Category Archives: Science

Foreign Affairs, Government, Russia, Science, Society, Technology, United States

India’s space probe and a need for celebration…

Indian Space Research Organisation

Critics of India’s launch of a space probe this week destined for Mars are not short of reasons for downing this project. Inimical for them is the growing hostility of why Britain is contributing heavily to India in foreign and international aid when budgets are being savaged at home. There is then the reason that such sceptics will ridicule this project because there is no reason for them to glorify in the achievement of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Yet, if all goes well, the IRSO will become only the fourth space agency after Russia, the U.S. and Europe to conduct a successful mission to the Red Planet. Instead, the cynics talk dejectedly of how hundreds of millions of Indians are barely able to scratch a living.

It is certainly true that India labours under crippling poverty. Much of the country’s rural infrastructure is dilapidated and investment is urgently needed. More than a third of the world’s poorest people live in India and not far off half the country’s children are undernourished. The rural hinterland lacks even the most basic of foundations.

Meanwhile, distortions of economic growth are driving a widening gap of disparity in the country as Indian society has become ever more unequal. Corruption is rife, and healthcare is also shamefully poor. Against such a troubled backdrop, a space programme of this magnitude is bound to reflect upon the naysayers as an uncomfortable and clumsy attempt at distraction.

For some people, though, India’s blast-off will be welcomed, as it should. For why should it be disparaged? Consider, for example, the cost. The $72m budget of the Mangalyaan probe is hardly sufficient, even if channelled elsewhere, to solve India’s innumerable and complex problems.

An evaluation of the immediate benefits must also be given. Not only does the programme command vast support and interest across the country, but the implications for further education and further skills development is immense. The benefits that trickle down from such high-end scientific research are also far from negligible.

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Arts, Business, Google, Government, Research, Science, Society, Technology

How different internet giants dominate countries across the globe…

WORLDWIDE ANALYSIS OF SEARCH ENGINE USE

China’s Baidu is popular in Korea, ahead of its own search engine Naver.

Google has become so much a part of everyday life many people now use the brand name as a verb for searching, but a new map highlights exactly how far and wide the site spreads across the globe.

The map, created by researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute, used data from millions of people’s browsing history worldwide and shows Google as the most popular site, in 62 countries.

Facebook was the second most visited site globally, in 50 countries, while the third place site – China’s Baidu search engine, was popular in just two countries.

The map, pictured, was created by researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute. It used data from millions of people's browsing history worldwide and shows Google as the most popular site, in 62 countries, shown in red. Facebook, shown in blue, was the second most visited site globally, in 50 countries

The map, pictured, was created by researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute. It used data from millions of people’s browsing history worldwide and shows Google as the most popular site, in 62 countries, shown in red. Facebook, shown in blue, was the second most visited site globally, in 50 countries

To work out the number of visitors, Dr Mark Graham and Stefano De Sabbata from the institute combined the number of estimated average daily unique visitors, with the estimated number of page views for that site from users in a particular country, for a particular month.

The data shown in the map covers the period of July and August this year and uses information collected by website analytics firm Alexa.

Each colour represents that most visited website in that country and each three individual blocks represent around one million users.

The countries are unusual sizes as the map effectively exaggerates countries that almost exclusively use one type of search engine.

Google is shown in red, Facebook is blue. Yahoo is shown in purple and has a stronghold over Japan, while China’s favourite site is the search engine Baidu.

Baidu is also popular in Korea, ahead of the country’s own search engine Naver.

The majority of most-visited sites were search engines, but Facebook was also popular.

Although Facebook was predominantly popular in the west, it was also the most visited site in Nepal and Mongolia.

The Al-Watan Voice newspaper was the most visited website in the Palestinian Territories, the email service Mail.ru is the most visited site in Kazakhstan, the social network VK was the most visited in Belarus, and the search engine Yandex was the most popular site in Russia.

The researchers said: ‘The supremacy of Google and Facebook over any other site on the Web is clearly apparent. We also see an interesting geographical continuity of these two ’empires’.

Google is shown in red, Facebook is blue. Yahoo is shown in purple and has a stronghold over Japan, while China's favourite site is the search engine Baidu, shown in green. Baidu is also popular in Korea, ahead of the country's own search engine Naver

Google is shown in red, Facebook is blue. Yahoo is shown in purple and has a stronghold over Japan, while China’s favourite site is the search engine Baidu, shown in green. Baidu is also popular in Korea, ahead of the country’s own search engine Naver

‘The situation is more complex in Asia, as local competitors have been able to resist the two large American empires.

