North Carolina State University, Dept. of Entomology
Since my childhood, growing up in rural Arkansas (yes, a paradise for a wide variety of blood-loving organisms) I have believed that the only value of ticks was to get paid for removing them from a neighbor’s dog. In Arkansas, you get paid by weight not by the piece (just kidding, of course). In the August 31st issue of the “Japan Times” I read an article about researchers in Sao Paulo, Brazil, who are working with a protein found in tick saliva. The researchers were initially experimenting with the protein’s anticoagulant properties when they stumbled across the fact that the protein also seems to inhibit tumor growth. Ana Marisa Chudzinski-Tavassi, lead researcher at Instituto Butantan Sau Paulo, said that her team was surprised to find that the protein killed tumorous cells but left normal cells untouched.
“If I treat every day for 14 days an animal’s tumor, this tumor doesn’t develop—it even regresses. The tumor mass shrinks. If I treat for 42 days, you totally eliminate the tumor,” Chudzinski-Tavassi said.
Don’t get your hopes up for an over-the-counter cancer cure anytime in the near future. Although Chudzinski-Tavassi has applied for a patent on the tick protein and is presenting the team’s discoveries to professional organizations around the world, she admits that moving forward will be extremely difficult and time-consuming. She said, “To discover this is one thing. To turn it into a medicine is a whole other thing entirely.”
And on a final note…after reading this article, please do not cover your body in dog ticks, thinking that you can prevent or cure cancer. Not only do ticks carry a number of dangerous diseases, they also tend to prefer to feed in the most delicate and sensitive parts of the body…leaving some painful reminders of their visit. Take my word for it, you don’t want to experience that.
Tags: alternative medical treatment, cancer treatment, humor, medical discovery, ticks
The Obuse Music Festival will be held on August 28th (Friday) and 29th (Saturday), 2009. For the 10th anniversary of the festival, organizers have lined up an exciting variety of music, from Bach, Brahms and Tchaikovsky to more modern Big Band and Pops pieces. There’s something for everyone. On the 28th, there will be a 7:00 pm classical concert, featuring Brahams, held in Hokusai Hall. On the 29th, there will be a 2:00 pm classical concert, featuring Bach, also held in Hokusai Hall; and a 6:00 pm program, featuring various bands including Swing Girls, held at the outdoor Phoenix, or Ho-O, Arena. For you movie buffs out there, Swing Girls is the group on which the popular Japanese movie “Swing Girls” was based. Pretty cool, huh? See more program details in the Japanese flyer here. If you don’t read Japanese, then see a few more English details below:
Single ticket prices are as follows:
28th Brahms Concert: Advanced purchase: ¥2500-Adult/ ¥2000-Student; At-the-door: ¥3000-Adult/ ¥2500-Student
29th Bach Concert: Advanced purchase: ¥2500-Adult/ ¥2000-Student; At-the-door: ¥3000-Adult/ ¥2500-Student
29th 6:00 pm Outdoor Concert: ¥1000/ FREE-Primary and Junior High students
TICKET SPECIALS:
Brahms + Outdoor: ¥3000
Bach + Outdoor: ¥3000
Brahms + Bach: ¥4000
It’s hard to believe I’ve been volunteering with the Obuse Music Festival since it’s birth ten years ago. Gosh, I’m getting old…but not this festival. Lots of young, energetic people are joining the volunteer community, which is critical for the festival’s future. I certainly hope it does continue because where else in Japan, or the world for that matter, can you find a town of 13,000 people willing to hold fantastic events like this?
Hope to see you all there!
David Hylton
Tags: おぶせ 小布施町, community development, Japan, music festival, Obuse
How would you like to live in a house that is inexpensive, can be constructed in a day, is made from materials with low environmental impact, is earthquake, fire and typhoon resistant, and is…well, just plain cool? Personally, I’d love to have a home like this.
For a couple of years now I’ve been trying to figure out how to build my own dome home out of everything from concrete to thatch, but nothing seemed to do the job quite right. Why a dome home? Because the dome is strong, aerodynamic, and spacious (particularly valuable traits in a country know for earthquakes, typhoons and lack of space). Then I came across the TreeHugger article, “Living Small, Cheap and Simple. Try a Dome House” and had a eureka experience. Here was a company, located only a few hours away from my Nagano, Japan base, which is actively manufacturing dome homes with the basic specs I had only been dreaming about. Talk about a surge of excitement. You may be asking yourself how one might fit ten kids and Granny in a seven-meter diameter house. It could get pretty cramped. Well, it’s simple…. Just connect a few more domes until you have enough living space to keep your growing family happy. Why stop there? Create your own community of dome houses. I mentioned the house to a few of my international friends and got requests for more information. So, here you go guys, click on the above TreeHugger article link and also on this one for International Dome House’s English website (still a bit buggy but getting there) here: http://www.i-domehouse.com/index.html
Let me know if you found this information as exciting as I did.
