The News Review:
- Alsoph Corwin: [ Age 99 ] Hopkins chemistry professor department…
- Scientists clash on methane mystery
- States Adopt New Strategies for Stem-Cell Research
- Abe has tough act to follow in bonding with Bush
Alsoph Corwin: [ Age 99 ] Hopkins chemistry professor department…
Free with registration – Baltimore Sun – AccessMyLibrary.com – Apr 27, 2007
(27-APR-07) Baltimore Sun (Baltimore MD). 27–Alsoph Henry Corwin a retired Johns Hopkins University chemistry professor and department chairman who taught for 41 years died of congestive heart failure April 20.
Scientists clash on methane mystery
Chemistry World – Apr 27, 2007
Tom Dueck of Wageningen University in the Netherlands says his team’s independent investigations are the first published results to show that plants’ methane emissions are negligible or zero. That means their contribution to the global methane budget and potentially to climate change simply isn’t worth worrying about. But Frank Keppler now at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz Germany – whose team announced in January 2006 they had detected methane exhaled from living plants2 – is sticking to his guns. ‘I am one hundred per cent confident that plants emit methane’ he told Chemistry World insisting that as yet unpublished research would confirm his findings once and for all. Global questionsKeppler’s unexpected discovery has stirred up heated debate among biologists and atmospheric chemists over the past year. Though bacteria in soil or decaying matter produce methane in anaerobic conditions there seems to be no reason – or mechanism – for living plants to emit the gas in an oxygen-rich environment. The implications of the findings are worrying: on a global scale Keppler estimated methane emissions from plants and trees could amount to hundreds of millions of tonnes a year throwing scientists’ understanding of the greenhouse gas’s sources and sinks way off kilter… But he told Chemistry World that other researchers had backed up his claims in work yet to be published and that he was investigating a biological pathway by which plants could produce methane – something that would really convince the sceptics. Yet other scientists contacted by Chemistry World said they too were about to publish work which showed plants emitted no methane at all. ‘Some research groups say nothing is going on and an equal number say Keppler is absolutely right’ summarised one researcher who declined to be named as their own research publication on the topic is currently under review. Technical challengeThe main problem with answering what seems to be such a simple question – do plants emit methane? – is that measuring methane emissions at such tiny rates is a huge technical challenge said David Beerling of Sheffield University UK. The debate looks likely to rumble on for some years Keppler conceded.
States Adopt New Strategies for Stem-Cell Research
NPR – Apr 27, 2007
Rudolf Jaenisch founding member Whitehead Institute; professor of biology Massachusetts Institute of Technology Douglas A. Melton investigator Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor in the Natural Sciences; co-director Harvard Stem Cell Institute Harvard University George Q. Daley associate professor biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology; associate professor pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston Brigham and Women’s Hospital Harvard Stem Cell Institute Michael Sandel Anne T. Bass Professor of Government; author of The Case Against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering Related NPR StoriesApril 12 2007.
Abe has tough act to follow in bonding with Bush
International Herald Tribune – Apr 27, 2007
It would be important symbolism if only because Koizumi was at Camp David so much. “They really want an opportunity not to be constrained if you will by a very large state event to get to know each other much better” said Dennis Wilder senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council explaining the informal dinner. He said the president and first lady discovered “personal chemistry between them and the Abes in Hanoi. ” Most people develop personal chemistry in a matter of weeks months or even years; world leaders have only hours or maybe a day. As Bush has discovered there can be a risk to fast-track personal diplomacy; critics have never let him forget his 2001 comment about President Vladimir Putin of Russia: “I looked the man in the eye” Bush said then adding “I was able to get a sense of his soul. ” Asia experts say the Bush-Koizumi bond was genuine. “He and Koizumi were real friends” said Michael Green a former senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council… “They really want an opportunity not to be constrained if you will by a very large state event to get to know each other much better” said Dennis Wilder senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council explaining the informal dinner. He said the president and first lady discovered “personal chemistry between them and the Abes in Hanoi. ” Most people develop personal chemistry in a matter of weeks months or even years; world leaders have only hours or maybe a day. As Bush has discovered there can be a risk to fast-track personal diplomacy; critics have never let him forget his 2001 comment about President Vladimir Putin of Russia: “I looked the man in the eye” Bush said then adding “I was able to get a sense of his soul. ” Asia experts say the Bush-Koizumi bond was genuine. “He and Koizumi were real friends” said Michael Green a former senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council. “Their summit meetings were substantive but frankly they talked about the stuff friends talk about.