1.
2017 Nobel Prize in Medicine Goes
to 3 Americans for Body Clock Studies
The New York Times OCT. 2, 2017
The
three scientists used fruit flies to isolate a gene that controls the rhythm of
a living organism’s daily life. Dr. Hall, Dr. Rosbash and Dr. Young were “able
to peek inside our biological clock,” helping “explain how plants, animals and
humans adapt their biological rhythm so that it is synchronized with the
Earth’s revolutions,” the Nobel Prize committee said.
By
examining the internal workings of fruit flies, the investigators helped
determine that the gene they were analyzing encoded a protein that accumulated
in cells at night, and then degraded during the day.
Using fruit flies as a model organism, this year’s Nobel
Laureates isolated a gene that controls the daily biological rhythm.
Why Is the Work Important?
Over
decades of research, these scientists identified the mechanisms governing the
clockwork inside the cell, shedding light on the biology of humans and other
multicellular organisms whose biological clocks function on the same
principles.
“With exquisite precision, our inner clock
adapts our physiology to the dramatically different phases of the day,”
committee members noted. “The clock regulates critical functions such as
behavior, hormone levels, sleep, body temperature and metabolism.”
The
researchers studied fruit flies in which a gene called period seemed to control
circadian rhythm; when it was mutated, the insects lost that rhythm.
But
what was period, and how did it work? The questions were relevant not just to
flies: All organisms, including humans, operate on 24-hour rhythms that control
not only sleep and wakefulness but also physiology generally, including blood
pressure and heart rate, alertness, body temperature and reaction time.
In
1984, the scientists isolated the period gene and discovered that cells use it
to make a protein that builds up at night, during sleep. In daytime, the
protein degrades in accordance with the insects’ sleep-wake cycle.
The
researchers believed that this protein, which they called PER, somehow blocked
the period gene during the day. As PER was broken down in daytime, the gene
regained its function and worked again the next night, directing the synthesis
of PER.
The
entire system turned out to involve several other proteins needed to control
the accumulation of PER. These include one that attaches to PER, helping to
block the period gene, and another that slows the buildup of the protein.
Continuing
to investigate this biological system over the years, the scientists went on to
discover still other components, notably one that allows light to influence the
24-hour rhythm.
Their
work was pivotal, the Nobel committee said, because the misalignment between a
person’s lifestyle and the rhythm dictated by an inner timekeeper — jet lag
after a trans-Atlantic flight, for example — could affect well-being and over
time could contribute to the risks for various diseases.
2. Kobe
Steel’s Falsified Data Is Another Blow to Japan’s Reputation
The New York Times OCT. 10, 2017
A
Nissan Motor Corporation assembly line in Yokohama, Japan, in August. Nissan
and other Japanese automakers said they would investigate whether they would be
impacted by Kobe Steel’s disclosure that some employees had falsified
inspection certificates. CreditShizuo Kambayashi/Associated Press
TOKYO
— Big manufacturers of cars, aircraft and bullet trains have long relied on
Kobe Steel to provide raw materials for their products, making the steel maker
a crucial, if largely invisible, pillar of the Japanese economy.
Now,
Kobe Steel has acknowledged falsifying data about the quality of aluminum and
copper it sold, setting off a scandal that is reverberating through the global
supply chain and casting a new shadow over the country’s reputation for
precision manufacturing.
The
fallout has the potential to spread to hundreds of companies. Big
multinationals, including automakers like Toyota Motor, General Motors and
Ford, as well as aircraft manufacturers like Boeing and Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries, are investigating.
The
companies are trying to determine if substandard materials were used in their
products and, if so, whether they present safety hazards. It is a daunting
task, since multinationals source from various suppliers and producers.
The
scandal hits a tender spot for Japan. The country relies on its reputation for
quality manufacturing as a selling point over China and other countries that
offer cheaper alternatives. But its reputation has been marred by a series of
problems at some of Japan’s biggest manufacturers.
Last
week, Nissan Motor said unqualified staff members had carried out inspections
at its factories, prompting the carmaker to recall 1.2 million vehicles, though
it was not clear if the quality of the vehicles had been affected. Mitsubishi Motors and Suzuki Motor both admitted last
year that they had been exaggerating the fuel economy of their vehicles by
cheating on tests.
Perhaps
the biggest blow to Japan’s reputation for quality has come from Takata, the
airbag maker that was at the center of the largest auto safety recall in
history, involving tens of millions of vehicles. Its faulty airbags have been
blamed for more than a dozen deaths. Takata declared bankruptcy in June.
