A paper that reported finding retroviral sequences in blood from patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) has been retracted by the authors. Just four days ago the 2009 Science report of Lombardi and colleagues was editorially retracted. As 2011 comes to an end, so does the hypothesis that retroviruses are etiologic agents of CFS. Readers …
The United States has provided a large sum of money to pharmaceutical giant Novartis to produce influenza vaccines grown in cell culture. According to CIDRAP: Novartis’s US efforts have been spurred by two major federal contracts. In 2006 the firm won a $220 million HHS contract to develop cell-based flu vaccines, and in January 2009 …
A $707 million investment in cell-based influenza vaccine Read More »
A laboratory in the Netherlands has identified a lethal influenza H5N1 virus strain that is transmitted among ferrets. These findings are under review by the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) to ensure that they do not constitute a threat to human health. Meanwhile both the popular and scientific press has been calling this …
According to the New York Times (Why Science Majors Change Their Minds), the decline in the number of science majors in the United States has come about in part because the subject matter is too difficult. If this explanation is true, then we have not properly prepared these students in grades K-12. I also believe …
One of the lessons learned from XMRV is that it’s important for scientists to admit when they are wrong. That is why I took down the image originally posted with TWiV #150. I had intended for the image to be a counterpoint to T-shirts worn by CFS patients proclaiming them to be ‘XMRV Positive’. I …
Eugenie Samuel Reich speculates about the effect on US science should the debt ceiling not be raised by 2 August 2011: Republicans have made it clear that they will not cut defence spending, and Democrats are keen to protect social security and health-care programmes such as Medicare and Medicaid. Thus, the cuts are likely to …
