BOSTON (AP) -- One of six Harvard Medical School researchers sickened after drinking coffee laced with a toxic chemical said Monday he does not see how the poisoning could have been accidental, but has no idea who might be responsible.
University police and other agencies are investigating the Aug. 26 poisonings, which were revealed in an internal memo to medical school faculty last week. The memo identified the substance as sodium azide, a common preservative used in school labs, but did not indicate whether officials believed the laced coffee to be accidental or intentional.
"I always thought it was a deliberate substance added to the coffee," said Matteo Iannacone (pronounced mah-TAY'-oh eye-a-nah-KOH'-nee), a postdoctoral fellow.
"It was too strange for me to be an accident," he told the Associated Press in an interview Monday.
Iannacone said he immediately noticed a "weird" taste after sipping an espresso he poured from a coffee machine in an eighth-floor lounge near his research lab. After taking a second sip to make sure he wasn't imagining the foul taste, he began feeling dizziness and a rapid heartbeat, but said the symptoms passed quickly.
Two of the researchers who drank coffee earlier in the day had fainted, but officials did not immediately connect their illnesses to the coffee machine, Iannacone said.
An ambulance carried Iannacone to nearby Brigham and Women's Hospital for treatment. Doctors could find nothing wrong, he said.
Iannacone said university officials privately told him the results of toxicology tests last week. Daniel G. Ennis, executive dean for administration, and Richard M. Shea, associate dean for physical planning and facilities, later sent the internal memo to Harvard Medical School faculty.
"As the investigation continues, we are being prudent and taking additional precautionary measures to ensure the well being of our community," the memo said.
Among the steps being taken was installation of additional security cameras in buildings and "strengthening security systems that manage access to the laboratories during both normal business hours and off hours," according to the memo.
Iannacone said he was unaware of any threats against the school and did not know of any controversial research that might have made the facility or any of its researchers potential targets.
"I have no idea who might have done this thing," he said. To me it doesn't look like a joke, obviously, because we were not far from a lethal dose."
The machine was a single-serve coffee maker with a water reserve that is filled manually, not the type that is plugged directly into the building's water supply.
While surprised that it took nearly two months for the investigation to reveal the cause of the illnesses, Iannacone thinks the university has done a thorough job.
"I am satisfied with the way they have answered questions," he said, adding that he agrees with improving security at the school.
David Cameron, a spokesman for Harvard Medical School, said officials decided not to make a school-wide announcement until definitive results were known.
"The toxicologists who were looking at this had to ... try to figure out what is the short list of agents that could have done this and then conduct tests for those particular agents. So it took roughly this long to finally come up with a definitive test to say it was sodium azide," Cameron said.
Once the results were known, the people who had ingested the chemical were notified individually.
Sodium azide is colorless and odorless with a salt-like texture. It can explode when shocked or heated, and is used to trigger air bags to inflate upon impact. It can dissolve in some liquids, including water.
Exposure can cause rapid breathing and heart rate, low blood pressure, loss of consciousness and respiratory failure leading to death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.By BOB SALSBERG
Associated Press Writer
BOSTON (AP) -- One of six Harvard Medical... more
Six Harvard University medical researchers were poisoned in August after drinking coffee that was laced with a chemical preservative, according to university officials.
The lab has not been a target of threats or animal-rights protests. The university delayed notifying the public about the incident because officials were unsure of what they were dealing with.
Harvard spokesman David Cameron said "It wasn't until fairly recently that they were able to be 100 percent sure that this is what it is,"Six Harvard University medical researchers were poisoned in August after drinking... more
Although Ben Sweeney’s research runs the gamut on da Vinci — including art, science and math — his study on da Vinci’s anomalous left hand has been the subject of most interest. Through analysis of different da Vinci sketches, Sweeney developed the idea that the third and fourth fingers of da Vinci’s left hand were connected. This condition is called syndactyly, in which two or more digits are fused together.
Sweeney said that art historians have noticed issues with da Vinci’s hand in his sketches before, but it was always written off as the result of a stroke da Vinci had late in life. But Sweeney took his theory to Joseph Upton ’66, a former Yale-New Haven Hospital surgeon who researched at the University, who agreed that it appears to be a syndactyly hand.
Both were interviewed for ABC primetime special.
more info at www.leonardoshands.comAlthough Ben Sweeney’s research runs the gamut on da Vinci — including art,... more
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Gone are the hot breakfasts in most dorms and the pastries at Widener Library. Varsity athletes are no longer guaranteed free sweat suits, and just this week came the jarring news that professors will go without cookies at faculty meetings.
