Photo courtesy of Wildxplorer

This Week: A Phase 3 trial of a new malaria vaccine shows that it can halve the risk of disease. We explore whether that is significant development for controlling malaria in the future. The magnificent trees that line France’s ancient Canal du Midi are now dying. A story about waters wars in a different part of Australia. (Listen to Part I of Australia’s Water Wars in Podcast 135.)

Malaria Vaccine Trial Raises Hopes: The pharmaceutical company Glaxo SmithKline (GSK) published the results of a large scale field trial of a malaria vaccine. The results show that the vaccine can halve the risk of disease. Now, that may not seem like a big deal, (most other vaccines have an efficiency of 90% and above) but experts are hailing this as significant progress. It is also the first vaccine for a parasitic disease to be so effective. In this episode, we hear more about the vaccine from a GSK representative. Then, we get some perspective from infectious disease expert Bill Foege, who you heard in Podcast no. 125.
Read the study about the malaria vaccine trial here.
More about the vaccine on the BBC’s website.

The Dying Trees of France’s Canal du Midi:The banks along France’s Canal du Midi, are lined with trees so majestic that UNESCO called them “a work of art.” Sadly, those trees are dying. The World’s Gerry Hadden brings us this story.

Australia’s Water Wars Part II: Farmers in the great Australian Outback have never had much access to water. Now ranchers and environmentalists in the region have formed an unlikely alliance to avoid the water wars. The World’s Jason Margolis brings us this story.
Read more about Jason’s story here.

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.

Photo by Tom Paulson

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Listen to our interview with William Foege here.

William Foege was one of the scientists who led the global campaign to eradicate smallpox, a deadly disease that plagued humankind for centuries. At the time, he was working for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. His new book about the eradication campaign is called House on Fire: The Fight to Eradicate Smallpox.

Foege is now a senior fellow at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and he is our guest in this Science Forum discussion.

When Foege first started working for the smallpox eradication campaign in the late 1960s, the plan was to vaccinate everyone in affected countries. But while working in Nigeria, he found himself facing a shortage of vaccine supplies. So he enlisted local missionaries to find affected communities and only vaccinate people in the immediate vicinity of patients. The strategy is what public health officials call “surveillance and containment,” and it ultimately succeeded in eradicating the disease globally.

More than thirty years later, smallpox remains the only human disease to be eradicated. (The United Nations has just announced the first eradication of a livestock disease—rinderpest. Click here to read/listen to our story.) There are efforts to eradicate other diseases like polio, Guinea worm, and malaria.

Is eradication a feasible goal for all diseases? When should we decide to eradicate a disease versus just control it?

Bring your thoughts and questions for Foege. He’ll be participating in this discussion until July 12th.

Additional Resources:

• A review of  ‘House on Fire,’ The Wall Street Journal.
• William Foege on eradicating other diseases, NPR’s Humanosphere blog.
• Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
• Eradicating Guinea Worm Disease, PRI’s The World.

Looming Quake Risk in Japan: A series of studies in Science, as reported by Nature, suggests another big quake could be in the offing south of where the Great Tohoku Earthquake struck.

Congress Restricts Sino-American Science Collaboration: Here’s one I missed a couple of weeks ago. A little-known clause in the latest federal budget bans certain forms of scientific collaboration between the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China. Here’s one take on the issue from the Council on Foreign Relations.

Skin Disease in the Mind: A Mayo Clinic study suggests that Morgellons disease — which sufferers say is caused by parasites crawling under the skin — is actually caused by delusions, says a story in the L.A. Times. (The disease sounds reminiscent of Guinea worm disease, which is all too real. Check out my story on a former U.S. president’s battle against Guinea worm.)

Mummies with Heart Disease: We’ve heard this before: scientists put mummies in CT scanners to diagnose diseases of ancient Egypt. But this latest study is especially large and finds a surprisingly high rate of atherosclerosis. Report by Discovery News.

DDT vs. Malaria: The New York Times provides an update on a controversy in Northern Uganda. Are the benefits of combating malaria with DDT worth the risks? It’s a subject we investigated in 2009 with a lengthy news report and a World Science Forum discussion.

David Baron is the health & science editor at The World.

(Photo: flickr image by Ian Turton.)

This week: It’s the 100th episode of The World Science Podcast!  We re-trace our steps since the beginning of the podcast and give you updates on stories we’ve covered before. You’ll hear about click languages, champagne bubbles and how the blind can see with sound. We’ll also give you a podcast-exclusive preview of stories to come later this year.  And don’t forget to stop by our online conversation about magic and the human mind with Macknik and Martinez-Conde in our  Science Forum.

