2012_11: Genomic Epidemiology uses full genome sequencing of pathogens collected from (suspected) patients to trace the transmission vector. [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/338/6110/1019.summary]
2012_11: Biochar is charred (heated without air) biomass, that has the potential to mitigate climate change and – important for its economic viability – benefit agriculture. For the former it removes carbon from the biomass-cycle into a stable form which can be added to soil to modify its texture, water flow, pH, nutrient flow, and possibly, on a decade-scale, ecologies (cf. charcoal-rich Amazonia). Still in early stages of experimentation and description. [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/338/6110/1034.summary]
2013_01: A combination of techniques allow linking behaviour to neuronal population activity in vivo. The set-up: (translucent) zebrafish, transgenic calcium indicator, two-photon microscope to monitor neuron-populations*. Variable set-up depending on experiment, e.g.: immobilized fish over a screen of moving light (mimicking motion) with electrodes monitoring motor neurons – here they link the fish’s attempts to modify motion speed with neuron-population activity. Note (*) limitation: monitor 1000 neurons from 300 subregions, from 32 fish; computer-merged into a model brain. [http://www.nature.com/news/mapping-brain-networks-fish-bowl-neuroscience-1.12272]
2013_02: Antiretrovirals (ARVs) for HIV/AIDS can reduce transmission rate by 96% under ideal clinical conditions, and recently in “real world” conditions can have a dramatic effect on epidemiology (e.g. 40% coverage vs <10% coverage results in 38% fewer new infections, and 30% seems to be a critical percentage for seeing steep declines). [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/339/6122/901]
2013_02: Antibody-drug conjugate Kadcyla is FDA approved for some breast tumours; delivers the chemotherapy treatment (compared to which alone it is more effective on the order of 6 months) directly to cancer cells. No surprise here, just nice to have an example with some reference numbers. [http://www.nature.com/news/seven-days-22-28-february-2013-1.12494]