By Harvard standards, these are hard times. Not Dickensian hard times, but with the value of its endowment down by almost 30 percent, the world’s richest university is learning to live with less.CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Gone are the hot breakfasts in most dorms and the pastries at... more
NASA/Harvard Team: Finding a second Earth could Happen anytime now.
"It could happen almost any time now. We now have the technological capability to identify Earth-like planets around the smallest stars." David Latham -Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
To date, Planet hunters have spotted more than 300 planets beyond our solar system, but the vast majority are hot, Jupiter-sized planets that would dwarf the Earth and are almost certainly lifeless.
A few weeks ago, the first rocky planet was found outside solar system, but the surface temperature is far too hot to sustain life. The planet, called CoRoT-7b, is the first planet beyond our solar system with a proven density similar to Earth's, astronomers say. Most known exoplanets are large gas giants like Jupiter.
The tiny planet was discovered orbiting a star slightly smaller and cooler than our sun, about 500 light-years away. As the planet passed in front of its star, it eclipsed a small portion of the star's light, causing a dip in brightness.
Astronomers may be on the brink of discovering a second Earth-like planet, a find that would add fresh impetus to the search for extraterrestrial life. Astronomers from six major centers, including NASA, Harvard and the University of Colorado, agreed at a conference last year that advances in technology suggest scientists are on the verge of being able to detect the presence of small, rocky planets, much like our own, around distant stars for the first time. The planets are considered the most likely habitats for extraterrestrial life.
Finding a rocky planet with an Earth-like density brings us one step closer to discovering another planet similar to our own. A twin-Earth beyond the solar system could provide the best chance of finding life elsewhere in the universe.
more at link...NASA/Harvard Team: Finding a second Earth could Happen anytime now.
"It could... more
This is a discussion from the radio program Market Place with host Kai Ryssdal and Harvard political philosopher Michael Sandel about the 'bailouts' aka too big to fail.
The irony is reviewedThis is a discussion from the radio program Market Place with host Kai Ryssdal and... more
Two years ago we slowed it down to 38 miles an hour; now we've been able to park it then bring it back up to full speed." Lene Hau isn't talking about a used motorbike, but about light – that ethereal, life-sustaining stuff that normally travels 93 million miles from the sun in about eight minutes.Two years ago we slowed it down to 38 miles an hour; now we've been able to park it... more
http://www.triponadeal.com: This week we hit the streets of NYC to find out from you why you travel and what places have changed you, moved you and inspired you. You came up with castles, monuments, spaceships and much more! Get all the links at triponadeal.comhttp://www.triponadeal.com: This week we hit the streets of NYC to find out from you... more
The whole damn movie is right here. Look for cameos from Al Franken,
Mike Tyson, John Neville. Starring Adrian Grenier, Joey Lauren Adams, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Rebecca Gayheart, Ray Allen, Eric Stoltz. (click twice to see the film in HQ BIG SCREEN)
As accompaniment, here's the doc about Toback, THE OUTSIDER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQRukyHd1S4The whole damn movie is right here. Look for cameos from Al Franken,
Mike Tyson,... more
Harvard University, one of the most famed sets of learning in the world, has branched out into fashion, signing a ten year deal with Wearwolf Group, a big clothing manufacturer.
But it won't be the standard Uni merchandise, like sweatshirts with HARVARD emblazoned on the front, and nor will the University's colors feature heavily in the designs. It's an actual clothing line to be sold (eventually) world wide, based on pictures of students from the '60s. And so far it's only menswear. And it's a little 'trendy'.
Why are they doing this? Is Harvard secretly broke? Want to shake up their image? Will Yale respond in kind?Harvard University, one of the most famed sets of learning in the world, has branched... more
While former candidates for president released their college grades and records, including George Bush, Al Gore and John Kerry, Barack Obama has insisted on keeping his secret. The question being asked is why?
Bush, Gore and Kerry all had mediocre grades but that did not deter them from making their college records available to voters. So is there something in Obama's records that he does not want the public to see?While former candidates for president released their college grades and records,... more
Recently above the Harvard campus as Michael Jackson was being flown in a UFO, the vehicle was pulled over. The police officer demanded to see the alien's driver's license. All she could produce was an HMO card, which officer accidentally dropped. She was charged for an office visit. Is this a case of space-ial profiling?Recently above the Harvard campus as Michael Jackson was being flown in a UFO, the... more
We've heard bits and pieces about what's happened with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a prominent African-American scholar at Harvard...
Haven't heard?