Tags: cheap housing, dome house, environmentally-friendly housing
It is becoming increasingly clear that our life-sustaining oceans are in big trouble. Various reports indicate that many fish species have suffered dramatic population declines in recent years, some facing close to 90% depletion! Soon, fish may be on the menu only for those wealthy enough to afford it. The rest of us will have to make due with those cool Japanese plastic display pieces that look like real fish. Unfortunately, they are pretty tasteless and take forever to chew….
Speaking of fish and plastic…I just watched a recent TED episode entitled, “Charles Moore: Sailing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” in which Captain Moore reveals the startling truth about the growing plastic content in our oceans. Moore is the founder of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation and also the captain of their research vessel. His crew is credited with accidentally discovering the Great Pacific Garbage Patch–an endless floating waste of plastic trash–while participating in a cross-Pacific yachting competition. The mass is estimated to be two times the area of Texas and growing.
Since finding the “garbage patch”, Moore has dedicated his time to analyzing the patch and possible disastrous impacts on aquatic life forms. He founded the Algalita Marine Research Foundation with the intention to conduct several annual research expeditions to the patch. Data derived from the collection and analysis of surface water samples is used to raise awareness about the growing problem and to discover ways to reduce or halt the damage. If you have the time, watch this video and make an effort to reduce plastic consumption in your life starting today.
There’s nothing like economic success to encourage us to turn a blind eye to questionable business practices, and nothing like a recession to reveal just how greedy and naive we were. Well into a long-term economic downturn, we still see holdouts of the bubble economy where unsustainable salaries and bonuses are distributed without regard to profitability. It is infuriating to see someone readily accept a bonus after his company loses huge sums of other people’s money, effectively bankrupting many individuals and businesses. How can he justify receiving compensation, particularly that supported by taxpayers who are most likely making less than one percent of his income? Apparently such an ethical question didn’t bother many of the Wall Street recipients, who quietly accepted the mountains cash just weeks after their leaders crawled to Washington begging for handouts to keep their businesses afloat. One would think that if they really had their businesses’ interests at heart, they would have put the money to work doing something business related like retaining valuable employees, upgrading factories for greater efficiencies, or buying back extremely devalued stock. Instead, the money now sits in personal accounts awaiting use on such things as new sports cars, expensive jewelry…or possibly long vacations outside of the United States, away from prying eyes. Einstein’s observation that “no problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it ” seems very applicable here…the financial institutions haven’t changed form or leadership and appear incapable of deviating from the status quo without governmental prodding. But government must be very careful not to create “knee-jerk” legislation, piling hastily-conceived laws on top of existing ones and increasing the complexity and confusion of an already overwhelming system. More complexity increases the probability of errors being made in missing unethical behavior (Type II error) and also in penalizing innocent behavior (Type I error). The myriad of loopholes allowing skyrocketing executive remuneration is probably just one of many symptoms of an overly-complex system. The solution is to start from scratch and make policy so simple to understand that even a junior-high student can get it (if nothing else, they’ll do better on civic’s exams…). Here are three simple rules our government and corporate elite would be wise to consider in their efforts to solve the current global economic meltdown:
#1: If it works, and is efficient, don’t fix it. Otherwise, go to #2.
#2: If it doesn’t work and/or isn’t efficient, but we really need it, fix it and try #1 again. Otherwise, go to #3.
#3: If we don’t really need it, then get rid of it. Problem solved….
Now, let’s apply these rules to the financial sector. Are the financial institutions working effectively and efficiently? Obviously not. Do we need them and, if so, how do we fix them? All are not necessary for recovery, thus we must find a way to distinguish between viable, essential entities and the “dead weight.” If our underlying objective for economic recovery is for institutions to continue extending credit to businesses and individuals, then we can assume those that hoard cash or, even worse, use taxpayer money to buy up competitors and to pay astronomical bonuses are NOT helping the situation. Such entities, without long-term recovery plans, are just prolonging their inevitable demise and should be filed in the “dead weight” box. The guiding principle for governmental assistance should be simple and clear: If you want assistance with taxpayer money, you’d better use it to help the American people; otherwise, we’re taking it back and providing it to institutions that are in touch with reality and are willing to “do what’s right.” In this severe economic environment, unethical behavior, waste and foot-dragging only get one ostracized and extinct.
