.0 Writers - Women Prefer Arrogant Men

Good News, Science 2.0 Writers - Women Prefer Arrogant Men

Apr 19 2012 | comment(s)

Let's be honest - in the 21st century the wussification of men has been in full force.   Being a man is out if that means not being a politically correct, hyper-sensitive, asexual, homogenized follower of all that is cool and popular among the cultural intelligentsia.

But testosterone levels are dropping and that could mean any number of consequences for the future of our species. Now you have one more science excuse to sack up and stop identifying as a metrosexual; a group of researchers concluded in 2010 that modest males endure social backlash because they are not 'macho' enough. We may not like arrogant people but meek people are annoying too.
Autism Society Issues Statement Regarding The Judge Rotenberg Center

Autism Society Issues Statement Regarding The Judge Rotenberg Center

Apr 19 2012 | comment(s)

The Judge Rotenberg Center is on trial, legally, for negligence in the 31 shocks and hours of restraint that Andre McCollins suffered at the hands of JRC staff and in the court of public opinion, finally, for its decades of use of skin shocks by a device Matthew Israel created.
Science Online Bay Area Meeting On Data Visualization April 19th

Science Online Bay Area Meeting On Data Visualization April 19th

Apr 19 2012 | comment(s)

Science Online Bay Area (SOBA) is a monthly discussion series on how science is carried out and communicated online. Their first event focuses on the topic of data visualization and data journalism in science.

Although not yet exactly common in science reporting, data journalism and data visualization are a natural fit to the material. But how does one go beyond the use of tabular data and basic analysis to data scraping and sophisticated statistical techniques? They’ll discuss the issues, methods, and tools of data visualization and data journalism and explore the cutting edge of these fields with some of the leading practitioners in the Bay Area.

Date: April 19, 2012
Time: Doors Open 7pm, Event 7:30pm – 8:30pm
Positive Results From Phase 2

Positive Results From Phase 2 "Pilot" Study Of An Interferon-Free Combination Regimen For The Treatment Of Hepatitis C

Apr 19 2012 | comment(s)

  Abbott and Enanta Pharmaceuticals announced complete data from the study known as "Pilot" - Abbott's initial interferon-free study of its direct-acting antiviral agents for the treatment of hepatitis C (HCV) - showing that 91 percent of genotype 1 infected, treatment-naive patients taking ABT-450/r and ABT-072 combined with ribavirin administered for 12 weeks, achieved sustained viral response at 24 weeks (SVR24). 82 percent of patients achieved SVR36. This is among the first 12-week, interferon-free HCV regimen with 36-week post-treatment data in genotype 1 patients. Results were presented today at the International Liver Congress 2012 (ILC 2012), the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), April 18-22 in Barcelona, Spain.

Progress Towards Celebrity Recognition

Progress Towards Celebrity Recognition

Apr 19 2012 | comment(s)

Can software automatically recognise celebrities? Hewlett-Packard (motto: Let’s do Amazing) believes so, and has recently published a paper on the feasibility of ‘Wikipedia-based Online Celebrity Recognition’.
Researchers Demiao Lin, Jianming Jin, and Yuhong Xiong, from HP Labs China have been investigating so-called Smart-Browsing on the www, and point out that : “Obviously, recognizing celebrity names is important for smart browsing.”

W Bosons Weighted To One Part In 5359

W Bosons Weighted To One Part In 5359

Apr 19 2012 | comment(s)

A couple of weeks ago the CDF and DZERO experiments have produced a combination of their measurements of the W boson mass. Besides two older determinations of this fundamental parameter of the Standard Model, the new 2.2/fb measurement by CDF and the 4.3/fb measurement by DZERO have been averaged together, accounting for correlated systematics. [x/fb is a shorthand for the amount of collisions from which the W boson datasets have been extracted by the experiments: 1/fb is about 80 trillion proton-antiproton collisions.]
The Debate: Rejuvenation Biotechnologies

The Debate: Rejuvenation Biotechnologies

Apr 19 2012 | comment(s)

The Oxford University Scientific Society is hosting a debate on Wednesday, April 25th, 2012.  Dr. Aubrey de Grey will propose the motion "This house wants to defeat ageing entirely" and Professor Colin Blakemore will be opposing. The debate will be chaired and moderated by Professor Sir Richard Peto. This debate will address whether it is feasible and appropriate to consider aging as a target of decisive medical intervention, raising the possibility of substantial extension of human lifespan.

Chimp homicide?

Chimp homicide?

Apr 19 2012 | comment(s)


Recently, Real Clear Science drew our attention to Chimps show lethal side, about incidents where chimps kill other chimps.  Or “apes kill each other”, as the article actually says, but in my more hyper-logical frame of mind that sounds a bit like “pistols for two, coffee for none.”

However, the article (and the link to it from RCS) then goes on to refer to ‘chimp homicides’.  It becomes quickly apparent that they are not referring to humans being killed by chimps.
Autism Speaks Issues Statement Concerning Judge Rotenberg Center

Autism Speaks Issues Statement Concerning Judge Rotenberg Center

Apr 18 2012 | comment(s)

On March 22, I called on Autism Speaks and the Autism Society of America to stand up against the abuse, restraint and torture occurring at the Judge Rotenberg Center. Today, I received an official statement from Autism Speaks through Marc Sirkin, Autism Speaks Vice President, Social Marketing&Online Fundraising:
SUSY And The Silence Of The (Roasted) Lamb

SUSY And The Silence Of The (Roasted) Lamb

Apr 18 2012 | comment(s)

I am just back from a vacation to Greece, where last Sunday was orthodox Easter. My fiancee Kalliopi is Greek, and it was about time for me for me to experience a bit of Greek customs. So we flew to Athens, and then headed to Salamina, where I had a lot of fun the Greek way in the company of a very cheerful dozen of relatives and friends.

