Hare Supermoms, Green Electronics, Gene Therapy
This week: We learn why hares are such prolific breeders and get an update on gene therapy. We’re also starting a new Science Forum discussion in collaboration with The World’s Technology desk. You’ll hear a story about a small Belgian start-up that’s trying to bring environmentally friendly manufacturing and fair-trade practices to the electronics industry. And we have an interview with our Science Forum guest, Sarah O’Brien. She talks about efforts to make the global electronics industry go green. Have questions about how green your laptop is? Bring them to the online conversation with O’Brien.
Greener Gadgets from Belgium: Our ever-increasing reliance on electronic gadgets comes with certain environmental side effects. Those gadgets often contain things that are potentially harmful to the environment. The electronics industry is also tough to evaluate when it comes to fair trade practices. One small company in Belgium is trying to address both of those issues. The company is called United Pepper.
Report by: Clark Boyd
United Pepper.
Traidcraft is the company hired by United Pepper to ensure its products are fair trade.
Greener Global Electronics: A U.S.-based non-profit called the Green Electronics Council is trying to make the electronics industry more environmentally friendly. The council certifies and rates electronic products based on criteria that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency helped develop. The standards are set to reduce environmental hazards from the manufacturing, use, and disposal of electronics.
Guest: Sarah O’Brien, communications director of the Green Electronics Council.
Join the Science Forum discussion with Sarah O’Brien here.
Electronic waste is posing a growing environmental threat in developing countries.
Several countries have signed the 1992 Basel Convention treaty to reduce e-waste. The U.S. has yet to ratify it.
The Basel Action Network works to reduce e-waste in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Elsa’s Favorite Science Stories:
- A Pragmatic Plan for Tigers: Heads of state will convene in Russia in November to ratify a plan for global tiger conservation. Researchers publishing in the journal PLoS Biology argue that if the new plan is going to work, it needs to start small. It should concentrate available resources on the places where most tigers live–in just 6% of tiger habitat.
The study.
Our recent Science Forum on tiger conservation, with guest John Seidensticker.
Some good tiger news from Bhutan (a neat BBC video!)
Bhutan’s tigers on The World.
Tiger facts from the World Wildlife Fund. - A Gene Therapy Success: Gene therapy has greatly reduced symptoms in a patient with the inherited blood disorder β-thalassemia. It’s a disease caused by a single faulty gene for hemoglobin, which causes anemia. Doctors administered the treatment in 2007, and the patient no longer requires the blood transfusions he had received since infancy. It’s a small trial, and doctors are still monitoring closely for side effects. But taken together with other recent success in gene therapy, it looks like the methods are improving and could bring more widespread benefits in the future.
The study.
Nature News coverage.
Our previous reporting on other gene therapy trials. - Supermom Hares: Rabbits are renowned for their fast reproduction, but it’s their cousins the hares who can get pregnant again while they’re still pregnant. This process, known as superfetation, gives mother hares a 3- to 4-day head start on the next litter. Somewhat mysteriously, it also results in more baby hares per litter than does conventional fertilization. The bottom line? About one third more babies per breeding season for supermoms. Listen to find out what other animals regularly perform this amazing reproductive feat!
The study.
Superfetation is very rare in humans!
