Science
Paul Berg, pioneer in gene splicing who led way for biotech, dies at 96
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In 1972, he gave the answer. Dr. Berg published a paper in a scientific journal that revealed he had mixed DNA from E. coli bacteria and a virus, SV40, linked to tumors in monkeys and transmissible to humans. An uproar followed.
Medical ethicists questioned whether Dr. Berg was toying with the natural order by creating what became known as recombinant DNA. Public health officials and others wondered if swapping DNA could create new plagues or unleash environmental catastrophes. “Is this the answer to Dr. Frankenstein’s dream?” later asked Alfred Vellucci, the mayor of Cambridge, Mass., home of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
A 1974 letter Dr. Berg signed with 10 colleagues, published in the journal Science, noted “serious concern that some of these artificial recombinant DNA molecules could prove biologically hazardous.” The letter called for an international meeting of the scientific community to “deal with the potential biohazards of recombinant DNA molecules.”
The gathering took place in a former chapel in Pacific Grove, Calif., in February 1975 with more than 140 scientists from around the world. They agreed to a general set of principles that included limits on the types of genes used and safeguards to keep recombinant DNA confined to laboratories. The guidelines reached at the Asilomar Conference Center were adopted in 1976 by the National Institutes of Health and similar oversight groups in other countries.
“We had to be terribly cautious,” George Rathmann, the former chief executive of the biotech firm Amgen, said in 2005. “You can’t put these things back in a bottle.”
Other participants, however, described Dr. Berg and others as overstating the possible risks from the gene-splicing discoveries.
“It was a reflection of the Vietnam era and earlier history,” Waclaw Szybalski, then a professor and geneticist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, told Science News in 1985. “Physicists were guilty of the atomic bomb, and chemists were guilty of napalm. Biologists were trying very hard to be guilty of something.”
The Nobel Committee noted how Dr. Berg’s pioneering experiment in transplanting DNA molecules “has resulted in the development of a new technology, often called genetic engineering or gene manipulation.”
That also brought major commercial opportunities for what became the biotech industry, ranging from genetically modified crops to hundreds of drugs and therapies. The early products in the 1980s included vaccines for types of hepatitis and insulin. Previously, insulin from animals such as cattle and pigs were used in human treatment.
In gene therapy, researchers are exploring ways to use CRISPR-based technology – essentially genetic scissors that can insert, repair or edit genes – for conditions caused by genetic mutations such as cystic fibrosis, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and Huntington’s disease.
Dr. Berg did not patent his findings, allowing pharmaceutical companies and other researchers to advance his work.
“You did science,” he said, “because you loved it.”
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Science club beginnings
Paul Berg was born June 30, 1926, in Brooklyn as one of three sons of a father who worked in clothing manufacturing and a mother who was a homemaker. In high school, his interest in research was first kindled by a woman named Sophie Wolfe, who ran the science club after classes, he recounted.
Dr. Berg did postdoctoral work in cancer research and was an assistant professor of microbiology at the Washington University School of Medicine from 1955 to 1959, when he accepted a position at Stanford’s medical school.
In the early 1980s he led a campaign that raised more than $50 million to build the Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine, which opened in 1989. Dr. Berg served as director of the center until 2000.
Dr. Berg married Mildred Levy in 1947; she died in 2021. Survivors include a son, John.
Dr. Berg gave another contribution to molecular biology: the lingo. A recurring joke in research circles refers to the moment of the gene-splicing discovery. Anything before that is “B.C.,” before cloning.





Science
Media Advisory – Minister Champagne to announce the Canadian Space Agency astronaut who will fly around the Moon – Canada NewsWire
LONGUEUIL, QC, March 29, 2023 /CNW/ –— On Monday, April 3, at 10:00 a.m. CT (11:00 a.m. ET), the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, will join NASA and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) leadership in Houston to announce the names of the astronauts assigned to the Artemis II Moon mission.
The event will be broadcast on NASA TV and streamed on the CSA’s YouTube channel and Facebook page (with simultaneous interpretation).
Media are also invited to join CSA President Lisa Campbell and the Honourable Marc Garneau, first Canadian to fly to space, at CSA headquarters for this historic event. CSA experts will be on site and available for interviews.
All interview requests for the CSA astronaut assigned to Artemis II and/or CSA leadership and experts, in Canada or in Houston, must be coordinated with the CSA Media Relations Office (information below). Interview requests for Minister Champagne must be coordinated directly with his office.
Canada will make history when a CSA astronaut flies around the Moon as part of Artemis II, the first crewed mission to the Moon since the Apollo missions.
Event at NASA Johnson Space Center – Ellington Field
Monday, April 3, 2023 |
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Time |
What |
Who |
Where |
10:00 a.m. CT 11:00 a.m. ET |
Artemis II crew announcement event in Houston |
The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
CSA astronaut assigned to Artemis II |
Ellington Field – Johnson Space Center Hwy. 3 and Brantly; 12400 South Brantly Houston, TX 00000 The event will be broadcasted on NASA TV and streamed on the CSA’s YouTube channel and Facebook page |
2:10 p.m. CT 3:10 p.m. ET |
Media callback |
The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
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Members of the media are asked to contact ISED Media Relations at [email protected] to receive the dial-in information. |
Event at CSA headquarters
Monday, April 3, 2023 |
|||
Time |
What |
Who |
Where |
9:50 a.m. CT 10:50 a.m. ET |
Artemis II crew announcement event, including NASA live broadcast, at the CSA |
Lisa Campbell, CSA President
The Honorable Marc Garneau, retired CSA astronaut
|
John H. Chapman Space Centre 6767 Route de l’Aéroport Borough of St-Hubert Longueuil, Quebec J3Y 8Y9 |
More information
Canada’s role in Moon exploration
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Find more services and information at Canada.ca/ISED.
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SOURCE Canadian Space Agency
For further information: Canadian Space Agency, Media Relations Office, Telephone: 450-926-4370, Website: https://asc-csa.gc.ca/, Email: [email protected]; Laurie Bouchard, Communications Director, Office of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, [email protected], +1 343 574 8014; Media Relations, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, [email protected]
Science
Ice Age Squirrel Found in Canada! » Expat Guide Turkey – Expat Guide Turkey