Tags: economic solution, economic stimulus, government bailout, U.S. economy, wall street bonus
Mouse Stem Cells (National Science Foundation)
Stem cells, or more specifically “induced pluripotent stem cells,” have done it again! An article in today’s Japan Times newspaper reported that University of Tokyo researchers have managed to coax this amazing transformer into yet another piece of the complex human puzzle. Kidney, pancreatic, cardiac and even nerve cells have already become old news in the rapidly-expanding field of stem cell research. The focus in Tokyo is now on blood cells, specifically platelets. Platelets are important components in the blood-clotting process and are primarily harvested from blood donations. It’s no longer a sci-fi fantasy to imagine a world where a hospital can continually stock ample supplies of fresh “O negative” (universal donor) blood without conducting a single blood drive. Why not even allow patients to “grow” their own blood before a scheduled operation? Some other potential benefits I see are: fewer deaths from blood loss, fewer infections and deaths from contaminated blood supplies, lower costs in acquiring and maintaining blood supplies, and possible treatments for a variety of blood diseases. If stem cell research leads to proven methodologies for non-invasive treatments of everything from brain cells to blood, then I foresee an incredible revolution in global health care, greatly increasing the overall quality of life. Keep your eyes open for more stem cell medical marvels.
Follow this link to the Japan Times article, “Platelets created from stem cells”: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20090204a8.html
Learn more about stem cells from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell
Tags: alternative medical treatment, non-invasive surgery, stem cell research
Alternative housing is an interest of mine and when I came across an article about cardboard buildings in China, I just had to read it. The project is led by a prominent Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban, who is building temporary schools in the earthquake-damaged Sichuan province of China. On May 12th, 2008 a huge 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit the area and left at least 69,000 dead and approximately 4.8 million homeless. Ban and a team of Japanese students and Chinese workers are using recycled-cardboard and plywood because the materials are cheaper, more readily available and easier to handle than whole-wood planks and steel beams. Also, once permanent buildings are in place, the cardboard structures can be efficiently recycled. It appears to be an extremely resource-effective solution that should be considered for future global disaster relief, particularly in poor, highly populated areas. If you would like to learn more about the cardboard housing project or Shigeru Ban, check out this article on TreeHugger: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/shigeru-ban-paper-tube-schools.php?dcitc=daily_nl
You can see more photos of the school and project activities at Zhu Tao’s blog.
If you are interested in donating to Shigeru Ban’s project: Keio University, Disaster relief for China Earthquake
Image provided via TreeHugger.com
Tags: Chinese cardboard school, recycling, sustainable housing
All the world is abuzz about the “Big Three” American automakers begging for low-interest government loans. Governmental life support for these companies in their current state of affairs would be, in my humble opinion, a huge waste of taxpayer money better spent elsewhere. U.S. car ownership is rapidly approaching a saturation point. If you don’t believe me, just drive around some weekend and take note of all the overflowing car lots and ask yourself who is going to buy those endless rows of shiny new vehicles. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, there were 243,023,485 registered vehicles on the road in 2004 (that’s the latest data I could find). The total U.S. population in 2003, according to the U.S. Census Bureau was estimated at 291 million people. Of those, 61 million were younger than15, meaning that only about 230 million people (including the 17 million who were over 75 years of age) could legally drive those cars. If there were more cars than legal drivers, then we can assume either that we had a bunch of six-year-olds behind the wheels or, more likely, that almost every legal driver had one or more cars available to them. I suspect the second case, making me believe that most car purchases these days are probably made to replace existing vehicles. If you were an automaker wanting to increase sales in light of these statistics…would you be willing to build vehicles that operate efficiently for years and years…or would you be more inclined to engineer a few built-in flaws that would shorten a vehicle’s life expectancy? Hmmm…. Unfortunately, your competitors may decide to build better cars in order to cut into your market share…kind of like what Toyota and Honda did to the “Big Three.” Those rascals! So, in order to meet your quotas, you have to engineer vehicles to break down even faster…sending even more customers away in search of quality. It’s a nasty downward spiral for sure and, to make matters worse, the current recession has driven sales right off a cliff (pun intended). Automakers can’t lower prices enough to entice nervous buyers, and buyers can’t get loans from banks anyway. Is there any way out of this mess? I believe there is a win/win solution for both manufacturers and customers.
