Science Friday: Experimental Therapy Saves Monkeys From Ebola
The string-like Ebola virus. Credit: Heinz Feldmann, Peter Jahrling, Elizabeth Fischer and Anita Mora, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health.
Reporting in the journal Nature, researchers write that ZMapp—the cocktail of antibodies used to treat two American aid workers infected with the Ebola virus—spared 18 severely ill monkeys from death. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, weighs in on the new results and whether they can be expected to hold up in humans.
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Produced by Christopher Intagliata, Senior Producer
Peering into supermassive black holes and picking through the remains of exploded stars is among the detective work the NuSTAR telescope performs. Launched in June 2012, the comparatively small telescope uses high energy x-rays to penetrate dust and gas to get a clear look at some of the densest, hottest regions of the universe, says Fiona Harrison. She’s the astrophysicist who developed NuSTAR and serves as the principal investigator of its NASA mission. NuSTAR recently caught a black hole in the act of blurring x-ray light. Harrison discusses how this and other new findings on the nature of black holes are shaping our understanding of how the universe formed.
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Produced by Becky Fogel, Production Assistant
GUESTS
- Fiona Harrison
Benjamin M. Rosen Professor of Physics and Astronomy
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California
Our bodies create energy by stealing electrons from food and transferring them to oxygen, which is what we need to breathe. But certain bacteria have figured out how to thrive in the absence of oxygen. They form tiny nanowires with their bodies, through which they dump their electrons onto rocks and other surfaces—creating, essentially, “breathing” rocks. USC's Moh El-Naggar says engineers are now plugging those bacterial nanowires into fuel cells.
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Produced by Christopher Intagliata, Senior Producer
GUESTS
- Moh El-Naggar
Assistant Professor
Physics and Biological Sciences
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California
Early excavators at La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles focused on the flashy fossils: saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, mammoths, and mastodons. But they totally ignored the less charismatic remains of plants and insects, says John Harris, chief curator at the Page Museum at the tar pits. Today, he says, those microfossils offer scientists a glimpse of the climate of Los Angeles 27,000 years ago—when the area was cool and humid, more akin to Washington D.C. today.
Today, computer animated films are a multi-billion dollar business, and characters like Buzz Lightyear, Shrek, and Nemo are household names. But veteran animator Tom Sito says that the men and women who developed CGI weren’t Hollywood types—they were scientists and engineers trying to solve the problems of digital simulation.
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Produced by Annie Minoff, SciArts Producer
GUESTS
- Tom Sito
Animator
Author, “Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation” (MIT Press, 2013)
Professor of Cinematic Practice
USC George Lucas School of Cinematic Arts
Los Angeles
When Hollywood’s biggest T.V. and film writers are also science fans, their passion for the field has a way of cropping up on the big screen. In Pasadena, Ira gets a peek into the writers’ room. He asks Scott Z. Burns (Contagion, An Inconvenient Truth), Zoanne Clack (Grey’s Anatomy) and Eric Kaplan (The Big Bang Theory) how they balance scientific accuracy and storytelling.
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Produced by Annie Minoff, SciArts Producer
GUESTS
- Scott Z. Burns
Screenwriter, “Contagion,” “Side Effects,” “The Informant!”
Producer, “An Inconvenient Truth”
Los Angeles, California
- Eric Kaplan
Co-executive Producer and Senior Writer
The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
Los Angeles, California
- Zoanne Clack
Executive Producer and Writer
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
Los Angeles, California
For decades, Hollywood’s effects wizards have struggled to create convincing CGI human faces. But with films like Avatar and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, USC scientist Paul Debevec has proven it can be done. Ira talks with Debevec and Avatar actor Stephen Lang about how convincing “digital actors” are made, and what Debevec’s success could mean for the future of acting.
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Produced by Annie Minoff, SciArts Producer
GUESTS
- Stephen Lang
Actor, “Avatar,” “Gods and Generals”
New York, New York
- Paul Debevec
Chief Visual Officer
Institute for Creative Technologies
University of Southern California
Playa Vista, California