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14,067 articles from Guardian Unlimited Science
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- Articles published by Guardian Unlimited Science
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- May 25, 2012 (13:38)
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SUNDAY 20. MAY, 2012
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18:10
Peter Gleick cleared of forging documents in Heartland exposé
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18:09
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17:30
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13:00
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01:06
Call for health minister to make potentially lifesaving treatment available without prescription prompts fears in some quarters that addicts will be tempted into riskier habits
An antidote to heroin overdoses should be made widely available without prescription, according to controversial advice from the government's drugs advisory body.
Critics claim that the distribution of naloxone would create a "safety net" for drug users and potentially encourage greater use of class A drugs. But the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has written to health minister Anne Milton to argue that people working with the UK's estimated 300,000 heroin addicts will be able to save lives if they are given access to the drug.
When a heroin user has an overdose, one injection of naloxone revives them from unconsciousness and gives them enough time for medical help to arrive. It is already used by ambulance crews, casualty staff and out-of-hours GPs.
But the drug is only available on prescription, which means people working with drug users cannot keep stocks or carry them in case of emergency.
The government will be under pressure to ignore the advice, with some claiming naloxone encourages users to indulge in even riskier drug-taking. Others have warned that up to 3% of those receiving naloxone suffer potentially life-threatening side-effects and even that it can be used as a weapon in fights between users.
However, the chairman of the advisory council, Professor Les Iversen, told Milton: "The ACMD is not aware of any significant body of evidence that naloxone provision encourages increased heroin use.
"The ACMD concludes that naloxone provision is an evidence-based intervention, which can save lives. Naloxone provision fits with other measures to promote recovery by encouraging drug users to engage with treatment services, and, ultimately, keep them alive until they are in recovery."
Mike Pattinson, a former probation officer and now the director of operations at the Brighton-based health and social care charity CRI, said: "We know that if people in constant contact with heroin users are able to carry this drug that they will save lives. We would hope that the government acts on this advice because it is compelling."
Trevor Ball, 40, a recovering heroin addict, said he had been saved by naloxone when paramedics had been called but believed others could have been rescued from overdoses if it had been more widely accessible. He said: "Drug users don't think about life and death when they take heroin. It is a case of 'it will never happen to me'', so the idea that access to naloxone will encourage drug use is a nonsense. I have been saved by it and I have seen others go blue, go over, and been saved by it."
Regulations concerning the distribution of naloxone have already been relaxed in Scotland, where the devolved government is funding the distribution of 10,000 units.
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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SATURDAY 19. MAY, 2012
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22:30
Author of The God Delusion says providing free Bibles to state schools is justified by its impact on the English language
It sounds like one of the most unlikely alliances of recent years. Richard Dawkins, arch-atheist and scourge of the praying classes, has announced support for education secretary Michael Gove's plan to send free King James Bibles to every state school.
The proposal aims to help pupils learn about the Bible's impact "on our history, language, literature and democracy" and will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the authorised version's publication, Gove said earlier this year. Church leaders have approved, but the plan has fallen foul of most non-believers. An online Guardian poll showed an 82% opposition, while the National Secular Society said the £375,000 proposal wasted money and favoured Christianity in multi-faith state schools. Nevertheless, several rich Tory party donors agreed to back the plan and the first Bibles were sent out last week, to the derision of secularists – with the exception of their most prominent and pugnacious recruit: Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion and critic of all things clerical.
As Dawkins reveals in today's Observer, support for the Bible plan is justified on the grounds of literary merit and he lists a range of biblical phrases which any cultivated English speaker will instantly recognise. These include "salt of the Earth", "through a glass darkly", and "no peace for the wicked". Dawkins states: "A native speaker of English who has not read a word of the King James Bible is verging on the barbarian."
Rapprochement would seem to be in the air – until Dawkins's thesis is studied more closely. While Gove believes the Bible is a guide to morality, Dawkins is sure it is not. "I have heard the cynically misanthropic opinion that without the Bible as a moral compass people would show no restraint against murder, theft and mayhem. The surest way to disabuse yourself of this pernicious falsehood is to read the Bible itself," he says.
