Here First - Science and Technology Blog

This one is a month or so old, but it is very important! The Australian government has issued its first license allowing scientists to create cloned human embryos to try and obtain embryonic stem cells. I think this is a very thin line we are walking on.  The in vitro-fertilization firm Sydney IVF was granted the license. It is said that they have access to 7,200 human eggs for research. If the project is a success it would be a world first, the Australian government's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), which granted the license, said on Wednesday. Scientists in other countries have made stem cells they believe are similar to embryonic cells using a variety of techniques, but none have been able to extract embryonic stem cells from cloned human embryos. An Australian ban on the research, known as therapeutic cloning or somatic cell nuclear transfer, was lifted in December 2006 after a rare conscience vote in the national parliament. But the use of excess IVF emb...

Cell phones emit radiofrequency energy, a type of radiation that is a form of electromagnetic radiation, according to the National Cancer Institute. Though studies are being done to see if there is a link between it and tumors of the brain and central nervous system, there is no definitive link between the two, the institute says. The head of a prominent cancer research institute issued an unprecedented warning to his faculty and staff Wednesday: Limit cell phone use because of the possible risk of cancer. The warning from Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, is contrary to numerous studies that don't find a link between cancer and cell phone use, and a public lack of worry by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Herberman is basing his alarm on early unpublished data. He says it takes too long to get answers from science, and he believes people should take action now -- especially when it comes to children. "Really at the heart...