The Week of June 9, 2006

War of Words

The leaders of opposite sides on the Copyright Wars recently traded barbs on the future of digital content distribution. The MPAA, represents the movie industry, and the EFF, opposes restrictions on the digital rights for end-users. The MPAA maintains that the copyright laws are a necessary incentive to promote new content production and delivery. The EFF asserts that the erosion of rights for the end-users has resulted in the wide-spread hacking and mass-broadcasting of those copyrighted materials. What remains clear is this debate will not soon dissipate, as Internet-users continue to dictate the ways digital content should be distributed. To read more, go to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/5064170.stm

India Proposes Adoption of “Gifted” Children

The Indian Army has proposed adopting children with special abilities, to further enhance them at specialized schools and training facilities. Borrowing on the success of the 4-year old marathoner, and sports icons like golf sensation TW, the Army asserts that early intervention would allow them to achieve their full potential. Education, training, competitive events, and nutrition would aid the 10 – 16 year old youth in realizing their potential. Perhaps it would be too much to ask for a great majority of the “not-so gifted” children to also receive the same treatment from their government. This article published in the New Delhi PTI News Agency circulation.

Cervical Cancer Vaccine Wins FDA Approval

A vaccine was approved as a cancer prophylactic for girls and young women 9 – 26 years of age. Currently more than 100,000 women are diagnosed and approximately 350 women die of cervical cancer each year. The vaccine was generally well tolerated, and proven effective against non-invasive cervical cancer caused by the HPV. A round of 3 IM injections at ~US$120 per dose would be administered to achieve protection. This vaccine must be made cheaper to reach the low-income women, who are not adequately screened or treated for cervical cancer. To further the effort to eliminate cervical cancer in the US, this vaccine would need approval from a governing board which sets vaccination guidelines for children. For more information, go to: http://www.merck.com/newsroom/press_releases/product/2006_0608.html

Language Switch in the Bilingual Brain

A multi-national team from Japan, Britain, and Germany conducted research to determine the area of the human brain most active in discerning different languages. German-English and Japanese-English bilinguals were tested to determine the nerve responses activated during the switching between languages. The Team’s results indicate the left portion of the brain called the Caudate Ganglia, becomes activated during language adaption. For more information, go to: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/312/5779/1537