The remains of an Ice Age squirrel that was mummified to death during hibernation some 30,000 years ago have been found in Canada.
The 30,000-year-old animal found in the Klondike goldfields in 2018 will soon be on display in Whitehorse, Northern Canada.
Yukon paleontologists this week unveiled another unusual find from the gold fields near Dawson City: an Arctic squirrel that curled up and mummified as if it died during hibernation during the Ice Age.
A Squirrel Mummy Found by Yukon Paleontologists at the Gold Field near Dawson City
The Ice Age squirrel was actually found a few years ago, but its announcement is now being made as the government is preparing the dead rodent for display at the Yukon in Whitehorse.
At first glance, this mummified animal looks like nothing more than a dried up pile of brown fur and skin.


Intact Bone Structure Detected Inside the Remains
Yukon government paleontologist Grant Zazula says, “It’s hardly recognizable until you see the tiny hands and claws, a little tail, and then the ears.” says.
“I’m always examining bones and these are very exciting. But when you see a perfectly preserved animal, especially if it’s 30,000 years old and you can see its face, its skin, its fur, it’s really special.”
Science
Apr 1: Tyrannosaur lips, bald eagles dine on beef, saving the orbital environment and more… – CBC.ca


Quirks and Quarks54:02Tyrannosaur lips, bald eagles dine on beef, saving the orbital environment, how your fingerprints are built and how humans run on electricity
On this week’s episode of Quirks & Quarks with Bob McDonald:
Tyrannosaurus rex had lips covering its terrifying teeth
Quirks and Quarks8:33Tyrannosaurus rex had lips covering its terrifying teeth
Many depictions of the iconic Tyrannosaurus rex show the dinosaur’s huge teeth as constantly exposed in a crocodilian smile. But a new study published in the journal Science concludes that theropod dinosaurs like the T. rex likely had scaly, lizard-like lips that covered their teeth completely when the dinosaur’s mouth was closed. Canadian paleontologist Dr. Thomas Cullen, a professor at Auburn University, and his co-authors analyzed wear patterns on tooth enamel of the dinosaurs, as well as jaw sizes, and compared them to modern-day animals. He said the T. rex mouth would have likely been most similar to that of a Komodo dragon.
Eagles are eating cows instead of salmon – and farmers are happy
Quirks and Quarks7:59Eagles are eating cows instead of salmon – and farmers are happy
In the Pacific Northwest of the U.S., bald eagles, which have historically fed on the carcasses of spawning chum salmon, have run short of their traditional food due to climate change and other factors. But a new study in the journal Ecosphere by Ethan Duvall, a PhD student in ecology at Cornell University, indicates the eagles have moved inland and are now scavenging cattle who have died on dairy farms. Farmers, it turns out, are happy with this, as it solves a troubling disposal problem, and because the eagles also displace rodents and other birds that do harm to the farms.


Inspired by the High Seas treaty, scientists are calling for the protection of space
Quirks and Quarks7:47Inspired by the High Seas treaty, scientists are calling for the protection of space
In early March, nearly 200 United Nations member countries agreed to the first-ever treaty to protect the world’s oceans. Imogen Napper, a marine biologist at the University of Plymouth in England, and a group of colleagues are calling for a similar legally binding treaty to protect the Earth’s orbit from exploitation by the ever-growing global space industry. Their concerns were put forward in a letter in the journal Science.


Arches, loops and whorls — how your unique fingerprints are made
Quirks and Quarks7:40Arches, loops and whorls — how your unique fingerprints are made
There are eight billion people in the world, each with a unique pattern of ridges on our fingertips. Now, scientists have discovered that the process by which these intricate and complex patterns arise is similar to how animals get their spots or stripes. Duelling genetic and chemical signals during fetal development give rise to changes in the ridges and spaces between them that cover our fingertips. Denis Headon, a geneticist from the University of Edinburgh, traced how this interplay results in the complex whorls, loops and arches that make up our fingerprints. His research was published in the journal Cell.


Humans are fueled by food — but we run on electricity
Quirks and Quarks19:31Humans are fueled by food — but we run on electricity
Every living cell works as a battery, with the ability to respond to and send out electrical signals. Science and technology journalist, Sally Adee, became fascinated with this realization after participating in an experiment in which a gentle electrical current, delivered to her brain, gave her the abilities of an expert sharpshooter. Bob McDonald speaks with her about her new book, We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body’s Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds. In it, she explores how much our biology — from our bodies’ ability to heal to the higher order processes of human thought — works through electricity.


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