Masai herdsmen's cow getting tagged. (Photo: Anders Kelto)

This week, we’re talking about eradicating diseases. The U.N. just announced that rinderpest, a deadly cattle disease has been eradicated. This is the second disease to be eradicated in history. The first was a human disease—smallpox. We’ll hear from one of the scientists who led that global campaign. We’ve also launched a Forum discussion about conquering deadly diseases. Click here to join the conversation. Also, we hear from a listener in Barcelona.

End of Rinderpest: This week, the U.N. announced that for only the second time in history, a disease has been eradicated. The illness, called rinderpest, was a devastating plague of cattle and other animals. Anders Kelto reports from Kenya, the site of the last known case of the disease.
Read more here.
Efforts to eradicate Guinea worm disease in Podcast 60.
Challenges to conquering polio, in Podcast 72.

Eradication of Smallpox: The first disease to be eradicated was smallpox. That was more than thirty years ago. One of the scientists who led the global campaign was epidemiologist, William Foege. He was most closely involved in the eradication efforts in Nigeria, and India, the last stronghold of the disease. Foege has written a new book about his experiences during the fight to beat the disease. It’s called House on Fire: The Fight to Eradicate Smallpox. He spoke with The World’s Lisa Mullins about his book, and about the possibility of conquering other diseases .

How to Kill Killer Diseases: Foege is also taking your thoughts and questions about smallpox, and other infectious diseases in our latest Science Forum discussion. Click here to join the conversation.

This week: Mediterranean bluefin tuna, being decimated. Watching for swine flu in Africa. Germany leads the way on renewable energy. And some surprising results from a mummy CAT scan. Plus carbs and cardiovascular disease, and genetic links between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Bluefin Tuna Troubles: In the Mediterranean, fishing for bluefin tuna goes back thousands of years. But now, overfishing is taking a severe toll, and the bluefin tuna population is crashing.
Report: By The World’s Gerry Hadden in Barcelona.

Swine Flu in Africa: The World Health Organization has tallied more than 70,000 confirmed cases of swine flu worldwide. Of those, fewer than ten are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Even so, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention worries that Africa could be hit hard by the pandemic. Experts say crowded slums on the continent could serve as perfect places for the spread of H1N1.
Report: By The World’s Andrea Crossan in Nairobi, Kenya.

An interactive worldwide swine flu map from the WHO

Solar Energy in East Germany: A decade ago, Germany’s government decided to focus on creating new sources of clean, renewable energy — and putting people to work in these new industries. The strategy succeeded. It helped create a solar power industry and revive a depressed region of the former East Germany. This story is the first installment in a five-part series on how Europe is confronting the challenge of climate change.
Report: By Kathleen Schalch in Frankfurt an Oder, Germany.

German Renewable Energy Federation

Mummies Get CAT Scans: Researchers in New York gave CAT scans to four mummies from the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The scans revealed a few surprises, including the fact that one mummy long thought to be a woman is actually a man.
Report: By The World’s Lisa Mullins.

Mummy photos from the Brooklyn Museum

David’s favorite science stories of the week (Elsa’s away, having fun — we hope — in Bulgaria):

• New details on how some carbohydrates can damage the cardiovascular system
• A large international schizophrenia study finds genetic evidence that the disease has an immune component, and comes up with a genetic link to bipolar disorder.

Music:
Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, by World Party
Way Down Now, by World Party