Among the obligatory ingredients of a Greek Easter is the roasted lamb. It is cooked all in one piece, on a huge skewer, by rolling it for hours over hot coals. Its appearance is a bit disturbing at first, that is until the smell start to turn from that of a corpse to that of delicious food.  Below you can see me in front of the thing as it was already in the good-smelling and edible-looking phase.
Dark Matter Theory Takes A Hit

Dark Matter Theory Takes A Hit

Apr 18 2012 | comment(s)

Widely accepted theories of dark matter,  a mysterious invisible substance that can only be detected indirectly by the gravitational force it exerts, expect the solar neighborhood to be filled with the stuff - but it isn't, at least as far as can be detected.
Moment Zero

Moment Zero

Apr 18 2012 | comment(s)

This is my first article in here. I found Science 2.0 all by accident, looking for articles to update my scoop.it journal focused on Nuclear Physics (in case you are interested here it is).

My first and biggest question was the name of this blog hosted in Science 2.0. What should it be? I picked Moment Zero for a dual reason: first, this is my moment zero in the site and hope it will expand in time (entropy rules!) and, second, being an experimentalist dealing with nuclear EM moments, I thought that a moment of zero value would be a good starting point to look for nice phenomena. This time the phenomenon is just this blog and my desire to see how it will evolve in time.
Dalai Lama Gets Templeton Prize For Science According To Templeton

Dalai Lama Gets Templeton Prize For Science According To Templeton

Apr 18 2012 | comment(s)

Tenzin Gyatso, who some call “Dalai Lama” and other funny names, has been awarded the 2012 Templeton Prize, as announced here, and if you look at the given justification, you could be excused for mistaking the Templeton Prize for a straight science award and Tenzin for a scientist. Tenzin has supposedly a


“long-standing engagement with multiple dimensions of science”

 

“Specifically, he encourages serious scientific investigative reviews of the power of compassion and its broad potential to address the world's fundamental problems”

What Took So Long? 200 Activists Launch Themselves Off Mt. Kilimanjaro

What Took So Long? 200 Activists Launch Themselves Off Mt. Kilimanjaro

Apr 18 2012 | comment(s)

Don't get too excited but 200 activists are going to jump off Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

These aren't the usual pesky environmentalists, these are hang-gliding global activists, which really sounds like just an excuse to go hang-gliding but get permits to do it in cool places but it's still going to raise money for a worthy cause.

DeGrasse Tyson Missing Silicon While Distorting Science

DeGrasse Tyson Missing Silicon While Distorting Science

Apr 18 2012 | comment(s)

Neil deGrasse Tyson shared “deeply cosmic” thoughts, whatever that is supposed to mean, and then “a fascinatingly disturbing thought” - watch it on liveleak.

There is a lot one can criticize* about his claims, however, he is missing something obvious that stands out like a sore thumb: Silicon!

Trading Planets - How Space Is Like Baseball

Trading Planets - How Space Is Like Baseball

Apr 17 2012 | comment(s)

Billions of stars in our galaxy have acquired released planets that once roamed interstellar space. Those free agent worlds left the star systems in which they formed, and found a new home with a different sun.

If it sounds a lot like baseball, that's because it is, said Hagai Perets of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, making the most incongruent cosmological metaphor of April 17th, 2012.
California State Science Fair April 30-May 1

California State Science Fair April 30-May 1

Apr 17 2012 | comment(s)

The 61st Annual California State Science Fair will be held at the California Science Center in Los Angeles April 30-May 1, 2012. Each year, hundreds of students from more than 400 schools throughout California compete in the two-day event that recognizes the state's best student research projects. 

The California State Science Fair is the final science fair of the academic year for students throughout the State of California in grades 6 - 12.
Poison Becomes Food: Worm Lives On Carbon Monoxide And Sewer Gas

Poison Becomes Food: Worm Lives On Carbon Monoxide And Sewer Gas

Apr 17 2012 | comment(s)

A small marine worm, Olavius algarvensis, is faced with a scarce food supply in the sandy sediments it lives in off the coast of Elba, so it must deal with a highly poisonous menu: it lives on carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide.

O. algarvensis can thrive on these poisons thanks to millions of symbiotic bacteria that live under its skin. The bacteria use the energy from carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulphide to produce food for the worm, just like plants do by fixing carbon dioxide into carbohydrates - but instead of using light energy from the sun, the symbionts use the energy from chemical compounds like carbon monoxide.
Brangelina: 51% to Last 15 Years

Brangelina: 51% to Last 15 Years

Apr 17 2012 | comment(s)

Last month I wrote an equation with New York Times columnist, John Tierney, calculating the chances a celebrity marriage will last. Some looked rosy (Kate and Prince William) and some looked less rosy (Will Smith and Jada Pinkett are in a dangerous window). Notably absent from the in-depth discussion was Brangelina — last month they were shacking up and this month, well, unless you’ve been living in a boarded-up shack in rural Montana, you know the smell of wedding bells is in the air (or however the idiom goes).

Brangelina’s getting hitched. But will it last?