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Radioactive medicine without the nuclear headache

Posted by Hannah

The Globe and Mail A made-in-Canada solution to our medical-isotope problem could come from a machine with a name that could have been pulled straight from the pages of a science fiction novel: the cyclotron. “It was really pooh-poohed, this idea of using cyclotrons; they said there was no way we could produce enough in a commercially meaningful way,” says John Wilson, the cyclotron facilities manager at the University of Alberta’s Cross Cancer Institute. In mid-2010, scientists at the University of Sherbrooke and the University of Alberta made technetium-99m, the most commonly used medical isotope, without a nuclear reactor. Last … Read more…

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Acidic oceans threaten fish

Posted by Hannah

Stocks could suffer as seas soak up more carbon dioxide.  Ocean acidification looks likely to damage crucial fish stocks. Two studies published today in Nature Climate Change reveal that high carbon dioxide concentrations can cause death and organ damage in very young fish. The work challenges the belief that fish, unlike organisms with shells or exoskeletons made of calcium carbonate, will be safe as marine CO2 levels rise. Fish could be most susceptible to carbon dioxide when in the egg, or just hatched. Oceans act like carbon sponges, drawing CO2 from the atmosphere into the water. As the CO2 mixes … Read more…

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International group calls for end to selective reporting of clinical trials

Posted by Hannah

Free access to all data will provide the best care for patients, says Cochrane Collaboration. People don’t like to reveal their failures. But when it comes to clinical trials, researchers should be compelled to make even their negative results public, according to a statement issued by an international group that reviews medical research studies. The release of all information and data from randomized clinical trials would allow physicians to provide the best possible care for patients, says the Cochrane Collaboration. In 2004, the pharmaceutical company Merck withdrew its blockbuster arthritis drug rofecoxib (Vioxx) from pharmacies around the world because of an increased risk … Read more…

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Frozen Assets

Posted by Hannah

Maclean’s Ice cores tell the history of Canada’s climate, but now the government doesn’t want them anymore.

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Panel would change Canada’s research landscape

Posted by Hannah

Posted on the Nature News blog on 14 October 2011.  In an effort to address Canada’s problem with innovation, an independent panel has recommended a radical overhaul that includes the creation of a new funding council and transforms the country’s largest research entity, the billion dollar National Research Council (NRC). Study after study has shown that Canada’s businesses invest less on R&D, relative to the country’s gross domestic product, than those of many other OECDcountries and, unlike others, has actually decreased its spending over the last decade. Many of these business investments include government support in the form tax credits, training … Read more…