Updates on Elsa’s Favorite Stories:

• Click Languages: In July, 2009, we brought you a story about an endangered click language from Africa. Elsa caught up with researcher Amanda Miller for an update. She has now documented a new kind of click, called a retroflex click, in a dialect of the !Xung language. It’s the most difficult click to execute, and is made by touching the bottom of the tongue to the roof of the mouth. Miller and her colleagues believe it is also the most ancestral click, which has morphed into other clicks in different dialects.
  Listen to the old story in Podcast no. 24.
  Amanda Miller’s website.
  Video tutorial for pronouncing the clicks in Khoekhoegowab, another click language.
• Champagne Bubbles: In podcasts 34 and 80, we brought you news about champagne bubbles and how best to pour your champagne so you don’t ruin the drink’s flavor. Elsa checked in with the authors of the studies and learned that they are now studying what happens to champagne as it ages.
  Listen to the original stories in podcasts 34 and 80.
  More on champagne bubbles in American Scientist.
  The researchers’ website (in French).
  The study on aged champagne.
  A champagne experiment in The World newsroom. Check out the results in this video!
  
• You Can’t Get Drunk Through Your Feet: Physicians in Denmark have disproved the Danish urban myth that you can get drunk by soaking your feet in a tub of vodka. The doctors tested the folklore by sticking their own feet in a bowl of “very cheap vodka,” says study author Peter Lommer Kristensen. And the British Medical Journal published their results in their Christmas 2010 issue.
  The study.
• Seeing With Sound: With a software program that converts images to sounds, blind people can navigate and even “see.” After just several hours of training, their brains begin to send the information from their ears to the visual cortex for interpretation.
  Listen to the original story in podcast 81.
  The inventor’s website. (To make and hear your own line drawings, click on the “demo” button at the very bottom of the page.)
  See and hear the rest of the walk around the yard.
  Check this NPR story for a completely different reason to convert information into sounds.
• Scary Sex for Water Striders: When it’s time to mate, some male water striders climb on top of the females and start tapping the surface of the water. This behavior attracts predators from below–the threat of which intimidates females into mating more quickly to stop the tapping.
  Listen to the original story in podcast 80.
  The study.
  Some crickets have taken the opposite route: The risk of being eaten has made males completely mute.
  More on how predators affect mating signals in other animals (a weighty pdf from the Quarterly Review of Biology).

Strawberry and Cacao Genomes Sequenced: Scientists have just sequenced the genomes of the cacao and strawberry plants. The World’s science and health editor David Baron tells us how the sequences could help scientists, crop breeders and farmers.
Guest: David Baron

This week:  We just launched a four-part series on health care rationing. You’ll hear the first story in today’s show. It’s about a South African committee that decides who received life-saving kidney dialysis and who doesn’t. Check out our series page here.  Elsa brings news about cholera in Haiti, and phone networks in the U.K. Join our online discussion on coal and China with journalist Jeff Goodell here.

A South African Health Care Rationing Committee: In South Africa, the government puts limits on life-sustaining kidney dialysis, and that puts medical professionals in a difficult position. They are tasked with deciding who lives and who dies. This is the story of two patients and the committee that determined their fates.
Reporter: Sheri Fink
Related slide shows, graphics and more.
Our Rationing Health Series page.

Socks May Help Malaria Prevention: A new study suggests that smelly socks may help in malaria prevention. Odors from the socks could be used to lure mosquitoes into traps.
Guest: Dr. Renate Smallegange
The study in Malaria journal.

Elsa’s Favorite Science Stories:

• The Mysterious Origins of Haitian Cholera: More than 90,000 Haitians have been sickened with cholera since October. Researchers have now sequenced the full genome of the Haitian cholera bacteria, and found that it most closely matches strains from Bangladesh. This supports the idea that the outbreak may be an import from south Asia. But the case is far from closed. Skeptics say that the two cholera isolates used in the new study did not capture genetic variation among the Haitian bacteria, which may have been well established along the island’s coast long before the outbreak.
  CDC page on Haitian cholera.
  The sequencing study.
  The new sequence reveals an especially toxic version of the cholera bacterium.
  Suspicions that UN peacekeepers may have introduced the cholera led to violence against the troops.
  A report filed by a French epidemiologist seemed to support those suspicions.
  But, as reported here and here, some experts say the judgment has been far too hasty, and that the cholera bacteria may have been lurking along Haiti’s coast for a long time.
• An Anti-Viral for Mosquitoes: Australian researchers are using one infection to fight another: Mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia bacteria are unable to transmit the dengue virus, which causes severe fevers in humans. Although about 60% of insect species naturally harbor Wolbachia, disease-carrying mosquitoes do not. But researchers can infect them in the lab–and Wolbachia manipulates mosquito reproduction to spread quickly through a population. Upcoming field trials in Queensland will test how well an introduced Wolbachia infection spreads to wild mosquitoes there.
  How Wolbachia quickly infiltrates insect populations.
  Website of the Eliminate Dengue research team, including links to many of the studies upon which the field trials are based.
  University of Queensland news release on the upcoming trial.
• Re-mapping the United Kingdom: Researchers have redrawn the map of the United Kingdom based on
  phone-call data that reveal which regions talk to themselves the most. Another team has found that European countries that share borders, languages or cultural alliances (i.e. that vote for one another in the Eurovision song contest) also tend to report the same top news stories. These are two examples of how high-speed computing allows researchers to sift through vast amounts of data to find insights into how we relate to the world around us.
  The phone study.
  The news study.
  BBC coverage.