In fact, its pages are riddled with the advocacy of murder, slavery and theft. Hence his support for Gove's plan: opening the Bible is the surest way to put young minds off its contents. From this perspective, the Dawkins-Gove alliance looks dead before it started.
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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22:30
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20:01
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18:13
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17:58
The launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is aborted seconds before lift off at Cape Canaveral in Florida
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16:02
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15:02
Clip obtained from YouTube shows a dazzling light show playing out behind the clouds, as spring storms rattled parts of the state on Thursday. Severe thunderstorm warnings were issued in several places across the region
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11:58
Privately owned Falcon 9 craft was due to take off from Cape Canaveral for International Space Station rendezvous attempt
The launch of the privately owned Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida has been aborted after a computer detected a possible problem with one of its engines.
The rocket's engines were shut down just as it was about to leave the launchpad, an official from the US firm SpaceX said on Saturday.
The next launch opportunity is on Tuesday.
SpaceX is the first commercial company to attempt a rendezvous with the International Space Station. Preparations for the company's trial cargo run to the orbiting outpost had been proceeding smoothly until 4:55am EDT (08.55 GMT).
Instead of the rocket's main engines igniting, an onboard computer cancelled the launch after it noticed the chamber pressure in one of the nine Merlin engines was outside its permitted value.
"Liftoff we've had a cutoff. Liftoff did not occur," said Nasa launch commentator George Diller.
Nasa is investing in SpaceX and four other companies to fly cargo and eventually astronauts to the orbital outpost following the retirement of the space shuttles last summer.
The Falcon 9 rocket has flown only twice before, successfully reaching orbit on both occasions. An earlier SpaceX rocket, Falcon-1, failed to reach orbit on its first three test flights, though the company has had no failures since.
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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08:56
In our pick of the most fabulous space imagery from last month, we feature galaxies as numerous as the grains of sand on a beach, a plan to mine asteroids, a recreation of Earthrise – and a rubber chicken
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FRIDAY 18. MAY, 2012
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23:54
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23:30
The scheduled launch of an unmanned Dragon capsule by a Falcon 9 rocket at 09:55 BST on Saturday, 19 May, should lead to one of the largest advances yet for commercial spaceflight. Both vehicles were built by SpaceX, or Space Exploration Technologies, a company established in California a decade ago that has ambitions, and now a matching order book, to become a major player in so-called space transportation.
In particular, SpaceX is contracted by NASA to develop systems to supply cargo, and eventually astronauts, to and from the International Space Station. On 22 May, provided it can demonstrate its ability to manoeuvre under control in the vicinity of the ISS, the current Dragon should become the first commercial craft to dock with the station. After delivering supplies it will be reloaded with trash and redundant clutter for a return to Earth. A controlled reentry over the Pacific, should be followed by a splashdown and recovery off the coast of California on the 31st.
Meanwhile, preparations are underway for the launch of Shenzhou 9, the fourth manned Chinese mission in nine years and the first since 2008. Its crew of three taikonauts, or yuhangyuans, may include the first Chinese woman in Space and is intended to dock with the Tiangong 1 laboratory launched in September. There has been no official declaration of a launch date or flight duration, but a launch during June and a length of some 12 or 13 days seems most likely.
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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18:49
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17:36
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16:09
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15:20
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15:12
The hormone dopamine is responsible for the cravings of addiction, but when levels are abnormally low it causes the muscular twitches of Parkinson's disease
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13:45
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10:00
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09:09
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02:05
Last week Stevyn Colgan, author and former member of the Metropolitan Police's "Problem Solving Unit", met me at The Bear in Maidenhead for a beer-fuelled chat about evidence-based policing. Could the police make better use of science and evidence, and if so would the media and politicians even let them?
Strange Quarks is produced and hosted by The Pulse Project. Subscribe (iTunes)Follow us on Twitter: @strange_quarks | @mjrobbins
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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