‘At the same time, we see a puzzling fact that Baidu is also listed as the most visited website in South Korea – ahead of the popular search engine Naver.

‘We speculate that the raw data that we are using here are skewed. However, we may also be seeing the Baidu empire in the process of expanding beyond its traditional home territory.’

Areas in sub-saharan Africa aren’t covered by Alexa, yet Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, and South Africa are within the sphere of Google’s empire. Whereas Ghana, Senegal, and Sudan prefer Facebook.

On this map the countries bathed in blue are used to depict the global spread of Facebook, as of September 2013. The map shows a rising popularity in Africa, South America, and India - as also highlighted in the Oxford Institute map

On this map the countries bathed in blue are used to depict the global spread of Facebook, as of September 2013. The map shows a rising popularity in Africa, South America, and India – as also highlighted in the Oxford Institute map

Among the 50 countries where Facebook was listed as the most visited website, 36 of them had Google as the second most visited, with the remaining 14 countries listing YouTube, the Google-owned video site.

The countries where Google is the most visited website account for half of the entire internet population – over one billion people.

A large proportion of the population in China and South Korea use the internet, giving Baidu second place overall in terms of visitors.

The 50 Facebook countries account for about 280 million users, placing the social network in third.

‘We are likely still in the very beginning of the Age of Internet Empires,’ the researchers conclude.

‘But, it may well be that the territories carved out now will have important implications for which companies end up controlling how we communicate and access information for many years to come.’

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Health, Medical, Research, Science

An alternative to statins for those at risk of heart disease…

ALN-PCS CUTS ‘BAD’ CHOLESTEROL

For those patients unable to take statins, a new type of cholesterol-lowering drug could help those at risk of heart disease, new research has revealed.

The treatment referred to as ‘ALN-PCS’ cuts the levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol by more than half – a reduction similar to statins.

Experimental findings from the first tests in humans do show the potential benefits of an agent that works in a different way to statins. The drug blocks production of a protein that destroys receptors that normally clear harmful LDL cholesterol from the bloodstream.

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The first trial has involved 32 volunteers with high LDL (or ‘bad ‘cholesterol). People from this group were then randomly assigned to receive either an injection of ALN-PCS or a saline placebo.

A single dose of the drug cut LDL levels by as much as 57 per cent. The research findings have been published in the medical journal, The Lancet. The researchers suggest that the bigger the dose, the greater reduction in LDL.

Kevin Fitzgerald, a trial investigator from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, was integral to developing the new treatment. He says the drug – which would likely be developed in tablet form – could be used for the one in five heart disease patients intolerant or resistant to statins, or even to enhance their effects.

ALN-PCS works by blocking the production of the cholesterol regulator PCSK9 – a protein that destroys low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors that normally clear LDL cholesterol from the blood.

Genetic research has shown previously that mutations’ resulting in a rise in PCSK9 activity does lead to a major increase in LDL cholesterol. This contributes to the build-up of plaque inside blood vessels, while genetic variants that cause a reduction in PCSK9 activity are known to lower cholesterol dramatically.

The 32 volunteers selected for the trial, aged between 18 and 65 years old, were deemed to have raised cholesterol levels ranging from between mild to moderate. The volunteers were randomly assigned to receive injections containing one of six doses of ALN-PCS, or saline.

For those given the highest dose of ALN-PCS, LDL cholesterol dropped up to 57 per cent – with an average of 40 per cent overall – compared with the results from those who had taken the saline placebo.

Professor Peter Weissberg is medical director at the British Heart Foundation. He said:

… People with extremely high cholesterol are at increased risk of a heart attack and this approach could offer new hope for those who are resistant to statins.

… These initial results add to growing evidence that blocking the action of a certain protein can dramatically lower ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol.

… More research is now needed to confirm this approach is both safe and effective at preventing heart attacks in the long term before it becomes widely available.

According to further research in the United States, statins may also help keep the mouth as well as the heart healthy. Significantly reduced levels of inflammation associated with gum disease were found in patients taking statin pills for heart conditions.

Dr Ahmed Tawakol, the study leader, and from the Harvard Medical School, said gum and heart disease were often ‘co-existing inflammatory conditions’ and that their chemical biologies ‘may be intertwined’.

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