http://www.world-science.net/othernews/090303_psychedelica2
'Psychedelica seems the perfect name for a fish that is a wild swirl of tan and peach zebra stripes and acts in ways contrary to its brethren. So says the University of Washington’s Ted Pietsch, who is the first to describe the new species in the scientific literature and thus the one to pick the name.
Psychedelica is perhaps even more apt given the cockamamie way the fish swim, some with so little apparent
Distribution of Alkaloids in Some Western Australian Plants
T. E. H. Aplin and J. R. Cannon
Economic Botany, Vol. 25, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1971), pp. 366-380
But there was also this: Ochrosia poweri
Alkaloids of Ochrosia poweri Bailey. II. The 2-acylindole stem-bark bases
B Douglas, JL Kirkpatrick, BP Moore and JA Weisbach
Abstract
Stem-bark of Ochrosia poweri Bailey furnished isoreserpiline, elliptamine, and three new indole alkaloids, ochropamine (C22H26O3N2), ochropine (C23H28O4N2), a
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/87/i10/8710notw8.html
'CALTECH CHEMISTS have solved the chemical mystery of why nicotine binds to acetylcholine receptors with high affinity in the brain but with low affinity in muscles. Such information will help researchers understand nicotine addiction and guide drug discovery efforts for diseases in which acetylcholine receptors are implicated, such as schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease, among many others.
More than a decade ago, Caltech chemist Dennis A. D
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/87/i07/8707news6.html
Receptor's Binding Partner Identified
'A hallucinogenic compound found in psychoactive snuffs and sacramental teas used in native shamanic rituals in South America has helped elucidate the role of a receptor found throughout the nervous system. The sigma-1 receptor was known to bind many synthetic compounds, and it was originally mischaracterized as a receptor for opioid drugs. But its real role in the body remains unknown. However, Arnold E.
http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-scienc...ed-r-2009-02-09
'Fellas, you might want to think, well, twice about following Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps' lead. A study published today in the journal Cancer linked frequent marijuana use to the possibility of a slim increased risk of testicular cancer.
Researchers from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found that about 72 percent of 369 men, ages 18 to 44, diagnosed with this type of cancer reported having smoked pot; those at g
http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-scienc...effe-2009-01-28
'The glut of antidepressant drugs on the market and the ads for them may have you – not to mention doctors -- wondering how to tell one from the other. But a new study sheds light on which ones may be most effective in battling the blues.
Topping the list of a dozen prescription antidepressants reviewed: Zoloft and Lexapro. Patients taking those drugs in trials were also the least likely to drop out. But because Zoloft, made by New
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1643...ref=online-news
'A herbalist wandering into a room full of scientists would likely get a mixed reception. But new research could have put plants firmly back in the drug business.
Scientists in the US have engineered plant cells to churn out several chemical compounds that organic chemists could only ever dreamt of getting bacteria and yeast to make. The plant-produced compounds include molecules similar to cancer drugs.
This breakthrough marks the
http://blogs.reuters.com/oddly-enough/2008...saint-nicotine/
[...] 'A Zimbabwean man sells cigarettes and Christmas hats on the streets of the capital Harare December 25, 2008.'
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/081207_brain1
'He althy people should have the right to boost their brains with pills, like those prescribed for hyperactive kids or memory-impaired older folks, several scientists contend in a provocative commentary.
College students are already illegally taking prescription stimulants like Ritalin to help them study, and dema nd for such drugs is likely to grow elsewhere, they say.
