I wrote a report for the Royal Society about one of its discussion meeting on emerging viral infections some time ago, so it’s quite interesting to see that visitors who hit the Sciencebase site via Google are still reaching the site searching for causes of viral infections. I suspect the visitors are after solutions to their own diseases…the main cause of viral infection, I felt like saying in facetious mode, is a virus…
Month: May 2005
The SARS bacterium?
The journal Chemical Communications forever trying to publicise its papers, recently highlighted a “hot” paper about removing harmful bacteria from an airstream using a titania photocatalyst. That’s all well and good but “LJ”, who wrote the highlight, seems to imply that the inspiration for this works comes in the wake of the SARS outbreak. To quote: “The recent SARS outbreak has triggered concern over airborne bacteria and the diseases they can cause.”
Well, forgive me, but isn’t SARS a virus? The researchers themselves mention Legionella and the virus SARS but LJ presumably felt Legionnaire’s disease was not topical enough to catch the eye of any science writers prowling the Chem Commun hot papers page. Well, LJ, I’m afraid your mention of SARS caught my eye, but for all the wrong reasons.
Desktop Bananas and Kilograms
Scientific fun and games at The Register this week! And, although one doesn’t tend to order bananas by the kilo for personal use you most certainly get charged by the kilo not per banana!