This week:  We’re taking you to Senegal, where informal recycling of lead from old car batteries has caused severe health problems. We’re still talking about electronic waste and green electronics in our Science Forum. You can join the conversation here. We’ll also tell you how to part the Red Sea — like Moses did in the story of the Exodus. And Elsa brings news about our livers and the origins of the human malaria parasite.

Parting the Red Sea: The crossing of the Red Sea in the biblical story of the Exodus has long made theologians and archeologists wonder: where could the legendary event have taken place? Carl Drews is trying to shed some light on the issue, but he’s not a biblical scholar. He’s a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado.
Guest: Carl Drews
Transcript of the interview.
The study.
Video with more about the simulation.

Lead Recycling Exacts High Price: In the West African nation of Senegal, an informal recycling industry has poisoned children and left a neighborhood severely polluted. Residents caused the contamination by pulling apart car batteries to extract the lead. The government is now cleaning up the site, but many of the children will never be the same.
Report by: Jori Lewis.
Transcript of the story.
The Blacksmith Institute.

Elsa’s Favorite Science Stories:

• Our Polyploid Livers: Almost all the cells in our bodies have exactly two sets of chromosomes. Liver cells are a rare exception. Some liver cells are polyploid — they have four or eight sets of chromosomes. A new study in mice finds that liver cells can also contain odd numbers of chromosomes and can turn this apparent disorder to their advantage. The cells reshuffle the genetic material between the extra chromosomes, allowing for more genetic diversity in these cells. The genetic variation may help the organ withstand its harsh duties as the body’s detox center.
  The study.
  Science News article.
• Malaria from Gorillas: The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum kills about a million people per year and sickens millions more. Researchers have long believed that humans first contracted the parasite from chimpanzees, but new research suggests the parasite originated in gorillas. That conclusion is based on the genetic sequence of nine species of malaria parasites that were found in the the dung of wild great apes. The evidence suggests that the parasite only jumped from gorillas to humans once.
  The study.
  Another recent study on malaria in the African great apes with BBC coverage.
  Last year’s study of malaria in humans and chimpanzees.
  Our previous coverage.
  It’s not a one-way street; apes catch human diseases too.

This week: Big storms are brewing on the Sun, and they’re sending flares of plasma towards the Earth. There’s a new book out about the science of life in space. It’s called Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. We talk to the book’s author, science journalist Mary Roach. Then, Elsa brings news about oceans, malaria and high-heeled shoes.

Packing for Mars: A trip to space isn’t as exciting as you may think. So says Mary Roach, science journalist and author of the new book, Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. The book paints an unromantic picture of life in space. Roach spoke with The World’s David Baron. This is a longer, podcast-exclusive version of the interview that aired on the radio program.
Guest: Mary Roach
Watch a video about space hygiene and the people who stopped bathing for science.
Follow Diego Urbina’s twitter feed from the Mars500 experiment.
More about the Mars500 simulation on Podcast 70.
Robonaut2 is tweeting. You can follow it here.

Elsa’s Favorite Science Stories:

• Bearded Gobies Save an Ocean Ecosystem: This is a story about a marine ecosystem that seemed to be doomed by overfishing. But an unsuspecting species – the bearded goby – revived it. The ecosystem hasn’t recovered to its original state, but is evolving in a new direction.
  The Study.
• Cases of Malaria Misdiagnosis: A new study has found that a large number of malaria diagnoses are inaccurate. Many countries don’t have the tests to determine when someone is infected with malaria parasites, leading to misdiagnoses of ordinary fevers as malaria.
  The Study.
• High Heeled Shoes Impact Your Calves: Ladies, beware! Those fashionable high-heeled shoes may be scrunching up your calf muscles permanently. That’s according to a new study that compared the leg muscles of people wearing high-heeled and flat shoes. The study was limited to 13 heel wearers. So the findings may need further confirmation from a bigger group of subjects.
  The Study.