“We should welcome new methods of im
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leishmaniasis
'The compound vasicine (peganine), found in the plant Peganum harmala, has been tested in vitro against the promastigote stage of Leishmania donovani, the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis. It was shown that this compound induces apoptosis in Leishmania promastigotes. "Peganine hydrochloride dihydrate, besides being safe, was found to induce apoptosis in both the stages of L. donovani via loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential."[1]
Anot
http://www.lateralscience.co.uk/edison/index.html
'"At Menlo Park one cold winter night there came into the laboratory a strange man in a most pitiful condition. He was nearly frozen, and he asked if he might sit by the stove. In a few moments he asked for the head man, and I was brought forward. He had a head of abnormal size, with highly intellectual features and a very small and emaciated body. He said he was suffering very much, and asked if I had any morphine. As I had about everything in
http://blogs.reuters.com/oddly-enough/2008...-joint-is-this/
'Dutch cities will exchange information at a “weed summit” in Almere, November 21, 2008.
Blog Guy, The Dutch take a very liberal approach to marijuana use. You can buy marijuana in coffee shops over there. How is that going for them?
Well, they’re having a “weed summit” this weekend to discuss that very thing. I got a copy of the working agenda. It’s still secret, so don’t share it with anybody:
8 a.m. Stop by a “coffee shop” for
http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/over-36-...rug-mule_20294/
'A surfboard that had been hollowed out, packed with bricks of marijuana then glued back together was found by Border Patrol agents Wednesday while patrolling a beach in close proximity to the international border fence in Imperial Beach, California.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that the discarded board -- really just a fiberglass shell -- was filled with more than 36 pounds of marijuana and would have bore a street
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=ballot...abortion-limits
'In addition to electing Barack Obama president and carrying a wave of Dems to victory in Congress, voters in several states approved ballot initiatives decriminalizing marijuana, lifting limits on embryonic stem cell research, allowing doctor-assisted suicide—and nixed others that would have restricted abortions and provided rebates for fuel-efficient vehicles
In Massachusetts voters okayed a measure to decriminalize possession of a
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=what-i...on-drug-lawsuit
'In the spring of 2000, a professional guitarist named Diana Levine, then in her 50s, sought treatment for a migraine headache at a clinic in Vermont. She usually received the drug Demerol for pain relief, along with an injection of Wyeth’s anti-nausea drug Phenergan in the muscles of her butt to relieve the nausea that usually accompanies migraines. But this time the physician’s assistant used an alternative method for administering
http://environment.newscientist.com/channe...line-news_rss20
'A fungus that can convert plant waste directly into diesel could allow us to generate biofuel without sacrificing food production.
The fungus was discovered in leaves of the ulmo tree (Eucryphia cordifolia) which grows in Patagonia. It makes the diesel as a vapour, much easier than liquid fuel to extract, purify and store.
“There’s no other known organism on the planet that does this,” says Gary Strobel of Montana State University
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/...81030194234.htm
'Molecular cell biologist Pankaj Dhonukshe from Utrecht University has succeeded in growing roots on plants at places where normally leaves would grow. This important step in plant modification can be highly beneficial for improving crop yields and efficiency in agriculture.
This research was largely carried out in collaboration between Utrecht University (The Netherlands) and Ghent University (Belgium) with help from scientists in J
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=narcotics-recovery-farm
'From 1935 to 1975, just about everyone busted for drugs in the U.S. was sent to the United States Narcotic Farm outside Lexington, Ky. Equal parts federal prison, treatment center, research laboratory and farm, this controversial institution was designed not only to rehabilitate addicts, but to discover a cure for drug addiction.
Now a new documentary, The Narcotic Farm, reveals the lost world of this institution, based on rare film
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/...81020093410.htm
'A new study led by North Carolina State University's Dr. Scott Fitzpatrick is the first to show physical evidence that the people who colonized the Caribbean from South America brought with them heirloom drug paraphernalia that had been passed down from generation to generation as the colonists traveled through the islands.
The research team used a dating technique called luminescence to determine the age of several artifacts found
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/...81015073938.htm
'Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, suggests a possible role for nicotine in breast tumor development and metastases.
The study, conducted by researchers at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is among the first to explore the effects of nicotine on mammary cells.
"Although numerous studies indicate the role of nicotine exposure in tumor promotion, little is known about the effect of ni