Turn the automakers into “transportation service” providers, similar to what is described in the book, “Natural Capitalism.” Think what it would be like if you were in the business of selling “transportation services” instead of cars. I suspect you would immediate retool your factories and retrain your workers to build the best cars possible, reducing long-term maintenance and replacement costs. Because customers are no longer buyers, they wouldn’t have to come up with large down-payments or have to qualify for loans. Yes, it does make perfect business sense. As transportation service providers, the “Big Three” should build the most durable, maintenance-free, environmentally-friendly vehicles they can muster. Although cost per unit will initially be much higher than that for current models, it can easily be recouped through long-term service subscription plans…think telephone or cable services. If most people are like me, all they really want is a vehicle that is safe and dependable, easy to maintain and doesn’t cost a fortune to run. An automaker that can guarantee these criteria at low-cost will win many long-term customers…including me. Once a customer is satisfied with a service provider, they will be reluctant to change to another company. How often do you change telephone providers? In other words, the early adopter will develop a large loyal customer base and basically guarantee long-term viability…something the “Big Three” could really use at this point. If the “Big Three” wish to remain competitive against rapidly-growing Asia manufacturers, their plan for survival seems pretty clear: become quality transportation service providers.
Visit Amazon.com to see the book: Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution
Tags: U.S. automaker bailout
Posted by David Hylton
When I was a kid, my parents used to tell me the story about the ants and the grasshopper… you know the one where the ants work all summer while the grasshopper is off doing his own thing, not worrying about his future? Well anyway, winter sets in and old grasshopper comes to the ants and begs them to let him in. Of course the ants refuse because it had been “his” choice to avoid preparing for the future and he must accept responsibility for that decision. I am reminded of this story daily as I pick up the newspaper or watch the news on TV. It seems that many corporations, supposedly led by brilliant people, spent the last few years conducting business activities that were not in the long-term best interest of their stockholders. Economic winter has set in and now “grasshopper” executives are crawling to us “ant” taxpayers begging for our collective scraps of cash to help them make it through this harsh season. Just like the grasshopper in the story, they, too, must face the consequences of their actions.
I am already plenty steamed about bailed-out financial companies using tax-payer money to bestow lavish salaries and bonuses on some of the very people responsible for helping to create this credit mess. How can anyone expect to get a bonus, or even a full salary, for bankrupting their company? If a business is willing to operate using public money then it should be held accountable under the same standards as those of public institutions. Same goes for any of the Big Three automakers, even if they are asking only for low-interest loans. Their current business models are unsustainable making them high credit risks and unworthy of such easy terms. Besides, why should US citizens waste our money bailing out huge behemoths that have spent billions of dollars lobbying against legislation that would have made cars safer, more fuel efficient and cleaner? Money could be better spent on funding “sunrise” industries that promise high growth, environmental preservation, more jobs and increasing tax revenues over the next 20-50 years. Can the same be said about the future of the auto industry? Automakers have had plenty of opportunities to change their business models between the 70’s oil crisis and the 90’s death of the electric car (see the movie “Who Killed the Electric Car?”). But corporate leadership has always opted for the status quo: building more expensive, bigger, faster more polluting vehicles and paying their unionized workers wages many times higher than their non-union counterparts in Asia and even Europe. The auto executives, unless they were total idiots, had to know that these factors would make their businesses unsustainable and eventually lead to failure. Maybe they were playing “Hot Potato” hoping not to be the last one getting their hands burned. Well, I hate to tell them but the potato has come to a stop. Americans, and others around the globe, have had enough of the stranglehold the car and oil industries have had on them. Maybe it’s time to let the “sunset” US auto industry fade away. Sure a lot of people will lose their $75/hour jobs, and subcontractors will lose parts contracts, but it was going to happen eventually anyway. If the automakers were actually struggling to build something worthwhile, like electric or hybrid cars, then I’d feel more sympathetic and believe that a bailout plan could have merit. But throwing tax-payer money at a bloated, inefficient system just so corporate executives don’t have to make uncomfortable decisions…? Uh, this ant doesn’t think so. I think it’s time for the grasshoppers to accept the consequences of their choice. Bankruptcy may not be all that bad for the automakers; in fact, it may be just what they need to restructure more efficiently and get back to developing a business model that will be viable for the next 50 years.
The opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the author, David Hylton, and do not necessarily reflect those of BLTnetwork.com.
Tags: ants and grasshopper, automaker bailout, big three, economic crisis, electric car, hybrid
A humorous short about how one boy found an ecological solution for pest control. Please enjoy.
Check out the previous entry here: http://bltnetwork.com/2008/08/29/slammin/
Tags: humor, pest control, rubberband