Solar Flares & Northern Lights: The Sun is experiencing some stormy weather, and scientists say the solar storms may affect us on Earth. The World’s David Baron spoke with the U.S National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Doug Biesecker. He says the solar flares may cause a brilliant display of northern lights. The storms are expected to continue through August 5th.
Guest: Doug Biesecker.
See video and pictures of the sun on the shownotes for Podcast 64.
Check out the the location, intensity and extent of the northern lights here.

Language Influences How We Perceive People: We may think differently of people depending on our own and their linguistic background. That’s according to a recently published study by researchers in the U.K and Israel. I spoke about the study in this week’s Language Podcast. Don’t miss it – it’s a really fun listen!
Learn more about Patrick Cox’s language podcast.

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This week: The World’s Technology Correspondent Clark Boyd is in the host chair. He brings you science news from four continents: In Africa, medical workers battle a common cause of blindness. In Asia, a small nation provides scholarships to attract science talent. In Europe, scientists study what happens when we get lost in the woods. And in Australia, a biologist tries a new strategy for battling malaria. Also: astronomers find an unlikely planet, and researchers gain insights into the brains of bilinguals.

Elsa is back with her favorite science stories. Her picks this week:

• Bilingualism: Learning a second language can influence how the brain processes a native language. That’s the finding of a Belgian study of people who speak both Dutch and English. (The study was published in the journal Psychological Science (volume 20, number 8,) but since you need a subscription to even see the abstract, here’s a press release too.)

• Odd Planet: An international team of scientists has detected a planet that shouldn’t exist. This “hot Jupiter” is so close to its sun that it completes each orbit in less than a single Earth day. (The study.)

• Malaria Vaccine: An international team of scientists has genetically modified the parasite that causes malaria. Could this lab-created organism be the basis for an effective vaccine? (The study.)

Fighting Blindness: Trachoma is a bacterial infection of the eye and a leading cause of blindness. Though largely eradicated from the industrialized world, trachoma remains a common affliction in developing countries. We visit the nation with the highest burden of disease and see how one American organization is trying to preserve sight for millions.
Report: By Odette Yousef in Ethiopia. (See photographs here.)

Singapore Science: Singapore considers science the key to its future economic growth. The Asian city-state  is building world-class laboratories, but it lacks trained personnel to staff those labs. So Singapore is reaching out to other countries for the science talent and science education it needs.
Report: By Ari Daniel Shapiro in Singapore.

Lost in the Woods: A new study by scientists in Germany has confirmed that when people get disoriented in the woods or other natural environments, they really do tend to walk in circles. The researchers sent volunteers into a German forest and the Sahara Desert and tracked their movements by GPS. (Click here to see a Google Earth image of the paths taken by some volunteers in the German forest.)
Report: By The World’s David Baron.

Music:

Walkin’ in Circles, by Charles Brown with Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers

DDT Controversy in Uganda: The U.S. government and the World Health Organization are encouraging African countries to spray DDT to kill malarial mosquitoes. But in some countries, this plan to protect the public has caused a public backlash.
Report: By Alison Hawkes in northern Uganda.

DDT: Poison or Protector? How toxic is DDT for humans? And how effective is it at killing mosquitoes? Is it possible to balance concern for the environment with the desire to fight malaria?
Guest: Entomologist May Berenbaum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Berenbaum is also our guest in The World’s interactive science forum. Join us for an online conversation about DDT, malaria, and the delicate balance between competing risks. Ask questions, and share your views and ideas.

Traditional Healing in Senegal: Throughout Africa, many people rely on traditional healers. Western medical care is often unavailable or too expensive, and many Africans don’t believe that Western medicine works.
Report: By Jori Lewis in Senegal.

Reforesting Ghana: Over the past century, Ghana has lost 80 percent of its forest. Now, a British firm is launching a project to plant 24 million trees in that West African nation. The idea: to get big polluters to pay for the forests as part of a carbon trading scheme.
Report: By BBC environment correspondent David Shukman, in Ghana.

Elsa’s weekly favorites:

• A new HIV strain jumps from gorillas to humans. (The study.)
• Malaria came to us from the great apes, too– from chimpanzees, to be precise. (The study.)
• Four-thousand-year-old gourds bear traces of a prehistoric Peruvian feast. (The study.) (Here’s a recipe for modern algarrobina cocktails– but you might have to make your own carob syrup.)
• Orchids imitate bees to dupe wasps. (The study.)
  Photo by Song Xi-qiang

Music:
Africa Must Be Free By 1983, by Hugh Mundell
Gossando, Star Band de Dakar