SCIENCE FILE / An exploration of issues and trends affecting science, medicine and the environment

Natural Vaccines

Scottish scientist say they have found a revolutionary way of growing medicines in plants, which could make other methods of producing vaccines obsolete. Professor Mike Wilson of the Scottish Crop Research Institute in Dundee said his team’s chance discovery could help the Third World grow crops that contain vaccines against endemic disease. Cattle could graze on foods giving them immunity to pests and disease. “It may sound fanciful to say you can vaccinate yourself against disease by plucking a banana off a tree and eating it, but it is perfectly feasible,” Wilson said. The discovery was made while researchers were allowing viruses to replicate in some plants. Protective proteins were formed during the process without the aid of genetic engineering.

Tropical Storms

Floods unleashed as tropical cyclone Bonita neared Mozambique’s southern Maputo Province left at least 5,000 people homeless. Cyclone Yasi, the season’s first in the South Pacific, formed briefly in the open waters to the east of the Tonga Islands.

Volcanoes

Residents on Montserrat were able to return to their homes safely for the first time since an eruption of the tiny Caribbean territory’s volcano in early December sent them fleeing southern parts of the island. Villagers on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi were warned of an increased danger from two volcanoes that suddenly have begun to erupt. Soputan and Vokon spewed clouds of black smoke and hot ash on nearby villages on Jan. 13 and 14, causing panic among the local population. The Pico de Fogo Volcano in the Cape Verde Islands produced a plume of gas and smoke similar to its last eruption during April 1995. Kuju Volcano, on Japan’s Kyushu Island, produced its first explosion of ash since Dec. 18. It came back to life Oct. 11 after lying dormant for 260 years.

Earthquakes

A temblor rocked Indonesia’s easternmost province of Irian Jaya, sending residents into the streets but causing no significant damage or injuries. Earth movements were also felt in the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula, southern Greece, Ecuador, central and northern Peru, and parts of Southern California.

Wildfires

Forest fires sparked by arson raged for a second week in two Argentina nature areas, scorching thousands of acres and burning more than a million trees. The blazes in Nahuel Huapi forest and the Rio Turbio National Park caused more than $60 million in damage.

Additional sources: U.S. Climate Analysis Center, Fiji Weather Bureau, Meteo France, U.S. Earthquake Information Center and the World Meteorological Organization.

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