Do Octopuses Dream of Electric Sheep? Any pet owner will have observed their cat or dog dreaming during a deep sleep by the family hearth. Now it seems that octopuses, those most intelligent of molluscs, may be doing it too. Daily Mail
Deadliest animal When the movie Jaws came out back in 1976, we recall several persons calling for the extermination of sharks. But it’s not sharks, tigers, kodiak bears or cobras-it’s humans who kill everything around them. A depressing thought. BBC
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66058976
Lowering Consumption For hundreds of years tuberculosis was the dread of working class communities around the world. It was called “consumption” in Victorian England, and it’s associated with poverty, overcrowding and dirt. So we welcome news of a promising new vaccine on the way Nature Briefings
Two major funders — the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wellcome — have announced that they will pour US$550 million into taking a promising vaccine candidate for tuberculosis through a large clinical trial. If successful, it will be the first tuberculosis vaccine to be commercialized in more than a century. The vaccine aims to tackle latent infections of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in adults. The current BGC vaccine (short for Bacillus Calmette–Guérin) offers limited protection against latent infections, which affect one in four people globally. The phase III trial will recruit 26,000 participants in several countries across Asia and Africa.Nature | 3 min read
Enough of experts We have oft times remarked here, perhaps a little testily, on the denigration of experts by populist politicians and journalists. Here’s a considered opinion about why it happens and what we in the educated community can do to start redressing the balance. The Conversation-and look folks, there’s even a picture of our old bete noire MIchael Gove!
Lost your voice? Everyone will have happy memories of the favourite singer belting out an aria or crooning the school disco with some favourite ditty. But that was long ago- and how come they can’t hit those highs anymore. Here’s a rather nice scientific explanation from The Conversation
Evidence based blogging In pursuit of the above here’s two videos showing how the greats Paul McCartney’s voice varies across the years with two different covers of his popular hit Lady Madonna. See what changes time has wrought!
#singing #octupus #tuberculosis #vaccine #extinction
Learning, Science and Society 