Thanks to fellow ASSIST-er Staci Hutto for the heads-up on this. (I owe you a Coke.)
A company in Carrollton, Texas is offering a FREE radon test kit (one per household) to Texas residents. It’s a little unclear who’s paying for all this, but I believe it’s partially funded by an EPA grant.
Here it is. It’s a Publisher 2007 file. Have fun, kids.
Toxicology and Epidemiology:
Various Diseases:
Typhoid Mary (Great video! Buy one!!)
Outbreak Detection and Containment:
Hantavirus:
Ebola:
Here’s a fun little statistic I ran across in research for today’s class:
Americans use about one billion gallons of motor oil each year, and 350 million gallons of that end up in the environment. That amount of used oil illegally poured into backyards and storm drains each year is equal to ten times the amount of oil spilled in the Exxon Valdez tanker accident in late 1980s. It only takes one quart of motor oil that is disposed of improperly to eventually contaminate 250,000 gallons of ground water.
- From The Urban Education Partnership
If I’m not careful, I’m going to wind up as an environmentalist…
Identity Theft:
Waste Management:
I’ll have a few words on today’s movie… later! 
A group of climate scientists/global-warming skeptics pointed out several dangers inherent in acting on false research and hype when it comes to global warming and man’s alleged contribution to it.
It makes for a good read (or a good skim, if you’re short on time.) The points the scientists raise amount to reasonable concerns, and actually make sense, which pretty much guarantees that they will be ignored, ridiculed, and/or buried. (The points, not the scientists… I think.)
Turns out that simply standing up may be an important factor in weight loss.
Read this article for some more details.
If you’ll excuse me, I need to get off my fat arse now…
This is a fascinating article from The Telegraph about Professor Ian Wilmut’s recent announcement that he is abandoning the Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) technique for creating cloned embryos, which he pioneered over a decade ago. Wilmut, professor at the University of Edinburgh and creator of Dolly the sheep, is instead focusing on a new technique known as “de-differentiation,” currently being researched by Professor Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University. Yamanaka’s technique would result in pluripotent ESCs without the use of human eggs, and without the creation or subsequent destruction of ANY human embryos.
Folks, this seems like (at least the beginning of) a win-win situation for the future of therapeutic cloning and genetic medicine. The fact that a “giant” like Professor Wilmut has jumped on-board with such energy and certainty, INSTEAD of pursuing the avenue accorded him by his government-issued permit to create human embryos, should speak volumes about the seriousness of de-differentiation’s potential.
In their tireless efforts to bring us closer to the fiery end of the world, American scientists, led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov of the Oregon National Primate Research Center of Beaverton, Oregon, are nearly ready to announce their successful cloning of primate embryos from the skin cells of adult rhesus monkeys.
Read all about it HERE. (click)
The implication, of course, is that we’re another step closer to the successful cloning of adult Homo sapiens. We are, after all, only slightly less-fuzzy primates ourselves.
I’ll keep you posted, dear readers, on any ensuing wrath of God. While you wait, try doing what I do to pass the time: use the letters in “Beaverton, Oregon” to try to spell out “Armageddon.” Or sit in a room and type some Shakespeare through random keystrokes, whatever.
UPDATE: It’s worse than we all thought. See this exclusive photo:
Hell in a handbasket, my pretties… And your little dog too.
