Don’t Let It Go To Waste
Researchers have found a way to convert human waste into renewable energy, the BBC reported. At Pennsylvania State University, scientists have developed a microbial fuel cell that generates electricity from sewage. The process by which bacteria breaks down waste produces electrons, which would normally be used up in respiratory reactions in the bacterial cells, but in this case are harnessed to set up a voltage.
The energy output so far is not high, although researchers think it has the potential to produce 10 times as much. However, using this technology as a viable energy source is still decades away.
—With files from BBC News
Under Pressure
Widespread workplace drug testing in the United States is giving rise to paruresis, a psychological phobia.
Tim Smith, an assembly line worker at Caterpillar Inc. claims he was fired from his job last fall because his failure to provide a urine sample was seen as refusal to take the test.
“You tell me I have three hours to urinate and I’m going to lose my job—hey man, I’m frozen. I can’t do anything,’’ he said.
Paruresis, or shy bladder syndrome, is not uncommon, said Steven Soifer, president of the International Paruresis Association. Soifer said he hears every week from individuals unable to urinate for a drug test.
—With files from the Chicago Sun-Times
Deadly Dealings
Tulane University’s medical school has suspended its affiliation with the National Anatomical Service upon discovering that seven donated cadavers were sold to the U.S. Army and blown up in a test of protective footwear against land mines.
The bodies were given to the distribution company because the university had more than it needed.
They were sold for $25,000 to $30,000, a spokesperson of the Army’s Medical Research and Materiel Command said.
The Willed Body Program at the University of California medical school has also come under scrutiny after two men, including the head of the program, were charged with trafficking in stolen body parts.
—With files from the New York Times
In All Fair-ness
Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code is an example of how poorly popular culture portrays albinism, a spokesperson for the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation said.
“It’s a blatant example of a hackneyed literary device that has been way overused in popular fiction and cinema,” said Mike McGowan, president of the non-profit group.
“It has become such a cliché: the evil albino character.” McGowan also attempted to debunk the common conception that people with albinism have red eyes.
“That’s a myth. In albinism, the eyes are either light blue or even hazel,” he said.
“Individuals with albinism have low vision,” McGowan added. “They simply can’t be tooling around and shooting curators in Paris.”
—With files from the Chicago Sun-Times
Can You Say That 10 Times?
The second floor of Botterell Hall is home to the Haemostasis and Thrombosis Research Group. The group, founded in 1985, conducts research on the basic mechanisms underlying heart disease, strokes and bleeding conditions.
Researchers from the department of biochemistry, medicine, and pathology in the Faculty of Health Sciences work at understanding how blood clotting is regulated.
They are funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, the Medical Research Council of Canada, the National Institutes of Health (in the U.S.) and the private sector.
—With files from the Queen’s Encyclopedia
Food for Thought
“The human mind treats a new idea the way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.”
—P.B. Medawar
———————-
Ellen Tang … just had an out of body experience.
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be ed, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to [email protected].