Toshiaki
Oguchi, director of Governance for Owners Japan, a corporate watchdog, said
that Japanese companies were generally diligent about quality, but that when
cheating occurred — because of competitive pressure or other factors — it could
too easily go unchecked. Japanese companies, he said, tend to discourage thorough
examination or criticism, either from employees or from independent outsiders.
“When
something goes wrong, companies always hire a committee of outsiders to examine
what happened,” Mr. Oguchi said. “But why not be proactive? Why not have people
reviewing procedures all the time?”
The
extent of the problems at Kobe Steel are still unfolding.
Kobe
Steel said on Sunday that employees at four of its factories had altered
inspection certificates on aluminum and copper products from September 2016 to
August this year. The changes, it said, made it look as if the products met
manufacturing specifications required by customers — including for vital
qualities like tensile strength, a measure of material’s ability to withstand a
load without breaking when being stretched — when they did not.
On
Wednesday, the company said it was investigating possible data falsification
involving another product, powdered steel, which is used mostly to make gears.
The company said the powdered steel it was examining had been sold to one
customer it did not name.
Kobe
Steel added that it was examining other possible episodes of data falsification
going back 10 years. The company did not provide significant details on the
discrepancies, making it difficult to immediately determine if they posed a
safety threat. No deaths or safety incidents have been attributed to Kobe
Steel.
The
company’s share price dropped sharply on Tuesday, the first day of trading
after a holiday, and as of Wednesday morning in Tokyo had lost about one-third
of its value since last week.
“The
falsification problem has become an issue that could destroy international
faith in Japanese manufacturing,” the Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei said
in an article on Tuesday.
3. A
Burst of Gunfire, a Pause, Then Carnage in Las Vegas That Would Not Stop
The New York Times OCT. 2, 2017
What happened at the concert venue
Mass Shooting in Las Vegas
Dozens
of people were killed and hundreds injured when a gunman opened fire at a
country music festival near the Mandalay Bay casino.
LAS
VEGAS — At first, it sounded like fireworks — a loud, crackling noise. Then the
awful realization began to spread, unevenly, through the huge crowd.
It
dawned on people when they heard screams, when they saw bloodied victims
collapse around them, or when others stampeded for the exits, trampling some of
the people in their way.
Many
of the terrified concertgoers followed their instincts and crouched or lay
flat, not realizing that they remained exposed to a gunman lodged high above them. Others surged into
surrounding streets and buildings, leaving behind debris lost in the panic —
drink cups, shoes, and cellphones that kept ringing for hours, as relatives and
friends tried to reach their loved ones and find out if they were safe.
By
sunrise on Monday, the staggering toll at an outdoor country music festival on
a cool desert night was becoming clear: at least 59 people killed, the police
said, and 527 injured, either by gunfire or in the flight to safety.
A
lone gunman perched on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino had
smashed the windows of his suite with a hammer, taken aim at a crowd of 22,000
people, and committed one of the deadliest mass shootings in American
history. Late on Monday, law enforcement officials said they still had no idea
what the motive was.
The
police said they found 23 firearms in his suite. And when they searched the
attacker’s house, they discovered an additional 19 firearms and, according to
Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, “some
explosives, and several thousand rounds of ammo.” He added that they also found
ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer sometimes used in making bombs, in the gunman’s
car.
The
sheriff said some rifles found in the hotel room may have been modified to make
them fully automatic. Automatic rifles, which fire multiple rounds with a
squeeze of a trigger, are highly regulated, and on videos posted online by
witnesses, the rapid-fire sound indicated that at least one weapon was fully
automatic.
Down
below at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, Melissa Ayala, 41, was drinking and
laughing with four friends from California when they heard the gunfire, which
at first they thought was fireworks. Then a man near her fell with a bullet
wound to his neck. “There was blood pouring everywhere,” she said.
And
then: “It was just total chaos,” she said. “People falling down and laying
everywhere. We were trying to take cover and we had no idea where to go.”
The
police identified the gunman as Stephen Paddock, 64, a retiree with no
significant criminal history, who liked to gamble and seemed to live a quiet
life with his girlfriend in Mesquite, Nev., about 80 miles northeast of Las
Vegas. He shot himself to death before the police entered his room.
1,516 mass shootings in 1,735 days: America's gun crisis – in
one chart
The
attack at a country music festival in Las Vegas that left at least 58 people
dead is the deadliest mass shooting in
modern US history – but there were six other mass shootings in America
this past week alone.
No
other developed nation comes close to the rate of gun violence in America.
Americans own an estimated 265m guns, more than one gun for
every adult.
Data
compiled by the Gun Violence Archive reveals a shocking
human toll: there is a mass shooting – defined as four or more people shot in
one incident, not including the shooter – every nine out of 10 days on average.