Well, Gates was arrested Thursday afternoon at his home by Cambridge police investigating a possible break-in. Had had lost his keys, and was banging around loudly, trying to get into his home that he was renting from the school.
To quote the artice:
"He was booked for disorderly conduct after “exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior,” according to a police report. Gates accused the investigating officer of being a racist and told him he had "no idea who he was messing with,'' the report said.
Gates told the officer that he was being targeted because "I'm a black man in America.''
Now, I don't know if I'm the only person out there that feels this way, but if there was a ruckus outside and I saw someone being shady trying to get into a house, I would call the police too. If I WAS THE PERSON, I would expect someone to call the police on me. You can always prove you live there, right? Maybe the officer would have helped me get into my house!
To call this racial profiling is, to me, ridiculous. Sure, the police aren't always doing the right thing at the right time, but in this case, I would say that they were doing their jobs the right way.
Didn't I mention something about beer with Mr. P?
Ah, yes! In an article I read this morning, I learned that this man, Mr. Gates, was invited to the White House to have a beer with B. Obama. The President also invited the officer who charged Mr. Gates, Officer Crowley. They all sat down, had a beer, and forgot the whole incident.
Now, here's what pops my corn... Racial profiling, or just a way to take attention off of the ever failing new health-care plan? You hear about stories all the time involving "African-American police officers attacking young white boys" or "Hispanic locals being discriminated against by white store owners" etc etc etc. It just goes on and on and on and on!
What makes this so special?
Because he's a scholar?
Because he's wealthy?
Because he has a large following of African-American students and peers that choose to see it as racial profiling?
Personally, I think everything is way over publicized. In this case, the officer was doing his job, and because Mr. Gates is a wealthy and powerful man, he cries "RACIAL PROFILING!" and it suddenly becomes a fever in the media.
To me, it's just another version of "Gucci Bandanna". Just the same thing, repeating itself, popular only because of who produced it.
And please, we are all adults here. I am just voicing my opinion. If you don't agree, that's excellent. I love hearing other sides of how people think. Just don't tell me I'm wrong because you believe something different than me.
Namaste' y'all!
-Kelly Ann
PS- This is my first post. Practice makes perfect..We've heard bits and pieces about what's happened with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a... more
President Barack Obama said Wednesday that police acted "stupidly" in the arrest of prominent black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and that despite racial progress blacks and Hispanics are still singled out unfairly for arrest.
"This still haunts us," Obama said.
Obama called Gates a friend, and said he doesn't know all the facts of the case. Nonetheless, Obama said, anyone would have been angry if treated the way Gates claims police in Cambridge, Mass., treated him. Gates, a Harvard University professor, claims he was arrested in his home after showing ID to police who responded to a report of a possible burglary.
"Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof he was in own home," Obama said during a prime-time news conference that otherwise focused on the health care debate.
Poor choice of words? Or deserved?President Barack Obama said Wednesday that police acted "stupidly" in the arrest of... more
The Harvard black professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. talks about his arrest and the outrage of racial profiling in America.The Harvard black professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. talks about his arrest and the... more
Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation's pre-eminent African-American scholars, was arrested Thursday afternoon at his home by Cambridge police investigating a possible break-in. The incident raised concerns among some Harvard faculty that Gates was a victim of racial profiling.
Police arrived at Gates’ Ware Street home near Harvard Square at 12:44 p.m. to question him. Gates, director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, was said to have locked himself out of his house and was trying to get inside.
He was booked for disorderly conduct after reportedly exhibiting tumultuous behavior according to the Cambridge police log.
Cambridge police would not comment on the arrest, citing an investigation into the incident by Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. A spokesman for Leone said Gates is scheduled to be arraigned on Aug. 26 and said the office could not provide details on the arrest until that time.
Friends said Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree, who has taken on previous cases with racial implications, is representing Gates.Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation's pre-eminent... more
Harvard child psychiatrist Joseph Biederman has been advocating powerful medication for mental illnesses such as ADHD and bipolar disorder for decades. His methods are now coming under scrutiny.Harvard child psychiatrist Joseph Biederman has been advocating powerful medication... more
Kenneth Chancey, 17, walks down the littered streets of Skid Row, one of the roughest areas of Los Angeles. Drug deals are made around him. A man screams at his girlfriend. The stench of the place is overwhelming.
Chancey keeps his head down and tries to tune it out. "It's kind of horrible," he says, as he escorts his 14-year-old sister, Stephanie, through it all.
But Chancey is on another journey too, one that not many of his friends know about. An honors student and star football player, he hopes to go from being homeless to becoming a Harvard grad.
