Scientists raise fresh hopes for fridge-free vaccines

By Jane Dreaper Health correspondent, BBC News

Vaccines must be kept refrigerated at the moment

Scientists at Oxford University have found a way of keeping vaccines stable without refrigeration.

Writing in Science Translational Medicine, they say the breakthrough could significantly help efforts to immunise more children in rural Africa.

The researchers mixed the vaccines with two types of sugar before slowly drying them on a filter paper.

This preserved the jabs, which were then easily reactivated when needed for injection.

The need to keep vaccines cool - to stop them deteriorating - is often difficult in developing countries where fridges, clinics and an electricity supply cannot be taken for granted.

Without the need for refrigeration, you could even picture someone with a backpack taking vaccine doses on a bike into remote villages Dr Matt Cottingham Researcher

Writing in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the scientists describe how they managed to keep vaccines stable for up to six months at 45C.

They used sucrose and another sugar called trehalose, which is known for its preservative properties.

'Simple and cheap'

The research was funded by the foundation set up by Bill and Melinda Gates. It involved a collaboration between the university scientists and a company, Nova Bio-Pharma Technologies.

The lead investigator, Professor Adrian Hill, said: "If we could convert all the standard vaccines to a solution like this, it would mean they're cheaper to deliver, because they'd survive at room temperature - and so there'd be scope to vaccinate more children.

"The technology is simple and extremely cheap - and there are no more scientific hurdles to overcome.

"Our tests were pretty tough as we used live viruses. So we feel that having stabilised those more fragile vaccines, this method should work for other vaccines containing dead protein.

"It's now just a matter of developing the technique, trying it out in Africa and seeing if it can be made on an industrial basis. This could happen within five years."

Another member of the research team, Dr Matt Cottingham, said: "Without the need for refrigeration, you could even picture someone with a backpack taking vaccine doses on a bike into remote villages."

The GAVI Alliance, a public-private partnership working to accelerate immunisation in 72 of the world's poorest countries, welcomed the news.

"Keeping vaccines at the correct temperature all the way from the factory to children in the poorest and most remote communities is always an enormous challenge so new ideas to remove barriers to the life-saving benefits of immunisation are extremely welcome," said the alliance's communication director, Dan Thomas.

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PleaseRobMe website reveals dangers of social networks

By Zoe Kleinman Technology reporter, BBC News

Boy Van Amstel created pleaserobme.com to make a point.

A website called PleaseRobMe claims to reveal the location of empty homes based on what people post online.

The Dutch developers told BBC News the site was designed to prove a point about the dangers of sharing precise location information on the internet.

The site scrutinises players of online game Foursquare, which is based on a person's location in the real world.

PleaseRobMe extracts information from players who have chosen to post their whereabouts automatically onto Twitter.

"It started with me and a friend looking at our Twitter feeds and seeing more and more Foursquare posts," said Boy Van Amstel, one of PleaseRobMe's developers.

"People were checking in at their house, or their girlfriend's or friend's house, and sharing the address - I don't think they were aware of how much they were sharing."

Mr Van Amstel, Frank Groeneveld and Barry Borsboom realised that not only were people sharing detailed location information about themselves and their friends, they were also by default broadcasting when they were away from their own home.

Simple search

The website took just four hours to create.

"It's basically a Twitter search - nothing new," said Mr Van Amstel. "Anyone who can do HTML and javascript can do this. You could almost laugh at how easy it is."

He said that the site would remain live but stressed it was not created to encourage crime.

"The website is not a tool for burglary," he said. "The point we're getting at is that not long ago it was questionable to share your full name on the internet. We've gone past that point by 1000 miles."

Mr Van Amstel added that in practice it would be "very difficult" to use the information on the website to carry out a burglary.

Charity Crimestoppers advises people to think carefully about the information they choose to share on the internet.

"We urge users of Twitter, Facebook or other social networks to stop and think before posting personal details online that could leave them vulnerable to crimes including burglary and identity theft," said a spokesperson.

"Details posted online are available for the world to see; you wouldn't hang a sign on your door saying you're out, so why would you post it online?"

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IT IS 'BROKEN,' BUT WHO BROKE IT?

IT IS 'BROKEN,' BUT WHO BROKE IT?.... Again, this is the right sentiment, but it's incomplete.

Vice President Joe Biden doesn't seem to miss his days as a senator.

In an interview with CBS "Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith, Biden was blunt about the nation's political system. "Washington, right now, is broken."

Having served in the Senate for more than 30 years, Biden has seen a fair share of gridlock in Congress, but the current version is the worst ever, he said.

"I don't ever recall a time in my career where to get anything done, you needed a supermajority, 60 out of 100 senators.... I've never seen it this dysfunctional," he said.

Right. The system in Washington is "broken." Every effort does require an inexplicable "supermajority." The entire policymaking process is "dysfunctional."

But what officials need to understand is the importance of taking the next step -- explaining why this is and who is responsible.

As much as I'm sympathetic to the vice president's entirely accurate concerns, his omissions make all the difference. For viewers who don't know what filibusters or cloture votes are, they're thinking, "There's a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress. If the system is broken and dysfunctional, maybe it's Democrats' fault."

