Transgenic Mosquitoes to Fight Dengue Fever

Brazil will produce 4M transgenic Aedes aegypti mosquitoes per week in order to fight the dengue fever.

“Dengue Fever is a virus spread by the bite of an infected mosquito. There is neither medication nor a vaccine to prevent Dengue Fever so effective measures to control the dengue mosquito Aedes aegypti are urgently required since the disease is becoming geographically more wide-spread, more prevalent and more virulent. The incidence of dengue has increased 30 fold in the last 50 years and, according to WHO, 2.5 billion people are now at risk. The severe form of dengue, known as Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever, was first recognized in the 1950s but has become has become a leading cause of hospitalization and death among children in Asian and Latin American countries.”

More information.

Image from: Le Monde Wednesday July 18, 2012 (p.6 section Planète).

 

Infrastructure100 Global Projects Report

“Presenting the Infrastructure 100 – report on the most exciting infrastructure projects from around the world, as selected by independent judging panels due to their scale, complexity, innovation and impact on society.”

“KPMG’s Global Infrastructure practice, in conjunction with Infrastructure Journal, is pleased to present the Infrastructure 100 – a showcase of the most interesting infrastructure projects from around the world.

Of those 100 projects – all shortlisted for their scale, complexity, innovation and impact on society – 10 have been highlighted by the independent judging panels as notable projects in different infrastructure sectors.”

Download the report.

Image from the Infrastructure100 Global Projects Report.

“Gen Y” Doctoral students

The UK Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the British Library have just released a major (17,000 students) study of the behaviors and beliefs of “Generation Y” (i.e.born 1983-1992) doctoral students involving social media, information access, and related matters. The students were surveyed over a three year period to set a benchmark for the research behavior of that generation.

Here are some of the results from the report:

  • “For example, 23% of all the students have made passive use of online forums, but only 13% have taken an active part in any discussions: 23% followed blogs, but only 9% maintained a blog themselves. Active take-up of institutionally-provided open web resources is also low, with students requesting more information about technologies and applications such as Google Scholar, cloud computing, EndNote and Mendeley.”
  • “Other findings from the report include a continuing lack of understanding about the nature of open access.”
  • “The study also highlighted a marked dependency on published secondary sources rather than primary sources, such as archival materials and data sets, as the basis of students’ own original research, regardless of discipline.”

To get more information you can download the report from: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/reports/2012/researchers-of-tomorrow.pdf

Image from:Journal de Montréal/Québec édition du mardi 22 janvier 2008.