"I would love to be able to say that I graduated from Harvard University with a PhD in medicine and be able to share my story," he says. "I have to dream because obviously my reality is horrible." Watch from homeless to Harvard? »
Chancey has just finished his junior year at Hollywood's Helen Bernstein High School, where he was named best overall academic student. He's student body president and, not surprisingly, one of the most popular kids.
He's the starting running back on the football team, cutting and dashing his way past his opponents.
But when classes and practices end, Chancey begins the arduous journey home with his sister, a trek that takes over an hour. He lives at Skid Row with his father and sister, at the Union Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter.
It's a tough existence. But one better than when he was in sixth grade, when he says he lived in a van with his mother and stepfather. His mom did drugs in front of him and, he says, his stepfather would hit him.
His father, Gordon Costello, says he's proud of his son for emerging as a leader, despite everything that's been thrown at him.
"It's a real learning experience, because he never wants to see himself in this position. So I think it benefits him in a great way," Costello says. "It's not necessarily the lesson I would have wanted to give to him ... [but] I am proud of him."
He adds that it took a lot of getting used to a shelter. "They hated it," he says. "But they somehow managed to adjust and we just decided to make the best of it."
Alma Flores, one of his teachers, says Chancey has a dynamic personality that attracts students to him. "He's good in athletics. He's good in academics. He's good at getting people to get involved," Flores says.
Chancey doesn't hold back. He showed students a PowerPoint presentation of his life and told them they should strive to do great things -- "If I can do it and I'm in this [situation], then you can do it," he says.
He's in the process of applying to Harvard. He hopes to eventually become a doctor. He knows he can't afford its $50,000-plus-a-year tuition, but he's not going to let that keep him from dreaming.
"I know that I'm better than Skid Row. I know that I can accomplish something," he says.
If he has children one day, he says, he hopes it's a lesson to pass on to them. "I would love to tell my kids that I graduated from the top school -- that ... if I can do it, you can do it."Kenneth Chancey, 17, walks down the littered streets of Skid Row, one of the roughest... more
Economists Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf have just released a new Harvard Business School working paper called File Sharing and Copyright that raises some important points about file sharing, copyright, and the net benefits to society. The paper, which includes a helpful survey of the prior economic studies on the impact of file sharing, includes the following:
1. The data indicates that file sharing has not discouraged creativity, as the evidence shows significant increases in cultural production. The authors note that:
Overall production figures for the creative industries appear to be consistent with this view that file sharing has not discouraged artists and publishers. While album sales have generally fallen since 2000, the number of albums being created has exploded. In 2000, 35,516 albums were released. Seven years later, 79,695 albums (including 25,159 digital albums) were published (Nielsen SoundScan, 2008). Even if file sharing were the reason that sales have fallen, the new technology does not appear to have exacted a toll on the quantity of music produced. Obviously, it would be nice to adjust output for differences in quality, but we are not aware of any research that has tackled this question.
Similar trends can be seen in other creative industries. For example, the worldwide number of feature films produced each year has increased from 3,807 in 2003 to 4,989 in 2007 (Screen Digest, 2004 and 2008). Countries where film piracy is rampant have typically increased production. This is true in South Korea (80 to 124), India (877 to 1164), and China (140 to 402). During this period, U.S. feature film production has increased from 459 feature films in 2003 to 590 in 2007 (MPAA, 2007).
Given the increase in artistic production along with the greater public access conclude that "weaker copyright protection, it seems, has benefited society." This is consistent with the authors' view that weaker copyright is "uambiguously desirable if it does not lessen the incentives of artists and entertainment companies to produce new works."
2. The paper takes on several longstanding myths about the economic effects of file sharing, noting that many downloaded songs do not represent a lost sale, some mashups may increase the market for the original work, and the entertainment industry can still steer consumer attention to particular artists (which results in more sales and downloads).
3. The authors' point out that file sharing may not result in reduced incentives to create if the willingness to pay for "complements" increases. They point to rising income from performances or author speaking tours as obvious examples of income that may be enhanced through file sharing. In particular, they focus on a study that concluded that demands for concerts increased due to file sharing and that concert prices have steadily risen during the file sharing era. Moreover, the authors' canvass the literature on the effects of file sharing on music sales, confirming that the "results are decidedly mixed."
The authors were one of the first to challenge the early claims about the effects of file sharing. Years later, many other economists have followed suit (including the study funded by Industry Canada). This latest paper does a nice job of expanding the discussion, by using the data to examine incentives for creativity and the effects on aggregate creator and industry income.Economists Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf have just released a new Harvard... more
