FEBRUARY 29 2020 LISTENERFOOD
Turkish delicacies
that reward
patience with
authentic flavour34
TECHNOLOGY
Music listening
is moving to
an internet-
based future38
SPORT
The Halberg Awards
were a night for
women – and a
male underdog40
doing our best,” says Wiles, “but it’s all at the early
discovery phase and we don’t know what we’re
going to find or how useful it will be.”E
ven if Wiles and her colleagues do identify a
compound that is effective, different enough
from existing antibiotics and suitable as a medi-
cine, they would need the help of a pharmaceutical
company to develop the drug and take it through
clinical trials. Given that this class of drugs is highly
unlikely to offer huge profits, there is no guarantee
that will happen.
In a 2016 report, economist Jim O’Neill – dubbed
the UK’s “superbug tsar” – called for incentives for
the development of new antibiotics. Other meas-
ures he has suggested include taxing companiesthat opt out of antibiotics and creating state-run
companies so that the production of these medi-
cines isn’t subject to market forces. A review last
year found there has been little progress with any
of these ideas.
The predictions, if we don’t act, are dire – 10
million deaths linked to antimicrobial resistance a
year by 2050 and an accumulated cost to the global
economy of $100 trillion.
“Fundamentally, the model we have for the
development of drugs is broken,” says Wiles. “How
can our health be a for-profit industry?”
A focus on preventing resistance by not overus-
ing antibiotics in human health and agriculture has
had limited success. High-income countries may
have made advances but less affluent ones have
struggled. And, says Wiles, although the prevention
message is a good one to get out there, on its own
it’s not enough of a solution.
“When we use antibiotics, we give those organ-
isms that are resistant a kind of niche to live in that
the sensitive ones can’t,” she says. “So, absolutely, by
reducing the overall number of these drugs in circu-
lation, the hope is that we can extend the life of the
existing drugs and bring down the levels of resistant
organisms. But there are a lot of caveats in that; it
will work for some organisms and not others.” lGE
TTY (^) I
M
AG
ES
Suggestions include taxing
companies that opt out of
antibiotics and creating
state-run companies to
produce new medicines.
VITAMIN LINK TO ADHD
A study in Finland has found the
risk of attention deficit hyperactiv-
ity disorder (ADHD) is 34% higher
in children whose mothers had
a vitamin D deficiency during
pregnancy. The data was collected
before the national recommenda-
tion in Finland of a daily vitamin
D intake of 10 micrograms a day
during pregnancy.
IMAGING SUCCESS
A new method of interpreting
brain activity could be used in
clinics to help determine the best
treatment options for depression,
according to a Stanford Univer-
sity-led trial. Researchers used
electroencephalography, a tool for
monitoring electrical activity in the
brain, to identify a brain-wave sig-
nature in people with depression
who will most likely respond to
the antidepressant sertraline. The
study emerged from a decades-
long effort to create biologically
based approaches, such as blood
tests and brain imaging, to per-
sonalise the treatment of mental
illness.
EW, GROSS
Improving the rates of handwash-
ing by travellers passing through
airports could significantly reduce
the spread of many infectious
diseases, according to a new study
from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. The researchers
estimate only 70% of people wash
their hands after using the
toilet and, of those, just
50% do it right – using
soap and water and wash-
ing for 15 to 20 seconds.
5
NOISE REVIVES REEFS
Playing sounds of a healthy coral
reef – such as popping, crackling
and whooping – attracts fish back
to depleted habitats, scientists at
the University of Exeter have found.
Recorded sounds were played
through an underwater speaker
at night and the reefs had twice as
many fish after 40 days. Heatwaves
increasing ocean temperatures
are causing coral reefs to bleach,
leading fish to look for healthier
sites.
THE COLOUR OF STRESS
Harvard Universityscientists have
proven the anecdote that stress
causes hair to turn grey. Under
stress, the sympathetic nervous
system releases the chemical
norepinephrine, damaging stem
cells responsible for colouring hair.
They then identify the stress as a
cue for new hair growth, releasing
more pigment than needed. When
no more pigment can be produced,
the hair runs grey. Luckily for some,
the process can be temporary.
SMELL OF SUCCESS
Burning rose-scented incense while
learning, and again during sleep,
improves memory and learning,
researchers in Freiberg, Germany
have found. An English vocab class
that had incense sticks on their
desks and on bedside tables at
night scored 30% better test results
than a control class.
HEALTH, SCIENCE AND NATURE BRIEFS
The brain’s
hippocampus,
which helps in
short-to-long-term
memory processing,
loses 5% of neurons
every decade.