Except, for anyone interested in reality, that assumption couldn't be more wrong. If legislation received up-or-down votes in both chambers -- the way Congress operated for the better part of two centuries -- the system would work quite well and the dysfunction that drives everyone crazy would largely disappear.

Biden, in other words, needs to name names -- Republicans broke the American legislative process. They did so deliberately, during a time of crises, because they're desperate to undercut the Democratic majority, regardless of the consequences. The GOP's tactics have no precedent in American history, and violate every democratic norm that keeps our system moving.

It's not enough to share Americans' disgust; Dems need to help the public understand this mess. They can do so by avoiding jargon and legislative terminology, and calling Republicans' obstructionist tactics what they are: a dangerous political scandal.

Don't talk about "filibusters" or "supermajorities"; talk about the Republican "scandal" that has brought the system to a halt. Talk about Republicans "shutting down" the American policymaking process, and ignoring the will of the voters.

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US to build two new nuclear power stations

President Barack Obama said the project would create thousands of jobs

President Barack Obama has announced more than $8bn (£5bn) of federal loan guarantees to begin building the first US nuclear power stations for 30 years.

Two new plants are to be constructed in the state of Georgia by US electricity firm Southern Company.

Mr Obama said the plants would be "safe and clean" and were needed to meet the country's future energy needs.

There have been no new nuclear power plants started in the US since the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island.

The accident was caused by the partial core meltdown of one of the reactors at the site in Pennsylvania, which resulted in a release of radioactive gases into the atmosphere.

While the president said the US had not "broken ground on a ... new nuclear power plant in 30 years", some US nuclear plants only became operational in the 1980s, despite construction beginning years earlier.

'Well-paid jobs'

MARDELL'S AMERICA This one plant will cut carbon pollution by 16 million tons each year when compared with a similar coal plant - it won't persuade all the environmentalists, but it is an argument that does weigh heavily with some of them Mark Mardell Read Mark's thoughts in full

The president said the project would create "thousands of construction jobs over eight years and then hundreds of well-paid jobs" when the facilities become operational.

He added that it was "only the beginning" of efforts to develop a new generation of safe and clean energy-efficient technologies, which would help fight climate change.

The two new reactors will be built at an existing nuclear facility in Georgia.

Southern Company said the work would create about 3,000 construction jobs and 850 people would subsequently be permanently employed when the reactors became operational.

'Meet energy needs'

"On an issue which affects our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, we cannot continue to be mired in the same old debates between left and right, between environmentalists and entrepreneurs," said President Obama.

THREE MILE ISLAND ACCIDENT Partial core meltdown of one of the two reactors at the site, on 28 March 1979 Caused by a faulty valve which allowed large amounts of reactor coolant to leak Resulted in radioactive gases being released into the atmosphere About 140,000 people evacuated from the local area No fatalities, but dispute remains over long-term health impact Most significant accident in the history of the US nuclear power industry The reactor in question remains mothballed, but the other at the site is still in operation

"To meet our growing energy needs and prevent the worst consequences of climate change, we'll need to increase our supply of nuclear power. It's that simple."

Southern's chief executive David Ratcliffe said the president's announcement was "an important endorsement in the role nuclear power must play in diversifying our nation's energy mix and helping to curb greenhouse gas emissions".

There are currently 104 operating nuclear reactors across 31 states in the US, which provide about one-fifth of the country's electricity.

Meanwhile, there are currently 56 new nuclear reactors being built around the world.

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Commentary

Why we shouldn't go nuclear:

1) Price: The price to set up a nuclear reactor far outweighs the benefits of making one. This fact alone, where reactors are not cost conscious should tell us not to waste our money on them. This is especially true when we are running deficits in our budgets and bleeding money in every direction. So why waste money now with alternatives?

2) Safety: Each facility is a terrorist attack waiting to happen. Remember Chernobyl? If someone were to bomb a working nuclear facility, you'd have a working Chernobyl in our back yards. Each facility is a liability to our safety. What if war occurs? Do we want the enemy to be able to give us 20 Chernobyls all across the country?

3) Nuclear Waste: We have no where to store it. Yucca mountain is the only place that has been looked at but is not accepting nuclear waste because the people of Nevada don't want it in their state. Assuming Yucca does open, it would be filled instantly. Yes, there is that much nuclear waste and it's currently stored on site at each plant. If each plant were to ship their waste to Yucca, again, it would be filled immediately. Some say we'd need a new Yucca mountain yearly to keep pace with our nuclear waste.

A new Yucca yearly? We can't even approve 1, where will we be able to get more?

4) Alternatives: Solar, wind, and geothermal are nearly untapped. If we mandated a law that said every home must have a solar panel up on their roofs and that the government would pay for 90% of it's cost, then we would have more energy than we'd know what to do with.

We'd actually export our oil simply because that solar energy would more than meet our needs. Wind is already being tapped as well but not to the degree it should be.

I used to be in favor of Nuclear energy a while back until I learned the prices associated with adopting it. It seemed like the answer to our Energy crisis. I learned that every solution comes with a cost.

Nuclear Energy's cost is far too high.